Arts & Culture

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/