Background texture
Alex Etchart
£1.75M
Grant Funding
Raised
89
Careers/Orgs
Developed
380+
Partnerships
Enabled

From building your first arts & culture C.I.C.
to big orgs reaching new communities,
I connect the practical and granular
to the multi-year vision to ensure
all stakeholders’ outcomes are aligned.

“As an independent artist I would have never managed to fund and design my projects in a successful way without Alex's vision and strategic thinking. They not only have a well of knowledge on the matter and are able to support you in expressing your ideas in a more cohesive, funder-friendly language but they know so much about the artistic world and working with people that their approach is absolutely invaluable. Is difficult to find people with such a vast practice.”

— Pepa Duarte, Actor, Dramaturg, Artist Mentor & Pedagogue

Services

Funding Strategy

Apply for £30k from Arts Council England, understand grant maker priorities

Accessible budgeting, activity planning, partnership mapping, compelling narratives, compliance and reporting. Note: I don't bidwrite anymore but can recommend the best in the business.

0 raised 💰

Career Mentorship

Roadmap a sustainable creative career

Design your creative development journey. Business plan a freelance practice. Turn challenges into superpowers. Address gaps in skills and networks. Construct a sustainable future.

0 artists developed 🚀

Programme Design

For CIOs, CICs, art sector, individuals, and small organisations

Build new products, service and offers that meet local need, consult stakeholders, generate revenue and attract funding. Plan course or product life cycle using sustainable practices.

0 designed ✏️

Community Engagement

Connect authentically with new and existing communities, involve them on their terms

Design engagement frameworks that build trust, foster participation, and create meaningful (longitudinal?) relationships. Multiply your reach and impact while supporting local initiatives.

0 campaigns 📢

Peer Support Systems

Decentralised resilience; horizontal mutual aid

Create sustainable Peer Support structures that maximise skill/resource sharing. Enable communities, campaigns, cultural orgs and social enterprises to pool knowledge, contacts and reach.

0 partnerships ↔️

Stakeholder Boards

Vital voices inform design, delivery and eval

Set up engaging, accessible, representative oversight. Leverage key community figures to multiply reach, improve programming, embed continuous evaluation. De-silo partnerships. Vertical communication.

0 boards advised 🏛️
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Case Studies

Sibling Arts

Sibling Arts CIC

£1.05M+ raised across arts, public health & human rights funders, £4M press/media impact, platforming artists in 21 countries across theatre, film, talks & exhibitions.

Sibling Arts CIC

As co-director, raised over £1.05M for frontline artists, delivering £4M in press/media impact.

  • Raised £585k core & £482k project funding
  • Delivered programmes to 3,100+ participants & 22,000 live audiences
  • Public health & policy impact, global visibility
Pepa Duarte

Pepa Duarte

Bid writing, reporting and evaluation for Pepa Duarte, Peruvian actor-dramaturg and mentor. Raised £72k to launch her first UK tour and expand participatory pedagogy.

Pepa Duarte

Bid writing, reporting and evaluation to scale touring and pedagogy.

  • £72k raised, shows in 12 theatres
  • Connected shows, community workshops & artist mentoring into a holistic practice
  • Powerful impact capture, promo videos, evaluation decks.
Pop Jazz Theatre with Dolly Henry MBE

BOP Jazz Theatre

Bidwriter via Sasolo and engagement advisor to Dolly Henry MBE’s Jazz Dance Theatre initiative. Raised £80k for 20yr anniversary festival & UK schools programme.

Body of People - Jazz Dance Theatre

Bid writing, programme development, community engagement design. Via Sasolo Arts & Development.

  • £80k raised, festival & UK tour secured
  • Informed engagement model for schools
  • Festival platformed 50+ Black jazz artists
Land Skills Fair

Land Skills Fair

Strategic development, impact capture and audience planning for a land-and-culture festival. Raised £30k, secured legacy, and scaled participation through clear targets and comms.

Land Skills Fair

Strategy, audience development and impact framework.

