Meeting the Challenge

The Meeting the Challenge Development Programme was launched in June 2008 with an ambition to embed leadership development within arts organisations and by extension, across the wider cultural and creative sectors. As the CLP’s only open application fund, Meeting the Challenge invited organisations to join together in partnership to design and lead bespoke leadership programmes that were best suited to their needs.

124 organisations from different parts of the sector, and located across the country, joined together to create the 22 partnerships which were supported over the 3 years of Meeting the Challenge.  The programmes that were developed as result were incredibly diverse and offered a wide range of leadership development activities, which in turn benefited hundreds of people from all career stages across the cultural and creative industries.

As well as increased organisational sustainability and better partnership working, the legacy of Meeting the Challenge will be the resilient, networked, confident and skilled leaders, who are now best placed to address the changing circumstances and demands of our time.

This film features contributions from a range of coordinators and participants at the close of the Meeting the Challenge programme.  They reflect on the journey and achievements of their partnerships, and the impact it has had on them both individually, and on their organisations.  The film also explores New Music Plus, one of the first Meeting the Challenge partnerships, in more depth, and we hear about its successes and plans for the future.