The Cultural Leadership Programme, in partnership with Creative Choices°, has published ‘A cultural leadership reader’, bringing together key articles and book reviews that focus on the importance of leadership for mid-career and senior professionals in the creative and cultural industries. Leaders gathered at the launch of the publication which took place at the Wellcome Collection on Friday 9 July as part of the CLP’s Alumni festival (CLP re:freshers).
The publication includes contributions from practitioners in the field and academics who reflect on current and critical issues of leadership from a range of different viewpoints – artist, manager, curator, executive, consultant and observer. Addressing the academic and practical implementation of successful leadership, readers of the publication will have the opportunity to discover different approaches to leadership in different work contexts, and think about how they can apply some of the concepts to their own professional lives.
Hilary Carty, Director, Cultural Leadership Programme comments: “Very much like the sector itself ‘A Cultural Leadership Reader’ offers an eclectic range of views. It acts as a reference point and critical friend that both supports and challenges, encouraging the next step, the deeper reflection, the better outcomes. We hope that leaders, however defined, will see something of themselves within this reader – and will continue to contribute to the dynamic leadership practice and thinking that informs the way we work.”
Caroline Felton, Chief Executive, Creative & Cultural Skills comments: “This is an extremely valuable resource for those working in the creative and cultural sector. It aligns completely with the ambitions of Creative Choices°, our website offering advice and guidance for individuals to progress throughout their careers, which is why we decided to partner with the Cultural Leadership Programme to develop it. Bringing together the key thinking on leadership in this way will make it accessible to the sector for years to come. I expect it will become a key read for a great deal of people”.
Katie Venner, Co-Editor of ‘A cultural leadership reader’ added: “The reader is a marvellous resource to help creative professionals reflect on and identify themes that help organise themselves and their companies, and to make sense of how they think about cultural leadership. It would not in any way have been possible to compile such a comprehensive book without the contributions from a number of highly successful and thought-provoking authors. I have found their writing to be excellent food for thought and I hope others do too”.
A cultural leadership reader was edited by Sue Kay and Katie Venner, with Susanne Burns and Mary Schwarz for the Cultural Leadership Programme. It is available in print or can be accessed online at http://www.culturalleadership.org.uk/publications-and-research/