  • £30k raised
  • Legacy secured; 500 participants engaged
  • Delivered with 100 artists + 100 volunteers
Śūnya Company

Śūnya Company

Business development and funding strategy for a futurist music-theatre company. Clarified programmes and positioning, unlocking new partners while strengthening creative development support.

Śūnya Company

Funding strategy, programme clarity and mentorship.

  • £50k funding accessed
  • 2,000 audience reached; 500 participants engaged
  • Programmes clarified; first musical supported
Power Up London

Power Up London

Peer development programme design for 60 social enterprises led by diverse founders. Built skill-sharing and pitching support, culminating in an investor showcase with curated introductions.

Power Up London

Peer learning, networks and investor readiness.

  • Supported 60 social enterprises
  • Built peer support + networking systems
  • Delivered pitching training + investor showcase
Hidden Artist Network

Hidden Artist Network

Co-designed a training course: visioning, curriculum, workshops, and practical workbooks. Strengthened regional facilitation capacity and secured sustainable funding for multi-year delivery.

Hidden Artist Network

Curriculum co-design, resources and delivery planning.

  • Trained dozens of Midlands artists
  • Developed 5 co-facilitators + 5 expert mentors
  • Multi-year funding secured

Client Reviews

Organisations I've Worked With

The Strategy Pipeline

Strategise is about connecting resources, relationships, and vision. Explore how these elements flow together to create sustainable change.

→ → → ↻

1. Listen

Understanding the context, needs & perspectives of stakeholders.
Actively listening to protagonists, partners, communities & the environment.

  • Active Listening – patient inquiry, define the problem in your words, echo back my understanding
  • Internal Research – learning, review existing documents, project plans, budgets, timelines, however messy/organised.
  • External research – identifying good references inc. project / sector / market indicators
  • Consultation – capture named/anonymous feedback from team members, staff, service users, clients if required
  • Baseline – review existing mission, objectives, outputs, outcomes, formats, KPOs, KPIs, pathways, dependencies

2. Vision

Articulating clear outputs & outcomes within the theory of change.
Building a 360 degree plan that covers all bases. Managing expectations.

  • High Level Context – multi year perspective, where does this piece of work fit in the whole?
  • Defining success – “What does success look like?” “Where do we want to get to?”
  • Targets – measurables, opportunities, audiences, communities, partnerships, funders, mentors
  • Workplan – capacity mapping, assigning roles, outputs, deadlines, dependencies, planning any residencies or intensives
  • Leveraging templates – Google Sheets, Google Docs, Canva, brand guidelines or setting up my own Project Management Software

3. Implement

Putting planning into action in a transparent, methodical format.
Clearly signposting of moments for taking stock & feeding in.

  • Delivery – creating materials, modelling, budgeting, designing, copywriting, rudimentary software
  • Communicating – building basic websites, impact reports, pitch decks, roadmaps
  • Hosting – strategy sessions, team development, residencies, intensives
  • Plumbing – doing the slow build of new systems & frameworks
  • Documenting – ensuring all new systems are well documented for future collaborators

4. Test

Piloting new approaches, gathering feedback, validating assumptions. Iterating based on real-world results.

  • Review 1 – comprehensive feedback, any structural changes, missing areas, quality control
  • Edit 1 – big rewrites, redesigns, strategic pivots, quality control, references & sourcing
  • Review 2 – minor changes, language, presentation, aesthetics, sizes, export formats
  • Pilot programs – roll out to the team, test it in action, Quality of Life improvements
  • Collate feedback – qualitative/quantitative, accessible formats, bespoke approaches
  • Focus Groups – test on participants/clients/service users if/as applicable for real world feedback

5. Reflect

Learning from experience, documenting insights, visioning next steps.
Building institutional memory, embedding lessons. Unexpected learnings?

  • Handover – All assets and deliverables, documentation, IP, templates
  • Evaluation – Reflection sessions, debriefs, interviews, anonymous submissions
  • Impact Assessment – Stats, hits, reach, views, listens, sales, satisfaction
  • Lessons Learned – Proactive documentation, collective diary
  • Next Steps – Embedding continuous journey, how will tools be implemented, prepare for next cycle.
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