Family Arts Leadership
Symposium 2026
PROGRAMME
We’re delighted to share the full programme for the 2026 Family Arts Leadership Symposium: Resilient Futures.
Registration will open at 10.00 am for a 10.30am start and the event will finish at 5.30pm. Delegates are invited to join the Family Arts Campaign at MAC Bar after the event, for informal networking. Lunch and refreshments will be provided during the day.
As Arts Council England’s new strategic framework places renewed emphasis on excellence, public value, and community voice, cultural leaders are being asked to make increasingly complex decisions. Whether you’re preparing for future investment opportunities, looking to diversify income, strengthening relationships with communities, or simply trying to create a more resilient organisation, this year’s programme has been designed to provide the time, space and practical ideas to support your next steps.
Navigating the Day
The programme gives you a choice of four different conversations — from excellence and community voice to financial and personal resilience. Choose the one that feels most useful to you right now.
💰 How can we build sustainable support?
Explore fundraising, storytelling and organisational strategy with practical insights from an experienced fundraiser.
🌱 How can we sustain ourselves?
Step back and think about personal resilience, burnout, boundaries and the conditions we need to thrive.
⭐ What does excellence mean for you?
Explore how to define and focus ambition in a way that works for your organisation and the communities you serve.
🤝 How do we lead through polarised times?
Bring a real dilemma to the room and explore how leaders can respond when community voices, organisational values and wider social and political pressures pull in different directions.
📣 How do we make the case for family engagement?
Come back together to explore how we can use evidence, impact and organisational priorities to make a stronger case for family engagement.
10.30 AM – Keynote:
with Emma Stenning
Chief Executive, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
In this opening keynote, Emma Stenning will reflect on what resilience means for cultural organisations navigating a period of significant change. Drawing on her experience leading organisational transformation and major cultural institutions, she will explore the interconnected challenges of financial, personal and organisational resilience, and consider how leaders can sustain ambition, purpose and impact in uncertain times. Reflecting on the resilience of Birmingham’s cultural sector and the strength that comes from collaboration, creativity and community, Emma will offer an optimistic perspective on the opportunities ahead. This keynote will invite delegates to think not only about how organisations withstand change, but how they can adapt, grow and build stronger futures through it.
The Keynote will be followed by a Direction Setting session. This is an open, facilitated discussion about the choices leaders can make to build more resilient organisations, and more sustainable ways of leading. The conversation will explore the role of prioritisation, questioning and knowing when to stop: how leaders can challenge assumptions about what is necessary, and create space to focus on what matters most. Rather than accepting every demand as a given, what might we need to question, change or let go of? Participants will have space to reflect on their own leadership challenges, share experiences with peers and identify one purposeful change they can take forward.
11.45 AM – Choose a breakout session
with Dr Laura Crossley
Consultant, Researcher and Facilitator
Drawing on her recent Clore/AHRC research into burnout in the cultural sector and her work on the ‘Conscious Organisation’, Dr Laura Crossley will explore personal resilience through a care-centred lens. The session will consider what contributes to burnout, how we recognise when we are being stretched too far, and the role of boundaries, capacity, rest and support in sustaining ourselves as leaders.
Through research, reflection, and practical discussion, Laura will introduce approaches to help participants notice what is happening, identify what they can change or let go of and keep paying attention to their own needs over time. The session will also consider how looking after our own capacity is not separate from supporting others: when leaders are better able to sustain themselves, they are better placed to create the conditions for their teams and organisations to thrive, and ultimately to deliver better experiences for the families and older people they serve.
Delegates will leave with:
- A deeper understanding of personal resilience and burnout in the context of cultural leadership
- Practical approaches for recognising their own limits, capacity and needs
- Ideas for how personal resilience can support healthier, more sustainable conditions for their teams
with Analiese Doctrove
Fundraising and Strategy Consultant
This session will explore how leaders can build stronger, more sustainable support by bringing teams together around fundraising and income generation. It will focus on storytelling as a way of building long-term relationships with audiences, funders and partners—communicating purpose, value and impact in ways that strengthen trust over time, rather than relying on repeated ‘asks’. Participants will also consider how to look beyond traditional funding sources, diversify income, and develop a more joined-up organisational approach to generating support. The session will explore practical ways for leaders to build confidence, alignment and shared ownership of fundraising activity across their teams.
