About me and why I’m writing this
In April 2024, NAE became the first major worldwide cultural organisation to launch the integration of a permanent citizen assembly as a core part of their leadership structure. Four weeks later, NAE delivered Transform, a one-day national conference that brought together key leaders from the Creative, Community, and Funding sectors. It explored how to shift the narrative around Global Majority leadership within cultural institutions.
My name is Suzanne Alleyne, I’m an artist-researcher and founder of the consultancy Alleyne&. All of our work centres around our research Neurology of Power™. Neurology of Power™ asks where does power reside in the brain and body and how can the process of finding that out create a more resilient, sustainable world. Because we work at the intersection of people and culture, research, facilitation and have an artistic practice, we are able to look at challenges through multiple lenses.
I was the chair for the third and final session of the Transform conference. I’ve also been in dialogue with Saad Eddine Said and NAE for the last few years, as a lot of the work they are doing resonates with my work around power.
Saad and I share a deep connection rooted in our vision of what the world could look like and our values on how to get there. We both navigate the complexities of being Global Majority individuals, carrying multiple identities and perspectives shaped by different understandings of ‘home’ and the world around us.
While we work in different spaces – me as an artist, researcher, and consultant and Saad as a CEO within a venue based NPO – we’ve found common ground in our ongoing conversations about how power shows up.
Whether it creates opportunities, poses challenges, or raises tensions, power is always present.
Saad recognised how I work – connecting seemingly disparate ideas and unravelling complexity – and invited me to write this piece. It ties into our discussions about citizen assemblies, which I see as a groundbreaking governance model.
“By embedding the community into decision-making and giving their voices equal weight alongside trustees and executives, this approach addresses some of the structural inequities baked into society.”
For me, this piece of writing is about exploring how power, governance, and community intersect. It’s about reflecting on why policies alone aren’t enough to tackle deep-rooted issues like discrimination and inequality and why a multi-pronged, values-led approach is essential. Saad and I both believe in the potential of co-creating solutions with the communities we serve. It’s not about solving every problem but about making structural changes that build resilience and support for leaders navigating these spaces.
Who is this for, and how to navigate these blog posts
You might be
- an institutional leader thinking about how to embed resilience and innovation in your organisation
- an artist or programmer thinking about how to centre community in your practice
- you might have arrived here as someone who is part of the wider community and happened upon this blog.
Regardless of who you are, I suspect you are grappling with some of the big questions of the day ‘What kind of world do I want to live in’ or ‘How do we create a more just, sustainable and inclusive society?’
If you’ve arrived here, then this four-part blog is for you. I’m aiming to make connections between how to make social change in society, NAE’s VOICE citizen assemblies, the NAE Transform conference and the challenges (and benefits) of being a socially engaged global majority leader, and power.
For ease of reading I’ve split the piece into four blog posts. This blog post (that you’re reading now) is an introduction to the themes and structure of the series.
The Transform: The Conference blog is a short summary of the Transform conference. Read here.
The The Citizen Assembly, Power, And Saving The World blog is a reflection on VOICE, NAE’s citizen assembly. Read here.
The Transformation Through The Lens Of Power blog my thoughts on why and how understanding power is crucial for meaningful change. Read here.
Here are four definitions/explanations so that you can read the posts in any order you choose:
Citizen Assembly: A citizen assembly is a representative group of citizens who are selected at random from the population to learn about, deliberate upon, and make recommendations in relation to a particular issue or set of issues. In the case of NAE, in April 2024, their citizen assembly (VOICE) became the third pillar of governance (alongside the trustees and the senior management team)
Power: When I talk about ‘power’ I mean the ability to influence others’ thoughts, feelings and behaviour as well as having agency over one’s own thoughts, feelings and behaviour.
Transform conference: In May 2024, NAE delivered its Transform conference, a one-day, three-session event that explored the challenging landscape within which Global Majority arts leaders exist.
The Social Change Model of Leadership: describes leadership as a purposeful, collaborative, values-driven process that centres a commitment to making a difference rather than pursuit of personal power. This leadership model serves as a catalyst for change that benefits others in our local and global communities.
The quickest of quick overviews (well, 1000 words – a 5 min read)
For those that want the quickest of explanations of how NAE’s citizen assembly VOICE, their Transform conference and power are interconnected, continue reading this blog post. If you want to read on any of the topics more in-depth, there are links at the end of this piece.
