Sue Hoyle argues that, given time and support, training can help make great leaders.
Try typing ?Leadership? into the search facility of Amazon?s website, and you?ll find over 16,000 books listed. However, to the best of my knowledge, no one has yet published a book about the development of leadership in the UK cultural sector. This is not an indication of lack of interest: the challenge of recruiting and retaining leaders and senior managers across a wide range of cultural activity is viewed as a serious problem, and one that the government is now hoping to address. A sum of £12m has been committed over two years to promote excellence in management and leadership.
Different reasons have been suggested for the leadership ?problem?: too many extraneous demands being put on creative organisations by labyrinthine systems of funding, governance and regulations; the constant pressure to complete short-term projects as well as to plan strategically; and the lack of financial security. Given these pressures, it is not surprising that cultural organisations have found little time, resources or inclination for professional development. Take theatre, for example: the Arts Council?s Theatre Review, conducted in 2002, found that only 39% of permanent staff received any training. The amount spent on staff development overall was just 0.26% of all expenditure, and over a third of the theatres in the survey spent either ?nothing? or ?up to £500?. Theatre is not alone. Very few cultural organisations have been able to place a high priority on professional development, including for their senior staff.
The lack of opportunity for leadership development was the subject of an in-depth report commissioned by the Clore Duffield Foundation three years ago. The report focused on the leadership crisis, but recognised that leaders needed to be nurtured at all stages in their career. It concluded that there were very few stepping stones and pathways to help people find a route into leadership roles. Of course, there are some brilliant leaders in the cultural sector, but most of them have succeeded through a mixture of luck, intelligence and natural skills, rather than by any designed personal development. For a lot of people, the leadership path has been painful: they have learnt through their mistakes, which may have affected the health and well-being of both their organisation and themselves. Other potential leaders have simply given up, often through lack of recognition, encouragement or support.
Robert Hewison and John Holden, authors of the Clore Duffield report, stated that there were simply too few good leaders to go round. They expressed real concern that the situation could get worse rather than better, and wrote of the need to attract talent into the arts as well as retain it, and to develop leadership potential at all levels. The solution that came out of their research was not an institution or a course, but an intensive, flexible and modular Fellowship programme, tailored to meet the personal needs, interests and aspirations of potential leaders. The Clore Leadership Programme provides not just professional development in core skills such as fundraising, marketing and presentation, but also opportunities and support for personal growth. What it offers is a part of what could be described as a climbing frame for professional development, complementing other initiatives for senior managers and leaders. The core characteristics of our programme are personal choice, the development of a peer group network, and flexibility, enabling our Fellows to develop at their own pace, and allowing for professional commitments, personal circumstances and specific needs.
Our first 27 Fellows range from a curator of Dutch paintings to an expert in circus, and they live as far afield as Belfast, Cornwall, Jarrow and Birmingham. Some have taken a sabbatical or career break and are completing their Fellowship in ten or twelve months whilst others are combining it with part-time employment, freelance work or caring responsibilities, and spreading their programme over eighteen months or two years. Each of our Fellows has a cultural leader as their mentor, and is seconded to an organisation very different from their own for part of their Fellowship. The secondments have ranged from conducting an arts audit for the British Council in Armenia to helping to plan the Royal Court?s fiftieth anniversary celebrations. Our Fellows also spend three months undertaking in-depth research on an aspect of culture that fascinates them, the results of which will be made available to others working in the arts.
We do not have a fixed idea of what a leader is like, but we do know what the job of being a leader is likely to involve. As well as being champion of their organisation, a leader has to be visionary, a good administrator, a financial juggler, a manager of people, a motivator of a team, an employee of trustees, a social networker and an expert fundraiser. You have to be compassionate but pragmatic, to have a heart of gold but nerves of steel. Hewison and Holden said that tenacity of purpose ? plus the ability to motivate and develop a team to achieve that purpose ? were far more important than aura or ?charisma?. Research by the Work Foundation has confirmed this: successful leaders have passion, are able to communicate and build relationships, to coach and mentor others and to inspire them to realise their utmost potential.