Delegates will take away:
- practical approaches for strengthening fundraising success through clearer and more compelling storytelling
- tools for involving more of their organisation in building relationships and generating income
- inspiration for identifying and developing more diverse funding and support opportunities
1 PM – Lunch
2 PM – Choose a breakout session:
with Erin Walcon
Co-Director and Co-Founder, Doorstep Arts
This highly participatory Leadership Lab will put the experiences, challenges and questions of the people in the room at its centre. Together, we’ll explore the realities of building trust, sharing influence and listening to families and older people, particularly when different voices conflict, community priorities challenge organisational ones, or the right course of action isn’t clear.
We’ll also consider the wider context in which cultural organisations are working. As ideas about inclusion, representation and public value become increasingly contested, how do we stay connected to the families, older people and communities we serve, share power and make decisions together while navigating uncertainty and competing pressures?
Rather than offering a set of answers, this is a space to bring real dilemmas, test ideas, challenge assumptions and learn from one another.
Delegates will leave with:
- new perspectives on challenges they are currently facing
- practical approaches shared by peers
- greater confidence navigating the tensions between community voice, organisational purpose and leadership responsibility
with Matt Harper-Hardcastle
CEO and Artistic Director, Next Door But One
This session will explore what excellence means in different organisational contexts, and how leaders can make purposeful choices about where to focus their ambition – particularly as Arts Council England places renewed emphasis on excellence and public value. But what does excellence mean when we’re creating work for families and older people? Rather than treating excellence as a single standard or simply a question of reaching more people, the session will consider what it means to go deeper into the communities we serve.
Using a series of concentric circles of excellence, participants will reflect on what their organisation’s best work looks like, what excellent work means for the families, older people and communities they serve, and what excellence looks like for the people delivering it. The session will challenge the idea that artistic ambition and community relevance are competing priorities, exploring how a clearer sense of purpose and focus can strengthen quality, impact and long-term resilience.
Delegates will leave with:
- clearer understanding of what excellence means in their context
- a practical framework for identifying where their organisation can focus and go deeper
- new perspectives on balancing artistic ambition, community relevance and team wellbeing
3.15 PM – Break
3.45 PM – Session for everyone
with Deborah Larwood
Director of Income Generation, Achates
How can leaders position work with families and older people at the heart of organisational strategy, business planning and funding applications?
In this session, we’ll explore how to build a clear and compelling case for family engagement — connecting your organisation’s purpose with evidence of need, audience insight and the impact of your work. We’ll consider how to articulate the value of creating meaningful cultural experiences for families and older people, and how this contributes to wider organisational priorities around public value, community voice, access and participation.
The session will also look specifically at how to communicate this effectively in funding applications, including to Arts Council England. How can we make sure work with families and older people is clearly connected to our wider organisational ambitions and strategic priorities, rather than sitting as a standalone programme? And how can we use evidence, stories and impact to demonstrate why this work matters to funders, partners and decision-makers?
- practical approaches for strengthening the narrative around family engagement
- clearer ways to connect storytelling, data and impact in funding and strategy contexts
- tools for positioning their work with greater confidence within investment discussions
5 PM – Wrap Up & Close
Not booked yet?
Book your tickets now
Book your tickets now
Tickets available until 16 September 2026 or until Sold Out
Bundle options available to bring another colleague with you.
*Small organisations are any classed as a “micro entity” by HMRC (e.g. has 10 or fewer employees)
**No VAT will be added to ticket prices. Please note a £3 booking fee is charged per ticket.
If you have any queries regarding tickets please contact us at hello@familyarts.co.uk.
“Days like this remind me why working in arts organisations is so rewarding: the chance to learn, connect, and bring new ideas back to our communities. ”
– Past Event Attendee
Networking
Alongside the programme, the Symposium will create dedicated space for meaningful connection and peer support.
- Informal pre-event gathering the evening before the Symposium, offering an opportunity to meet fellow attendees and begin conversations ahead of the day.
- Optional peer networking scheme, allowing participants to opt in and be matched with a relevant contact before the event to support more meaningful connections and shared learning.
- Facilitated networking activities built into sessions throughout the day, designed to break the ice, encourage discussion and help participants build new relationships across the sector.
Accessibility
We are delighted to be hosting our event at a venue committed to offering a welcome and accessible experience for its visitors. You can find out more about the accessibility of the building here, including a full venue access guide.
We are committed to providing bespoke support for accessibility requirements wherever possible, if you would like to discuss your needs with us or have any access questions please email anna.dever@familyarts.co.uk.