Dorothy Wilson offers a celebratory obituary of the career and achievements of Geoff Sims, former Director of mac birmingham.
The board and staff of mac birmingham are very sad to report the passing of Geoff Sims, its former Director (1989 – 1998), Project Co-ordinator of the mac/sampad building project (2006 – 2010) and honorary archivist (1989 – 2014). Geoff was one of the kindest, most supportive, challenging and principled people. A man of conviction, of imagination and of huge generosity, Geoff played a major role in synthesising and realising mac’s ambitions and respecting and celebrating its past. Geoff led the re-imagining of mac for the 21st century and it was his visioning which led, ultimately, to the regeneration of the centre through the 2008 – 2010 physical development. Always a passionate advocate of participation in the arts for everyone and of the continuum of artistic practice from very first beginnings to international standard presentations, it was Geoff’s ability to synthesise mountains of information, perspectives, ambitions and opinions into simple, transparently comprehensible propositions to which everyone could subscribe. It was this skill which led to the development of a compelling, and ultimately highly successful, case for investment in the 2010 mac building project and the success of mac’s role as a gateway to the arts for now almost 1 million visitors every year.
Brought up in Southend-on-Sea, and following studies in mathematics and philosophy at University of Keele, Geoff began his working career as a croupier. Very soon however his love of the arts led him to the New Victoria Theatre in a converted cinema in Hartshill, Newcastle under Lyme under the inspirational leadership of founding Director, the late Peter Cheeseman. The New Vic company earned an international reputation through its pioneering work in creating musical documentaries. Its productions reflected the experiences and preoccupations of the communities of North Staffordshire, with its economy based on ceramics, coal and steel.
From The Vic, Geoff moved in the early 70s to become Deputy Director of the young West Midlands Arts (WMA), based then in Stafford and forging its relationships with the Arts Council of Great Britain and with local authorities across the region. Geoff provided a very real sense of leadership for a range of young, emerging arts professionals who – along with many others – have every reason to be thankful to Geoff for his nurturing, challenging, supportive and robust advocacy for the arts in the region, and his no-nonsense approach to encouraging what we now term “arts for everyone”. In a national context, Geoff was a significant player in the Standing Conference of Regional Arts Associations (SCRAA), and was an untiring, vocal and effective advocate of community arts with government, local government and with the Arts Council.
By now as Director, Geoff oversaw the move of WMA to Birmingham, to the home given to the organisation by the West Midlands County Council on its demise in 1986.
Geoff left WMA in 1989 to take up the role of Director of Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham and in 1990 changed its name to mac as part of a thorough-going review of its mission, focus and priorities. Geoff led mac through to 1998 after which time he fulfilled a largely freelance career working with and for a range of artists, organisations and agencies – in the West Midlands predominantly – though he crossed the fence again and worked for some time for Arts Council. With his facility with numbers and concepts he was in demand for a wide range of projects, with many of whom he remained closely associated but none more so than with mac, where he was Project Co-ordinator for the mac/sampad Building project – a project he first conceived in 1992 – and helped significantly to complete some 18 years later.
A fine photographer himself, Geoff was also a collector of art – a man with a passion for supporting imagination and craft – and a quiet and unassuming patron of artistic endeavour. As a trustee of the mac New Work Trust he was always keen to support the emerging artist and ensemble, and could see how even very small investments at the right time gave the most enormous boost to confidence and ambition.
Geoff’s family has asked that any donations people may wish to make in celebration of Geoff and all that he has meant to them might be directed to mac birmingham (Charity number 718349). With those donations we will set up the ‘Geoff Sims photographic bursary award’, to support regional photographers preparing work for exhibition at mac. The commitment of the fund is to properly reflect Geoff’s interests and his constant interest in supporting artists, especially those at the beginning of promising careers, in bringing their work to audiences.
Dorothy Wilson is Artistic Director and Chief Executive of mac birmingham.
macbirmingham.co.uk