Bucks Cultural Leaders

Update – Bucks Cultural Leaders Programme is Back!

Bucks Culture are keen to support cultural leadership in the county and are working with Cultural Associates Oxford to provide two Action Learning Sets in Spring 2023.

The project originally started February 2021 and has been designed to help leaders and innovators in our creative and cultural organisations respond and re-frame their organisations and programmes in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. For this installment we are again working in partnership with Cultural Associates Oxford (CAO). The programme has been funded by Rothschild Foundation and Buckinghamshire Council.

This is a great opportunity to

  • provide space and time to think about and talk about specific issues with peers
  • work with people outside your organisation, which can enable more open and honest discussions to take place
  • provide a chance to hear different perspectives and ideas, to think about things in a different way and to be challenged
  • be in a safe space – to test ideas, to be vulnerable, to disclose candid information
  • provide a focussed period of reflection and development.

Through encouraging leaders to take time to work through issues together, it is envisaged that they will share these skills with colleagues within their organisations.

The Action Learning Sets are due to take place mid-February up to Easter. We have now completed the applications process for the group.

If you want more information around the project idea please contact helen@buckinghamshireculture.org.

Previously…

Kicking off in February 2021, Bucks Cultural Leaders has been designed to help leaders and innovators in our creative and cultural organisations respond and re-frame their organisations and programmes in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. We are working in partnership with Cultural Associates Oxford (CAO), who will develop and deliver this programme, drawing on their impressive networks across the creative, cultural, business and higher education sectors. The programme has been funded by Rothschild Foundation, Arts Council England and Buckinghamshire Council.

The aim of this programme is to respond positively and proactively to the impact of Covid-19 and to support the cultural eco-system of Buckinghamshire at a time of great challenge for the cultural sector. This tiered Cultural Recovery Programme aims to help sector partners to get back on their feet, reframe and reset their offer, and re-engage with their audiences. It will raise the ambition and aspirations of sector leaders, build leadership skills and capacity whilst looking at how we can ‘build back better’ after Covid-19. 

Bucks Cultural Leaders is a fully funded online leadership development programme and peer-to-peer network designed for cultural leaders and practitioners who are:

  • Forward looking with an aspiration to achieve their creative vision
  • Enthusiastic to collaborate as well as develop their own leadership capability
  • Committed to enabling others to reach their full potential
  • Willing to share their specialist expertise and support their peers during the programme.

The programme’s intended outcomes include:

  • An ecology of collaborative and entrepreneurial cultural leaders and practitioners
  • A cohort that feels empowered, able to realise their potential and has more confidence to lead their organisations
  • A cohort that feels more ambitious, collaborative and embraces new business opportunities
  • Increased opportunities for arts and cultural experiences and participation for everyone
  • New partnerships and joint working
  • Opportunities identified for attracting investment and funding for joint projects
  • Building capacity and enhancing sustainability for the sector
  • An increased recognition of the value and opportunity that the cultural sector presents to society and the economy in Buckinghamshire by raising the profile of creativity and culture and its relevance to our daily lives.

Participants on this leadership course represent the breadth of the Bucks creative and cultural sector, including: Amersham Museum, Buckinghamshire Archives, Buckinghamshire Culture, Bucks County Museum, Bucks New University, Buska Video, Chiltern Arts, Chiltern Open Air Museum, Fish Eye Film Fest, Garsington Opera, Milton’s Cottage, National Paralympic Heritage Centre, Obsidian Art, Queens Park Arts Centre, Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre, Signdance Collective, The Buckinghamshire Craft Guild, The Elgiva, The Theatreshed, Waddesdon, Wycombe Museum, Wycombe Swan.

As well as attending Bucks Cultural Leaders, participants will also be invited to join the open sessions with key members of their team, which are being programmed as part of a second strand of support – Building Skills. More information about the Building Skills workshops will be released in the Spring.

‘‘We are really looking forward to working on this fantastic new programme to help cultural organisations and leaders in Buckinghamshire re-engage with their audiences.  We are all living through a time of monumental change, and for the cultural and creative sectors in Buckinghamshire, this programme offers an incredibly positive opportunity to re-frame, re-think and build new networks for a new future.”

Lucy Shaw, Director of CAO

For more information and details of the CAO team delivering this programme, please see our Programme Overview:

Bucks Cultural Leaders Programme OverviewDownload