Arts & Culture

US politics is never far from the headlines, and with the cultural sector facing its own challenges around funding and financial sustainability, we thought it would be a good time to hear directly from our American colleagues.How do museums in the US fund themselves? How do they generate commercial income? And how similar, or different, is their approach to the UK cultural sector.Joining us on our expert panel are...- James Haddan, Senior Director of Development & External Communications, Museum of Us- Chacho Herman, Director of Earned Income, San Diego Museum of Fine Arts- Julie Steiner, Senior Director of Admissions & Retail Operations, Barnes Foundation and Calder Gardens  The podcast for the Cultural Sector.The Arts & Culture podcast delivers best-in-class thought leadership, with industry heavy hitters and crucial sector-defining topics, going behind the scenes at the UK's museums, galleries and heritage sites. Host Tom Dawson is COO for the Association for Cultural Enterprises.https://culturalenterprises.org.uk/

Dr Elizabeth Bennett is a Research Fellow at the University of Leeds. Adala Leeson is the Head of Social and Economic Research at Historic England. They have worked together on developing a framework - or taxonomy - that can communicate what culture is worth in ways that make it more visible to policy makers and economists. For example, how can we capture and recognise the value of production expertise, shared audience experience, emotional response, learning and a sense of identity? Arts, Culture and Heritage deliver all these things to a high level... but that's difficult to get across on a balance sheet.In this episode, Adala and Elizabeth talk to host Tom about the need for this new framework and the impact they believe it can have in getting the value of Arts, Culture and Heritage better appreciated in the decision-making contexts where the sector needs to be far more visible.To find out more about the framework visit: https://historicengland.org.uk/research/current/social-and-economic-research/culture-and-heritage-capital/achtaxonomies/The CHC Programme is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Any primary research, subsequent findings, recommendations and views or opinions expressed in this podcast do not represent the UK Government, the CHC Programme, AHRC, or any other affiliated organisation. The podcast for the Cultural Sector.The Arts & Culture podcast delivers best-in-class thought leadership, with industry heavy hitters and crucial sector-defining topics, going behind the scenes at the UK's museums, galleries and heritage sites. Host Tom Dawson is COO for the Association for Cultural Enterprises.https://culturalenterprises.org.uk/

Abigail Pogson (CEO, Barbican Centre and formerly Chief Executive at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music) invited brand voice strategist Bethany Joy to work with her on a branding process at The Glasshouse. In this episode, hear the story of the transformative effect that process had, with huge positive progress on every part of operations, including internal culture, funding application outcomes and commercial performance. Topics discussed include... - Why it is wrong to dismiss branding as "just Marketing" - How a properly distilled and communicated brand can give staff the confidence to do their jobs better - Why a sign in a car park came to sum up the power of the branding process at The Glasshouse - What a branding process consists of and how long it takes You can find a case study on brand voice work Abigail and Bethany worked on at The Glasshouse by clicking here.  You can find out more about Bethany Joy and her work by clicking here. The podcast for the Cultural Sector.The Arts & Culture podcast delivers best-in-class thought leadership, with industry heavy hitters and crucial sector-defining topics, going behind the scenes at the UK's museums, galleries and heritage sites. Host Tom Dawson is COO for the Association for Cultural Enterprises.https://culturalenterprises.org.uk/

The Brontë sisters have a huge profile around the world... and when a Hollywood film version of 'Wuthering Heights' gets released, that's an opportunity to boost visitor numbers for a venue like the Brontë Parsonage Museum. Director Rebecca Yorke talks about the strategies they used to make the most of this natural rise in Brontë awareness, to get more visitors.  Rebecca also describes how a small museum with a small team can have big ambitions by using leverage in many forms. Whether its smart use of social media trends (using a unique staffing structure) or harnessing contacts and previous experience to make the most of a one-off opportunity to expand into new buildings. This is an episode full of useful advice, insights and creative theory that can be applied at all levels of the cultural sector. The podcast for the Cultural Sector.The Arts & Culture podcast delivers best-in-class thought leadership, with industry heavy hitters and crucial sector-defining topics, going behind the scenes at the UK's museums, galleries and heritage sites. Host Tom Dawson is COO for the Association for Cultural Enterprises.https://culturalenterprises.org.uk/

Bringing together data and insights from more than 260 cultural and heritage sites, A Seat at the Table: Embedding Commercial Thinking in the Cultural Sector is a new report from the Association for Cultural Enterprises looking at the factors driving financial resilience across the sector. A crucial insight within the report is that having commercial teams involved in programming decisions increases financial resilience.  In this episode, host Tom stress tests this insight with an expert panel of guests from venues and organisations around the UK. What have been their experiences of getting Commercial and Programming to work closer together? What are the challenges and opportunities?  Expert panel: Holly T Burrows - Commercial Manager at The Cartoon Museum Sara Ley - Head of Trading at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art Claire Lane - Director of Commercial at The Ashmolean Museum The podcast for the Cultural Sector.The Arts & Culture podcast delivers best-in-class thought leadership, with industry heavy hitters and crucial sector-defining topics, going behind the scenes at the UK's museums, galleries and heritage sites. Host Tom Dawson is COO for the Association for Cultural Enterprises.https://culturalenterprises.org.uk/

