“Mel Larsen, alongside representatives from the ten Treasure Houses of England, orchestrated an enlightening day focused on uncovering strategies to engage and serve fresh audiences within our historic houses and gardens. Her adept facilitation sparked a whirlwind of thought-provoking inquiries, complemented by the sharing of numerous case studies drawn from her extensive expertise. Mel’s grounded and inclusive approach resonated with everyone present, leaving the room abuzz with inspiration and actionable ideas to disseminate among their broader teams.”
Heather Carter, Managing Director – Visitor Attraction, Blenheim Palace
“We opened LSO St Luke’s 20 years ago, and are getting ready for the next phase of the venue’s history. We wanted to make sure that the plans we’re making now are firmly rooted in the needs and interests of our local community, and that we maintain deeper links with our community in the years ahead.
Mel and her Associate Pam Jarvis were fantastic at taking us through every stage of the process that we needed to follow, energising us to make new connections and helping us to evaluate the key messages coming from our community. They skilfully ran focus groups and individual interviews with stakeholders and partners, allowing us to gain valuable insights and new perspectives.
This project has given us a deep insight into who our local community is made up of and what they want from us, with both qualitative and quantitative data, (and has informed planning applications, which we hope will be successful!) We have plenty of new ideas for the future, including our programme and how we engage with new audiences, new connections in the local community, and a better understanding of the value that LSO St Luke’s can provide to people on our doorstep.
We would absolutely recommend Mel and Pam. They bring a fantastic, positive energy to their work, are full of ideas, experience and insights, and have been a pleasure to work with throughout this project.”
Fiona Dinsdale, Head of Marketing, LSO
“Mel’s support in helping us to consult with the African Caribbean community on how to create a more inclusive experience – both digitally, and for physical visitors too – was so valuable to our project and beyond. As a predominantly white institution, Mel’s lived experience and personable approach was key to the effectiveness of this work.
Mel understood the complexity of Harewood’s history from the get-go, and the importance and nuance of engaging with local people from the African Caribbean community in a genuine and authentic way. Mel took great care to manage the relationship and expectations of the participants, building trust and facilitating discussions, and produced an insightful report with value beyond the remit of this particular project. Throughout our time working together, Mel was generous with her time taken to listen to staff here too – facilitating important internal discussions on routes forward and giving us practical ideas to see through the content of her report, and maintain the links she’s helped us build with the African Caribbean community.
I wouldn’t hesitate to work with Mel again, and have no doubt that this work would not have been as effective, positive or encouraging without her on board.”
Megan Jones, Digital Manager, Harewood House Trust
“As a growing non-profit organisation, ensuring that we grow our audiences and also look at sources of income generation to build resilience is really important. We have been achieving success across our projects, but really wanted to use this as an opportunity to identify where there might be room for improvement and growth, to take our work to the next level. We also were keen to ensure that the full team were part of the process.
We were keen to work with Mel Larsen, due to her respect across the sector, but also the synergy of her experience and practice. As a Black-led arts and heritage project, understanding the challenges that we might face but also the resilience and creativity has been really fruitful for us.
One of the areas that Mel walked us through which I found particularly valuable was the product portfolio analysis. Identifying and developing the areas that are high mission impact and high profitability and also exploring how we can turn other areas of our work to meet this potential across our portfolio.
I also think the team found the user journey planning really useful. Our work is not just about selling products but about supporting a movement and realising that we can use one to support the other has been something that the team have been putting int practice.
I have seen a step change in the team. They are utilising strategies to sell products and build customer relationships. The marketing plan has become embedded into our planning and ethos. Practically, I have seen an improvement in sales and income generation.
Yes I would recommend Mel. It has been fantastic to work with her. She really gets to understand and organisation and the people who work there. Recognising each person’s strengths and building them up to work together as a collective. Having someone who understands the challenges, but does not accept that they are a fait accompli and instead looks at ways to be creative and supportive is really inspiring.”
Pawlet Brookes, MBE, CEO of Serendipity Institute for Black Arts & Heritage
“We had brilliant ideas floating around team members and were seeking more structure and strategy to help us align on priorities and execute them! It was valuable to have a sounding board and someone there to help see where we could focus the most essential pieces of marketing and comms so that we didn’t waste time doing things that weren’t needed and kept our minds on what would drive traffic to hit our goals in a way that aligned with our values.
