the blog

Sound and Music – Programme Strategy Development

In May 2009, the hub was appointed by the newly formed Sound and Music organisation to work with its nascent ‘programme’ team, to develop a programme strategy for 2009-10. At this point, SaM was still a fledgling organisation, formed out of the merger of a number of contemporary music and sound art organisations. Over the […]Read More

EventBox’s CEO Joey Baxter charts the process of bringing a new software platform to market

EventBox is a mobile app and website that lets you listen to gig listings to discover music events happening nearby.  It was supported to market through the hub’s Joining the Dots programme.  Here CEO Joey Baxter charts the process of bringing an idea to fruition. When we started Joining The Dots in March 2014, we had […]Read More

Here’s One I Made Earlier…Top tips for growing a new creative business

At a recent hub away day the focus was on business growth. Not something that small enterprises necessarily think of when they’re very focused on getting their idea or business off the ground, but how a business develops once its launched will determine its success or failure. We’re currently supporting four new digital/music projects through […]Read More

RE-SET: virtual action learning for artists and creative freelancers

RE:SET is a virtual action learning programme for creative freelancers, artists and other creative entrepreneurs based in England. Designed in response to Covid 19, it brings together peers from across the sector to help each other explore their challenges, opportunities and dilemmas and unlock new insights.Read More

BBC Talent: developing the Fame Academy Bursary scheme

BBC New Talent first approached the hub a decade ago to help them scope out how they could best support the development of young musicians. They’d been sent our way by the Arts Council who said we were the go-to team if they wanted strategic thinking combined with an ability to create real life programmes […]Read More

Free Word: marketing and communications strategy

We worked with members of the Free Word team in 2013 to create a marketing strategy for the organisation’s development between 2013/14 and 2015/16. In a project such as this one, our role is to prompt and open up thinking, test propositions, contribute knowledge of the wider context and organise conclusions into a clear set […]Read More

Kettles Yard: Music Programme strategy

We worked with the team at Kettles Yard gallery in Cambridge to review the organisation’s existing music programme and recommend a strategic direction for music over the next five years, in line with the organisation’s new vision. Music has always played an important part in the history of Kettle’s Yard and was central to Jim […]Read More

Strategy

Naturally diagnostic and culturally curious, we are excited by working with dynamic organisations to ensure they are forward looking, internally focused and fit for purpose. We have a strong track record of making a real difference to organisations we work with, and have provided fundraising, marketing, business planning and change management support to clients including public sector bodies and arts organisations such as Attitude is Everything, Community Music East and Tomorrow’s Warriors.Read More