Supporting arts leaders to navigate change: introducing Tonic Transform 

At Tonic we’ve recently revamped our risk register. During an intense period of spreadsheet wrangling, I was seeing traffic lights systems and dashboards in my dreams as well as my waking hours.  

It got me musing: if we were to draw up a massive risk register for the arts sector, what would be flashing red on the dashboard? Along with a depressingly long list of the obvious, I think there would be an area we’re talking about less. That would be leadership: executive level, senior leaders, even managers.  

For this reason Tonic has launched a new programme: Tonic Transform, which supports arts leaders to navigate unprecedented change. 

For 15 years Tonic has been working across the arts and cultural sector, helping organisations build creative, diverse and resilient teams. We work with hundreds of arts organisations across the country and whether big or small, subsidised or commercial, building-based and otherwise. Across the board we see the same story in pretty much every organisation we work with: leaders who are grappling with unsustainable levels of complexity and challenge.  

Of course people in leadership having huge, difficult workloads is not a new thing. When I set Tonic up in 2011 and started working with arts leaders, I marvelled at how they managed the scale of their roles. Arts leadership jobs were always ‘big jobs’. What’s striking today is that these ‘big jobs’ are being done in a context of extreme complexity. Much of that is down to the volume and frequency of the change going on in the world around us – economically, socially, politically, technologically, climatically – and how that’s filtering through to our organisations, the work they do, and how they do it.  

I watch leaders who are on constantly shifting sands, and often under a spotlight of extreme scrutiny. They are dealing with unrelenting change which is coming at them simultaneously from multiple directions. Every day there are little (and not so little) fires everywhere, and it’s easy to spend most of your time doing crisis management. Regardless of whether this is where your skills lie, or the reason you went into the job. 

Being in this mode constantly takes a toll. It can be lonely, exhausting, destabilising. It can be easy to feel you’re failing even though you’re not. I don’t think this is spoken about enough. I’m really saddened by how often I encounter a leader who assumes they are somehow not good enough, when actually they are responding to pressures that few people are equipped to navigate alone. 

At Tonic, we believe strongly that this isn’t sustainable. We feel there should be more in place to support leaders at this time. In part that’s because we see leaders working so hard to ensure support and development are in place for their teams. We know, however, there’s not always someone doing that for them.  

But really, it’s just pragmatic. Right now, our society needs an arts and cultural sector that is buoyant, energised, confident, and capable of meeting the challenges facing us, rather than going into retreat. If anything can be put in place to alleviate even some of the complexities those brilliant people in leadership are facing so they can spend less time in crisis management mode, and more time leading, then we have to find a way to make that happen. Unless we do, leadership will remain red on the risk register.  

So this is where we feel Tonic Transform can play a role. The Tonic Transform programme: 

• is practical, pithy, and designed for people who are time poor, so every interaction packs a punch 

• provides frameworks, tools and models that enable leaders to better understand the nature of change they’re experiencing, so they feel equipped to respond 

• supports leaders when they need to drive change processes within their organisation 

• creates space for leaders to come together as peers, to work collectively through challenges, bounce ideas, and make strategic connections 

We’re early days on Tonic Transform, and we expect the programme to evolve with the needs of the sector and its leaders. If you think it could benefit you or your colleagues, sign up to receive notifications about upcoming events and opportunities here. 

Written by Lucy Kerbel
July 2026