Our Partners

Three students face the camera. One is sitting cross-legged on a table that has the words 'Goldsmiths, University of London'

Goldsmiths

In Autumn 2025, Future Arts Centres signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Goldsmiths, recognising shared priorities and a commitment to exploring mutually beneficial collaboration.

The partnership is focused on exploring the concept of ‘creative democracy’, bringing together the Future Arts Centres network and Goldsmiths’ research expertise. It asks how arts hubs can act as bridging spaces between communities and local government, creating opportunities to debate and drive social change through creativity around key issues such as the climate crisis.

Collaboration includes student placements, research projects, training and connections to the Goldsmiths curriculum. Future Arts Centres is also an associate member of the Goldsmiths Civic University Agreement Partnership, a network of civic organisations focused on boosting Goldsmiths’ local and regional impact as a force for the public good.

Goldsmiths’ Head of Civic Engagement, Michael Eades, has described the partnership as an opportunity to explore local/national civic collaborations.

Goldsmiths, University of London is known for its creative approach to teaching and research and is home to around 8,000 students. In February 2026, we appointed three research students from Goldsmiths’ MA in Arts Administration & Cultural Policy, Bettina Bakos, Coco Farinet-Brenner and Ana Pires de Carvalho Albuquerque, to work with us as part of the partnership exploring Creative Democracy, supervised by Dr Tricia Jenkins.

Slide showing text that reads 'Achates Recruits - Executive Search for the Culture Sector, by the Culture Sector'

achates

Future Arts Centres works with Achates, a cultural consultancy supporting organisations across the UK arts and heritage sector with fundraising, strategy, recruitment and organisational development. Their purpose-led, audience-informed approach focuses on building resilience and long-term sustainability.

As part of this partnership, FAC Co-Directors Gavin Barlow and Annabel Turpin serve as Achates Recruitment Champions, contributing their sector knowledge and leadership experience to strengthen recruitment practice across the cultural sector.

Future Arts Centres has previously collaborated with Achates to support members in developing approaches to fundraising, including individual giving.

Through this ongoing partnership, we are exploring how sector-led approaches to recruitment, leadership and income generation can support arts centres to thrive in the years ahead.

Headshot of Tim Jones, who has short hair, a moustache, beard, and glasses.

TJ CULTURE LTD

Operating across the UK and internationally, TJ Culture Ltd is led by Tim Jones FRSA, a cultural strategist with over 20 years’ experience.

Tim works at the intersection of culture and the built environment, advising developers, asset managers and local authorities on how to make cultural commitments that hold up: at planning, under scrutiny, and on the ground. His track record spans major urban districts, city-wide cultural strategies and complex regeneration programmes across the UK, including work with organisations such as Landsec, the City of London Corporation and the Barbican.

Future Arts Centres and TJ Culture recently collaborated on the Placemaking with Purpose roundtable and insight report, exploring how developers and arts centres can build deeper, smarter partnerships that deliver lasting value for places, people and projects. We continue to work together through sector events such as UKREiiF, sharing learning and strengthening the role of culture within development.

Photograph of Dave Moutrey, a white man with a grey beard smiling at the camera.

Dave Moutrey and University of Manchester

Future Arts Centres is pleased to be working with Dave Moutrey and the University of Manchester on a project documenting the important role of arts centres.

Arts centres play a critical social and economic role in the cultural infrastructure of towns, cities, regions and nations. They are democratic spaces that shape arts practice, audiences, communities and places, yet are rarely written about or celebrated.

With the support of Future Arts Centres and the University of Manchester, Dave is undertaking research into arts centres as places for artistic production at the intersection of art forms, rooted in their communities and places. He is developing a podcast series and book exploring their history, business models, and role in artist development, audience development and place-making.

As part of the project, Dave is visiting arts centres across the UK and Ireland to interview leaders, artists, audiences and other stakeholders about why arts centres matter.

Based in Manchester, Dave Moutrey has held leadership roles in the arts since the 1980s, including leading Manchester City Council’s cultural and creative industries policy and strategy, following a six-year secondment as Director of Culture. Until March 2024, he was Director and Chief Executive of HOME, having previously served as Director and CEO of Cornerhouse.

If you would like to contribute case studies or data to this research, please contact Dave directly at artscentres@moutrey.com.