The Conduit convenes leaders on stadiums’ power for social change

Paul van Zyl, Chief Executive of The Conduit, sits alongside Alastair Campbell to examine a question that increasingly preoccupies those who shape Britain’s cultural and civic institutions: what role can stadiums and venues play in levelling opportunity and driving social purpose beyond their traditional matchday function.

The conversation, part of The Conduit’s latest podcast series The Rest is Politics: Leading, explores the untapped potential of physical spaces as engines for community transformation. It is a thread that runs through Venues for IMPACT26, a full day conference held at Villa Park, where leaders from sport, business, policy and philanthropy gather to examine how venues might operate as genuine forces for good.

The programme opens at 10:00 with remarks from van Zyl and David Fein LVO, before moving into sessions on ownership with purpose, featuring Laura Williamson and Lord Jason Stockwood, and a keynote on levelling up through sport delivered by Russell McCartney. The afternoon brings conversations on gender in sport, the NEET crisis affecting young people not in education, employment or training, and a closing keynote from Jonathan Davies, with Dame Denise Lewis DBE in conversation at 15:15.

Those unable to attend in person can follow proceedings live from 10:00 via YouTube. The Conduit, which operates as a members’ collective drawing together entrepreneurs, leaders and creators, has positioned itself as a convening force for consequential dialogue on how private organisations and public institutions might work together on problems that matter. This event exemplifies that mission: moving beyond the symbolic to the structural, asking what genuine accountability and measurable change look like when venues become platforms for social impact.

Imagery courtesy of The Conduit (@theconduitlondon).