The Art of Leadership conference

Prefiguring the Cultural Leadership programme, The Art of Leadership was a conference where artists, arts managers, members of arts boards, local authority officers and many others convened to discuss the state of, and challenges to, the leadership of the arts in Britain.

Jointly developed by  Arts + Media and management and training consultants TMPL, the conference was designed to provide a platform for debate and an opportunity for individual and organisational development.

“There is indeed a national debate about Leadership in the arts”, said Marion Doyen, Chief Executive of A+M. “Comment in newspapers, the recent debate surrounding the establishment of the Clore Leadership Programme and the problems affecting major national organisations have all highlighted questions about the nature of leadership in the arts sector”

“What do the terms mean, what constitutes a ‘good’ or effective leader - these issues are of real importance to a sector which often places a higher value on concepts such as artistic vision, personal charisma and intense dedication as constituent elements of the effective artistic leader - and rates far lower, for example, financial or management skills”, she said.

The keynote sessions included ‘Investigating the climate for leadership’ by Venu Dhupa Fellowship Director, NESTA, and ‘Leadership and organisational culture’ by Dinah Caine OBE, Chief Executive Officer of Skillset.