Centre for Culture and the Creative Industries
  1. Research
  2. Working with the sector
  3. Academic staff
  4. Culture, Policy and Management Alumni
Culture and the Creative Industries

Working with the sector

We can play an important role in helping you to develop your business. Our academics can provide advice, reports, reviews or evaluations according to your requirements.

Over the past years the Department of Culture & Creative Industries has developed a strong culture of working with commercial and not-for-profit organisations who wish to benefit from our expertise. We have worked with a wide variety of partners including:

National Museums Directors Conference

Assessing Communications in the Museum Sector

The influential National Museums Directors Conference, including the National Gallery, the Tate and the British Museum commissioned City to look at how the museum sector could enhance communication with government, with a focus on access and education messages. A number of senior politicians, two previous secretaries of state, civil servants from three government departments and key sector agencies participated in the exercise, which provided valuable feedback to the sector and government.

Museums Libraries and Archives Council (MLA)

Impact of the London Skills and Employment Board on the MLA Sector

MLA London commissioned City to analyse, forecast and map the impact of the Mayor's new London Skills and Employment Board on the Museum Library and Archive sector role in adult skills development in London. The research informed the development of MLA London's advocacy, strategy and action plan and helped the sector to position themselves most effectively to respond to London Skills and Employment Board's priorities.

Arts & Business

Individual Giving: a study of donor motivation

Arts & Business came to City, University of London because they wanted an authoritative piece of research on the motivations of individual donors to the cultural sector. The aim was to explore whether there is anything specific about engaging in giving to the arts, especially giving behaviours, and what actually motivates people to contribute what are often very small amounts of money to an arts organisation. The research has established facts to underline some of the sector's beliefs on this subject and, more importantly, exposed new findings that will have a direct impact on how the cultural sector operates. Arts & Business is keen that the final report enables a step change in how arts organisations raise money from individuals.

  • For further details on the report see the Arts & Business website

City of London Festival

Funding from Knowledge Connect (a London Development Agency and European Regional Development Fund supported programme) has enabled an expert at City, University of London to work with organisers of the City of London Festival in order to find out more about their audiences.

Historic Royal Palaces

Challenging History

A collaborative project with Historic Royal Palace and Museums Libraries and Archives Council London is taking place during 2009 to explore the role of museums across different countries and cultures in helping communities understand difficult and controversial subjects and their relevance to their lives. The project will draw together existing research; run seminars for museum, heritage and university education practitioners; and disseminate the results to the sector.

Celebrating Enterprise

Celebrating Enterprise was a partnership of London-based voluntary and community sector organisations, local authorities, business advice agencies, colleges and universities who joined together to open up the business opportunities offered by festivals and community events. This diverse multi-agency partnership, led by City, University of London, was part funded by European Union's Equal programme. As well as working with partners to develop innovative training and support services for those using the events as vehicles for developing festival businesses, City's research team investigated many aspects of festival organisation, funding and operation.

Board membership

In the in the last five years, Culture & Creative Industries staff have contributed as board members to the following organisations:

  • Oxford Contemporary Music
  • The Women's Library
  • The Museums Association
  • The Group for Education in Museums

Training and Professional Development

Organisations come to City for training because they can benefit from the institutions' wealth of sector-specific knowledge, experience and teaching capability. We offer short open courses and develop bespoke in-company courses and learning programmes, offering an excellent opportunity to equip staff with core skills.

The open courses are usually run in the evening or at weekends and the central London location makes it possible for employees to attend these courses with little or no disruption to their working day. These can help employers to update the knowledge and skills of their employees to keep pace with changes in the sector or the business world in general.

We are also able to tailor courses for individual organisations, on- or off-site. We will work with you to develop either an accredited or non-accredited programme of study for your employees. The Cultural Leadership programme has been delivered to meet the needs of individual organisations and networks including:

  • National Cultural Forum (NCF) / Chief Cultural & Leisure Officers Association (CLOA)
  • Birmingham Royal Ballet
  • Visual Arts Network
  • Power Brokers
  • The National Association of Local Government Arts Officers (NALGAO)

To discuss any requirements you may have please contact us at cpm@city.ac.uk