Jeremy Newton
Chief Executive Officer, The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts, Education
I have recently begun work as the new Chief Executive of The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts and feel both honoured and excited by the opportunity to help make a real difference to the lives of a great many children. Like a lot of people (though, sadly, by no means all), I was fortunate enough to have a number of inspirational experiences of the arts whilst I was growing up.
Frequent visits to the theatre with my parents and to the cinema with my older sister were a supremely important part of my ‘education’ and instilled a lifelong habit which has enriched my life immeasurably. A love of Ben Travers farces and Hollywood musicals was instilled in me before the age of seven and I have similarly strived to ensure that the arts have formed an equally crucial part of my own children’s life.
Some experiences in particular revealed the extraordinary heights which the arts can reach - seeing Nureyev dance in 'Romeo and Juliet', school trips to Stratford to see 'Richard II' and 'A Winter’s Tale', watching '2001: A Space Odyssey' in full 70mm Cinerama, and many more examples, have inspired and moved me, as well as influencing my subsequent life and career in more ways than it would be possible to explain or fully understand.
Nevertheless, during the thirty years in which I have been working professionally in the arts, I have been frequently reminded that my own experience is far from universal. Throughout those three decades, I have witnessed a great many honourable attempts to develop programmes of education, access and outreach in an effort to broaden the social and economic mix of those who experience and participate in the arts. In fact, I’ve been responsible for devising one or two of them myself, but I would have to confess that all that effort has not created the kind of cultural shift which it was striving to bring about.
Far too many children remain untouched by the arts, denied access to all they have to offer. His Royal Highness’s inspired and inspirational vision is to find a way to break through these barriers and the challenge of helping to bring that vision to reality is one I find both irresistible and energising.