Bringing together data and insights from more than 260 sites, A Seat at the Table: Embedding Commercial Thinking in the Cultural Sector is a new report - from the Association for Cultural Enterprises - looking at the factors driving financial resilience across the sector. It has generated a very positive response. This episode builds on the themes of the report. Host Tom gathers an expert panel to further explore how more involvement from commercial teams can improve performance within the cultural sector. Expert panel: Emma Gossage - Interim Enterprise Manager, Liverpool Cathedral Caroline Reid - Director of Commercial Enterprises, National Trust for Scotland. Jon Young - Audience Research Director, Decision House The podcast for the Cultural Sector.The Arts & Culture podcast delivers best-in-class thought leadership, with industry heavy hitters and crucial sector-defining topics, going behind the scenes at the UK's museums, galleries and heritage sites. Host Tom Dawson is COO for the Association for Cultural Enterprises.https://culturalenterprises.org.uk/

How much does the weather really impact cultural attractions, and how much of that is down to perception? In this episode of The Arts & Culture Podcast, host Tom Dawson explores the growing influence of weather on visitor behaviour, and the increasing role that weather apps play in shaping decision-making across the cultural sector. Tom is joined by: Rob Comley, Policy and Advocacy Manager at Chester Zoo Rebecca Foy, Director of Public Engagement at Bletchley Park Olly Reed, Marketing Director at Navigate. Together, they discuss the campaign calling for changes in how forecasts are presented. A must-listen for anyone navigating performance, audience behaviour, and commercial strategy in today’s cultural landscape. Find out more about the campaign on Chester Zoo's website here The podcast for the Cultural Sector.The Arts & Culture podcast delivers best-in-class thought leadership, with industry heavy hitters and crucial sector-defining topics, going behind the scenes at the UK's museums, galleries and heritage sites. Host Tom Dawson is COO for the Association for Cultural Enterprises.https://culturalenterprises.org.uk/

The V&A is a stellar brand in the UK cultural sector. So when it opens two new sites in a matter of months in a new part of the capital city, it's a big deal. V&A Storehouse launched last year. On April 18th V&A East Museum will welcome its first visitors. So, what can those first visitors expect? And what major innovations - that have worked well in the first few months of V&A Storehouse -  might  help other venues of all sizes all around the UK? In this fascinating interview, Tim Reeve CBE (Deputy Director & COO, V&A) gives host Tom the inside track including... What they can (and can't) do with the David Bowie archive How the design of V&A East Museum is intended to make the building itself an exhibit in its own right A totally unique approach to front-of-house and security that boosts visitor experience and reduces operational costs How V&A Storehouse has exponentially increased public access to the V&A's collection Why "local first" has been a consistent strategy for all of V&A's new activity in East London The podcast for the Cultural Sector.The Arts & Culture podcast delivers best-in-class thought leadership, with industry heavy hitters and crucial sector-defining topics, going behind the scenes at the UK's museums, galleries and heritage sites. Host Tom Dawson is COO for the Association for Cultural Enterprises.https://culturalenterprises.org.uk/

Judith Owens MBE is Chief Executive of TBL International and one of UK’s the most experienced and established cultural sector professionals. In this special interview recorded at The Cultural Enterprises Conference, she talks to host Tom Dawson about both her personal career story and how she has led Titanic Belfast to become one of of the world's most famous, successful and loved cultural attractions. This insightful discussion includes: The origin story of Titanic Belfast and the difference it has made to the city Why this iconic building and experience keeps winning award after award How an innovative approach has helped manage and motivate a huge multi-cultural staff that spans 5 generations What decision that Judith made still leaves her in cold sweats   The podcast for the Cultural Sector.The Arts & Culture podcast delivers best-in-class thought leadership, with industry heavy hitters and crucial sector-defining topics, going behind the scenes at the UK's museums, galleries and heritage sites. Host Tom Dawson is COO for the Association for Cultural Enterprises.https://culturalenterprises.org.uk/

Tony Butler OBE is Executive Director of Derby Museums and a leading figure in the UK museums sector. In this wide-ranging interview he shares valuable insights on the topics such as:The recent DCMS funding announcement and the opportunities (and questions) it raisesHis verdict on the Hodge reportHow civic museums have had to adapt business models and what the future might holdThe draw of locally known artists and cultural figuresThe difference between entrepreneurialism and "magic thinking"A useful and enlightening listen for anyone involved in the sector, particularly those looking to balance purpose and community-delivery with the ever-changing financial context. The podcast for the Cultural Sector.The Arts & Culture podcast delivers best-in-class thought leadership, with industry heavy hitters and crucial sector-defining topics, going behind the scenes at the UK's museums, galleries and heritage sites. Host Tom Dawson is COO for the Association for Cultural Enterprises.https://culturalenterprises.org.uk/