Public funding is decreasing and becoming more competitive to access. Operational costs are rising across the board. Margins are extremely tight whilst freelancers and creatives are attempting to navigate the cost of living crisis.
Old funding models are not fit for the realities of the sector. Towns, cities and local places need to have new conversations about how culture and creativity affects their future, from quality of life to wellbeing to growth and attracting investment.
My work has laid the foundations for new funding streams which help the sector adapt to new realities:
Mary-Helen delivered an excellent piece of work on cultural investment… Her team provided a fresh perspective, quickly identifying emerging areas for development and responding thoughtfully to the brief. Mary-Helen was clear, collaborative, energetic and solution-focused throughout… the final outputs added real value to our thinking and future planning.
Elise Hurcombe, Arts Development Manager, Bristol City Council
Bristol Music Fund
Client: Bristol City Council / Bristol Nights
Winner – Music Policy at the Music Cities Awards 2026
Grassroots music venues are under pressure everywhere, and one-off grants don’t build resilience. With PRD, I led a feasibility study into a locally generated, self-sustaining fund raised through a small ticket levy — co-designing its aims and governance with the sector and recommending a Community Benefit Society so the music community controls the money.
The Fund, led by Bristol Nights, went on to win the 2026 Music Cities Award for Music Policy, recognised internationally as a place-based model others can follow. “A Ticket to the Future”
Bristol Cultural Investment Model
Client: Bristol City Council
As councils tighten budgets, there’s a hopeful idea that a mixture of philanthropy and external funders can step in to fund culture. Bristol City Council gave us an open brief to test this. Along with BAS Consultancy and EW Associates we assessed more than 25 funding sources and found that the real trade-off isn’t simply cost — it’s control. Public money is unusually flexible for a place: it can be directed year on year toward local strategy. Private funding rarely flexes that way; it comes shaped by the donor’s priorities and often has to be housed outside the council, adding cost.
Setting out that trade-off explicitly helped make the case for keeping unrestricted cultural funding — which, with sustained advocacy from the sector and the Bristol City Council culture team, was retained.