“Hello everyone, our names are Nadia Boadu, Dhvani Pandya and Sonia Zani and we are three postgraduate students at the University of Nottingham. Once our academic supervisor proposed us this project we were very excited about this opportunity. We were instructed to write a consultancy report to build Beam’s profile to engage with new collaborators and also focus on attracting artists with protected characteristics as well as create a marketing and social media strategy to promote the organisation’s aims and values. We would also like to thank Beam consultant, Kate Watson, for trusting us and allowing us to work on this report for Beam. 

When we started writing the report, we aimed to be able to fulfill, to the fullest of our expertise, Beam’s expectations. We received positive feedback from Kate and we were very happy to know that we helped in providing our knowledge and recommendations to improve some areas which were perceived as less strong. Furthermore, on top of achieving the goals and objectives that Beam asked us to, we were also hoping to strengthen our own skills and gain more knowledge that revolved around the arts and charities. One area that we strengthened was organisation and time management skills. This is essential to have when writing a consultancy report. For us to complete this report on time and to the fullest of our expertise we set some internal deadlines. This helped us to stay organized, manage our time and get closer to our goal, but also in case of any problem that would arise along the way we were able to handle it. 

As we did not have any previous experience in the arts and cultural sector, this project has been a major learning curve for us. We not only learned how non-profit charities work but also about the wide range of art platforms available. Beam’s initiatives to make art and culture an inclusive community was inspiring for us. Learning about the various efforts taken by funding organisations like Arts Council England, the distributions of diverse artist demographics throughout England and current policies and economic conditions that impact this sector were interesting to us. In addition, upon conducting a survey of artists who have worked with Beam, we found that they were very satisfied with their experience with Beam overall and also in terms of artist inclusivity. Our contribution was proposing repositioning strategies to highlight Beam’s vision of artist inclusivity through various platforms like social media, print media, open calls and word of mouth. 

Overall, we are incredibly grateful for this experience as it has taught us how vast the arts and cultural sector is. From learning about art, funding, and communicating with new artists to managing a non-profit, this project has been a truly inspiring journey. We would say that this was an amazing opportunity for us and we are thrilled to say that we have been part of Beam’s journey. “

Nadia, Dhvani and Sonia, 

Students of MSc Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Management, 

University of Nottingham Business School