Lizzie is a policy and partnership specialist with over 20 years of experience working with, and advocating for, the arts, culture and education.
Lizzie Crump is the UK Strategic Lead at What Next?; a national cultural movement which brings people together to debate and shape the future of the arts and culture in the UK.
She has been at What Next? since its inception in 2011, and has worked to advocate to government on a range of issues; from arts funding in the Comprehensive Spending Review, to pay and conditions for Freelancers.
Lizzie is passionate about creating new ways of working through conversation and collaboration. She regularly designs consultations, and Chairs Roundtables with Ministers, funders and with government, delivering reports and summaries that reflect the thinking in ways that can be practically taken forward. She believes that policy work should be inclusive, accessible, underpinned by evidence, delivered in partnership and led by those who it affects.
What Next? often acts as both a catalyst for ideas and a strategic partner. Through leading What Next? Lizzie has been involved in the development of key national initiatives such as; BBC Get Creative, the Risks, Rights and Reputations Programme, the Gulbenkian Inquiry into the Civic Role of Arts Organisations and the Local Authority Hearts for the Arts programme.
From 2010 – 2022 Lizzie was the Co-Director of the Cultural Learning Alliance (CLA), a collective voice working to ensure that all children and young people have meaningful access to culture.
Lizzie has worked for a local authority, for Arts Council England, as Cultural Advisor to Partnerships for Schools (now part of the Department of Education), as an associate with the Innovation Unit and as a freelance consultant.
She was the 2011/12 Clore Leadership Learning Fellow, is a governor of Leyton Sixth Form College and is a Visiting Engagement Fellow at Kings College London. During the pandemic of 2021, she received an MBE for services to the arts.
Read more about Lizzie’s career on LinkedIn.