A business consultancy for those in the arts and creative industries.

SERVICES

It starts with your next idea, your talent and your grit. But what next? It is my belief that as a creative entrepreneur, founder or leader, having clarity of vision and of purpose will lead to clarity of action.

I work with creative entrepreneurs to carve out creative and commercial strategies across all areas of the business, brand or enterprise. Working on a project basis, I take a bespoke approach to each client. A self proclaimed optimist, every interaction with me offers ideas, energy and insight.

  • Working with clients to develop a comprehensive guide and action plan for the next chapter of the business. This looks at vision, values, what’s for sale, the market place, customers, sales strategy, finances and operations.

  • Advising on a specific topic, opportunity or challenge. I work with clients on a range of topics across the creative and the commercial. This includes, but is not limited to, sales strategy, finances, building a team, leadership, competitor analysis, business plan reviews.

  • Many clients opt for a ‘little and often’ approach, a thought partner. This advice is focused momentum and accountability. We work with the needs of the business or practice to execute the plan or vision for the future. Many clients work quarterly or monthly.

  • I take on a variety of speaking opportunities whether live interviews, panel host or as part of a panel. I also take writing commissions relating to the concept and practicalities of being a creative entrepreneur.

SELECTED CLIENTS

Curation

Design

Fashion & Jewellery

Fine Art

Fine Craft

Interiors & Gardens

Nancy Nicholson

Palefire

Plum & Ashby

Rachel Entwistle

Scribble & Daub

Sophie Breitmeyer

Studio Faeger

Studio George

Studio Peake

Tabi Jackson Gee

Twig Hutchinson

Ben Prescott Design

Camilla Wordie

Emilie Pugh

Emily Ponsonby

Foster & Gane

Hum London

If Only If

Kitten Grayson

Jess Wheeler

Life Of Ease

Lottie Delamain

PODCAST

UP WITH THE LARK AND

Mel Calver

Intentional Play

Mel Calver has a creative life that is a delightfully unexpected tapestry. She is the founder and creative director of Melanie Giles - a a collection of three hair salons across Somerset. All fizz with energy, buzz with hairdryers and yet which offer a sanctuary of great coffee and conversation. Alongside this she runs ReRooting, a cutting and kitchen garden where she plays and happens to supply herbs and flowers to Landrace Bakery, and herbs to Margaux Henderson’s Three Horse Shoes.

Mel’s drive and ambition is quiet. Perhaps even enigmatic. And yet its outcome is abundantly clear. Every conversation with her is peppered with adventurous ideas and plans. It’s infectious. Her sense of play is independent and built on an intuition I admire immensely. I can assure you that Mel’s story will get you thinking about your own talents, ideas and sense of play, who you surround yourself with and the promise of what might be possible. We are going to talk about plants and hair and baking, the delight in working in contrasting disciplines and how to be intentional about play in the midst of it all.

ABOUT

Up With The Lark

Up With The Lark was launched in 2015 by Calandre Orton. It is a business consultancy for those in the arts and creative industries. Up With The Lark clients want to be encouraged and challenged to start, refine, grow or elevate their creative businesses or careers. Calandre works with founders, entrepreneurs and brands to propel creative talent forwards, develop profitable business models and celebrate the successful marriage of creativity and commerce.

It is Calandre’s belief that the key to running a successful creative business is clarity. Whether in her capacity as a consultant focused on strategy or a mentor working on mindset, Calandre’s goal is always clarity of vision, purpose and action.

Calandre has always worked where the creative meets the commercial - as an art and media lawyer, a studio manager, a commercial director and a business consultant. And so, as a consultant, Calandre provides invested but objective observations, pithy insights and expert advice. A self proclaimed optimist, every interaction with Calandre offers ideas, energy and insight. Up With The Lark is not about a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Instead the focus is on each client’s specific talents and industry, aspirations and version of success.