Cultural Entrepreneurs for hire

Library of Birmingham

Creation and implementation of a multi-layered customer journey and commercial strategy including catering, retail and digital concepts for a £193 million capital project which represents the UK’s biggest public lending library.

Currently under construction, the Library of Birmingham will open in 2013 and aims to be like no other - offering a true digital library experience, rewriting the book including its approach to conventional services. The customer experience will be developed in part through innovative partnerships with private sector organisations.

Read an article about the new Library of Birmingham here from The Guardian

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Amnesty International

Amnesty International has just opened it's very first shop at Boxpark London. Boxpark is a new type of retail destination, calling itself the world's first 'pop-up mall' with 100 stores housed in shipping containers. It's also a special year for Amnesty as it's their 50th Anniversary and they were looking to reach out to a new generation of supporters through the partnership.

When their team got in touch with CultureLabel to ask for help in developing a concept charity store for them, we jumped at the chance. The collaboration led to a 'permanent pop-up store' featuring a bespoke product range designed by six creatives handpicked from the CultureLabel stable. These includie renowned contemporary artist Stuart Semple and ceramicists such the New English who have produced limited edition products and art drawing inspiration from Amnesty's campaign themes. We wanted to tap into the undoubted passions of Amnesty supporters and believed some of the great innovations from CultureLabel.com could be translated into the charity space. Our mission was to create products with a story and soul that they would want to collect and own.

You can visit the Amnesty Shop for yourself at the new Box Park development in Shoreditch, London. It's just across the road from CultureLabel Towers so pop in and say hello to us as well while you are at it. You can also see the range on CultureLabel.com as well by clicking here

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MobileCulture2 conference

We are delighted to announce the second annual Mobile Culture conference which will take place at the brand new University of the Arts London campus in King’s Cross on 17th July 2012. The event will bring together thought leaders and senior executives from cultural organisations, the mobile sector, worldwide brands and the developer community for a day of innovation, learning and knowledge exchange.

Our inaugural event brought together 500 attendees over 2 days. Tickets for this year’s show are now available here at an early bird rate of £199+VAT – this offer is only available until 31st May 2012 or until tickets run out.

Speakers confirmed include:

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Skype Trend Safari

Trend Safari is a guided exploration into the inner circle of culture and creative industries. Participants meet trend-setters and innovators such as high-end vandalists, media terrorists, space hi-jackers, media curators and virtual superstars. Leading brands such as Skype, LVMH and Absolut Vodka have all commissioned CultureLabel to develop Trend Safari's to help them come up with new sources of inspiration, understand emerging trends and audiences and discover new cultural collaborators.

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Intelligent Naivety e-book

Not only does 'Intelligent Naivety' recognise that there can be a fruitful marriage between culture and commerce but it provides excellent marriage guidance. Marcel Knobil, Founder of Superbrands

A few years ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing a wide range of creative and cultural entrepreneurs in order to try and identify some common trends between them. One of the strongest ideas to come out of these conversations encompassed self-belief, ‘gut instinct’ and having the confidence to ‘jump’ into an opportunity. The concept is that of Intelligent Naivety. Intelligent Naivety starts with frankly admitting your abilities and limits to yourself… “I know where I am strongest, and I know where I struggle. I have to be honest from the outset about this.”

In 2008 drawing on trends and case studies from across the cultural and commercial sector we wrote a handbook for would be Cultural Entrepreneurs which is free as an eBook.

Intelligent Naivety is in a very different space to ‘stupid confidence’, a naivety that drives an individual towards the ambitions that they feel they must achieve – the feeling that I was ‘born to do this’, even if very few others agree. This is the stuff of ‘X Factor’ car-crash TV. Effective entrepreneurs master the art of balance; the art of Intelligent Naivety. Intelligence, expertise and experience on one hand, and naivety, a ‘gut feeling’ or a ‘hunch’ on the other. As one esteemed entrepreneur noted, if you are too expert or too experienced, you see all the risks and all the downsides. The challenge is to occasionally force yourself into quieting this inner intelligence… Just enough, but not too much.

