Timeline:
Candidacy self-nominations open: Monday 20 December 2021
‘The Future of Brighton Fringe’ event: Wednesday 19 January 2022
Candidacy self-nominations close: Friday 21 January 2022
Open Voting period: Monday 14 – Monday 28 February 2022
Participant Observer announced: Friday 4 March 2022
March Board meeting:  Monday 14 March 2022

Introduction
Having introduced a Venue Manager Observer to the Board of Brighton Fringe in 2021 after feedback from Venue Managers, we will be widening this observer status to participants in 2022.
We hope that the Participant Observer to the Board of Brighton Fringe will be of value to the participant community and aid in the ongoing mission to improve the transparency of the Brighton Fringe.
We are opening the process for self-nominations, with the aim being to have the new Participant Observer in post in time for the March Venue Manager Meeting on 14 March 2022.
The Participant Observer to the Board of Brighton Fringe will work alongside the Venue Manager Observer (currently JD Henshaw) in bringing the ideas and recommendations of the Participants and Venues of Brighton Fringe to the Board.
This role is unpaid.

The process for recruitment is below:
• Participants put themselves forward as candidates via this Google form, including a short profile about themselves and their motivations for joining as an observer to the board. This will be open until Friday 21 January, midday, and limited to one candidate per venue operator/venue management company;
• The list of candidates will be advertised in e-newsletters and through social media (the Brighton Fringe Participant Page and Brighton Fringe Venues and Participants Networking Group). Voting on candidates is via a Google form and open to all participants. Voting for this will close Monday 28 February, midday. Voting is anonymous, although Brighton Fringe will be able to see the votes to remove duplicates;
• The vote will be ratified by the Board and announced in time for the March Board meeting;  the participant in receipt of the most votes will (assuming ratification) be invited as an observer on the board of Brighton Fringe for this meeting.

Conditions of voting:
• One vote per participant
• Participants from the current or previous editions of Brighton Fringe are eligible to vote.
• A participant may vote for themselves
• The decision of the Brighton Fringe Board is final
• If the Board does not ratify the vote, the vote will be run again

Conditions of becoming an observer on the Brighton Fringe Board:
• The observer should have taken part in Brighton Fringe at least twice previously, and within the last five years
• The observer term is one year and runs from September-August. The first term will be March-September.
• The observer can be re-elected and serve up to two consecutive terms (of up to one year) but cannot be re-elected for a third consecutive term. They can be elected for any number of terms within these parameters.

Responsibilities. The observer should:
• Act in the interests of all participants
• Attend at least 50% of monthly venue manager meetings - two hours per month, Tuesdays morning/afternoon
• Attend all quarterly Board meetings – two hours quarterly, Monday or Thursday evenings in March, July, September and December
• Attend annual ‘Future of Brighton Fringe’ forum discussions, and annual participant forum discussions.
• Ensure that at least two weeks prior to each Board meeting that they seek feedback/comment from other participants and have collected any points for raising on behalf of participants (Brighton Fringe staff will help with the administration of this process) and notify the Brighton Fringe CEO/Chair of any suggested additions to the subsequent Board meeting agenda.
• Co-Moderate the Brighton Fringe Venues and Participant Networking Group on Facebook