Who will lead the UK's cultural and creative industries after the recession?
That is the question Hilary Carty, the director of the government-funded Cultural Leadership Programme, wants to answer.
From her trendy offices, all modern art and orange walls, in the Arts Council building, a stone's throw from parliament, Carty is trying to ensure that the government learns the lessons of previous downturns, and continues to invest in cultural and creative leadership.
The leadership programme was launched in 2006, as part of a wider recognition by the government of the importance of the cultural and creative industries in the economy.
Of course, since then, we have had the downturn – which makes it more important than ever, says Carty, to continue to invest in leadership.
"In the recession of the 1990s, the cultural sector didn't invest in leadership, so we got to the end of that recession and didn't quite have the human resources able to lead our cultural institutions. This programme came about to address that gap," she says.
Entrepreneurial and innovative
It is perhaps surprising that the cultural and creative sector, which by its nature one might expect to be entrepreneurial and innovative, would need a formal leadership programme, but Carty insists that without continuing attention to developing new leaders, it's easy for the sector to be bereft of the senior managers it needs into the future.
One result of the recession has been that more individuals are turning to the programme, she explains. "They recognise the challenges they are facing."
The programme provides a range of training, including courses, placements, secondments, coaching and networking; the full panoply of modern leadership development.
Networking and mentoring are particularly important for encouraging more women into the very highest positions in the sector, something that is another major focus for the programme.
"A lot of women work in the sector, but it is a completely different picture when you look at senior roles," comments Carty.
"In that respect, the sector is no different from other, more traditional industries. The big question for me is whether we should, as a society, look at the nature of those senior roles, because too many people are choosing not to step up to those most senior posts and we are losing a lot of talent."
For this reason, Carty and her team have launched Women to Watch a search for the sector's top 50 future female leaders.
Next March, on International Women's Day, it will published its inaugural list of Women to Watch – a prestigious list of some of the most ambitious and talented women in the cultural and creative sector.
This includes those in the public sector as well as the private sector, reflecting the interests of the three organisations supporting the programme: Arts Council England, Creative & Cultural Skills and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.
"We are the umbrella organisation, looking at the big picture," explains Carty. Some of the gaps identified by the programme have been filled by other initiatives, such as the Clore Fellowship.
And how confident is Carty about the future of the programme, in the face of public spending cuts? "It would be foolhardy not to take on the lessons of the last recession, so of course we are trying to make the case for what we do. But in the end, we are in the same soup as everyone else," she says.
"We are waiting for the next comprehensive spending review."
