APPROACH

How We Work

At Free Range, we work collaboratively with you to design and deliver heritage, arts and culture projects that are people-centred, place-based and shaped by community need. Our approach is flexible, evidence-led and aligned with funder priorities, ensuring ideas are not only creative, but achievable, inclusive and sustainable.

We tailor our support to each organisation, whether you need end-to-end project delivery or specialist input at a specific stage. Our process is built around six interconnected stages:

1. Defining Your Focus

We begin by listening. We take time to understand your organisation, your ambitions, your community and your strategic context.

Through research, consultation and collaborative planning, we help you clarify your vision, define your audiences, shape your outcomes and identify realistic priorities. This stage often includes needs analysis, stakeholder mapping, audience research, concept development and support with funding bids or business cases.

By the end of this stage, you have a clear, funder-ready project framework that is rooted in evidence and community need.

2. Building Your Community

Strong projects are co-created, not imposed. We design inclusive engagement approaches that bring people, partners and stakeholders into the heart of your work.

From co-production workshops and schools engagement to volunteer programmes, memory cafés and community events, we help you build meaningful participation and long-term relationships.

This ensures your project reflects lived experience, local identity and diverse voices, while meeting engagement, access and inclusion requirements set by funders and public bodies.

3. Growing Your Visibility

We help you communicate your story clearly and creatively, so your work reaches the audiences it’s meant for.

This includes branding, design, marketing strategy, PR, social media, content creation and campaign planning, all tailored to heritage, arts and culture contexts. We focus on accessible, place-based storytelling that builds awareness, increases participation and strengthens your credibility with funders, partners and the wider public.

4. Planning and Executing Your Campaigns

We turn ideas into well-run reality.

We plan and deliver events, exhibitions, engagement programmes and place-based cultural initiatives, coordinating partners, suppliers, venues, timelines and budgets. Alongside delivery, we integrate marketing, communications and community engagement to maximise reach and participation.

Our structured but flexible project management approach ensures projects stay on track, on time and within budget.

5. Supporting Your Team

We act as an extension of your team, providing capacity and expertise where you need it most.

This might include project coordination, stakeholder liaison, funding support, volunteer management, communications delivery or administrative backup. We can step in for short-term delivery or provide ongoing strategic support.

Our collaborative approach reduces pressure on in-house teams, builds capacity and ensures continuity throughout the life of your project.

6. Measuring Your Impact

Demonstrating impact is essential for learning, accountability and future funding.

We help you build practical, proportionate evaluation frameworks, set outcomes and indicators, collect meaningful evidence and produce clear, funder-ready evaluation reports.

Our approach aligns closely with frameworks such as the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Investment Principles and local authority commissioning requirements, helping you reflect, improve and strengthen future bids.

A Flexible, Funder-Friendly Approach

You don’t have to follow every stage. Some partners work with us from early concept through to final evaluation, while others bring us in for specific elements such as engagement design, funding support, delivery coordination or impact reporting.

We adapt our role to your needs, your capacity and your budget – always working collaboratively, transparently and with a focus on long-term value.

Free Range Thinking in Practice

With free range thinking, we unbox ideas, challenge assumptions and find creative, practical ways to turn ambition into action.

We combine strategic planning with hands-on delivery, blending research, storytelling, events, design, marketing and evaluation into joined-up programmes that serve both communities and organisations.

Above all, we believe heritage, arts and culture projects work best when they are inclusive, evidence-led and shaped by the people they are for.