Start Licensing is celebrating after picking up an accolade at the recent Cultural Enterprises Awards, hosted by the Association for Cultural Enterprises.
The awards celebrate talent, creativity and success in cultural income generation.
Start Licensing was honoured with Best Sector Support Partnership for its work with The Ashmolean Museum. The agency has worked with the Oxford-based museum to create a wide reaching licensing programme which includes partners such as Park Agencies, Atlantic Mats, Team Tea, Jericho Coffee Traders, Art & Hue and Graphenstone Paints.
This year for the first time, entries were open to all arts, heritage and cultural organisations, including those that are not currently members of the Association – making the Awards more competitive than ever, with more opportunities to showcase success, innovation and best practice.
“We were delighted to win this award,” commented Ian Downes, md at Start Licensing. “It was really welcome acknowledgement of our work with The Ashmolean. We have loved working with the Ashmolean and helping them grow their presence in the licensing sector. Licensing is very much a ‘team business’ and we feel this award recognises the teamwork that goes into The Ashmolean programme which, of course, includes all the licensees and retailers who work with us.”
The awards were judged by a panel of well-known and highly respected industry experts from across the cultural sector and beyond, all chosen for their extensive experience and knowledge.
Cultural Enterprises ceo, Gordon Morrison, said: “Promoting commercial best practice within the cultural sector has never been more important given the urgent need for the sector to maximise income streams and identify new sources of money making. The Cultural Enterprises Awards are a brilliant platform to showcase commercial excellence within the cultural sector, and this year’s incredible winners offer a fantastic source of ideas and inspiration to help all types of cultural organisations maximise their income streams.”
The winners were announced at the Museum of Liverpool on 12 March 2025, during the annual Cultural Enterprises Conference. To see all the winners, click on this link.
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