Arts leaders relying on ‘hierarchical’ styles

Leaders in the cultural sector are relying on “traditional, hierarchical” styles of working, compared with more collaborative “systems leadership” approaches increasingly favoured in other sectors, according to a new study.

The report from Clore Leadership, in partnership with Arts Council England, UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council and Paul Hamlyn Foundation, is calling for a range of interventions to address “sustained hardships” in the sector and bring about “systemic change”.

Measures recommended in ‘Imagine it Different – Interventions for Change’ include a shift to leadership approaches that involve the whole organisation, as well as more shared services, mergers and exchanges between arts organisations over the next few years.

It also calls on government to “reapply the ‘arms-length’ principle” and increase public funding for cultural organisations.

The recommendations are intended to rejuvenate a sector that in early 2024 was “weary with the weight of existing challenges and struggling to articulate the pathways to alternative futures”, the document says.

Research with cultural sector leaders found that they felt demands placed on them have grown worse in the last five years – with difficulties including the Covid pandemic, a “highly challenging” funding landscape, and a “fractious and often hostile political climate”.

While many leaders remain positive and confident about their work, growing pressures are leaving them “increasingly stretched”, with survey results indicating they are “feeling under-siege and overwhelmed”, the report says.

Another challenge is the “heightened politicisation” of organisations’ work through social media. This presents “complex challenges” around how to protect and manage organisations’ core functions, while “still living by values of activism and social justice in an informed way”.

‘Leader-led solutions’

In response to such challenges, the research indicates that leaders are tending to draw on “leader-led solutions” and individual responses that involve skills such as strategic thinking, resilience, adaptability and emotional intelligence.

There were “far fewer mentions of things like conflict management, negotiation, influencing and interpersonal skills, all of which are also critical in a systems approach”, the report says.

A sense also emerged that leaders are “internalising problems, rather than looking to their teams to develop solutions”.

Arts leaders tend to look to peers in the sector for support, rather than within their organisations or to other parts of the economy.

This contrasts with other sectors, says the report, where leaders are “creating connections and collaborations throughout and outside their organisations, and working collectively to solve problems and adapt”.

Leaders expect that funding challenges and political polarisation will continue to affect the sector negatively. But a high proportion felt that changes in technology and consumer preferences would have a neutral impact.

The report says “there is a question of whether leaders have had the space to engage with these trends, which we know will exert an impact, and what they will mean in their work”.

Interventions

The document suggests a range of short, medium and longer-term interventions that governments, funders, sector support bodies and cultural organisations themselves can take to help bring about change. These cover continuous professional development, boards and governance, organisational development and advocacy.

Looking to the immediate future, the report calls for government to expand the range of tax reliefs for cultural organisations and for funders to continue to invest in diversifying governance. Ministers are also urged to “reapply the ‘arms-length’ principle” for non-departmental governmental bodies.

Meanwhile, the document says arts organisations and their leaders should encourage a shift “from leader-led solutions to organisation-wide/systems leadership approaches”.

Over the next one or two years, recommendations include more public funding for arts and culture, as well as reviewing charity regulations and structures “to support fresh thinking and innovation”.

Organisations are also urged to explore “co-leadership and distributed leadership models”, including the co-chairing of boards.

Over a two to three-year horizon, recommendations include exploring more shared services, mergers and exchanges – including potentially across regions and areas to optimise “local synergies”.

The report also says cultural organisations should develop and maintain strong networks beyond their sector, to stay up to date with new ideas and approaches.

The findings are based on survey responses and a series of assembly events held with cultural leaders.

Moira Sinclair, chair of Clore Leadership, said the “important and timely” report is “an opportunity for reflection as well as, crucially, creating space to stimulate a future focus”.

“Our research shows the cultural workforce and its leadership feel under-siege and overwhelmed, with problems being internalised: they are operating in survival mode,” said Sinclair.

“That’s why we are seeking partners and collaborators to make long-term change.”

The report’s conclusions have been welcomed by Arts Council England (ACE).

Maggs Patten, ACE’s executive director of public policy and communication, described the report as “frank and insightful”.

“We’ve heard from the assemblies just how stressful it is being a leader at the moment,” she said.

Patten added that ACE will “help with coaching, with networking, with learning resources and in challenging ourselves about the administrative asks ACE makes of [cultural leaders]”.

“Our sector leaders are committed to creative ambition and creating opportunity and we value them hugely. We pledge to keep on listening to their needs and concerns,” she said.