Two-day online event taking place on 23 and 24 October 2025
Icon's Business Skills Foundation Programme is specially designed to support professional conservators currently working in, or considering moving into, private practice. Through four interlinked interactive sessions, we will outline the skills, knowledge, and understanding you need to work as a freelancer or small business owner.
Get ready to build your confidence and capability in key business areas and take your career to the next level.
Speaker: Julie Hutchison
Date: 23 October 2025
Time: 11:30 to 13:00
Through an interactive session, Julie will talk about how conservators can get into the mindset of working as freelancers and running their own businesses.
Speaker: Andrew Evans
Date: 23 October 2025
Time: 14:00 to 15:30
Speaker: Freddie Clough
Date: 24 October 2025
Time: 11:30 to 13:00
This session will take a step by step walk through the practicalities of developing your own marketing plan, and how you can put it into operation. It will include:
Speaker: Lorraine Finch ACR
Date: 24 October 2025
Time: 14:00 to 15:30
Working freelance is an option considered by many conservators. Some become freelance and some don’t. 'Being freelance' will look at:
Founder, Warrior Sq
Freddie Clough is the founder of Warrior Sq, a specialist marketing and design agency, committed to elevating arts and cultural organisations through both digital and traditional means.
Services focus on branding, business development, graphic and motion design, all supported by a digital marketing offering, including web development, SEO, PPC, emails and social media. Through these channels, Warrior Sq delivers tailored, results driven marketing strategies and campaigns that meet the unique needs of our clients.
Freddie graduated with an Art History degree in 2005 from SOAS and went on to work at Sotheby’s, the British Antique Dealers Association and the Daniel Katz Gallery. Thereafter, he honed his marketing skills at two internationally renowned marketing agencies before setting up Warrior Sq in 2023 with the sole purpose of servicing the arts and culture sector.
Associate, Counterculture
Andrew Evans runs the consultancy Counterculture offering a range of services to charities and businesses. As a former Director of Development at National Museums Liverpool his specialism is fundraising and finance, but he also helps with governance, strategic and startup issues, and advises on equality, diversity and inclusion. Andrew lives in Chester.Director, LF Conservation & Preservation
I am Director and founder of LF Conservation and Preservation, established in 2003. I trained at Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts, London. I am an accredited conservator working with archives and specialising in the conservation and preservation of film, sound and photography. I assist institutions to work with environmental sustainability embedded into their practices; enable digital transformation and ensure a skilled and knowledgeable workforce by providing bespoke training and workshops.
I am co-founder and Chair of the Icon Sustainability Network, and have previously been a Director and Trustee of Icon. I chaired the great team responsible for the creation and publication of the Icon Ethical Guidance.
You can find out more about me on Twitter: @conserve_lfcp and Instagram: @thecaringconservator
Director, Think Be Do Leadership
Julie is an award-winning Leadership & Impact coach, helping Technical Experts and Professionals to develop the impact, leadership skills and mindset to create business performance.
She specialises in helping leaders to deliver value and productivity by understanding and leveraging their own and the talents of their people, and creating behaviours to enable people to perform. She is committed to developing down-to-earth leadership skills that are practical and easy to implement.
Julie has delivered the Leaders Lauchpad leadership programme to conservators for the last 4 years with excellent results.
She has worked with a wide variety of clients, from small and medium Businesses; to Public Sector (Policing, NHS, DWP, Councils); Technical IT, Manufacturing, Private Medical, and Science based businesses, plus more arts based and heritage businesses, such as National Trust, British Museum, British Library and many others. She also enjoyed 16 years in Hertfordshire Constabulary, leaving as an Inspector in 2013 to start her own business.