Ella Snell

Ella is a consultant with extensive experience delivering entrepreneurial insights and innovative solutions for the creative sector. As Deputy Director at New Contemporaries, the UK’s leading organisation supporting emerging artists, she drives communications, operations, business planning, and financial resilience - shaping forward-looking strategies that test new ideas, challenge conventions, and ensure sustainable support for artists.

Previously, Ella founded and directed Art School Plus, an alternative learning and commissioning platform supporting artists in the critical transition from education to professional practice. Art School Plus supported over 40 artists, delivered more than £170,000 in commissioned work directly for artists, developed residencies, and partnered with major institutions including Arts Council England, the V&A, Whitechapel Gallery, and Frieze Art Fair. Prior to that, she led the Living Knowledge Network at the British Library, creating innovative national and international programmes connecting libraries and arts organisations, and raising over £5.5 million in funding.

Throughout her career, Ella has combined an entrepreneurial mindset with a deep commitment to supporting the arts, consistently developing new business models, partnerships, and opportunities that position artists as vital contributors to cultural and societal life. She brings this same strategic, creative, and results-driven approach to consultancy, helping organisations innovate, grow, and deliver meaningful impact.

She also brings governance experience as a current board trustee at the Henry Moore Foundation, and previously on the ICA development sub-committee.