The Collaboration Canvas: Tools for Creative Partnerships

From informal alliances to full mergers, The Collaboration Canvas – produced with Eastside People, a strategic consultancy for not-for-profits – is a practical collaboration toolkit designed specifically for cultural and creative sector organisations in the UK.

Our aim is to demystify collaboration, in all its forms, because whatever your goals – artistic, strategic and/or operational – collaboration has the potential to unlock new opportunities to help you to achieve them.

Collaboration Spectrum credit: Eastside People

This toolkit emerged from grassroots conversations happening across the cultural sector – discussions about the need for more imaginative approaches to collaboration, and crucially, a structured way to understand what models are actually possible. Arts and cultural organisations were expressing curiosity about working together, but often felt overwhelmed by buzzwords like “mergers” and “shared services” without having a clear framework to understand their options.

Fittingly, given the content of this toolkit, it came about through collaboration itself – an informal alliance of organisations and funders coming together, with generous support from Arts Council England, to create something that the sector needed.

The challenge we’re addressing

Collaboration is key to so much of the creative and cultural activity we enjoy, but what does it actually entail? The reality is that organisational partnerships exist on a continuum – a spectrum that has full mergers at one end, but simple informal partnerships at the other. Understanding this spectrum is crucial for making informed decisions about collaboration.

Our approach

Our aim is to demystify collaboration because whatever your goals – artistic, strategic and/or operational – collaboration has the potential to unlock new opportunities to help you to achieve them.

The toolkit will explore five different models of collaboration: Informal Alliance, Contract- Based Alliance, Joint Venture, Group Structure and Merger.  It provides tips and resources on each, together with real-world examples plus further resources to support organisations embarking on collaboration.

Whether your organisation is actively considering collaboration or simply curious about working more closely with other organisations, the Collaboration Canvas toolkit provides practical information and guidance to improve your understanding of the many ways collaboration can happen – and how to do it well.