Method
"Artists who are leaders understand how their work can achieve wider cultural transformations in the world" Mark Waugh, Director, A Foundation.
Supported by the Cultural Leadership Programme, and informed by the insights of leading artists, Method has been a responsive, individually-tailored programme which offered 20 professional artists and practitioners the opportunity to develop their leadership effectiveness on their own terms, including through their practice.
Method has aimed:
- to facilitate and release the potential of creative individuals;
- to explore artistic practice as a form of cultural leadership;
- to generate and support dialogue around artists/practitioners' role in relation to leadership agendas within and beyond the creative and cultural sector.
Method's first cohort undertook a period of focused development between May and September 2009. Opportunities included:
- bespoke leadership learning in artists'/practitioners’ places of research, production and engagement;
- coaching sessions with accredited professional coaches;
- two events with Action Learning components and inspirational exchanges;
- ongoing support from the Method team and from an external mentor (either another creative individual, or someone from within an organisation);
- critical discussion with cultural theorists and with Method's key partners;
- access to online tools for networking, profiling, discussion and documentation;
- long-term involvement in a diverse network of inspirational artists/practitioners.
Method has been one of two programmes supported by the Cultural Leadership Programme which focus support on the development of independent leaders in the cultural and creative industries in the UK. The second programme is called The Independents. The two programmes are different in that The Independents connects participants with an independently minded organisation, like Battersea Arts Centre, offering an expanded network, peer mentoring and residency opportunities, whilst Method offers participants leadership learning in the context of their own place of work.
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