Mary-Alice Stack is the founder and Chief Executive of Creative United, an entrepreneurial community interest company that is focused on achieving social and economic impacts across the arts and creative industries. Prior to founding Creative United, she worked at Arts Council England where she was responsible for the early-stage development of the Own Art scheme, a national initiative designed to grow and diversify the market for contemporary art and craft. Over the past 30 years she has gained extensive voluntary experience serving as a Trustee on the boards of various arts organisations, as well as pursuing personal interests in music and the performing arts.  She lives and works in London and Hastings.

please tell us about your role…..

I’m the Chief Executive of Creative United, a London-based social enterprise that supports creative livelihoods across the UK. We do this through the development and delivery of a number of publicly funded programmes, and by sharing access to knowledge, support and services that creatives need to develop and grow.

What was your journey into the arts…..

I have spent my whole career working in the arts and creative industries. My early interest in the arts was encouraged by my teachers at school which led me to do a practice led foundation course at Falmouth College of Art, followed by a BA in the History of Art at the Courtauld Institute. Visual arts has always been my main area of interest, but I also have a lot of experience working in music and theatre, both on and off stage.

What inspires you….

I’m inspired by way in which artists and other creative practitioners are able to bring their ideas to life by transposing these into physical objects, images and sounds that can be experienced and interpreted by others. It is the coming together of technical and artistic skills in great works of art that inspires me most.

How does your experience contribute to CVAN London, and what are your ambitions for the
London network…

I hope that my experience can be of benefit to CVAN London as a strong advocate for the value of the arts and as someone whose day job involves the development and delivery of services that are expressly designed to support artists and craft makers to build and sustain their careers as creative practitioners.

What are you currently working on and what does the future hold…..

We’ve got an exciting year ahead of us at Creative United with the announcement of some significant changes to the Own Art scheme, our flagship programme for the visual arts, and also the launch of a new business support service for ‘nano’ enterprises operating across the creative sector. We are looking forward to sharing these developments with CVAN London members at a networking event later this spring. Watch this space!