Adapting to Survive All About Audiences Conference 2011 - Notes & Presentations

‘We’re Not in Kansas Anymore: adapting to survive’ was All About Audiences first-ever regional conference.

In the same week that ACE announced the results of their National Portfolio Funding decision and as the new financial year began and its associated cuts kicked in, the arts and cultural sector in the North West (and far beyond) joined together to look in depth at how organisations and individual staff members can bolster their resilience, work collaboratively, think more creatively about income generation and ultimately, adapt to survive.

There were some very strong, very positive key messages that came out of the day: the need for organisations to be clear on their mission and stay true, whatever the changes, to their core values; the need to be masters of our own destiny; the audience is absolutely crucial to survival and success and increasingly needs to be involved; although we are facing cuts, we are still in fact a growth sector; and organisations need to have a good awareness of the environment they are currently operating in as well as a strong focus on the future. As breakout leader Rebecca Johnson of Creativity Works said, “ear to the ground and eye to the future”.

Delegates also had the chance to hear from the following:

Keynote Speakers:

• Ivan Lewis MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport
• Mark Robinson, Founder & Director, Thinking Practice
• Susan Royce, Change Management Consultant
• Paul Smith, Executive Director, Liverpool Biennial

Breakout Leaders:

• Nadine Andrews, Creative Research Consultant and Coach, culture probe
• Lisa Baxter, Creative Thinking Consultant
• Rebecca Johnson, Chair, Creativity Works
• Chris Grady, Head of External Relations, Bury St Edmunds
• Tom Atkins, We Did This
• Tony Trehy, Director, Bury Art Gallery & Museum
• Siân Johnson, Vice Chair of the Trustees of the Dukes Playhouse, Lancaster

You can find full details of our contributors and their sessions here.

We have uploaded all of the contributors PowerPoint Presentations and have created a Conference Report with a synopsis of each session, including key findings and hints and tips to help you adapt and survive.