We’ve only just finished our strategy session, but we already have a clear path forward on where to go next. I would absolutely recommend Mel. She’s patient and has that oh-so-brilliant skill of actively listening to multiple people’s ideas and hand-holding us to ensure we’re bringing those together in a way that makes sense for the business.”
Sam Drew-Jones, Head of Marketing, 64 Million Artists
“Thanks so much again Mel, we are absolutely delighted with how well the webinar went yesterday – you’re such a natural and encouraging speaker and it was clear from the attendees’ interactions that they were highly engaged with and inspired by what you had to say:
Just wanted to flag how much I enjoyed that webinar. Mel was a wonderful presenter. Clearly very knowledgeable about the subject and a great delivery skill. There are so many points to take away and discuss with our team
Could you pass this on to Mel to say how brilliant today’s training was. I am reinspired and excited about our EDIB work again and I am very grateful. The seminar has pointed some clear ways forward with some challenges we have been wrestling with and you and Mel have literally made at least my week.
Carolyn Mills, Marketing and Communications Officer, Year of Stories
“Discover approached Mel Larsen and Associates to help us work on our business plan because we wanted a company-wide process that would enable all voices to be heard and help us build and sustain a more inclusive organisation. Mel Larsen and Pam Jarvis listened and responded to the issues that we felt were key opportunities and challenges for Discover and helped to tease out things we hadn’t considered. They were particularly effective at helping a wide range of staff and board members to engage. The warm, supportive, open and questioning approach enabled everyone to fully participate. Feedback from staff and board was that it was a valuable, stimulating, and enjoyable process.
We were able to better define and articulate a focused, dynamic, and shared vision, mission and values which became the foundation for an exciting set of aims and objectives. This formed the core strategies for our ACE NPO application. A thorough interrogation process was key in creating space to get to the heart of what drives the organisation and the people who work with it. This led to greater understanding of who we are working for and what difference we want to make. It brought the organisation together, harnessing the ideas and energy of a powerful collective.
Yes, absolutely I would recommend Mel Larsen & Associates because of that person-centred approach which means you focus on bringing the best out of organisations and people. You instil confidence, but still provoke. You enable people to imagine and aspire but ensure that the outcomes are tangible and workable.”
Karla Barnacle-Best, Chief Executive, Discover Children’s Story Centre
“Samina, Mel and Pam and the team have produced an extremely deep and insightful report of the work of Synergi, including the ways of working, what is valued, what works and how, and then challenges for the future including the narratives and counter-narratives that emerge when working on ethno-racial disparities. There is much learning there and a good account of the various elements of the work.”
Professor Kamaldeep Bhui, Director, Synergi Collaborative Centre
“The Southampton Culture Trust engaged Mel to help us at a crucial stage of our journey. We were in a period of transformation following Southampton’s City of Culture bid and we needed to redefine our purpose, mission and ways of working to be able to secure the legacy of the bid. Mel was fantastic at facilitating an away day’s session for the Board. She was both supportive and challenging, making us stretch our thinking on certain aspects of our organisation. She has an easy and relaxed style that put everyone at ease and allowed constructive and creative conversations with a clear end product achieved. Thanks Mel for your help and guidance and for putting us in a better position to be successful in the future.”
Laura Read, General Manager Westquay / SCT Board Member
“The Contemporary Visual Arts Network is going through an organisational review. We needed someone who could support ten people – who manage a national network and the nine regions across England- to imagine what our future looks like together and how we want to articulate it. Mel is excellent at holding space, enabling so many plural voices, and supporting you to be brave. She is also generous, supportive, and kind. We recommend Mel – Paula Orrell, National Director, CVAN
We hired Mel to run a session with a group of Dublin academics on our Thrive programme. Mel’s session was excellent – great content, perfectly attuned to the group, with wonderful facilitation. The check-outs at the end of the day for the whole course were pretty incredible and her session was a large contribution to that.”
