26th September 2023

Welsh National Opera’s (WNO) General Director, AIDAN LANG, has announced he will step down at Christmas after four years in the role.
Lang plans to retire to spend more time with his wife, the singer and director LINDA KITCHEN. He will remain in post to see out the end of WNO’s current season, which goes on tour around England and Wales from next week.
Lang first joined WNO as a staff director in...

CHRIS AUTY has been named as the new Director and CEO at London Film School (LFS).
Auty joins from the National Film and Television School (NFTS), where he has been the head of producing, marketing and entrepreneurship for the past decade and was responsible for running the school’s two-year MA producing programme.
Prior to taking up his role at the NFTS, Auty worked extensively in the film industry with directors...
25th September 2023

Sir NICHOLAS COLERIDGE has been appointed Chair of Historic Royal Palaces by King Charles.
Coleridge will take up the post for a three-year term from 1 November, replacing CAROLE SOUTER, who has been interim chair for a year.
A former media executive, Coleridge was for thirty years successively Editorial Director, Managing Director and President of the Condé Nast media group.
He has been Chair...
22nd September 2023

Independent Venue Week (IVW) has named the eight members of its new steering board, drawn from across the music business, ahead of the annual event in early 2024.
Working with partners including Arts Council England, See Tickets, and BBC Radio 6, the seven day nationwide festival highlights the role independent music and arts venues play in local communities and the music industry.
Co-founder of Earth Music Agency CLAIRE...

JAMES MCKNIGHT has been appointed the Chief Executive of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group (RUG).
McKnight will take up the role in December, succeeding CHARLES FARMER, who departed the company earlier this year.
Previously, McKnight was Chief Creative Officer for the Harry Potter franchise at the Blair Partnership, where he oversaw collaborations with teams at Harry Potter and the Cursed...
20th September 2023

BEN DERBYSHIRE and HELENA HAMEROW are reappointed Commissioners of Historic England for second terms of four years by Culture Secretary LUCY FRAZER.
Derbyshire is a housing designer, currently serving as the non-executive Chair of HTA Design LLP, a design practice specialising in housing and placemaking. He first joined the practice as a student in 1973 before becoming a partner in 1986...
19th September 2023

The artists ADHAM FARAMAWY and SIMON PATTERSON have been selected as new board members for DACS (Design and Artists Copyright Society). The rights management organisation for UK visual artists has also reappointed JANETTE PARRIS to the board.
An artist working across media, Faramawy has screened and exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, Tate Modern and Tate Britain, the Serpentine...

Sir RICHARD HEATON has been named Chair of the Advisory Committee for the Government Art Collection, which places works of British art in UK government buildings worldwide. His four-year term began this month, succeeding Sir DAVID VEREY, who held the role for a decade.
Containing more than 14,700 works spanning six centuries, the Government Art Collection curates across ministerial offices in the UK,...
18th September 2023

Executive Director of Longborough Festival Opera (LFO) JENNIFER SMITH will step down after nine years in post.
Smith leaves to assume the role of Domestic Bursar at Balliol College, University of Oxford, in late autumn this year.
During Smith's tenure, LFO underwent a period of significant expansion. She worked with Artistic Director POLLY GRAHAM to adapt to the pandemic by relocating the 2021...

Culture Secretary, LUCY FRAZER, has reappointed Dr WEI YANG, Dr JEREMY SILVER and LAELA PAKPOUR TABRIZI as board members for the British Library. All three will hold the role for a further four-year term, from May 2023.
Yang is a town planner and urban designer who sits as the chair of the planning practice, Wei Yang & Partners. She is also the co-founder and CEO of the...