“Yasmin brings the rich combination of insight, intelligence and diligence to her work, which makes her a partner of choice. I enjoyed working closely with yasmin in a professional capacity when I commissioned her to deliver the inaugural Governance Now conference as part of the inception of the Cultural Governance Alliance between 2016-18. As the lead producer on the project, she fulfilled a demanding brief to an exceptionally high quality. Yasmin brought support, direction, and insightful thought leadership to an innovative initiative. Managing multiple perspectives and stakeholders she provided creativity and challenge that resulted in the production of an inspirational conference programme and companion website, underpinned by a robust Theory of Change model which she designed, scoped and executed.”
Hilary S Carty OBE, Director, Clore Leadership
REMIT: Founding Producer, Cultural Governance Alliance
I played a pivotal role in the inception of the Cultural Governance Alliance (CGA), a strategic collective of partners working strategically to champion, share and promote a more resilient and sustainable cultural sector through boosting best practice in good governance.
Its mission is to develop and run a strategic peer network, supporting our members to be effective advocates and demonstrators of good governance through networking, collaboration, and the pooling and sharing of resources.
I worked closely with Hilary Carty, the Director of Clore Leadership, to devise the Activity Plan which included:
- Signposting: Providing a primary reference point for good governance advice, information policy making, and practice.
- Collaboration: Coordinating and promoting cross-sector opportunities including workshops, seminars, training and professional development. Creating and optimising opportunities for the co-production of resources and events.
- Advocacy: Sparking and encouraging dynamic and constructive engagement with the topic of good governance through dialogue, forums, events and activities.
Our rationale was that in order to enable a resilient and relevant cultural sector, with highly performing cultural organisations, boards and trustees needed to be supported to perform at their best – to be stronger, better informed and better equipped to demonstrate excellence in governance.
I helped to form the Cultural Governance Alliance (CGA) in response to the recommendations of the Achieving Good Governance report, (the original report was commissioned by Clore Leadership in 2016, together with a consortium of trusts and foundations including Clore Duffield Foundation, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Foyle Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation and Paul Hamlyn Foundation). I played a key role in cultural diplomacy by liaising with senior stakeholder representatives from each organisation so that everyone felt aligned with the delivery strategy.
I was subsequently commissioned by Clore Leadership to help devise and implement the action plan to deliver the change strategy which involved exploring the inception and feasibility of the Cultural Governance Alliance based on the recommendations of the original report. Prior to that, I was commissioned by Co-Creatives to review and edit the independent strategic review of governance in Arts Organisations & Museums led by Hilary Carty and associates. Together we devised the change strategy and subsequently implemented the action plan to establish the Cultural Governance Alliance.
Working with associates, we brokered start-up funding from partner organisations to cover the incubation phase, conference and website production. Seed funding and strategic support was successfully awarded by Arts Council England, National Lottery Heritage Fund and Gulbenkian Calouste Foundation UK. Thanks to securing the commitment of these partners and supporters, the CGA continues to able to operate as a free membership network for both individuals and organisations with a strong online presence which I oversaw the development of as the commissioning editor: www.culturalgovernancealliance.org.
In parallel, I was the inaugural producer of Governance Now, a national flagship conference for UK Chairs, CEOS and trustees which took place in November 2018 as part of the annual Trustees Week. Key panel themes included inviting thought leaders to debate the role of governance in influencing climate emergency, inclusive organisational culture, and financial resilience.
Since my departure and moving onto leading new projects, I’m delighted that Governance Now has continued to be a major annual networking event in the cultural diary which I continue to enjoy engaging with in my capacity as a trustee. Forthcoming events are listed here.
