Over 95% of businesses in the UK cultural sector are “micro-businesses,” employing fewer than ten people.¹ These organisations rely on a subcontracted workforce to deliver and promote their ambitious cultural programmes – from specialist consultants, to freelance technical crews, to marketing agencies.

But this comes with its own set of problems, namely:

• A large amount of time is taken up juggling contractors
• Those contractors don’t speak to each other
• They only understand their own areas of expertise
• They don’t have an overview of the entire project
• You have to brief each of them separately
• They don’t necessarily understand the arts and culture sectors

In the construction industry, where project delivery also involves coordinating teams of specialist contractors – and where many of the same problems occur – it’s become commonplace to appoint a “Lead Consultant.”

This is a specialist who oversees the entire project end-to-end, from conception through to delivery – commissioning the initial research and planning, but also project managing the various contractors once the project is underway.

This isn’t yet common in the creative and cultural sectors. But it should be. Here’s why:

• Outsourcing the job of coordinating your contractors frees up time for you to focus on higher-level goals like your mission, your programming, or fundraising.
• The Lead Consultant has an overview of the entire project. They ensure that all specialists are aligned with the project’s objectives – preventing miscommunication, reducing inefficiencies, and making sure the project runs smoothly from start to finish.
• By acting as a single point of contact, the Lead Consultant streamlines communication, keeps your messaging clear and consistent, and removes the need for you to re-brief each new team of contractors.
• The Lead Consultant provides important quality control, ensuring each contractor’s work meets the highest standards.
• By managing your resources, they can make sure your project stays on schedule and within budget.
• By handling compliance, they reduce the risk of delays, penalties, or additional costs.
• You gain peace of mind, knowing your project is being managed in its entirety.
• You gain access to the Lead Consultant’s industry experience, which is often a wealth of knowledge and expertise.

Long Moon takes the Lead Consultant concept, and applies it to the creative and cultural sectors. We act as a single trusted partner, supporting your project from conception through delivery to marketing.

Our Leadership

Dan Haycock, Founder & Company Director

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Our Director, Dan Haycock, has worked in leadership, operational and administrative roles across the creative and cultural sectors, alongside a sustained 20+ year practice as an artist and writer.

Before founding Long Moon, Dan sat on the governing committee of Surface, a contemporary art gallery, where, as Design Coordinator, he led the gallery’s design team and oversaw all digital and design work, including all marketing materials.

Prior to this, he was the Head Technician at the Royal Drawing School’s Foundation Year campus, where he line-managed the team of technicians, oversaw all day-to-day operations, and planned and delivered the end-of-year show build.

Dan also co-founded a multi-disciplinary arts collective, the ERIS Collective, with whom he organised multiple exhibitions across London, and he also co-edited the poetry anthology Archipelago, published by Manupod Press in 2015.

He has installed and de-installed exhibitions at the Saatchi Gallery, the V&A, London College of Fashion, the London Design Festival and the Affordable Art Fair.

He has fabricated artwork and made props for a range of high end clients, including the BBC, the Royal Variety Performance, Les Misérables, the Imperial War Museum, the Royal Institute of British Architects, and the Chelsea Flower Show.

As a writer, Dan has had items in the script for BBC Radio Four show Newsjack, and short fiction published in sci-fi magazine FutureQuake. He also wrote the screenplay for the short film Koschei the Deathless, produced by Backbone Theatre & Film in 2019.

His artwork has been exhibited at the Centre for Recent Drawing and Simmons Contemporary.