Raising ticket income sustainably
Pricing strategy continues to challenge venues trying to raise income without losing the trust and diversity of their audiences, a…
Posts
How touring musicians can earn income on the go
What are the challenges of life as a touring musician? Is it possible to develop sustainable income streams on the road? Daniel Gr…
Museums and music NPOs see leap in earned income, ACE figures reveal
Earned income at museums belonging to Arts Council England (ACE)’s National Portfolio has risen 17.7% in the last year. The 77 mus…
Dynamic approach to nurturing debut talent
Theatre503’s executive director Emily Carewe addresses the paradox of how a theatre that only works with debut playwrights loses…
Bath museum workers win ‘real living wage’ guarantee
Bath Preservation Trust (BPT), the charity tasked with looking after sites including the Herschel Museum and Georgian architectura…
Aligning the psychology of giving with the less glamorous side of showbiz
In a bid to maximise regular giving, artistic director of London’s Park Theatre, Jez Bond, has been experimenting with new ways…
Do your potential donors know you’re a charity?
Lauren James of Splitpixel is surprised how many arts charities fail to play up their charitable status, despite the many benefits…
The value of venue hire
Find a cultural organisation with a building and more than likely you’ll find a ‘hire us’ call to action on their website, w…
Fringe Society boss warns tourist tax is no quick fix
Fringe Society leader Tony Lankester has warned it is wrong to see Edinburgh’s incoming visitor levy as “the panacea” to an…
‘Super major’ arts organisations better at harnessing private investment to ensure profitability
Large anchor arts organisations are faring better financially than the rest of the culture sector because they are more successful…
Goldsmiths adopts philanthropic funding model to address cuts
Goldsmiths has introduced an “innovative philanthropic model” in the face of UK-wide funding cuts, establishing an endowment f…
Sotheby’s offers to value council art collections
Auction house Sotheby’s has approached several English councils offering to value their art collections, prompting fears some co…
UK music streaming revenues top £1bn for the first time
The UK music streaming market broke the £1bn barrier for the first time in 2024, new figures published by the British Phonographi…
Manchester’s Contact Theatre switches to four-day week
Contact Theatre in Manchester is permanently adopting a four-day working week following a year-long trial. Under the arrangements…
The challenges of operating a free-to-access museum
It is possible to operate a free-to-access museum without government funding, but it comes with significant challenges, as Trish J…
Arts venue left unable to take payments after Worldpay ‘error’
One of the UK’s largest multi-venue arts centres was left without any means to take payments for tickets after global banking comp…
The business model of place
With the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget committing to an as-yet-unspecified ‘package of cultural infrastructure funding’, Jason…
Government expected to amend gift aid legislation
Legislation included in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act 2024, which could see charities lose out on bein…
How to create a business that thrives and survives
In our series exploring new business models, Gill Wildman, director of Upstarter incubator, argues they need to be designed in a w…
Call for central AI infrastructure to help culture sector ‘monetise content’
Arts Council England and UK government should work together to develop centralised artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure to…
How to solve a problem like affordability
Four years ago, Battersea Arts Centre launched a Pay What You Can scheme to widen access to live theatre. Robbie Kings has been ev…
Legislation needed to improve financial security for freelancers
There is a need for changes to government policy and for sector-wide guidelines and regulations to be introduced to ensure fairer…
Commercial activity ‘largest income stream’ for cultural organisations
Study finds evidence that cultural organisations are benefitting from variable pricing and experimenting with new approaches to ti…
Cultural tax reliefs pay out record £240m
Government figures show a more than three-fold increase on the £75m paid out to theatres, orchestras and museums in 2021/22.
