Bristol’s Old Vic theatre has appointed the Mayor of London’s Ambassador for Culture Bernard Donoghue as the new chair of its board of trustees, with Black South West Network director Sado Jirde as vice-chair.
They take over this month from out-going chair Dame Liz Forgan, who is to step down from the post after more than eight years, and vice-chair Denis Burn, who left last year.
As chair and vice-chair they will, together with the Bristol Old Vic board and team, help shape the future of one of the UK’s most dynamic cultural institutions, leading a team committed to creating theatre with, and for, its community and sharing that work with a national and international audience.
Bernard is the outgoing chair of the award-winning London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT), which he has chaired since 2010.
He has been a member of the government’s Tourism Industry Council since 2015 and in 2017 was as a member of the Mayor of London’s Cultural Leadership Board and the Mayor’s Ambassador for Culture.
He is chief executive of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) – which represents more than 2.200 of the UK’s most popular, iconic and important museums, galleries, palaces, castles, cathedrals, zoos, historic houses, heritage sites, gardens and leisure attractions – and a trustee of the People’s History Museum in Manchester.
His previous trustee positions include The Museum of the Home, WWF-UK, Centrepoint and the Heritage Alliance.
He said: “I am honoured and delighted to have been appointed chair of the board of trustees of Bristol Old Vic, alongside Sado Jirde as vice chair.
“It’s a privilege to succeed Dame Liz, and I want to express my thanks, and those of the entire Bristol Old Vic family and community, for her outstanding leadership, tireless work and advocacy over many years. We wouldn’t be in the fit and healthy position we are without her.
“I’m hugely looking forward to working with Sado and the board, with artistic director Tom Morris and executive director Charlotte Geeves and all the Bristol Old Vic team.
“Theatres and performance venues were the first to be hit by Covid, were hit hardest, and will take the longest to recover.
“Our repair and recovery will take time and will be a truly collaborative effort. But we have also shown that we can be creative and innovative in times of challenge, adaptable and responsive to local, national and global issues and trends.
“I look forward to welcoming everyone to our beautiful building and throwing open the doors, physically and digitally, so that as many people as possible can experience and enjoy our extraordinary productions.”
Under Sado’s leadership, Black South West Network has shifted focus to develop a socio-economic strategy for implementing inclusive growth.
She has worked tirelessly within the charity, which focuses on human rights, equality, access to knowledge and socio-economic inclusion within the framework of advocating on behalf of Black and Minoritised communities, to raise the profile of racial equality at strategic and policy levels in Bristol, regionally and nationally.
She sits on various advisory groups and committees including the West of England Combined Authority Cultural strategy group, the Transatlantic Trafficking of Enslaved Afrikans Legacy Steering Group, Voice for Change England, The Baobab Foundation Steering Group, and the Coalition of Race Equality Organisations (CoRE) nationally.
She was awarded West Woman of the Year – Most Inspirational Role Model in 2019, and the African Achievers Award in 2015, was selected as one of the 100 Diaspora Change Makers to join the Global Women, Leadership and Change programme in 2016 and listed as a Women of Inspiration: 100 social enterprise leaders showing Covid who’s boss in 2020.
She said: “Years of experience in the racial justice sector has sparked a profound and genuine passion for the arts, particularly around the role it can play in stimulating revolutionary debates, telling untold stories and building bridges across communities.
“An inclusive approach to arts can be a powerful and effective response to the polarising challenges facing our society. This is a great opportunity to help the theatre build on its inclusion strategy.
“In a diverse society, coming together in meaningful ways with people who differ linguistically, religiously or racially is one of the most urgent challenges facing us and it is through art that we can challenge notions of who holds knowledge and where boundaries of inclusion might lie.”
Bristol Old Vic executive director Charlotte Geeves, pictured, said: “Bernard and Sado’s passion for Bristol Old Vic, together with their formidable skills and experiences, uniquely place them to lead us through the challenges and opportunities that will follow as we emerge from this pandemic and look towards the future.”
Bristol Old Vic artistic director Tom Morris, pictured, added: “Bristol Old Vic’s transformation over the last 10 years would have been impossible without the brilliant stewardship of our outgoing chair Dame Liz Forgan, for whom the city and the theatre will be forever grateful.
“Now, a new transformation awaits as we emerge from the Covid crisis, which will see a new business model addressing new marketplaces in a rapidly changing world, and which will be founded on accelerating change in representation and welcome to every community in our city.
“At this unique point in history, Bristol has the opportunity to rebuild its economy in a way that makes life for all in the city fairer, more representative and more sustainable and the theatre is committed to playing a central role in that vision.
“We could not imagine a better governance team to lead us towards that goal than Bernard and Sado. We are hugely lucky to have appointed them and cannot wait to continue our journey with them.”
Arts Council England South West director Phil Gibby described Bernard Donoghue and Sado Jirde as hugely significant achievers in their respective fields who would bring new impetus and expertise to the organisation, as well as blending national and regional perspectives.
Bristol Old Vic, which celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2016, is the longest continuously running theatre in the UK.
