Leading in Cultural Governance
In the face of uncertainty and rapid change, effective governance of arts and cultural organisations has never been more crucial.
At Clore Leadership, we have been offering board development programmes since 2007, empowering trustees and organisations to prioritise governance as a key agenda item in leading their organisations to success.
We are dedicated to fostering robust and inclusive governance practices within the cultural sector. Our recent initiatives reflect our ongoing commitment to driving positive change and empowering leaders.
Last year, we hosted a sell-out Diversifying Governance: From Dialogue to Action training day, both in-person at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London and online. This one-day programme, co-hosted with the Cultural Governance Alliance, brought together Chairs, Trustees, and Executive-level leaders from the arts, heritage, and culture sectors. The event provided practical insights and tools to help organisations embed equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) within their governance.
In line with this work, we have launched an EDI benchmarking tool to further support organisations in assessing and improving their governance practices, particularly in the area of diversity. Find out more.
Governance Now is the annual conference exploring the critical issues in cultural governance for leaders and trustees. It is presented by Clore Leadership and the Cultural Governance.
Each year, the conference addresses current challenges facing cultural governance. Delegates have the opportunity to connect with peers, hear provocations from experienced speakers and share learning.
Our commitment to navigating the evolving landscape of governance was a central theme at our last conference, Governance Now: Power! For the conference, cultural thinker, researcher and founder of Alleyne&, Suzanne Alleyne, wrote a provocation piece The Neurology of Power: Why Compassion Makes Governance Braver, inviting delegates to hold the ideas she covers.
World of Work: In response to the World of Work series, Arts Council England pledged to support cultural leaders and organisations in a number of ways, including a dedicated hub, packed with resources, toolkits, case studies and support materials. Find out about how they’re supporting governance across the creative and cultural sector.
Chairs & CEOs: In partnership with Clore Leadership and the Cultural Governance Alliance, Arts Council England has published a new guide to support working relationships between Chairs and Chief Executives across the arts and cultural sector.
Developed by Fiona Allan, this resource provides practical advice, tools and templates to help organisations strengthen governance at the top of cultural institutions. We will be hosting an in-person workshop offering a deeper exploration of the Chair–CEO relationship, with practical takeaways for leaders across the cultural sector.
You can discover more about our current governance support work, below.
Other Governance Activity
Clore Leadership seeks to provide support to cultural organisations and their boards as they address long-standing challenges as well as new issues in a volatile world. Our governance development work has consistently provided timely responses to topical questions being faced by the sector, as well as regular support for boards and cultural sector leaders. This has included Chair/CEO days, Achieving & Retaining a Diverse Board workshops, Governance Tomorrow (supporting the inclusion of younger people as trustees), research into engagement of those with lived experience of disability in governance, and regular webinars examining topical issues.