Carolyn Ehman

Carolyn started her career as a musician before falling into the wonderful world of venue hire and earned income strategy for cultural organisations. With nearly two decades in the sector, spanning community arts centres, major heritage venues, freelance consultancy, and trustee roles, she brings a combination of strategic thinking and operational knowledge to her work.

Carolyn specialises in business development for cultural charities and nonprofits, with particular expertise in venue hire strategy, workspace models, hospitality, and membership. Her approach centres on understanding true margins, streamlining systems and software, and building income models that can be operated and grown sustainably within an organisation's unique setting and staff capacity. She is as comfortable redesigning a booking process or configuring event management software as she is constructing a financial case for a new income stream.

Carolyn's academic research on venue hire as an emerging professional practice and audience development opportunity continues to inform her consultancy practice. She has published with Arts Professional, presents at industry conferences, and runs the Venue Hire Discussion Group, a monthly network for professionals across arts, culture, heritage and charity venues. Her work is grounded in a belief that commercial activity and organisational mission can be interdependent, not opposed, and that the best earned income strategies start from understanding what an organisation already has, not from importing models that don't fit.