Creating sustainable relations and communicating well

The London Borough of Sutton was seeking an independent intermediary to make contact with the many voluntary sector organisations within its area, to discover their perceptions of and aspirations for the arts and culture within the Borough and how they might get involved to help the arts thrive. We organised and carried out interviews with the sector 'gatekeepers' and presented our findings to the Council staff and voluntary group representatives, which fed into the Borough's new Arts Strategy.

Festival organisation LIFT wanted to develop a model for building sustainable community engagement in areas needing economic, infrastructure and society regeneration. We partnered with LIFT to host a Cultural Leadership Programme Placement to specialise in this investigation.

Theatre 503 wanted to grow their audience and reach in a way they could maintain over time. We talked through their plans with them, and concluded that a dedicated intern placement could offer a solution that would work better than more traditional, resource-heavy direct marketing routes. We helped them develop and advertise the brief and recruit and mentor the successful candidate. Our mentoring included prioritising contacts, developing messages about Theatre 503’s offer, and refining tone, style and approach. A number of key relationships and partnerships have resulted.