We had an inspirational morning earlier this week, talking to a group of Arts Sponsors about their New Year’s resolutions at The House of Koko in Camden.
Here are three events, people and themes that businesses partnering with the arts should be aware of in 2025.
EVENTS
1. The emergence of London’s new Cultural Quarter in the Olympic Park in Stratford continues. The London College of Fashion and UCL East are already open, the V&A Storehouse will open this year and the V&A East Museum in 2026. This is a major transformation of London’s cultural offering and shifts the further towards the east.
2. In a complementary regeneration theme, we look to the City of London’s new Destination City push, aiming to get people back into offices, and visiting the Square Mile. This includes its new Business Improvement District, Culture Mile, and the London Museum in the old Smithfield Market which is gearing up to opening in autumn 2026. The first phase will house the permanent collection and look at the city’s past and present.
3. Finally, the digital and creative festival SXSW will take place this June in Shoreditch. The organisers have bought a 10-year license to the event that put Austin, Texas on a global stage. There is lots of buzz around this although no one is quite sure whether it’s something to jump on board with, or to hang back and see what happens. Its impact so far is on the recruitment market, but it remains to be seen whether brand and sponsorship budgets will follow.
PEOPLE
1. New Director Nicholas Cullinan is firmly established at the British Museum and his approach is being felt – a renewed pride in the organisation, engaging a younger demographic and focusing on collaboration. He has been robust in his defence of accepting BP’s £50M for the new energy centre, the largest donation in UK corporate history, which 'moves us towards net zero' and they are moving forward on their ‘£ billion’ capital campaign.
2. Victoria Siddall’s move to the National Portrait Gallery sees the gallery’s reopening commitment to inclusion carried through to the top of leadership, with the first female director in the organisation’s history, echoing Chanel’s high-profile support of rebalancing female representation on the walls. As the ex-Global Director of Frieze, and co-founder of the Gallery Climate Coalition, it will be interesting to see how her commercial and eco-experience translates.
3. Female power-house leadership talent will also be seen at the National, with Indu Rubasingham taking over from Rufus Norris as creative director and joining Executive director Kate Varah as joint CEOs. We’re looking forward to seeing her programming towards the end of the year.
THEMES
1. Arts events and organisations are being used as the backdrop to protest and its time arts organisations were more vocal about their commitment to a varied funding model and the importance of their sponsors. Causes are important, but solutions are complex and dialogue is the way forward. We hope to see more positive engagement on this topic in 2025.
2. Social impact: the effect of the arts on health, wellbeing, levelling up and regenerating our communities is being researched, proved and invested in. It’s great to see social prescribing of the arts, the inclusion of culture in planning decisions, and more acceptance and understanding of the importance of creativity on individuals and society.
3. If 2025 is the year AI takes off, business should have a closer look at what artists are doing in the technology space. From harnessing data streams to exploring more philosophical questions around major themes like sentience, accountability and control, partnerships with the arts provide an interesting way-in to an endlessly fascinating conversation about our future.
Images L-R: East Bank regeneration, Mayor of London; SXSW; London Museum; RK; Hospital Rooms; Lawrence Lek; Nicholas Cullinan, British Museum; Victoria Siddall, NPG; Indu Rubasingham, NT.