Perhaps the greatest achievement of the Programme so far has been in building a true Fellowship, a network of peers drawn not just from one area of culture or one part of the country. Our aim is to produce confident, well-prepared and very well-networked leaders for both established and emerging cultural organisations ? leaders who, in time, will themselves be mentors, who will draw out the talent of others and nurture it and, in so doing, help bring about a step change in organisational culture within the arts. We hope that tomorrow?s leaders will place learning and professional development at the heart of the organisations they lead.
Sue Hoyle is Deputy Director of the Clore Leadership Programme.
w: http://www.cloreleadership.org
The Clore Leadership Programme has announced 27 new Fellows for 2005/6. The full details of the 2005/6 Fellows are as follows:
Nadine Andrews (England?s Northwest) Aged 35. Lives in Manchester. Audience Development Manager for Arts About Manchester, also Associate Director of the creative event agency Ear to the Ground and Chair of theatre company Quarantine. Previously DJ and club promoter.
Maria Bota (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA)-supported). Aged 37. Lives in Huddersfield. Currently Marketing Director for Hallogen Limited (which operates Bridgewater Hall in Manchester). Previously General Manager for Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and Head of Marketing for London Symphony Orchestra.
Augustus Casely-Hayford (Clore Duffield Foundation-supported) Aged 40. Lives in London. Programme Director for Africa 05 and freelance curator, producer, lecturer and consultant. Commissioner on African and Asian Heritage for the Greater London Authority. Previously presenter, producer and director for TV and radio.
Shirley Collier (MLA-Museums) Aged 37. Lives in London. Deputy Director of Collections for Imperial War Museum. Previously worked as a registrar for Tate, Royal Air Force Museum and British Film Institute.
Justine de Mierre (Arts Council England-supported) Aged 33. Lives in London. Artistic Director of Ladder to the Moon, which produces interactive performance in non-theatre spaces. Previously actress and life-skills coach.
Lee Fisher (supported by Dancers? Career Development and The Linbury Trust) Aged 35. Lives in Birmingham. Acting Education Manager with Birmingham Royal Ballet and until recently Dancer in Education and a Soloist with the company. Founded Freefall Dance Company, a company of young learning disabled dancers, of which he is Artistic Director.
Doreen Foster (Clore Duffield Foundation-supported) Aged 40. Lives in London. Head of Chief Executive?s Office, Arts Council England. Previously Scheme Director for West Midlands Social Economy Partnership, Chief Executive for Birmingham Partnership for Change, Divisional Co-ordinator for The Prince?s Trust, Dance Officer for West Midlands Arts and Company Manager for Kokuma Dance Company.
John Fulljames (DCMS - Performing Arts) Aged 30. Lives in London. Artistic Director of The Opera Group, mid-scale touring company presenting new music theatre and opera. Also freelance theatre and opera director.
Anne Gallacher (Clore Duffield Foundation-supported) Aged 40. Lives in Birmingham. Education Director for Birmingham Royal Ballet and Chair of C & T theatre-in-education company. Previously Policy and Resources Officer for West Midlands Arts Board, Events Officer for Birmingham City Council, Administrator for Aberdeen International Youth Festival and Education and Publicity Manager for Scottish Mining Museum.
Tessa Gordziejko (Yorkshire) Aged 48. Lives in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire. Director of Arts & Business Yorkshire. Previously Development Manager for Cultural Industries in Kirklees, Arts Development Officer for Kirklees MDC and freelance consultant, writer, trainer, theatre producer and stage and production manager.
Simon Harris (Wales) Aged 43. Lives in Cardiff. Founder and Artistic Director of Sgript Cymru, national company for new writing by Welsh and Wales-based playwrights. Previously freelance playwright and theatre producer.
Jo Hedley (Clore Duffield Foundation-supported) Aged 40. Lives in London. Curator of Pictures pre-1800 for The Wallace Collection. Previously worked for Christie?s in London and in Paris as specialist in Old Master pictures and drawings.
Sally Lai (Arts Council England-supported) Aged 29. Lives in Manchester. Curator of Chinese Arts Centre, a national organisation promoting contemporary Chinese visual arts. Previously Visual Arts Officer for Arts Council London, and, in Hong Kong, Curator for Galeriasia and Assistant Manager of Galerie Martini.
