Figurative Celebrates its Public Launch

On Thursday 5 September 2024, Figurative launched as an independent organisation with a special event at Village Underground in London.

We were delighted to welcome people from across the cultural and creative, impact, investment and philanthropic sectors at Village Underground in east London last week, for the public launch of Figurative. The evening, which included stunning performances from some of our portfolio organisations, was a chance to set out our plans for the organisation and a positive, ambitious vision for the future of cultural and creative funding.

Figurative brings together Arts & Culture Finance (ACF), which has been incubated by Nesta over the last nine years, and New Philanthropy for Arts & Culture (NPAC), which was established under the chairmanship of Sir Vernon Ellis in 2019. Together we will work to bring new capital, ideas and partnerships to the sector, helping cultural and creative organisations to innovate, become more financially resilient and ultimately deliver more impact.

Shortly before the evening event, we hosted our first Portfolio Day as Figurative, which brought together representatives from our investee organisations for a day of networking and discussion. Fran Sanderson and Seva Phillips (Figurative’s CEO and Chief Innovation Officer) shared their plans for Figurative; Anna Rowe, who leads Figurative Philanthropy for Arts & Culture, introduced NPAC’s work and history; and impact manager Nick Wilsdon led an interactive session on learning and social impact.

There were also multiple opportunities for informal chats and knowledge-sharing, including a session where attendees shared some of the creative and inspiring solutions they have developed to address key challenges in their organisations.

The launch event itself opened at 5pm, with hundreds of guests arriving in time for the opening performance – a spectacular Cyr wheel act by Fiona Thornhill of The Revel Puck Circus. The talented circus group received investment from our Arts & Culture Impact Fund for specialised equipment to improve their autonomy, reduce costs and increase touring and trading opportunities. Their latest show, The Nose Dive Assembly, can be seen in a big top in Bristol from 25 September to 6 October, then in London’s Beckenham Place Park from 17 October.

Later, Jau’mair Garland and Seren Williams danced the spellbinding Grace and Tommy duet from Rambert’s celebrated adaptation of Peaky Blinders, which begins a second tour of the UK and overseas this week. The night was rounded off with a fantastic performance by UD’s Flames Collective, who sang ‘Worth it’ by Raye (who they memorably supported at the BRIT awards), and ‘My Mind’, by Yebba. UD received a loan from Figurative’s Arts & Culture Impact Fund to develop the Talent House, a music and dance hub for emerging talent in Stratford, East London.

Guests also heard from Fran Sanderson and Richard Brass (Chair of Figurative’s Board of Trustees) about Figurative’s bold plans to support the sector, and from Craig Pennington, founder and director of Future Yard in Birkenhead, and Moira Sinclair, CEO of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, about their experiences of working with Figurative as a portfolio member and funder respectively. The whole evening was expertly compered by Shanaz Gulzar, a Figurative trustee and the Creative Director of Bradford 2025, UK City of Culture, whose programme is announced this week.

It was wonderful to gather so many esteemed colleagues, supporters and guests in one place to celebrate Figurative’s launch and share in such an exciting and promising vision of the future. Figurative simply could not exist outside this extraordinary network of people and organisations who share our commitment to culture and creativity in the UK. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the night, and to all our guests who made it such a special and inspiring occasion! We can’t wait to get to work to help cultural and creative organisations realise their ambitions and increase the impact they have in the world.

We’ve included a selection of photos from the event below.