BIAZA and Cultural Enterprises: Working Together to Embrace Commerciality

The Association for Cultural Enterprises is delighted to be partnering with BIAZA. Our primary aim is to support income generation within the cultural sector, and we’re looking forward to working together to help BIAZA members maximise commercial opportunities and become more financially resilient.  

Faced with ongoing economic challenges and funding cuts, it is more important than ever for cultural venues to embrace commerciality and maximise their income streams from a variety of sources. Commerciality is not a dirty word, nor is it incompatible with the core values and missions of cultural organisations. On the contrary, commerciality can enable cultural venues to become more resilient, sustainable and innovative, while enhancing their social and cultural impact. 

That’s where the Association for Cultural Enterprises comes in. We exist primarily to help the cultural sector make money. It’s as simple as that! We are the only trade body that represents and supports the commercial activities of museums, galleries, heritage sites, performing arts venues, and, of course, zoos and other wildlife attractions across the UK and beyond. We provide our members with incredible access to best practice, training and networking – meaningful, practical and tangible support that enables them to adapt and thrive in the changing world. 

Our Online Academy is a great example of the type of training we offer – 40+ CPD accredited courses covering all areas of commercial activity, including retail, events and venue hire, catering and ecommerce as well as strategy and business skills. Our members benefit from free and unlimited access to the Academy for all their staff. Courses are also available to purchase individually. It’s a hugely valuable resource that will develop your teams and directly benefit your organisation. 

We firmly believe that commerciality is not only a necessity, but also an opportunity for cultural venues to grow, diversify, and reach new audiences. It’s a collective endeavour too – we can achieve more by working together and learning from each other.  

By coming along to events like our annual Conference, you’ll meet people from all types and sizes of arts, heritage and cultural organisations, and you’ll benefit from their experience and insights. Our members always tell us that this networking and cross pollination of ideas across different types of visitor attractions is one of the things they find most beneficial and inspiring. Together, we can make a difference and ensure that the cultural sector remains vibrant, relevant and sustainable for generations to come. 

The time for change is now – and we are delighted to be collaborating with BIAZA and supporting their members as they seek to maximise revenue streams. We know that many of our training events and workshops will be of interest and value to BIAZA members, and we also know that BIAZA and its members will benefit from many of the insights that we have at our disposal. We look forward to sharing expertise and resources with BIAZA and its members to support the sector through continuing challenging times.  

Find out more about the Association for Cultural Enterprises, our vision and values, training events and practical resources including the Online Academy at culturalenterprises.org.uk.  

All blogs reflect the views of their author and are not necessarily a reflection of BIAZA's positions