Paul Cutts reveals the route he has taken to reach his current role.
Chief executive Exhibition Road Cultural Group
(May 2009–present) I still can’t believe my luck: a new post, based at the Natural History Museum (my favourite London building), working with some of the world’s most iconic cultural organisations, staging public projects and developing collaborative working. With 16 institutions – including the V&A, Science Museum, Royal Albert Hall, Serpentine Gallery, Royal Parks and Kensington Palace – as well as two local authorities, it’s a brain-fryingly complex and politically intense role. But with the whole of Exhibition Road undergoing development, and with 2012 Olympic events happening in Hyde Park, it’s an amazing opportunity
to help reshape Britain’s original cultural quarter. Who wouldn’t want
the job?
nesta fellow Clore Leadership Programme (Sept 2008–July 2009)
As mid-life crises go, spending a year exploring your self and your future is a pretty good one. Two placements (with the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in my native Cardiff, and with the Cleveland Orchestra in Ohio) gave me experience of very different organisations in vastly different cultures. Clore was life-changing, transforming my personal, cultural, intellectual and professional horizons.
Editorial Director Impromptu Publishing (Oct 2002–June 2008)
Having created and launched Muso (a classical music magazine for young people) for Impromptu Publishing, Managing Director Marcus Netherwood offered me a stake in his fledgling business. Six years, countless late nights, many pressurised days, wonderful staff, five new magazine titles (including Gig) and an annual turnover of £1m later, I left the north to pursue a nagging dream: to stop talking about the arts and start delivering them.
News and Online Editor Gramophone magazine
(Feb 1999–June 2000) I owe this job to a boat trip: a fellow sailor was Gramophone editor James Jolly and, in my freelance enthusiasm, I pitched a story to him. Six months later, I was the magazine’s first news editor and launching its daily news and reviews website.
Editor International Arts Manager (1992–1993) I’m a former choral scholar and a trained pianist, but it was business that shaped my early journalism career. I covered the European oil business for a trade mag and wrote about telecoms for Financial Times newsletters. International Arts Manager represented the perfect meld of my arts and business backgrounds. I spent a frantic 18 months mostly on aeroplanes, reporting on the arts globally. Journalism was a fantastic way to see the world and its diverse audiences and cultures. And the skills I gained – processing information rapidly, networking and how to contextualise – are proving invaluable in my new life.
nesta fellow Clore Leadership Programme (Sept 2008–July 2009)
As mid-life crises go, spending a year exploring your self and your future is a pretty good one. Two placements (with the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in my native Cardiff, and with the Cleveland Orchestra in Ohio) gave me experience of very different organisations in vastly different cultures. Clore was life-changing, transforming my personal, cultural, intellectual and professional horizons.
Editorial Director Impromptu Publishing (Oct 2002–June 2008)
Having created and launched Muso (a classical music magazine for young people) for Impromptu Publishing, Managing Director Marcus Netherwood offered me a stake in his fledgling business. Six years, countless late nights, many pressurised days, wonderful staff, five new magazine titles (including Gig) and an annual turnover of £1m later, I left the north to pursue a nagging dream: to stop talking about the arts and start delivering them.
News and Online Editor Gramophone magazine
(Feb 1999–June 2000) I owe this job to a boat trip: a fellow sailor was Gramophone editor James Jolly and, in my freelance enthusiasm, I pitched a story to him. Six months later, I was the magazine’s first news editor and launching its daily news and reviews website.
Editor International Arts Manager (1992–1993) I’m a former choral scholar and a trained pianist, but it was business that shaped my early journalism career. I covered the European oil business for a trade mag and wrote about telecoms for Financial Times newsletters. International Arts Manager represented the perfect meld of my arts and business backgrounds. I spent a frantic 18 months mostly on aeroplanes, reporting on the arts globally. Journalism was a fantastic way to see the world and its diverse audiences and cultures. And the skills I gained – processing information rapidly, networking and how to contextualise – are proving invaluable in my new life.