Chris Rolls FRSA, Head of Training & Development, 64 Million Artists
“A great deal of work had happened to develop our strategic direction on Access, Diversity & Inclusion, but we hadn’t collectively explored the final strategy with the wider Wellcome Collection Leadership team. We felt we needed a chance to ensure all the different areas had an opportunity to consider the reality of all the possibilities in a meaningful way. Daunting and challenging in equal measure.
Being someone from outside the organisation – with great skill and understanding – to stimulate and develop our thinking; Mel’s experience, fresh perspective and warmth was vital in this.
Yes we would recommend Mel, she has a wonderful balance of enthusiasm, warmth, thoughtfulness as well as an understanding of the reality of making something happen.”
Donne Robertson, Head of Operations, Wellcome Collection
Museum Detox Steering Group were working on organisational development to take the network and its vision to the next level. We identified that we needed support with strategic decision-making and clarifying roles and responsibilities to form our forward plan. I approached Mel with the knowledge that she is an experienced facilitator of leadership boards helping them work through their vision and strategic direction and I was confident she would be able to get our steering committee to reach consensus and have clarity on what our actions needed to be.
Mel’s subjective approach with group facilitation was both supportive and engaging. This allowed for clear thinking, listening, and honest discussion that led to key decisions being made. She kept us on track, maintained our focus on the key priorities of the meeting, enabling us to reach the outcomes set out in the brief for the board meeting.
We gained: Recognition of the previous work done towards formation of a business strategy; Feeling proud of our achievements; Everyone having a voice and being heard; Formation of a new Executive Committee; and a list of tasks and responsibilities.
We would recommend Mel to others: she listens with empathy combined with her consultancy expertise, her dynamic style of facilitating was positively empowering.
Thanh Sinden – Chair, Museum Detox Executive Committee.
“Mel was brilliant to work with – professional and efficient throughout the process. She understood our aims and outcomes for the project and thanks to her expertise, we now have invaluable market research that is vital to meaningful audience development.”
Hannah Basford, Deputy Head of Audience Development, The Old Vic
“Tamasha [Theatre Company] has worked with Mel over a number of years to help us to define and develop our business plans and strategic objectives. It was a no-brainer to approach her to support us again with our planning given her understanding of the company and our needs and her expertise in strategic planning.
Mel has a strong grounding in different approaches to developing business strategies plus ways to engage the staff and Board in this process to ensure ownership throughout the company.
Would we recommend Mel? YES! She takes a really strong and engaging approach to business planning which starts from the position of ensuring the whole organisation is able to contribute and engage in the process so that the plan becomes a living breathing strategy.”
Valerie Synmoie, Executive Director, Tamasha Theatre Company
“We approached Mel Larsen in the run up to Bare Lit 2018 for a series of audience development sessions and to help us streamline a fresh content and marketing strategy. Our aim was to rethink our approach to our festival audiences and how to best deliver content in the most accessible way. Mel helped Bare Lit with an audience development project, we sought her out because she was highly recommended and experienced in our area. We wanted to get balanced feedback from our audiences and we knew that her experience would mean we could get the most learning from this project.
Her approach was highly professional and structured, and she showed us that she cared about what we are doing and carried out the work with sensitivity. We were more than happy for her to present herself to our audiences for focus groups under the Bare Lit name as she shares our ethos of inclusivity. Mel provided
detailed and easy to digest reports from the focus groups that she held for us, making it easy for us to understand what came up in discussions. She also helped us to interpret these outcomes in our consultation, and we were able to implement many of her recommendations very easily and effectively.
The changes she suggested to the site mean that we had fewer emails from customers asking for clarifications. Bare Lit 2018 also had the highest ticket sales of the three years that we have run the festival. Finally, this year we saw an increase in attendance from LGBT and disabled communities.
Mel is extremely personable in her approach and her reports provide clear and detailed guidance which we’ll continue to refer to in the future. Drawing on her experience working with a diverse range of organisations and festivals, she walked us through her most tried and tested tips, and we would recommend her to anyone looking to grow, develop and maximise their business model in an inclusive, accessible and successful way.”
Mend Mariwany & Henna Zamurd-Butt, Bare Lit festival
“We had a lot of new Trustees who didn’t know each other. Myself and the Chair wanted some outside support with team-building and time to consider some key issues as a group.
