SERVICES
The consultancy offers the following services:
I am skilled in project development and can help you to plan and deliver consultation with your stakeholders, create an audience development strategy or facilitate effective partnerships. I can help you to assess your staff and volunteer training and recruitment needs. Additional services include: costing projects, mapping the strategic landscape, practical writing skills (from policy documents and action plans, to job descriptions and advocacy documents) and planning your evaluation strategy.
I have developed successful Heritage Lottery Fund Activity Plans for heritage buildings, parks, galleries and museums. I'll take you through all the stages of developing the plan, from consultation right through to devising creative ways to get people to engage with your heritage. I'll help you to think about who your audiences are, who you'd like your audiences to be and how we can get them involved. I've delivered an Activity Plan in my local community so I have firsthand knowledge of recruiting and training volunteers, getting the community involved and creating a plan that is flexible enough to meet the challenges along the way. I will help you to think about how to deliver the planned activities and how to sustain the work beyond the HLF funding. I can also help you to plan your evaluation and reporting.
Examples include: Deepdene Trail, The Walronds, Martock Community Office
PROJECT DEVELOPMENT & ACTIVITY PLANNING
I offer a range of evaluation services, from independent evaluation to a supported service where I will coach your team and develop your evaluation skills. I am well versed in a variety of evaluation approaches, tailored to the people that we need to work with. When it comes to reporting, I will happily write a detailed report, an executive summary, a headline report with accompanying spreadsheets or write sections of a report to a funder.
I have provided evaluation services for several HLF funded projects including: Tate, Churches Conservation Trust and Friction Arts.
Examples of the full evaluation service include: Cityread London, National Cultural Leisure Forum, Arvon and Ripon Museum Trust.
Examples of a supported evaluation service include: Take Art, Royal Opera House.
My research activity has generally been commissioned to support strategy and policy development (see below). However, I have also carried out research to develop guides for artists - e.g. To Travel, Hopefully: A Guide to Travel Grant Opportunities (revised edition). I have also written practical guidance and procedures on child protection (NESTA). For Arts Council England I led the Public Affairs team and wrote newsletters, guides, advocacy documents, corporate briefings and commissioned research.
EVALUATION & RESEARCH
STRATEGY & POLICY DEVELOPMENT
I have supported client's strategic and policy needs through primary and secondary research services. I have researched cultural provision in specific geographic areas (London, Thames Gateway) and specific types of creative activity (Arts & older people) or service provision (Disability & Culture in London's NPOs). I have written also written literature reviews, briefing documents and been on working groups to develop documents such as Arts Council England's Keeping the Arts Safe, Freedom of Information guidance and revised the Mayor's first Culture Strategy on the basis of a review of feedback from the sector.
I have written policies and action plans for clients including: equal opportunities, training and learning, recruitment, volunteering and audience development.
I can help you to map out potential funding sources and plan your fundraising, co-write a bid with you or come in at the end as a critical friend to help you to make the best case for your project and organisation. I have made successful bids to Arts Council England (Grants for the Arts), Heritage Lottery Fund and local housing & charitable trusts.
I began my career at Arts Council of Wales and I also worked for Arts Council England in their busy London office. This firsthand knowledge of working for funders, plus my experience as an evaluator makes bid writing a natural extension of my consultancy offer.
Examples of successful bid writing include: Octagon Theatre, Stroud International Textiles.
BID WRITING