Jonathan Lloyd (Creative Partnerships) Aged 35. Lives in Ashford, Middlesex. Associate Director of Soho Theatre and Writers? Centre since 1997. Also theatre director, children?s playwright and writer for children?s television.
Paul McLaughlin (Arts Council England-supported) Aged 36. Lives in London. Theatre Manager of Polka Theatre. Previously freelance musician and conductor and Front of House Manager.
Bev Morton (Yorkshire) Aged 43. Lives in Bradford. Chief Executive of Artworks Creative Communities. Previously Co-ordinator for Women?s International Arts Foundation, Development Manager for Plan B Arts, Administrator for The Chipolatas (Musical Street Theatre), Youth and Community Events Officer for Bradford Festival and freelance arts consultant and theatre administrator.
Polly Moseley (King?s Fund Arts and Health) Aged 31. Lives in Manchester. Arts and Health Development Officer for Arts Council England and Public Health North West. Previously Senior Executive ? Enterprise Development for OneNorthEast, Policy Officer for Economic Development Division of Newcastle City Council and Office Manager for French Business Council and French Chamber of Commerce GB.
Fearghus O?Conchuir (Ireland) Aged 36. Freelance choreographer, dancer and teacher in Ireland and the UK. Also part-time dance lecturer at Middlesex University. Previously Dancer, Rehearsal Director and Workshop Leader for Arc Dance Company. Board Member of the Association of Professional Dancers of Ireland.
Sazzadur Rahman (Arts Council England-supported) Aged 28. Lives in Oldham. Founder and Company Director of Peshkar Productions, a British South Asian theatre and production company. Board member of Creative and Cultural Skills. Previously Drama Worker for AYNA Theatre and Chol Theatre and Actor/Teacher for Bradford Theatres.
May Redfern (Yorkshire) Aged 32. Lives in Leeds. Principal Curator, Harewood House Trust. Previously Research Assistant at the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambrdige, Assistant Curator at Farmland Museum and Denny Abbey, Cambridgeshire and Assistant to Curator at the Wordsworth Trust.
Joana Seguro (Wellcome Trust) Aged 29. Lives in London. Founder and Director of Lumin, which supports electronic music and other technology-friendly arts in the UK and Europe. Also co-curates the Ether Festival in which electronic music takes the stage at the South Bank Centre. Previously worked for Mute Records, Warp Records and Source Records (part of Virgin/EMI group).
Emma Stenning (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA)-supported) Aged 30. Lives in London. Previously Executive Director of BAC (Battersea Arts Centre), Administrator of Complicité, Administrative Producer of Oxford Stage Company and Producer of Straydogs. Board member of Northampton Theatres.
Claire Styles (MLA - Libraries) Aged 32. Lives in London. Development and Support Manager for Southwark Library and Information Service. Previously Librarian for Brent Library Service.
Kenneth Tharp (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA)-supported). Aged 45. Lives in London. Assistant to Head of Contemporary Dance at Millennium Dance 2000, Artistic Co-ordinator of the Royal Ballet School Partnership and Access Programme, Dancer in Residence at Queens? College Cambridge and Freelance teacher, choreographer and performer. Trustee of the Royal Opera House. Previously Dancer with London Contemporary Dance Theatre and Arc Dance Company and Artistic Director of the Sadler?s Wells Youth Dance Company.
Katrina Thomson (Clore Duffield Foundation-supported) Aged 34. Lives in Edinburgh. Curator, Works of Art and Sculpture for the National Trust for Scotland. Previously Senior Curator, Prints and Drawings for the National Gallery of Scotland and Research Assistant for the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.
Janice Tullock (MLA - Archives) Aged 34. Lives in Liverpool. Archives Development Officer for MLA North West. Previously Regional Archive Development Officer for NW Regional Archive Council/NW Museums Service, Borough Archivist for Wirral Museum Service, Manager of East Kent Archives, Assistant Archivist for Buckinghamshire Record Office and Records Assistant for the Commission for the New Towns.
Simon Wales (Arts Council England-supported) Aged 33. Lives in London. Centre Director of LSO St Luke?s, the London Symphony Orchestra?s music education and performance venue. . Has worked with LSO since 1995, previously as Tours Manager and Concerts Manager.