Lead Consultant - Susanne Currid

Image: Toby Shaw

Susanne Currid is a development and curation consultant who is passionate about engaging communities with the untapped potential of photography archives. As lead at The Loop, she brings together 25 years of experience across business development, audience engagement, digital project management and capacity‑building with a recent distinction‑grade MA in Art History and Museum Curation.  At the University of Sussex, Susanne specialised in archive photography curation and inclusive cultural engagement practices.  Her lifelong commercial and voluntary sector experience is now synthesised with her recent academic studies into a culturally-sensitive, people-centred and practical approach to unleashing the potential of photography archives.

Her consultancy approach is shaped by a distinctive methodology refined throughout her career. Susanne integrates Design Thinking, Lean project management, and Asset‑Based Community Development (ABCD) to create development roadmaps that are both strategic and highly practical. This blended process prioritises co-creation, Iterative learning, and the resourceful use of existing assets—an approach particularly effective for start‑up and early‑stage archives looking to build momentum, clarity, and sustainable growth. Her broader tool kit includes dozens of tried-and-tested processes that support impactful strategic planning and coaching practitioners in emerging leadership roles.

A passionate community activist, Susanne’s experience in the voluntary sector encompasses business manager, trustee, volunteer and community lead roles. On community and startup projects, she has contributed to strategy development at board level and fundraised in excess of £175k for Hastings Commons and Friends of Ruskin Park. With the Trinity Triangle Heritage Action Zone, which managed £2.3m in grants from Historic England, she sat on the board as Education Lead, and was pivotal in securing a rare second round of funding. Most recently, in a volunteer capacity, she has fundraised and supported volunteer and work experience capacity development at Picnic – A Place for Photography, St Leonards-on-Sea.

Over the past 20 years her broader business consultancy and professional marketer career includes some notable highlights:

  • UK Gov funded SME advisor (Growth Accelerator and Growth Voucher schemes)

  • Author of Build Your Tribe (2013), a top ranking book on Amazon UK for hospitality marketing over five years.

  • BYT was placed on the essential reading list for the South Bank University’s hospitality management degree shortly after its publication.

  • Global Head of Digital Marketing for UK SaaS tech firm awarded T-Mobile Fast Growth Company of the Year in 2010

  • Guest expert appearance on the BBCs The Apprentice plus regular conference speaker and editorial contributor in UK trade press

Working across South East England, Susanne helps archives articulate their cultural value, strengthen their operational foundations, and develop pathways that honour both their heritage and their future potential.