Breakthrough Traineeship – Concerts & Events Coordinator, Hastings
About Breakthrough
Breakthrough is a 6‑month employability programme designed as a stepping stone to get you workplace experience and all-important employment skills. This short placement gives you insight into a future career in the Creative Industry, supporting your confidence and professionalism in the workplace, and helping you to break through into a career that matters to you!
Read more about Breakthrough here:
The role
To assist the CEO and Learning & Participation Coordinator in the day-to-day running of our concerts and events, handling email and telephone enquiries from competitors, performers, venues, Patrons and the General Public.
This role will include assisting with:
- The Learning & Participation Coordinator, to book, set up and run a variety of events
- The CEO to set up and manage performance opportunities, coordinating Performers and Venues
- Supporting our Volunteer Patron’s Manager with our Patrons database
- Setting up and manage Event online ticket sales
- The Finance Director with data entry, particularly around ticket sales
- Supporting the Development Team with research tasks
- Supporting the Marketing Team, collating photographs and videos for social media output
This role will give you an all-round introduction to all the tasks undertaken in a small, proactive arts organisation with a focus on concert and event delivery.
The role will be based at the office at The Town Hall, Queens Road, Hastings TN34 1NG. Office working is preferred but working from home 1 day a week and/or for specific tasks can be agreed too. Flexibility is occasionally required, for example, to accommodate you supporting weekend events, but this will all be agreed in advance with the successful applicant.
About the employer
Hastings International Piano is committed to nurturing musical talent and ensuring that musical opportunities are available to everyone. We promote the biennial Hastings International Piano Competition which is now considered to be one of the top piano competitions in the world, as well as offering performance opportunities to young artists year-round, working tirelessly in our community, and aiming to give every child in Hastings the gift of music through our schools’ programme.
The competition was revived in 2005, but our roots go back more than a century to the Hastings Musical Festival which has been taking place in Hastings since 1908. Our next competition is in February 2028.
In recent years our reputation has grown steadily, and we now enjoy a partnership with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Our new CEO started in March 2026 which marks the start of a new phase in our development as a small arts charity.
In addition to the piano competition, we also run a full Learning & Participation programme and support and promote our young artists through a series of internal and external concerts and events. 2026 – 27 is a non-competition year so our focus will be in these areas.
Deadline for applications
The deadline is 11:45pm, on 27 July 2026
You will need to download the job description below and read it carefully, and review the eligibility criteria below to ensure you are able to apply.
You then need to fill out the form below to submit your application.
All of the job descriptions include an “Employers advice” section and we strongly recommend that you tailor your answers to ensure they cover that advice given for the specific role you are applying for.
You can apply for more than one role if you wish to, but you will need to submit separate applications using the same process.
We strongly suggest that you research travel options for the role before applying to ensure travel is feasible.
To be eligible to apply for a Breakthrough traineeship, applicants must:
- Be aged 18-25 on the 28 September 2026
- Have the right to work in the UK
- Available to start work on the 28 September 2026 and available for the duration of the placement (until 28th March 2027)
- Have no or little (less than one month) previous experience of working in an arts, creative or voluntary sector organisation
In addition to the above, applicants should also meet one or more of the following criteria:
- Currently not in employment, education or training (NEET)
- Be disabled and/or Neurodivergent
- Have current or prior mental health issues
- Have experienced racism, homophobic or transgender discrimination
- Be a recent school or college leaver (A level or equivalent)
- Are struggling to find work due to lack of employment or training experience
Please note that this programme is not suitable for those on a degree placement year or an MA programme.
Download the full job description
This contains more information about the role, including advice from the employer.
Breakthrough 2026 Application Form
Contact us
If you are unsure if you are eligible, have any other questions, or need information in a different format, please email our Careers team:
FAQs
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If you have applied for a Breakthrough placement in a previous year and been unsuccessful, then yes you are very welcome to apply again if you meet this years eligibility criteria!
If you have already successfully undertaken a Breakthrough placement before, you won't be eligible to apply again.
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Please do. You will need to submit an application for each role you are interested in and should check that the travel to the workplace is realistic for you before applying.