The Project Manager/Link Worker

Setting up the organisational framework  

• Gain a strategic overview of policies, strategies, and stakeholders.
• Ability to identify and invite relevant stakeholders to become steering group and/or working group members.
• Have a system thinking approach and cultivate a strategic cross-sectoral /interdisciplinary collaboration. 
• Establish and lead the working group.
• Create a detailed overview of the programmes budget and timeline and estimating the resources required to execute the programme. 
• Develop a communications strategy. 
• Facilitate discussions and meetings with steering group members.
• Advise and support the practical implementation of the programme. 
• Develop a sustainability plan for long term implementation of the programme in conjunction with the steering group. 
• Participate or facilitate knowledge sharing or network events to increase awareness and interest for AoP programmes.

Planning and implementing the AoP programme 

• Coordinate the practical implementation of the AoP programme. 
• Facilitate working group meetings. 
• Close collaboration with all members of the working group and relay any concerns with the practical implementation of the AoP programme.
• Involve the steering group in decision-making processes concerning any potential risk or challenges that may arise. 
• Monitors the programmes progress, challenges, and evaluation.
• Engage referral channels and culture institutions/facilitators in the planning and implementing of the programme.
• Primary contact person for referral channels, culture, and art facilitators in connection with programme cycles. 
• Prepare the programmes schedule and assists the culture and arts facilitators in planning and facilitating the programme activities. 
• Contact person for the participants ensuring ongoing communication with participants e.g. location and time of activities
• Prepare first meeting (pre-activities) for participants. Read an example of a first meeting HERE. (will be available mid 2025 in resources).
• Participates with the participants in activities. 
• Participate or facilitate knowledge sharing or network events to increase awareness and interest for AoP programmes

AoP programme evaluation 

• Preparing consent forms if required
• Preparing the evaluation material e.g. surveys, interview questions, creative methods 
• Planning evaluation processes. 
• Preforming the evaluation methods
• Collecting data using evaluation methods from participants
• Maintaining privacy and security in the safekeeping of participants data under EU GDPR regulations. Read more on the project’s evaluation framework HERE. 

The project manager carries out strategic tasks and should be a person competent in strategic planning and implementing programmes similar to AoP. It could be a person with experiences from a politically driven organisation, who has the necessary skillset to prepare agendas to the steering group and to navigate unforeseeable challenges. A person who can provide support and guidance to the practical implementation of the programme including assuring necessary funding for running the AoP programme and engaging decision makers from different administrations in supporting the AoP programme. 

The link worker is responsible for running the day-to-day AoP programme and should have skills in supporting people with mental health issues, meeting people as they are and without judgment. Read more about How to create a safe space here. As the link worker is contact person for vulnerable persons, it is important the link worker has emphatic skills.

It is also important the link worker is interested in the arts and supports the arts positive effects on health outcomes and wellbeing.

It can be an advantage if the link worker has experience in the health, social and/or culture sectors. A link worker who is a health professional, can bring valuable knowledge of mental health issues and effective appraoches to handling participants and vulnerable situations that may arise during activitie, such as anxiety attack, tearful participants, conflicts within the group. However, health professionals should be mindful not to treat participants soely through the lens of their health expertise.  

A person with a culture background could also be a link worker responsible for the daily management of the AoP programme. A link worker from the culture sector does not necessarily focus on health issues and can therefore meet the participant as the person, they are. Having a cultural background, the link worker also has a unique position to introduce and explain to the participants how culture and the arts can benefit their general wellbeing. Also, they will be less likely to move the programme in a therapeutic direction. 

It should be noted the link worker has a central role in communicating with the referral channels, culture and arts facilitators and the participants. Therefore, it is important to note that the link worker uses a lot of time coordinating and communication with respective persons before (planning and preparing) during (facilitating and supporting) and after (evaluating and adapting) the AoP programme. During the 8-12-week AoP programme the link worker communicates a lot with the participants, for example about upcoming activities, meeting places, as well as assisting in future activities and opportunities for the participants. It is often easy to underestimate the time the link worker uses in communicating with the respective channels and persons. 

The project manager or link worker may be responsible for evaluation and thereby should have experience or interest in evaluating AoP programmes, in planning the evaluation process and in data analysing.