Over the last decade the organisation has moved away from the traditional artists' residency model for various reasons: They don't think it's what most artists really need to thrive, and secondly, because they want to be flexible enough to respond to the many different ways that great projects can evolve. They now adopt a flexible approach that is integrated into the local, national and international curated programmes. This means that at various times they are recruiting artists to produce commissioned works, and at other times they are inviting them to research things at Lawson Park, or work creatively or technically to assist in the production of a collaborative project or exhibition. This can be in the UK or internationally, and in this way they are growing a great team of freelancers based around the world.

Compared to most other Arts Council England-funded organisations they have a very slim core staff team, and that's because they want to employ artists as much as possible in as many different roles as possible.

Most regularly, they are able to offer well-supported volunteering opportunities. Whilst the volunteering weeks are devised to be in and of themselves productive and inspirational experiences, the goal is to get to know people who will continue working with the, primarily as Associate Artists. Spending a week volunteering is an effective way for both parties to have a non-committal 'getting-to-know' you period. Being an Associate Artist is a paid free-lance position, sometimes on site and other times offsite on national or international projects, working in a very wide range of project roles from artist to producer to technician.