Venu Dhupa was part of the leadership team in the merger and growth of two Non-Departmental Public Bodies and reinvention of a new one called Creative Scotland. This was to handle Government investment into the cultural sector and co-ordinate the future strategic development of the creative industries. It provided an exceptional opportunity to be conceptual and creative at a high level. We learned to communicate in a new language and embedded a new hybrid public/private sector culture. Activity included:
- Improved structures – reducing hierarchical management and introduced matrix management.
- Integrated the finance and grant management system.
- Achieved efficiency savings of £0.5million towards an organisational saving of £1.5million.
- Researched and developed the International Strategy that needed to sit alongside that of other NDPBs such as Visit Scotland for collective positive social and promotional impacts.
- Addressed the three key aspects in my division of staffing, shifting static investment patterns and international engagement.
- Instigated an “in-service design team” and designed15 new programmes and an Ideas Bank to distribute c.£50million annually with all the associated accountability and evaluation.
- Reviewed 184 organisations to assess their future potential for investment.
- Analysed the international activity in Scotland for the last 10 years in the context of national and global policy frameworks. Instigation of the initial International Strategy for the Cultural Sector.
- Initiated and delivered the largest Creative Residency programme in Europe, Creative Futures was a £3million programme over 3 years with over 700 participants and 72 partners.