What was initially useful was Mel’s support in crystalising the objectives of the day so that we would have defined and valuable outcomes. Mel is very warm and was also honest and clear about what her areas of expertise are and open to a conversation about things she didn’t know which made participants also feel secure and not feel they had to get everything right.Mel’s workshop was set up as an open and engaged conversation which worked well.
On the day, I had time to take more of a backseat and observe. The Board came up with a lot of new ideas and people who had previously been quieter spoke up more. They were more confident to share their ideas and expertise. We are now building on that trust and those ideas as we go forward.
Yes I would recommend Mel to others for similar work because of her engaging facilitation style.”
Karena Johnson, Artistic Director, Hoxton Hall
“I first came across Mel during a three-day Arts Marketing Association Small Scale Development course held in Liverpool. As one of the programme deliverers, she was enthusiastic, inspiring and professional, I felt that she really ‘got’ working in the arts with a small budget, and offered a creative way of thinking. Afterwards, she was my assigned mentor which I found a really useful element of the ongoing professional development part of the course. The one to one discussions helped formulate the next steps in the strategic planning of our future as an organisation and the up and coming application for further ACE National Portfolio Organisation funding.
WYPW was about to hold an ‘Away Day’, consisting of Board, staff and volunteers, the day was to consolidate our future thinking and embed this within the NPO application. We wanted a facilitator who had an understanding of a small arts organisation, our challenges and one who had an interest and insight into the visual arts. It didn’t take much to realise that this person was someone who already had been mentoring me with regards to addressing the future sustainability of our organisation, and that was Mel. Whilst the Board had specific areas they wanted to explore, the results were not predetermined, this would be led by the participants on the day. An external facilitator would encourage discourse, without prejudice, across the whole of the organisation and this is where Mel fitted in.
A date for the away day was agreed. During a video conference call with Mel to discuss the day’s timings and outline, she really pushed me to think about what I as the Chief Executive wanted from the day and more importantly the outcome. I realised at this point that there was a depth of understanding by Mel into my role and the forthcoming task of writing the ACE NPO application.
Throughout the discussion process, Mel didn’t lose sight of the fact that we are a visual arts organisation and our first task of the day was to make some art! With a particular emphasis on printmaking, doing this had two outcomes, one, as an icebreaker and two, to reinforce our USP and the use of printmaking as a tool for expressing our hopes for the future of the organisation. The end result of the activity was for each participant to say a little bit about what they had created and why these pieces of art informed the basis for the agenda for the rest of the day. It was this aspect where having an experienced facilitator such as Mel really comes into its own, she was able to structure the day accordingly and consolidate our thinking. With regards to results, the successful outcome of our NPO application is the most measurable.
Working with Mel, not only as a mentor but as a facilitator has been a two-way relationship giving advice, guidance and focused feedback. During the process, she gave honest and constructive feedback plus unbiased, friendly support. I would not hesitate in working with Mel in the future and would recommend her to any arts organisation.”
Julie Gaskell-Johnson MBA, CEO, West Yorkshire Print Workshop, 2017
“Mel and her team exceeded my expectations. She was given the ‘Shop in Streatham’ campaign at short notice and turned it around on time, delivered a quality service and product and was professional throughout. I was delighted with result and would not hesitate to come back to Mel Larsen & Associates in the future”
Angelina Purcell MBE, Streatham Town Centre Manager, 2012
“I was thrilled when Mel Larsen agreed to address the ‘Mapping Black British and Asian Shakespeare’ Symposium at Warwick University in July. Mel’s well-presented illustrated talk drew on her professional experience of marketing theatre while pinpointing the personal triumphs and challenges she had faced. The audience, a wide range of actors, directors, researchers and lecturers was understandably enthralled, amused and impressed; she has the light touch sense of humour and the depth of knowledge to spur debate.”
Dr. Delia Jarrett-Macauley, Research Fellow, Warwick University 2013
“Our senior management team recognised that our existing vision and values no longer reflected the organisation’s direction or culture. We chose to work with Mel because we knew some external guidance would help us come up with a strong vision and values and inspire our team in the process.
“Mel gave us a great overview of the purpose and relevance of having a vision statement and values with fantastic examples and brought the concept to life with practical exercises. The group in the session was a mixture of staff, board members and orchestra – all with different levels of experience of both the CBSO and this kind of work, so it was great to have Mel to guide us through that process as a single group.
