Review of Spotlight On Making Work in Challenging Economic Times
in partnership with
The latest in our Spotlight On series of events, in partnership with Contact, took place on Tuesday 30th June 2009.
Spotlight On Making Work in Challenging Economic Times obviously struck a chord with many people, as we had an excellent turnout of around 40 performing arts practitioners and administrators at the event.
The excellent panel of guest speakers led an active discussion with the audience, bringing the benefit of their various different backgrounds and perspectives to give us a broad introduction to the topic of diversifying income streams. Many of the PANDA members and guests present also joined in to contribute their own tips and advice on creative ways to make work happen, using the benefit of their own unique experiences.
The panel was chaired by our own Julia Turpin, Acting PANDA Manager and Director of Contacting the World. Julia first invited the audience to introduce themselves individually and then express what they hoped to learn from the panel.
Our first guest speaker, Richard Hall from Arts Council England, North West, updated us on the current situation at the funding body, and explained the probable changes due to take place and how these might affect Grants for the arts funding.
Next, Chantelle Culshaw, then gave us a fascinating insight into the work of a professional fundraiser. Chantelle is currently in post as Development Director at Royal Exchange Theatre, and has experience of raising income via trusts and foundations, individual giving, sponsorship and other corporate sources. In particular, the audience were reassured to hear that even professional fundraisers only expect a success rate of 1-in-3 when applying to trusts and foundations!
Julia then introduced our next panellist, Chanje Kunda, a poet, writer and performer and Director of her own company, Afrique Performs. Chanje used her own experience of developing her career and setting up her company as an inspiring case study of what can be done when you take a holistic approach to supporting yourself through multiple income streams.
Finally, we heard from the Regional Director of Arts & Business North, Eleanor Wotherspoon, who provided us with some interesting facts and figures on the current state of the arts in relation to the financial climate.
For more information about any of the speakers at Spotlight On Making Work in Challenging Economic Times...
Download the Speaker Biographies
After the ensuing discussion, many of the audience and panel members alike continued their conversations at the following one hour networking session in the Contact bar.
If you attended the event and missed out on jotting down any of the useful hints and tips shared, or if you didn't make it along this time and want to catch up on what you missed...
Download the notes from Spotlight On Making Work in Challenging Economic Times
Overall the feedback to the event was very positive, with all respondents stating that the event met or exceeded their expectations, and 76% saying that they found the content useful or very useful. There was praise for each of the individual speakers on the panel, as well as general positive feedback on the panel format itself. We also had lots of useful suggestions for ways we could improve the event and suggestions for future topics. Everyone who responded said that they would recommend PANDA events to a friend and that they would come to another one themselves – so we hope to see you all again at the next one!
Thanks for taking part!