Veteran television executive Dawn Airey has been appointed the chair of Arts Council England.
The arms-length body administers much of the UK government’s public spending on culture. She will be paid £60,000 a year for a two-day week.
Previously, Airey served as chief executive of Channel 5, where she was the inaugural director of programmes, overseeing a schedule that she described as ‘films, football and fucking’. She has also been managing director of channels and services at Sky; managing director of global content at ITV; and senior vice president at Yahoo! for Europe, Middle East and Africa. She served as the chief executive of Getty Images between 2015 and 2018.
Previously Airey held positions on the boards of UK Film Council and British Library.
Last year the government commissioned an independent review into Arts Council England, which distributes more than £680m a year to galleries, concert halls, theatres and other arts organisations. The report authored by former minister Margaret Hodge recommended that the quango should be maintained, but decision making on funding should be devolved to new local and regional boards.
The report also led to the Arts Councl scrapping its ten-year ‘Let’s Create’ strategy that was criticised for prioritising community-engaged arts making over organisations that promoted critically-acclaimed artists and arts professionals with proven track records. Hodge described the policy as ‘stifling artistic innovation and creativity’.