The biggest result was that we came up with a brand new vision statement and set of values which are now in our business plan. It was an extremely positive session that has brought different sections of the organisation together and got people really engaged in the future of the CBSO. There seems to be an appetite to do more of this kind of cross-organisational working as a result too.
I would highly recommend Mel to others looking for this kind of support. She gave us a very clear structure to work within and made everyone feel included and listened to. She also seemed just as invested in the results as we were, which I think helped make people feel excited about the opportunity.”
Abby Corfan, Director of Marketing & Digital, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, 2018
“Mel is one of the most creative thinkers we call on as a consultant and collaborator. She has helped us to formulate and deliver a number of events, multi-partner projects, consultancy and evaluation. As a collaborator, she manages to be generous and supportive, yet challenging and innovative. As a consultant, she is both an intelligent strategist and a reliable, sensitive project manager. She has an extraordinarily wide experience of leading and observing engagement practice – from networking to community activism. This has given her unique and valuable insight into what makes people tick: audiences, participants, partners. She is also great at building the confidence of those around her. I would recommend Mel to anyone needing to think differently and clearly about a complex challenge or needing to find ways to engage partners and audiences.“
Anne Torreggiani, CEO Audiences London
“Mel Larsen is more than a sought after professional in market research/planning and an authority in word-of-mouth marketing within the arts sector. The reason Mel stands out from the crowd is the way she puts her extraordinary skills to use: totally focused on how to add value to the client, always looking for ways to empower both the organisation and the people touched by it, always ready to make the extra effort to make the project a success. I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with Mel, whether her work is directly for StillArt or our clients.”
Magnus Still, CEO, StillArt International
“I am constantly looking at new ways to increase footfall and sales. The Crafts Council matched us up with Mel Larsen to help us achieve those goals. Not only did Mel have the marketing background and experience with crafts, but she was also very easy to talk to. We’d just had a poor Christmas (sales) and staff morale was down and the future of the Craft Shop was uncertain. However, when Mel came to visit us to get a better picture of the shop and its environment, she also helped to bring our team together and was very inspirational to us all.
The support was great from Mel (and the Crafts Council) and we were able to look at our displays as an outsider and make significant changes to help bring customers into the shop – thinking outside the box!
Mel’s advice was always welcome but she challenged me into making the decisions myself, which was very empowering. She helped me find a way of getting the results that my boss wanted in a way that meant something to me… This also involved looking at the business plan in great detail to help focus me and my team. This boosted my self-confidence enormously because it is something that I can always refer to if things get a bit tough.
I thoroughly enjoyed working with Mel and can still appreciate the work that we did and the changes that we made. I have more confidence in the decisions that I make because I know that I am doing them for the right reasons – referring back to our business plan.”
Rachel Noone, Manager, Craft Shop, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
“STW engaged Mel because of her ability to understand the complexities of the issues relating to The Complete Works and her strong track record. Mel had worked for us before and delivered excellent results. What really worked for me was the fact that although she maintained objectivity, she also cared about the lack of representation in mainstream UK poetry publishing. That brings something extra to a project and for me, made the final evaluation report exceptional. Mel is warm, approachable and very sensitive. She delivered on time and was always a pleasure to work with.”
Emma Hewett, Director, Spread The Word
“It has been a privilege and a pleasure to work with Mel Larsen on delivering an audience development plan for Winchester Museums. Before Mel came on board I have to say I was overwhelmed by the sheer size of what we were trying to do. But Mel’s clear and strategic thinking provided a way forward for us. She made a seemingly unmanageable and unwieldy project manageable and achievable. She was a sensitive team player within the museum team and an empathetic and approachable facilitator of our non-user focus groups. She quickly grasped our vision for the museums and has enabled us to, through the plan to begin to realise that vision. On a personal level, I found her encouraging, approachable, dedicated and I cannot wait to work with her again!”
