Governance Support and Services

How’s your arts charity’s governance?

  • Are you looking to refresh your Board membership?

  • Have you new Board members who would benefit from governance training?

  • Are you working well and looking for a confidential sounding board to bounce future plans off?

  • Or are you facing a specific challenge that demands difficult top-level decision making?

Whatever your situation, we want to help you: because we know good governance means stronger arts organisations.

A&B NI’s Governance Programmes include:

  • A&B NI Board Matching Programmes: Are you recruiting new board members? We can help! Our Young Leaders and Business Leaders on Arts Boards programmes match up-and-coming leaders and strategic thinkers with the Boards of our Arts Member organisations. This benefits everyone: the new Board members develop their leadership skills in a different environment, and the arts organisation taps into the fresh insights and specialist skill set of their newest member. To register your interest in taking on a new board member through our Leaders on Arts Boards programme, click here

  • Annual Governance conference

  • Resources and toolkits 

  • Free Governance Healthchecks – space to discuss your current governance practice objectively and in confidence

  • Whole Board Sessions on topics such as Fundraising, Governance Roles & Responsibilities, Strategic Planning 

For more information, or to talk governance contact Brona Whittaker, b.whittaker@artsandbusinessni.org.uk.

The Art of Good Governance

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Board Matching Case Study

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The benefits of having a business person on an arts Board is that they can bring a degree of objectivity to any situation. Obstacles which might seem insurmountable to a small arts organisation are part of the daily work experience of many professionals and so they become manageable!

An outside professional helps an organisation look at itself and its procedures in a new way – which is ultimately a good thing. Having ‘an outsider’ was great.

Please sir, may we have another?

A&B NI is a Helper Group for the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland and also an active member on the Developing Governance Group who developed and maintain the voluntary Code of Good Governance and the underpinning resource site diycommitteeguide.org. Download the Code of Good Governance here.

Our Funders & Partners

Arts & Business NI is generously supported by The Arts Council of Northern Ireland.