A tribute to John Matthews

The arts sector was shocked and saddened to hear that after a short illness John Matthews has died at the age of 57. Throughout his long career in the arts, John was a pioneer and the influence of his work can still be seen and felt today.

Friends and colleagues of over thirty-five years standing gathered in Cardiff for John’s funeral on July 22 where the eulogy was delivered by broadcaster Nicola Heywood Thomas, whose own memories of John go back to 1974 when she was a student usher at the Sherman Theatre and John was the serious and darkly handsome young House Manager. She recalled a man who expected the highest standards of all who worked with him but who led by his own example of absolute dedication and commitment to everything he undertook.

After the Sherman, John worked briefly for Caricature Theatre, and then as a Regional Marketing Officer for Arts Council England based in Oxford. In 1983, after what John described as “many private meetings in smoke filled rooms” with senior officers of the Welsh Arts Council, the South East Wales Arts Association, and both Cardiff City and South Glamorgan County Councils – all of whom agreed funding – a pioneering arts marketing consortium, Cardiff Arts Marketing (CAM), was formed with John as Director and Roger Tomlinson as Chair. John recruited the core of consortium members – who effectively controlled the company – and included Welsh National Opera, Sherman Theatre, New Theatre, Chapter and St. David’s Hall.

For the first time, major arts organisations met regularly to discuss programming plans and innovative marketing strategies – and John was a driving force in both. This was a time when the expression “Audience Development” was unknown – and the term “marketing” was usually taken to be publicity. Under John’s leadership CAM thrived and became a blue print for other consortia in Wales and the UK. Under a new name – Audiences Wales – the ethos of CAM still exists, albeit with a wider geographical brief and with a great many more clients.

John provided an intellectual approach to arts marketing – he was a highly effective speaker, his dry wit easily disarming sceptics, and from the start, he had a gravitas well beyond his years. However, John was not all about gravitas! With persuasion from its Welsh members, the Theatrical Management Association set up the Druidstone Course in Arts Marketing – an annual course which John led for many years and which is still running today at the idyllic Druidstone Hotel in West Wales. The intensity of Druidstone was such that as much work was done in evenings at the bar as in the daytime. John’s late night “party pieces” are the stuff of legend!

He was at the heart of initiatives to build the profession of arts marketing – an uphill struggle at that time. However, in 1993 by careful negotiation and diplomacy and with the support of the arts councils of England, Scotland and Wales, he brought together the London based Society of Arts Publicists and the Manchester based Society of Northern Arts Publicists to form the Arts Marketing Association, which he chaired for several years. The Association now has 1,700 members, and held its seventeenth Annual Conference a few days after John’s death.

In the mid-90s John set up one of the first, and in time one of the foremost, consultancies in the cultural sector – McCann Matthews Millman – with office bases in Cardiff and London. The quality of their work was demonstrated by the number of “return” clients and the consultancy endured for 21 years. His partners say that John was “Mr Clever”: clever with words, clever with figures, clever with ideas. The client list of the company reads like an A-Z directory of the UK’s top arts organisations. Clients prized John for his intellectual integrity and wisdom, and his ability to interject a penetrating observation at exactly the right point in a discussion. Those who worked alongside John could not have wished for a more reliable, witty and steadfast colleague.

In the mid-90s the Institute of Welsh Affairs commissioned John to write a paper demonstrating the need for Cardiff, as capital city of Wales, to have a large scale theatre: the result was his report ‘Bread and Roses, which formed the early basis for the establishment of the board of what would become the Wales Millennium Centre. In the late 1990s he was commissioned by Cardiff Council to look at the best options for delivering Cardiff’s bid for European Capital of Culture 2008 – leading to the formation of the company Cardiff 2008.

His inspirational work with Chapter Arts Centre on the feasibility of its recent major re-development led to his appointment to their Board of Trustees, and then election to Chair – a position of which he was very proud.

John was a consummate professional; a passionate advocate for the arts; a mentor and “guru” to many entering the profession of arts marketing; an inspiring and supportive colleague; a creative visionary in the world of arts marketing; and a loyal and generous friend. He leaves a legacy which will enhance the work of cultural organisations for years to come.

John was married to Judi Richards, ex-Manager of the New Theatre Cardiff, and recently retired as Arts Manager for Cardiff Council; and was step-father to Judi’s daughter, Kate Johns.