Peter Fell, chair of All About Audiences

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"As we move into an age of financial stringency, I think that longer-term vision from the chair and the strategic direction that chairs alone can bring becomes even more critical."

by WebAssistant — last modified Jul 21, 2010 12:54 PM

About the chair

Name: Peter Fell

Chair of: All About Audiences

Job: Director of Regional and Economic Affairs at the University of Manchester

Interview Date: 23rd November 2009

About the interview

An organisation with no name

Arts about Manchester had a problem. Having recently been through a huge structural and profile rehash, they had emerged on the other side as a shiny new audience development agency for the north west. Whilst the move from an arts cooperative to a more business-orientated charity was well advised, it did mean they were no longer just about arts and no longer just in Manchester. In fact the only bit of the name that remained relevant, was ‘about’.

A 'serial trustee'

Peter Fell is the Director of Regional & Economic Affairs at the University of Manchester. Outside his academic duties, he describes himself as a 'serial trustee'. He sits on the boards of a various organisations in the north west, and took up his position as chair of the organisation formerly known Arts about Manchester four years ago.

He explains the extensive risks involved with the shift from cooperative to charity-company. With the old structure, members would pay their subs annually and that was a guaranteed income stream. But once an organisation starts providing a service, people choose to go elsewhere if the service does not stand up to scrutiny.

“Staff need to become more and more commercially minded,” he says, “and realise that the clients have a choice.”

But having taken the plunge, he is pleased with the results. They now rely much less on money from membership and grants, which he says is a big bonus.

“Over the next few years grants will become more and more difficult to obtain - and where they are available they’ll be for specific services and based on quality,” he says.

The right move

The organisation has grown rapidly moving from ten staff to an impressive 25 in just five years. Peter glows with pride as he describes what they have achieved.

“We have probably undergone more change in 18 months than many organisations might undergo in five to ten years!” he says.

His advice to other chairmen facing change is just to be brave. If they had not undergone this transformation, he feels they would most likely be struggling by now.

”You need to be looking not two to three years ahead but, instead, five to seven,” he explains.

And the name?

The board took the decision to let the team fight it out. And we are pleased to report that, following this interview, a name was decided upon, and the word 'about' fought off competition to take centre stage. Arts About Manchester has a new identity: All ABout Audiences.