2014 – 15 Cohort

Comprising a Personal Development Plan, two residentials, mentoring and group projects, Extend aims to give participants the confidence, skills and a range of experiences that will enable them to achieve a greater degree of leadership in their future career – this might be through gaining a leadership position or spearheading achievements that raise the status of the profession as a whole.

Led by Engage, the National Association for Gallery Education, the Extend Leadership Programme is a professional development programme open to applicants working in learning and education roles, across all art forms, who meet the eligibility criteria. The programme is tailored for colleagues from the arts and cultural sectors, to enable participants to achieve a greater degree of leadership in their future career.

The 2014-15 Extend Cohort comprised 13 colleagues working in learning and education roles in the arts and cultural sectors who consider themselves to be mid-career and aspire to leadership. We were sub-divided into four groups. My group, known as the Peripatetic group (on account of our often mobile, off-site and even peripheral practice) sought to explore the role of Artist as Leader; creative leadership; how both influence approaches to change within educational and learning environments; and the impact of this research on the development of our own practice.

Our aim was to better understand creativity in the context of leadership through a range of methodologies which included desk-based research, a series of interviews with professionals, collective writing, and hosting an exploratory event with potential young leaders. Read our final report here: Peripatetic Group Project Report Extend Programme 2014 2015