What We Do

Partnership First will work with you to devise the best way of meeting your organisation’s needs
Partnership First can also conduct an independent evaluation of your project or partnership

A flexible and professional approach

Partnerships

Projects

Consultancy

Evaluation

Training

Partnership First is a consultancy for music and the arts sectors that offers a highly professional and knowledgeable approach to creating and maintaining dynamic partnerships and projects.

Partnership First is founded on the expertise and in-depth knowledge of the arts/education sectors based on over 50 years of experience working in this field.

About Us About Us

At the heart of our approach, is listening to what organisations need and tailoring our services to meet that need

We take a flexible and professional approach to our work, regularly liaising with you to ensure that you receive reliable and accurate information that will assist you in developing your strategies and policies going forwards.

Music and Arts Partnerships

Within the current arts/education sectors there is a move towards greater partnership working – whether this is the introduction of Music Hubs around the country, or local arts partnerships with schools and other organisations.

To be effective, partnerships need to ensure that they are based on a shared vision whilst recognising and valuing the contribution each partner makes.

Partnership First offers a range of services to support the successful development and maintenance of these partnerships.

Partnership Development

Establishing your Partnership

Understanding yourself and your partners
Developing organisational profiles
Establishing roles and responsibilities
Creating partnership agreements
Identifying aims, objectives, key outcomes and outcome indicators
Risk mitigation - establishing a risk register

Partnership Management

Supporting Partnerships

Developing Partner Agreements
Monitoring performance
Creating systems and processes to manage the development of the Partnership
Approaching challenges

Partnership Evaluation

Providing independent evaluation including making recommendations to assist in the continual development of the partnership.

Music and Arts Projects

Projects are often set up as a way of delivering the specified outcomes of an arts organisation’s education strategy. Partnership First can help with all aspects of setting up and running a project to ensure that it meets its stated aims and is delivered in a professional and effective manner.

Project Development

Planning projects to meet identified needs
Identifying aims, objectives, key outcomes and outcome indicators
Developing effective communication strategies to support engagement
Risk mitigation - establishing a risk register

Project Management

Managing and developing projects
Delivering agreed outcomes
Ensuring effective processes and financial management and budget monitoring
Monitoring and evaluating to ensure meaningful outcomes

Project Evaluation

Developing effective self-evaluation tools
Providing an independent evaluation report of your project

“I found the process of working with you, analysing the project, and talking things through extremely helpful. I was able to reflect and learn in-depth through the evaluation process.”

Creative Producer - Chickenshed

Consultancy

Partnership First will work with you to devise the best way of meeting your organisation’s needs, whether it is setting up a new partnership, refreshing an already existing partnership, or offering advice on training for your staff. We will devise a programme that will help you to deliver your objectives.

Existing Partner Review

Many partnerships have been in existence for some time and so, as part of an overall strategic review, Partnership First can work with partners to map current provision of activity and to identify where there may be gaps.

We can also assist by working with you to provide updated Partnership Agreements, setting new strategic objectives and identifying key outcomes for the partnership.

Partnership First have created a range of resources designed to work towards strengthening the partnership and helping to identify the key ambitions for the partners. We will work with the partners to facilitate a new strategic direction and action plan.

New Partner Assessments

There are many successful partnerships – such as Music Hubs, that receive approaches from other organisations wishing to join. Partnership First can put in place a Partner Assessment procedure that will act as an initial filter for such requests.

“The Tri-borough Music Hub uses Partnership First to lead an initial assessment process for organisations who are interested in working in partnership with us. This ensures an independent and objective first point of contact, which quality assures the approach from a wide range of potential new partnerships. It allows the TBMH to focus its work with partners that best fit our own Strategic Priorities and tally with our vision.”

Head – Tri-borough Music Hub

We will work with you to set up a process for dealing with requests, including identifying what your partnership is seeking in potential new partners. We will prepare a report for you on each application that will include:

A check on the organisation’s Safeguarding policy
Detail of any funding the organisation has in place for work with the partnership, or where they would seek such funding
Brief outline of any proposed activity
Details of any independent evaluation
Detail of which of the partnership’s key objectives their activities would meet
A final recommendation of next steps to progress their application

Creating New Partnerships

More and more frequently organisations are encouraged to work together as this can be a way of extending the reach of an individual organisation and making funding go further. This process will help ensure that your Partnership has strong foundations from which to grow and flourish.

Establishing the partnership at the beginning is crucial for its long-term success and development. A key part of this, is identifying what each of the partners brings to the table and where gaps in provision can be met by the wider partnership.

Using specially created resources, we can help a new partnership establish its aims and objectives, create Partner Agreements, and help plan key outcomes.

This includes:

Partner Profiles
Partner Agreements
Identify key roles, responsibilities and resources.

Evaluation

Increasingly the need to raise funds for projects and activities grows each year. The competition to attract funding is becoming more crowded and many funders are keen to see an independent evaluation of the organisation or a previous project as part of the background information that applicants are asked to supply.

Partnership First will produce an evidence-based assessment on the extent to which you have met your aims, objectives and outcomes. We will identify with you the stakeholders of the project and then using a range of techniques including surveys, focus groups and interviews, gather the evidence from them to make key findings.

By analysing the evidence, we will also make recommendations for the future that would improve the outcomes for the stakeholders, and highlight examples of best practice.

“We are delighted to be working with Partnership First who will be evaluating Bang the Drum 2016. We are impressed by their immense knowledge and experience of the sector, their flexibility in meeting the demands of the project and creativeness in obtaining the required results.”

Musical Director – Inspire-works

Training and Facilitation

Partnership First can tailor the training package to suit your needs. The sessions can be delivered in either ½ day or whole-day courses, and can be arranged for up to 15 people.

We have created a range of resources to support the training.

Training

Alongside the other areas of our work, we offer training for Music and Arts organisations in the following areas:

Setting up a Partnership
Getting to know your Partners
Setting project or partnership aims, objectives, outcomes and outcome indicators
Developing a Partner Strategy
Effective Partnerships
Mitigating Risk
Evaluation

As in all our work, Partnership First take a flexible and professional approach, we will work with you to pinpoint your specific needs and then provide a suggested programme or course that will help your organisation address the need.