Best Practice Network

12 August 2025

“I’ve been looking forward to this for months, I can’t wait to get in there and just breathe”

From the first "hellos", “I’m exhausted” and “cool, a shark!”, I knew this network would be special. Twenty cultural sector workers gathered with ideas and snacks in the National Maritime Museum, to learn and share on our topic (co-curation with young people), but also to take a rare chance to connect with others in similar roles, who understand our work’s joys and challenges.

We started together by exploring NMM’s outdoor play space The Cove, co-created as a project with students with a range of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. Then heard about a totally different example of co-curation: Whitechapel Gallery’s youth collective Duchamp and Sons, who have created exhibitions for over 15 years. With these as inspiration and provocation, discussion took off: finding shared challenges (”Where’s the line between participation and exploitation?”), and learning from others’ experiences (“How do you keep working with the young people after the project ends?”) We celebrated a member’s success in achieving youth-led change to their organisation - then asked many questions on how they did it. When our official time was up, people stayed for more tea and chats; to exchange emails with someone who had solved the issue they were struggling with, or just find support in a shared win or frustration.

The need for others in our sector

“A chance to talk, share ideas, solve problems together”

This was one of the Best Practice Network (BPN)’s three meet-ups this year. Our members are practitioners who work with children and young people from across the cultural sector: from big organisations like the Barbican and British Museum, to small charities, councils, and freelancers too. The network grew out of lunchtime meets for alumni of A New Direction’s programmes: attendees said they lacked opportunities to informally and honestly talk to others doing similar work. Conversations like this feel like they should be common in our sector (we tend to be helpful people!), but in reality the pace of work often prevents us making space for outside ideas and support.

Sharing practice on co-curation, fundraising and schools this year

“Supportive and caring atmosphere… good speakers and well facilitated”

In summer 2024 I helped AND to consult their alumni about this, and plan a new network based on members’ needs. The Best Practice Network now sends out a regular mailout of sector events and opportunities, and hosts three meet-ups a year on topics requested by members.

This year, as well as the ‘co-curation with young people’ event, we had a fascinating online meet-up on fundraising for our programmes, with expertise from Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (top tips: show projects are part of a bigger pathway, and don’t be embarrassed to ask for donations!) and Lewisham Education Arts Network (tips: look for local funders, and explain the impact of not getting the money).

In June we met in person again, this time at Whitechapel Gallery about ‘working better with schools’ with speakers including the head of a Multi Academy Trust. The discussion ranged from practicalities like how to contact the right person in a school (top tip: academies are on LinkedIn), to big-picture themes; schools are looking for the local connectedness and ‘play’ that creative practitioners can provide.

Impacts on members

“A chance to speak openly and strategically with other people who aren't in my org but ARE in my sector!”

_{Photography by Jalaikon for A New Direction}

Informal networks like these can be hugely impactful: research shows that the people we’re connected to influence our ideas, attitudes and behaviours at work, that networks improve innovation, and can drive change.

This first year of the BPN has had positive impacts for our members: in an end-of-year evaluation, 100% said they’d learned from others’ practice, with the majority also reporting increased ability to build networks, and consider changes to their practice.

Beyond these practical impacts though, the network seems to provide something for members it’s hard to find elsewhere in the sector. The informal and candid nature of meet-ups meant they felt like a ‘space to breathe’ - no-one to impress, no outcome to achieve, just a chance to connect with others and improve your practice.

“…the warmth of the facilitation, the usefulness of connecting with others, the practical sharing of ideas and practice”

Plans for 2025-26

We’re now scheduling our meet-ups for 2025-26, on members’ most-requested topics: building careers and employment skills with young people, better inclusion for disabled children, and more.

Now with nearly 120 members from across the sector, working with an estimated 80,000+ children and young people, the BPN is about to change from invite-only to open to new members. If you are or know someone who works with children and young people in the sector, and could benefit from learning and connecting with others, join us here.

_{Photography by Jalaikon for A New Direction}

Kate Oliver (she/her) is an educator and leader with over 20 years’ experience in the cultural and environmental sectors, including leading Learning teams at the Horniman Museum and Gardens, Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration, and London Zoo. She now delivers learning and evaluation projects as a freelance consultant, from creating evidenced programmes to targeted audience development. Kate is a trainee psychotherapist, and runs the Radical Rest Network for over 400 exhausted sector workers.