Culture Change Conference - Shooting the Rapids

The most interactive of the three main sessions at MMM and CLP's Culture Change Conference last week was called 'Shooting the Rapids'. Six open space/unconference style gatherings, two on each of the three themes of the conference: 'Renew Mission', 'Reconfigure Business Models', 'Revise Approach to Money' were facilitated and 'pollinated' by a host of amazing individuals at the forefront of our evolving arts and cultural ecology.

Renew Mission

Facilitators: Charlotte Jones (ITC and ERA21), and Maurice Davies (MA and ERA21), Pollinators: Tony Butler (MEAL and MMM Capital Matters case study), Gwilym Gibbons (Shetland Arts and MMM Capital Matters case study), Maria Bota, (Salisbury Festival and MMM Capital Matters Case Study), David Brownlee (Audiences UK and ERA21) Clive Gillman (DCA and MMM (re)evolver network member, Laura Sillars (FACT)

Reconfigure Business Models

Facilitators: Mark Robinson, (his own Thinking Practice and MMM Associate), Holly Tebbutt, (her own practice and Researcher on MMM Capital Matters), Pollinators: Declan Baharini, (NewcastleGateshead Cultural Venues MMM Collaborative Working pilot), Dave Moutrey (Cornerhouse),  Hannah Rudman (MMM Associate),  Sian Prime (Institute for Cultural and Creative Entrepreneurship) Sarah Pickthall (Cusp inc), Morag Arnot (Creative Scotland)

Revise Approach to Money

Facilitators: Susan Royce (Independent Consultant) and Claire Antrobus (her own practice and Researcher on MMM Capital Matters), Pollinators: Sarah Preece, Battersea Arts Centre (MMM Capital Matters case study), Julia Twomlow(Leach Pottery and MMM Capital Matters case study), Jim Beirne, (Live Theatre and MMM Capital Matters Case Study) Keith Jeffrey, (Derby QUAD) Rachel Arnold, (Impact Arts), Ed Whiting, (wedidthis)

Each group to heard a short 5 minute case story from each of the pollinators which illustrated real front line change in ways of thinking and ways of doing that is already happening. Each group were then asked to consider the following question: How can capacity in their theme (renew mission, reconfigure business model, revise approach to money) be further accelerated in order to help creative practitioners and organisations survive and thrive in the turbulence ahead?

Here are the bullet points responses: (Hope I captured them correctly - a few were a bit hard to read!) Mission Organisations want:

• Information on everyone else’s mission – a mission bank
• Help to understand each organisation’s place
• Better sharing of good practice concisely
• Sharing of market intelligence
• Help with understanding mechanisms of government e.g. Treasury Green Book
• Learn form other sectors e.g. social enterprise
• Examples of Board and staff working together
• Better access to evaluations and intelligent use of data
• Better understanding of changes in civil society (eg implications of localism bill, how NHS operates)
• Brokerage with introductions to organizations outside cultural sector
• Peer to peer conversations which can offer honest critique and support
• Thought leadership – but nor from well-connected men in suits)
• More advocacy of their value
• To look at what could be
• Space and encouragement to think
• Inspiration from external facilitators and challenge - Facilitation as an extra layer
• Does Mission need to be renewed?
• Advocacy needs to be done by every organisation locally
• A new government after 2015
• No more nepotism and privilige

Model

• Development and extension of professional languages to allow us to talk across  digital and creative industries sectors
• We have expertise in working within and managing highly flexible employment models we need to capitalise on this
• We really understand the value and importance of USP and brand, the next step is to monetise it
• We need champions for more flexible investment models across public, Third and commercial sectors. We know how to deliver flexibility, do they?
• We need to consider how we recruit on the basis of competencies rather than profession much more actively in the future
• There are good examples of peer groups actually to develop innovative models for auditing intangible assets and to benchmark assets and models in UK and abroad
• As energy is a central challenge for the whole ecosystem, we understand that co-opetition is a valuable strategy and we have nothing to fear from generosity
• Our professional capacities allied to the DIY phenomenon (in digital but also in physical) are a means of building conent and delivering new forms too
• Break the rules, use positive deviance
• Mobilise people
• Collaborate (with limits)
• Engage Boards
• Stop jus talking to ourselves, learn from the rest of the world
• Step forward as adults in adult to adult relationships
• Be patient – it takes time

Money

• The words are really important e.g. subsidy vs investment
• Importance of confidence in what we do – we have to value it if we want others to
• Need to develop impact measures and use them if we want to argue that money is not the only measure
• Train ourselves, get out of our old mindset
• Focus on growth not expansion
• Organisational design, too many models are 19^th century, need 21sr century matrix and teams
• Raise financial literacy and fundraising capacity
• Need to invest in people
• Central role of organisational culture and values
• Need to be really clear about core purpose/mission and align organisation to deliver it
• Conscious strategy of investing in the organisation to grow the organisation
• We saw opportunities everywhere – restructure organisations to exploit them
• Learning every day – continual process
• Leaders who don’t think money is a dirty word
• Accelerate our capacity to revise our approach to money
• Partnerships make things happen – different skills and experiences form other sectors
• Connect people to our purpose and the money
• Understand and invest in our assets
• If audiences are a key asset we need relationship skills and we need to invest in understanding audiences
• Teach business skills roe at traiing level/university
• Soft loans – can we model cultural return on investment to support non-grant financing?
• Everyne must think of themselves as creative entrepreneurs
• Bring ambassadors into your organisation to build your networks
• Every 12-18 months so an audit of your artistic values to confirm your mission
• Funders encouraging organisations to think about building and exploiting assets rather than just project funding
• Audiences as key asset for generating income e.g. increased spend per head
• Embedding the arts in people’s every day lives not just the weekends
• Audience ownership
• Giving arts students a business education throughout their training
• Boards need to bring entrepreneurial approach and skills
• Taking ideas from other sectors/industries
• Build good relationships and maintain them with generosity
• Understand the tangible as well as the intangible assets – Board, audience, IP
• Knowing what your asset are and how your assets convert to their passions
• Discovering what relationships people would like to have with those assets – owning a bit, being involved/knowledgeable/altruistic
• What can we do to get people to think about money in new way we are used to survival mode which  encourages us to think too small or to be too prudent
• Try to form partnerships/alliances outside current peer group, encourage big thinking about use of money/business model ideas and resources are intertwined in equal measure
• Learn from outside our sector
• There are always more ways of doing things more effectively