Heather Newill is right (p11). Arts and cultural organisations are hugely susceptible to a wide range of continuing external influences: economic, political, demographic and cultural.
As Munira Mirza points out (p5), the next few years will be no different as they will have to continue to compete for their share of business support and public subsidy by pitching for their role within the current funded arts agenda. In the wake of the 90?s splurge on Lottery-funded capital projects, Adrian Ellis (p7) draws attention to the ticking time bomb created by those buildings which will in due course be needing refurbishment and repair, and for which no formal financial planning is yet in place. The question of where this money will come from is just one of a whole series that will need to be addressed by future generations of arts managers and policy-makers.
Strong leadership will be a prerequisite for these cultural institutions to keep afloat in the turbulent times ahead, so it is timely to read that the Clore Duffield Foundation is addressing the need for the cultural sector to develop the creative and dynamic managers of the future (p3) and has published its proposals for an intensive new two-year leadership programme. Hopefully delegates on the programme will be given the opportunity to listen to the views of some to our less conventional leaders, like Howard Raynor (p16), whose provocative views on what managers should really be spending their time on will no doubt raise a smile amongst those of you who came back from the Christmas break wondering how you would ever deal with the few hundred emails sitting in your in-box.