Join over 15,000 others and download a free copy of Intelligent Naivety as an eBook here.

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Arts Council England and Creative Scotland

CultureLabel collaborated with Arts Council England and Creative Scotland to develop the world’s first online contemporary art marketplace where affordable art works can be bought with interest free loans. Arts Council England have operated the highly successful Own Art initiative for the last five-years which was recently the subject of an enthusiastic BBC documentary with Alan Yentob. The Own Art scheme is designed to make it easy to buy art by making art affordable and we made it our mission to create a simple way for consumers to buy works online through an interest free loan in the same way you can conveniently buy other products such as electronics. Through Own Art, UK tax payers can purchase contemporary art and craft including art works jewellery and craft pieces.

Own Art loans are available from as little as £100 up to £2,000 to buy art in any media from one of our partner art galleries in the Own Art scheme, provided that it is by a living artist. Since 2011, through CultureLabel.com, you have been able apply online for an Own Art loan to buy any eligible art. The scheme has already achieved sales in excess of the initial Arts Council investment.

Most recently the scheme has been extended so that interactive terminals where you can browse and buy the works have been installed in a number of leading arts institutions including the Saatchi Gallery, Barbican and the Royal Scottish Academy.

Own Art loans are repayable over 10 months in interest free instalments, 0%APR typical - so you’ll never be paying more than the advertised price.

Experience Own Art online at the Art Store by clicking here

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The Courtauld Gallery

Digital ticketing for exhibitions

Development of a digital ticketing solution for the Michelangelo’s Dream and Cezanne’s Card Players exhibitions. CultureLabel developed a complete, end-to-end ticket solution, even allowing the gallery to sell products such as catalogues and merchandise alongside tickets. The system has already successfully sold thousands of tickets for the gallery and is now available for use by other organisations.

"The Courtauld is delighted to be the first arts organisation to offer pioneering mobile ticketing technology for Michelangelo's Dream. We want to reach customers that live in a mobile age, reduce our costs and deliver more efficient online sales. We trusted CultureLabel to deliver on time and within budget and they have not let us down.” Nigel Dickson, Head of Retail, The Courtauld Gallery

Experience the Courtauld Ticketing website now by clicking here

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The Houses of Parliament

CultureLabel were commissioned to develop a commercial strategy for the Houses of Parliament at CultureLabel has recommended options for potential commercial revenue generation across seven areas including retail, private investment, visitor services, catering, conferencing and filming. You can read the full report which has been published on the Parliament website here

The project was reported upon extensively in the national media due to the high profile nature of the organisation. The recommedations making the front page of the Sunday Times as well as several other publications such as the Daily Mail. At the forefront of our minds throughout this process was the need to respect the dignity of Parliament. There are good examples of commercial endeavour which respects (and indeed enhances) the integrity of important national institutions. For example, the Royal Collection.

We worked on this project with Tricon, global catering specialists who have collaborated with CultureLabel on several occassions.

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Own Art 

CultureLabel manages the Facebook profile of Own Art on behalf of Arts Council England. Own Art makes buying art more affordable by enabling people to spread the cost of contemporary art works over 10-months with an interest-free loan (0%APR Typical).

We have designed a series of new pages for the Own Art scheme and implemented a growth strategy designed to increase the fan base to a point where these pages can be monetised directly, as well as encouraging an ever greater uptake of the scheme.

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Whitechapel Gallery

CultureLabel developed an online shop for the Whitechapel Gallery to sell its renowned collection of Limited Edition Prints the proceeds of which raise vital funds for the institution. Artists featured have included Anish Kapoor and Mark Titchner. The website and 30 other online shops for galleries were commissioned as part of the Own Art initiative with Arts Council England. The payment technology also allows the organisation to offer interest free loans to consumers.

Experience the new Whitechapel Gallery Own Art online shop by clicking here

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