Strategy, leadership and culture for the creative industries
Most creative organisations have values. Fewer have systems that actually live them.
Culture Rise works with values-driven leaders in the creative industries to close that gap, building organisations that are as good on the inside as the work they produce on the outside, where the values on the website are the values in the room when the difficult decisions get made.
We believe that sustainable organisations are designed, not hoped for. The right income model, the right leadership culture and the right systems for your people are not separate problems to solve in sequence. They are the same problem. And when you design them together, performance and wellbeing stop competing and start reinforcing each other.
We bring together business strategy, income development, leadership consultancy and organisational culture work to help creative organisations build something that lasts. Not just an organisation that survives the next funding round, but one with the systems, clarity and culture to do exceptional work over the long term.
Culture Rise was founded because the arts and culture sector in the UK is at a turning point. Decades of funding dependency have left many organisations with business models that no longer work, in a landscape where public funding is shrinking and the old structures are failing. The organisations that will survive and thrive are the ones that can think and operate more entrepreneurially, without losing the values, craft and creative purpose that drove them in the first place. That transition is harder than it sounds, and it is exactly what we are built to support.
Since our founding we have worked with arts organisations, creative businesses, cultural leaders and leadership teams across the UK, on everything from income strategy and funding development to leadership culture and organisational design. The work is always tailored, always collaborative, and always focused on building something that outlasts our involvement.
Our team brings director and executive level experience across the creative industries, combined with deep expertise in business strategy, leadership and organisational development. We understand the sector from the inside. And we know that the gap between a good organisation and a great one is rarely about creative ambition, it is almost always about systems, culture and leadership.
Our Story
Meet the Team
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Lindsay Stockley
Founder and CEO
Lindsay has spent over fifteen years working at the heart of the creative industries, as a freelance senior producer, creative director and festival director in the arts and cultural sector, and now as a business strategist and consultant. As founder and CEO of Culture Rise, she works with creative leaders and organisations to build the strategy, systems and leadership culture that make exceptional work sustainable. A certified business coach, she has supported clients to raise six-figure sums, design ambitious income strategies and develop the organisational foundations to grow with confidence. She also designs training in business skills for creative professionals and delivers them around the UK. Outside of work Lindsay loves travel, walking in nature, yoga and hitting the gym. She brings the same commitment to her own wellbeing that she brings to her work.
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Matt Walton
Fundraising Consultant
Matt’s career spans the private and public sectors, with a specialism in communications, fundraising and creative strategy. As Media and Communications Manager for Hull’s UK City of Culture in 2017, he secured media coverage worth £450m and has since garnered over £450k in grants for organisations across the creative industries. At Culture Rise he works as a fundraising consultant, helping organisations make the strongest possible case to funders and build the income pipelines they need to grow. At the weekend he can be found delivering sound therapy workshops across Yorkshire.
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Janine Crombie
Co-Director
Janine brings over two decades of leadership experience across the creative and mission-led charity sector. As former Joint CEO and Development Director at Absolutely Cultured, one of Hull's leading cultural organisations, she led across fundraising, communications, public engagement and strategic development — navigating the hybrid pressures of creative ambition, community purpose and commercial sustainability. Before that, she spent over a decade in senior leadership at Barnardo's and Shelter, leading innovation, product development and large-scale income strategies. As a consultant in business development, Janine works with values-led leaders to strengthen the systems, culture and strategic foundations that allow exceptional organisations to grow without losing what makes them distinctive. A graduate of the Royal College of Art, she brings a creative as well as commercial lens to every challenge.
Everything we do is rooted in four core values:
Integrity
Meaningful change requires more than good intentions. We work with organisations to align their values, systems and leadership behaviours in practice, not just on paper. Our work is rooted in action, accountability and a willingness to address the real challenges facing an organisation and its people.
Inclusion
We champion sustainable, human-centred leadership and design organisations where diverse individuals and teams can contribute fully. We recognise different minds, bodies and ways of working as shared strengths, and we build inclusion through both intentional systems and genuine human relationships, creating cultures of trust, collaboration and collective responsibility.
Impact
We focus on change that can be felt, evidenced and sustained. We measure what matters, using indicators that reflect wellbeing, sustainability and effectiveness, and we track progress over time to ensure change is real and lasting. Impact, for us, is something that endures, not something that is merely discussed.
Creativity
We believe creativity is a core leadership capability, not a specialist function. We use creative thinking to help leaders navigate uncertainty, challenge assumptions and design new ways of working. Paired with commercial discipline, creativity enables organisations to take informed risks and build ways of working that are both distinctive and sustainable.
We work with
Arts and cultural organisations looking to build financial sustainability and a stronger strategic foundation
Creative directors and leaders feeling the strain of running an organisation that has outgrown its current systems
Founders and CEOs of creative businesses who need culture and leadership to keep pace with their growth
Programme directors and team leaders who want to make the case internally for better ways of working
How we work
We are person-centred in everything we do. That means starting with the people, not the org chart. We take time to understand the history, the dynamics and the pressures that have shaped where the organisation is now, before recommending anything.
Our approach is systemic rather than symptomatic. We do not offer quick fixes or off-the-shelf frameworks. We work with you to understand the root causes of the challenges you are facing and design interventions that address them properly.
All our work is grounded in the belief that sustainable organisations are designed, not hoped for. And that the wellbeing of the people leading and working in an organisation is not a soft concern. It is the foundation everything else is built on.