Creating a Culture of Curiosity
Thursday 16 May 2019 9.45am – 4pm, The Cairn Hotel, Harrogate
Community First Yorkshire’s one-day conference brought the voluntary and community sector together across Yorkshire to hear from experts, share insights and new thinking, and come together to help create a culture of curiosity.
Sharing ideas
Thought leaders shared insight on the road ahead for charities, how charities can thrive and develop new ways of working, sparking discussion and debate.
Networking over lunch and in themed session enabled future sharing.
Voluntary sector partners advised on key issues affecting services and communities in workshops.
New ways of working together to create a culture of curiosity to help the sector thrive were explored during our practical, themed workshops sessions. From funding and making the most of social media, to tackling loneliness, making the most of our community assets, volunteering and staff development – the conference had something to pique everyone’s curiosity.
Presentations
Dawn Austwick, Chief Executive, National Lottery Community Fund 
Who says curiosity kills the cat? Dawn considered the value of curiosity to bringing People in the Lead to life, helping communities to thrive and building generous leadership.
“Curiosity helps us with our creativity and with embracing everyone’s differences.”
“Be curious about what works and build a skills base around knowledge and learning.”
“Exploring how we can most effectively support communities has led to us having more meaningful conversations with them.”
“Curiosity leads to learning new skills. It encourages difference, encourages great listeners, fosters collaboration and great working together.”
Sir Stuart Etherington, Chief Executive, National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)
How can curiosity lead to growth for people, charities and voluntary groups? What is the road ahead for charities, and how do we identify the challenges and opportunities we face as a sector and more widely as a society?
“We have become risk averse as a sector… we’re working in heavy regulatory environments. One of the things that damages curiosity is a misunderstanding of risk.”
“If we avoid risk there would be no curiosity. Becoming risk averse counteracts a curious approach.”
Dr Lincoln Sargeant, Director of Public Health, North Yorkshire County Council
How do we harness our curiosity to develop new ways of working? We use our culture, training and experience every day but how do we in inspire curiosity in communities to challenge assumptions and stimulate sophisticated solutions to complicated problems?
“How do we employ curiosity in our own working practices? A lot of things we do, we do because we have always done them. Sometimes the only way to spark curiosity is to embrace difference.”
“You know nothing about communities you work with until you ask questions. When you come with humble curiosity people open up.”
See his presentation here.
Download the conference programme.
Workshops
Fifteen workshops where held on the day. If you were unable to attend or want to find out about other workshops you couldn’t squeeze into, why not download the presentations here:
Workshop Session 1
Digital! Digital! Digital! Where do I start? (LightStart / Community First Yorkshire)
How do I use social media to feed my curiosity? (Community First Yorkshire)
What makes a great leader? (HEY100 / Coaching York)
People and places – how do we identify our community assets and make the most of them? (Community First Yorkshire)
Why should we tackle loneliness? (Skyblue Research / Community First Yorkshire)
Workshop Session 2
How do we make data provocative and personal? (North Yorkshire County Council)
Is there life after a neighbourhood plan? (Steeton & Eastburn Parish Council / Community First Yorkshire)
How do I tell my story to funders to secure that grant? (Two Ridings Community Foundation / The National Lottery Community Fund)
What’s the best way to reach and recruit volunteers? (Community First Yorkshire)
What’s a Theory of Change and why does it matter? (Community First Yorkshire)
Workshop Session 3
My staff are amazing – how do I do the best for them? (Community First Yorkshire)
How do I tell my story to funders to secure that grant? (Two Ridings Community Foundation / The National Lottery Community Fund)
Volunteers and safeguarding – what should I know? (North Yorkshire County Council)
I want to see change. How do I influence policy makers to develop a strategy? (North Yorkshire County Council / Community First Yorkshire)
Feedback
“This was a great opportunity for networking, sharing experiences, learning and enjoying.”
“The speakers were inspirational and gave me a lot to consider.”
“A very well structured day that will be useful to our organisation. I will certainly attend next year!”
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