Title Director
Name of organisation Jerwood Charitable Foundation
How long in present post? 2? years
Phone 020 7388 6287
Fax 020 7388 6289
Email roanne.dods@jerwood.org
What does your organisation do?
We are a charitable foundation dedicated to the support of excellence and talent in the visual and performing arts, education in its widest sense and in other areas of human endeavour.
What does your current job involve?
Overseeing a range of national award schemes; actively seeking out and developing projects that fit our criteria; considering unsolicited written applications; devouring newspapers/magazines and books to keep up with all our areas of interest; meeting interesting people to talk through ideas
Who did you used to work for and what did you do?
Artistic Director, suddenlylastsummer, dance company based in Scotland
Lawyer in Edinburgh ? I practised family law for 6 years specialising in Children?s Panel work and domestic violence.
Assistant Co-ordinator to the Lottery Project, Laban Centre London, where I was part of the team that helped secure some of the funding for the new Herzog & de Meuron dance centre being built in Deptford.
What do you enjoy most about your present post?
Working with energetic, magnetic and charming people who are not afraid of their personality and vision, and who are pursuing their talents with determination and commitment.
What do you find most difficult in your present post?
Saying no. And learning and understanding the history, depth and to some extent the politics of so many diverse areas (a challenge more than a difficulty).
What is your career ambition?
Always to work with direct and passionate individuals, and to achieve goals with integrity, vision and quality.
Who has influenced your career to date the most ? and why?
Clare Cooper for her open, generous and inclusive management and Alan Grieve for encouraging me to trust my instinct, and for side-stepping bureaucracy and making things happen.
If you could have done any job in the world, what would you like to have done?
This one.
If you had three wishes for the future of the arts, what would they be?
Widespread recognition that the arts play a fundamental role in our understanding of the world and are pivotal to change.
More emphasis is placed on personality, vision and entrepreneurship than on bureaucracy.
That people stop seeing excellence and quality as a purely exclusive concept.