Airey to chair ACE
Dawn Airey, currently deputy chair of Channel 4, is to succeed Nicholas Serota as chair of Arts Council England (ACE), taking up the post on August 1 for an initial four-year term.
Serota’s departure after almost ten years had been delayed to take in the implications of Margaret Hodge’s independent review of the organisation on behalf of the DCMS which was published last December.
Hodge’s findings were deep-reaching but stopped short of calling for abolition, instead re-enforcing the need for an arm’s length principle for cultural subsidy.
ACE has just published an interim structural framework in reswpinse to the Hodge report, taking immediate effect, to replace its ten year Let’s Create programme, now in its sixth year, which was seen to be too prescriptive and “one size fits all”.
As reported earlier this week, the strategic framework underlines ACE’s commitment to “the values of diversity, inclusion and equality of opportunity”, saying it will continue to “invest to grow opportunities for Black, Asian, and ethnically diverse people, Disabled people, and people from working class backgrounds”.
Also added is a pledge to “balance investment and activity across the country” to redress the uneven distribution of funding for arts and culture.
The new framework aligns ACE and its new chair with the government’s policy priorities of enabling excellence to be experienced in towns and villages as well as cities, taking full account of local voices, fostering creative diversity, supporting economic viability in the sector and integrating the arts into social communities.
A long career in broadcasting has seen Airey serve as controller of arts and entertainment for Channel 4, director of programmes for Channel 5 and chairman/CEO of Channel 5.