A New Chapter for The Stove as Matt Baker Steps Down as CEO in 2025
As we enter our 14th year, I’m writing to let you know about another major milestone for The Stove, as our co-founder Matt Baker stands down as CEO in summer 2025. This progression has been in planning for over a year between Matt and the Board. The Stove is constantly evolving, and the Trustees and the team are confident that this will be another positive process of change for us.
A small team from the Board have been working with Matt for about a year now in planning for this change. I’m delighted to tell you that we are not losing Matt; he will take on a new part-time role for The Stove as our ‘Prospector’*, continuing with the brilliant work he does for us in regional and national strategy and policy development, and working with prospective clients and funders to shape new work opportunities.
In co-founding The Stove, the challenge Matt set himself was to help establish a sustainable, innovative arts organisation embedded in his home region. As he says himself, ‘the final step in creating something is to step away to allow it to stand on its own and flourish’. With the incredible team we have built—you, our members, and all of our partners—we have the experience and skills, and we are ready and excited to embrace this new stage together in our evolution. We can assure all members that no significant change to the direction or operation of The Stove is anticipated; we will continue to serve the creative community and the wider communities of Dumfries and Galloway as we always have.
We are deeply grateful for the extraordinary contribution that Matt has made to The Stove, the region, and the country over the past 14 years, and delighted that his commitment to Dumfries and Galloway and the pioneering practice of creative placemaking will remain his focus. We are excited at the prospect of new adventures with Matt and all the new connections he will make for us.
The wonderful recent news of the award of multi-year funding from Creative Scotland means that The Stove is now in its third cycle as a national portfolio arts organisation, an incredible achievement for such a young and highly original organisation. This award was based on our business plan for 2025–28. The plan is built on the twin strands of (1) community-embedded creative practice, for and with the communities of Dumfries, and (2) regional creative placemaking and creative sector development. These two areas of work are based on the solid foundations of existing work and future innovation, and are underpinned by four areas of income generation, all of which are comprehensively supported through effective governance and working systems.
We will now enter a short process of internal reorganisation and planning to refine the shape of our team and working systems. This is something in which everyone at The Stove has a voice, but we have planned things in such a way that the process should create as little disruption as possible within everyone’s busy schedules. The process will be enabled and supported by the constitutional changes we made in the past year and the well-embedded operations of the Board and senior leadership team, which we have all developed together. We will do our utmost to keep everyone informed throughout, and I am here for any queries—please do not hesitate to reach out.
This feels like a big change in our Stove foundations. As you all know, Matt has been the leader of this special place. However, we’re confident about this next chapter, the new opportunities it will present internally and externally, and the fact that we won’t lose our wonderful Matt completely. As it is traditional to say at The Stove at times like these, ‘may it continuse on!’
Lynsey Smith
Chair of the Board of Trustees at The Stove
* A prospector company is defined as one that is a leader in its market and is driven by innovation and thought-leadership. Prospector companies are known for being entrepreneurial and investing a lot of time and effort to find new products and solutions. A prospector strategy is a business strategy that involves actively seeking out new markets and opportunities. It’s a competitive strategy that emphasises innovation and flexibility to respond to changing market conditions. A prospector seeks precious elements.
