AEA CONSULTING
• The Shed, New York City, Photo by Daniel Payne, AEA Consulting, 2019
Strategy
&
Planning for Global Creative Industries
AEA Consulting( AEA) is a global advisory firm focused on strategy and planning for the cultural and creative industries. Founded in 1991, the practice has delivered more than 1,300 assignments in 44 countries, with staff working across multiple locations and languages. AEA team advises clients from the earliest stages of an idea through to the long‐term operation of a building, programme or cultural district. Candid, impartial advice underpinned by rigorous research characterises the work.
AEA supports clients across the full project lifecycle. At the concept stage, it helps clients define what a project is for and whether it can succeed, articulating the rationale, testing scenarios and establishing the conditions for viability. At the planning and design stage, it develops business cases, operating plans, capital project plans and design briefs. As projects move towards opening, it prepares organisations for launch, with attention to audience strategy, revenue growth and organisational capacity. For established institutions, it revisits strategy, assesses options and plans for future change.
This approach is evident in the firm’ s international portfolio. In New York, financial modelling for The Shed – the multidisciplinary arts centre at Hudson Yards that commissions works across performance, music and the visual arts – supported the venue’ s early development. In Sydney, a cultural plan, concept development and feasibility study for Barangaroo informed the integration of culture into one of Australia’ s most significant waterfront redevelopments. In Hong Kong, early advisory work supported the development proposal for the West Kowloon Cultural District, now one of the largest cultural quarters in the region. More recently, immersive‐experience studio Marshmallow Laser Feast engaged the firm on market research into the global immersive experiences sector.
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