Ruth Singer

Creative Growth Consultancy

I specialise in artist support and development. I do this in two ways

  1. I work directly with artists on mentoring, professional development and by creating support programmes (see here)
  2. I work with organisations who want to improve and enhance their work with artists – more below.

With my background working in organisations and my many years of making a living as an artist, I have a unique viewpoint on how the two could work better together. 

I do research / consultancy / advisory work as well as in-person (or online) facilitation of groups. My specialism is craft practice but I also work with visual artists of all kinds. 

I call this work Creative Growth. I believe that with the right kind of support, creative people can be the radical change makers we need in the world. I believe that how organisations work with artists and freelancers needs to change. My purpose is to enable this change.

I am particularly interested in working with organisations to improve the way they work with artists which could include 

  • Researching and advising on artist support programmes and wider organisational policies and processes that impact on artists
  • Evaluation, critical-friend work and feedback on existing programmes or structures 
  • Development and improvement of open calls / project briefs
  • Nurturing and growing networks & communities for artist networks and artist-led projects
  • Curatorial / mentoring support for artists working on funded projects and commissions
  • Helping artists and organisations grow through training and development, including things like values, behaviours and how artists work 
  • Podcasts, interviews, and other conversations
  • Focus groups and consultation with artists and arts organisations
  • Creative and accessible sharing of research and learning

Personal research areas

  • Money, finances and payment issues for artists
  • Caring practices in artist employment and development 
  • What artists really need to thrive
  • Artists as leaders and change makers 
  • Collaboration and artist-led structures
  • Artist independence
  • Supporting artists working community, participatory and health fields
  • Artists embedded in their own communities

Previous projects

Animating Leicestershire Towns project. I ran the artist development programme and evaluated all the artist commissions, 2024. Project booklet available here.

Values and behaviours in working with artists – training session for Culture Leicestershire 2023

Exploring values in our work with organisations – short workshop for artists, commissioned by Culture Leicestershire, 2023. Plus presentation on why it’s important for artists to be involved in strategy – see blog post here. 

Advisory work and input into Leicestershire County Council’s Cultural Strategy focussing on artist support and needs 2023

Facilitation and report on making open calls more equitable for ArtQuest, 2022

Artist Support Recipes, a research network on artist support funded by Four Nations Fund, 2021-2022

Creation and facilitation of online peer mentoring network for mid-career artists, 2020

In-person peer mentoring pilot programme for Creative Leicestershire, 2019

Research on local artist needs focussing on marketing and networks, Creative Leicestershire 2018-19

Research on local artist structures, development needs and support requirements, Creative Leicestershire 2017

Creating and running projects, in-person workshop for Craftspace 2017-2018

Two part image with photo of Ruth Singer on left, standing up and holding a textile artwork. On the right the text: Creative Growth. I believe that with the right kind of support, creative people can be the radical change makers we need in the world. I believe that how organisations work with artists and freelancers needs to change too. My purpose is to enable this change.