Sher Kent, Museum Services Manager (April 2010) Winchester Museums
“Mel Larsen is an articulate, intelligent, creative and dynamic partner in business development. In my journey from Sole Trader to Director of a company of 5 experts specialising in ‘Safeguarding Children’ training and consultancy, she has absorbed our culture, cut to the heart of our principles and values, inspired us to think big and assisted us in realising a vision. She is an inspired visionary, experienced in the practicalities of business.“
Catherine Rushforth, Director, Catherine Rushforth & Associates
“Mel has been both a Coach and a Trainer for the AMA. Feedback from our delegates and participants is always incredibly high. Delegates described her as ‘inspiring’, ‘approachable’, and ‘great fun’ – and we’d agree!”
Julie Aldridge, Executive Director, The Arts Marketing Association until 2016
“Mel has been a breath of fresh air to the National Trust. She has been really supportive and appeared always to be on the end of the phone when we needed her. What struck me and quite a few other colleagues is how important it is for a consultant to truly understand what a ‘customer’ wants and she did just that plus more. Mel has delivered sessions around Community Ambassadors and also was a Keynote Speaker at our National Skills Sharing day. More recently I asked Mel on behalf of two NT properties to design and deliver sessions around Inclusive Language – a potentially contentious subject. Mel managed the sessions extremely well and carried out a lot of research to ensure that the properties got what they wanted. I would work with Mel over and over again as she makes it all incredibly easy.”
Sajida Aslam, Audience Development Manager – Whose Story? National Trust
“My company Tamasha hired Mel to do a brand positioning exercise for us with the operational team and Board. As a result of her rigorous, probing yet sensitive questioning, I realised that we actually needed to have a conversation around change management. I was so completely impressed by Mel’s commitment to the preparation of this day – making sure at every turn that she understood precisely what was required at this very critical moment for our company. The preparation paid off….. the three-hour session was exactly what was required and the concise, fast-paced way the day was delivered was enormously beneficial. Mel again applied her excellent listening skills, showing great care and concern to follow the twists and turns of the conversation. She slightly adapted planned moments in the conversation as required and ultimately helped us find a tangible plan for the next steps of this journey. The conversation between ten people was handled with the utmost care and skill. The combination of her gentle approach with her robust enquiry and well-developed skills set gives her a huge advantage over others I have experienced in facilitated conversations. On leaving, one of my Board members whispered to me ….. ‘she has a very fine touch.’ I could not recommend her highly enough.”
Kristine Landon-Smith, Artistic Director, Tamasha
“The London Hub of Sustained Theatre engaged Mel as a facilitator to run a planning and strategy session designed to take our network to the next level. Her preparation before the session was thorough and well researched. On the day the session there were many topics to discuss and elicit clear outcomes for and Mel’s focus on keeping to time whilst getting the group to deliver the outcomes was impressive. She more than fulfilled the brief that was set and delivered it in a warm and professional way.“
Pauline Walker, Hub Producer, The London Hub
“Mel Larsen is an exemplary workshop leader whom I would definitely work with again at BAC. Mel devised and led a series of workshops as part of BAC’s participatory schools programme, which were carefully and collaboratively planned and successfully delivered all the outcomes we had hoped for. Mel is a warm, creative and approachable workshop leader and the feedback we had from the teachers and pupils was overwhelmingly positive – they were just sad the workshop with her hadn’t been longer!”
Sophie Bradey, Project Manager, Battersea Arts Centre
“Mel listened carefully to what we wanted, asking questions and ensuring she totally understood what we wanted to achieve. She then came up with a really relevant, useful day. She had real empathy for the businesses we were asking her to work with, and showed a genuine interest in what we and the business we were supporting were trying to do. She showed a brilliant ability to mix her inspirational thinking with a well grounded and experienced understanding of putting things into practice….The attendees to our session all left feeling inspired rather than weighed down with just more information – they came away with tools they felt comfortable with and each had received some personal attention and insight into their businesses, they left feeling like individuals rather than one face in a training room! …I hope we have the chance to work together again”
Catherine Zoll, Market Development Officer (May 2010) Crafts Council
“Every student I spoke to said your workshop was a real highlight of their week and that they had thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a really enriching experience for the students and fitted in so well with the overall aims of the week. I appreciate that a successful event means there has been excellent preparation beforehand, and thank you and your team for all you did behind the scenes as well as on the day”
Clare Constant, Head of English and Literature/Director of Teaching and Learning, Thames Christian College, London