The Covid pandemic threatened the future of Chiswick House & Gardens Trust, but sparked an ambitious new vision: a Community & Creative Campus rooted in local needs. This session explores how the Trust has transformed underused spaces into artist studios and a new learning hub through collaboration with local government, heritage partners and the community. Discover how community co-design is driving a more sustainable future, expanding opportunities for learning, creativity, wellbeing and social connection.

A glimpse into the trends set to shape customer behaviour in the year ahead. We’ll explore the external forces influencing today’s consumers, examine upcoming colour predictions, and consider how these insights can be translated into meaningful shopping experiences and impactful product ranges.

A step-by-step approach to procuring digital systems around outcomes and budget, not the other way round. Discover why an outcomes-first brief leads to better decisions than a systems-first one, and how to run a supplier process that resists the pull of over-scoped, traditional tenders. Plus practical ways to involve front-line teams so change management becomes easier, not harder, and honest reflections on what went well, what was hard, and what only became clear later.

Volunteers love it, visitors love it, and yet twice at Kiplin we have cancelled our Christmas programme. This session looks at making difficult decisions, using data and finance as the driving measure. It explores how you make the decision, how important internal communication is to the togetherness of the organisation, and how honesty and engagement can allow you to progress forward as an institution and clear the way for new growth.

A look at the first year of shifting and redefining the shops at National Galleries of Scotland. Learn how we built an infrastructure to work to collective deadlines, visuals, and concepts, and about going from mood board to shop floor while building meaningful connections across NGS’ sprawling departments.

This session explores how The Historic Dockyard Chatham transformed the challenge of preserving Commissioner’s House, one of Britain’s most significant maritime heritage
buildings, into a commercial opportunity. Following a £3.8 million restoration, the Trust developed a business model positioning the Grade I listed building as a hospitality venue.
Discover the entrepreneurial thinking, planning and decision-making behind this transformation, balancing heritage preservation, customer experience, operational
practicality and commercial return through sustainable re-use.

Many cultural and heritage venues know their history, but struggle to define their relevance in the present day. This session explores how developing a clear and authentic venue identity can help museums, galleries, heritage sites and cultural spaces become more resilient, attract wider audiences and generate sustainable income. Drawing on real-life experience managing a portfolio of cultural venues, attendees will learn how identity can be used to shape programming, partnerships, events, retail and visitor experiences.

Sustainability in cultural venues is about more than reducing carbon. Drawing on real-world experiences from hospitality and events, this session challenges conventional thinking about what makes an event truly sustainable. From greener procurement, practical café initiatives to smarter commercial strategies, delegates will discover how to balance environmental ambition with financial resilience and cultural purpose. Leave with fresh ideas, practical insights and a new perspective on why your commercial strategy is part of your
conservation strategy.

Kynren takes visitors on a journey through 2,000 years of history. In this session Matthew will take you on a slightly shorter journey through Kynren’s recent retail development work. From first developing bespoke items for the successful volunteer-led night show to opening multiple immersive retail outlets and experiences as part of the new daytime attraction, this session will explore many aspects of retail development, offering genuine tips, tricks, lessons learned and practical advice.

How does a world-renowned cultural institution build a brand licensing programme from the ground up? Join the Royal Shakespeare Company and its licensing consultant for an honest discussion on developing a licensing strategy, securing internal support, appointing an agency partner and navigating the challenges, opportunities and early successes on the journey to market. This session offers practical insights for cultural organisations considering brand licensing as a new revenue stream.

The popularity of the Beryl Cook: Pride & Joy exhibition was beyond anyone’s imaginings and truly showed what can happen when the commercial offer and programme align in an ambitious, creative and exciting way. This talk is aimed at showing the difference a commercially viable exhibition makes to income generation. It will look at the ticketing, retail (including publications), catering and events. Containing honest moments (not all pretty), fantastic
collaborative wins, the results and learnings.

Using the National Justice Museum’s recent National Lottery Heritage Fund grant as a case study, we’ll share our journey to securing funding. We’ll explore how we identified the need for greater commercial and fundraising capacity, built internal support, engaged our Board and partners, and developed our ambitions for change. Delegates will gain practical insights into building support for ideas, making a compelling case for investment and using external funding to create lasting organisational impact.

As museum and heritage sites continue to navigate changing visitor behaviours, retail teams are increasingly looking beyond visitor numbers to build sustainable income streams. Using the Bristol Dockyard Shop as a case study, this session demonstrates how trend forecasting can create year-round, commercially relevant product ranges that drive key retail KPIs. You will gain practical, adaptable tools to apply within your own organisation.

The session will explore how Churches Conservation Trust developed its commercial strategy focused on organisational change rather than simply generating new income ideas. Drawing on the experience of implementing the strategy since April, Matt will examine practical approaches to embedding enterprise thinking, encouraging shared ownership of commercial objectives, and improving collaboration across teams. You’ll gain insights into the challenges, successes, and lessons learned, alongside practical ideas for building commercial resilience within your own organisations.