A key requirement of publicly funded arts organisations in the UK – of which there are over 800 – is that they reflect the society they serve. This isn’t just about ticking boxes; it’s about representation at every level: from the boardroom to the workforce, through programming and beyond. The problem is twofold: some arts organisations don’t want to or mistakenly believe they already do, while others want to but don’t know where to start.
To make matters more complex, these challenges mirror those in wider society. Arts and culture don’t just entertain – they shape our stories and define our identities. Changing the organisational ecosystem to better reflect society means changing the stories being told, and that’s not something everyone wants or is ready for.
I hold a fairly dramatic view: if humanity is to survive – let alone thrive – we need to learn how to co-exist locally and globally, both with each other and with the planet. Co-existing means finding ways to come together and make decisions that create fairer, more equitable spaces for everyone instead of falling into the ‘divide and conquer’ trap that only benefits the super-powerful few.
Recently I listened to a conversation between the economist Ha-Joon Chang and the artist and activist Brian Eno, where they discussed citizen assemblies and how they were essentially a group of people whose aim was not to fight but to try and find solutions to questions and problems. As a reminder, citizen assemblies are a chosen but randomised group that reflect the makeup of the society they represent. At NAE, VOICE (their citizen assembly), the Executive Team, and the Board of Trustees form a unique three-pillar leadership structure. By embedding VOICE into organisational decision making, NAE has created a more democratic, shared-power model that includes those they’re meant to serve – the local community. Of course, citizen assemblies aren’t without challenges. But one of their key strengths is how they empower end users – whether they’re mental health service users or arts audiences – who are often excluded from critical leadership decisions. At NAE, VOICE changes that entirely, offering a governance model that truly includes and serves the people it’s designed for.
During the Transform conference, I was struck by the precariousness of being a Global Majority leader in the publicly funded arts sector. To be fair, this precarity exists in other sectors and society at large, making it even harder to change. One standout observation was how little support Global Majority leaders receive when trouble arises – even with a strong, supportive board of trustees. The consensus is clear: the sector is in crisis. Funding pressures, competing priorities, geo-politics, and organisational well-being place immense strain on leaders. For Global Majority leaders, there’s an added burden tied to their identity – and that’s before even considering intersectionality.
Here’s the game-changer; here’s the genius: by embedding the community in your governance, you authentically bring them along to co-create the organisation’s journey. When challenges arise, the community becomes a critical support system for your leader. I should add that this really only works if we are talking about “values-led” Global Majority leaders. Assuming we are, the goal is a mutually collaborative and collective leadership partnership where the organisation and its community work together, driving innovation, shared responsibility and mutual benefit.
What does this have to do with power? As a reminder, I define power as the ability to influence others (whether they want you to or not) and maintain agency over yourself. Generally, in the West, power is viewed in the singular – the more people you influence, the more powerful you are. For many global majority based indigenous groups, however, power is about collective benefit. While this can create challenges, such as pressure towards group think, it often ensures power is wielded for the good of the whole rather than personal gain.
At Alleyne& we believe that everything is interconnected. You can’t solve problems in isolation. We summarise this with our ‘6 ps’: organisations must align their purpose with how they manage people and create policies that build resilient, equitable spaces. These spaces must be cognisant of the place they exist in, work harmoniously with the planet, and enable profit. Central to this is understanding power – both as an organisation and as individuals within it.
NAE’s three-pillar leadership model – trustees, senior leadership and the citizen assembly (VOICE) – is a brilliant example of distributed power. By sharing power across groups, including the underserved Global Majority leaders and local communities, NAE is creating a model that might not only transform the arts sector but also set a blueprint for how humans can thrive equitably together.
About the author
Suzanne is the founder and CEO of Alleyne&, a cultural consultancy and research incubator, their work centres on leadership, power, and societal issues. An inaugural Arts Council England Changemaker and Churchill Fellow, she is a director of What Next? and trustee of artist Bobby Baker’s organisation Daily Life Limited. With an MA in Arts & Cultural Management from King’s College, London, she is now a guest lecturer.
Her innovative project, Neurology of Power™, explores the dynamics of power in the brain and body, and guides Alleyne&’s practices. With 30 years of experience, her client list has included Barclaycard, Wellcome Trust, BFI and Humboldt Forum. You can find out more about Alleyne& at www.alleyneand.com, www.allaboutpower.org LinkedIn @alleyne&, instagram @alleyneand
