Nine selected to oversee new cultural trust in Brighton and Hove

The nine trustees include councillors, as well as experienced board members in charitable and public organisations.

The Royal Pavilion and the Brighton and Hove’s museums are currently managed by the city council. But earlier this year, councillors agreed to move the management of the ‘jewel in the city’s crown’ into a trust to save them from funding cuts. It will also open up potential funding opportunities, according to the council.

The new trust would include the Royal Pavilion, Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, Hove Museum and Art Gallery, the Booth Museum of Natural History and Preston Manor.

The council said the new cultural trust board will be responsible for ‘guiding the inception of the new organisation and shaping its structure, service operation and development in future’.

It will hold its first meeting at the end of June.

Glynn Jones, a former chief executive of Brighton Borough Council has been named chairman of the new group. He also has experience as chairman of two NHS trusts, and was described as ‘instrumental’ in the creation of the Brighton Festival and Dome Trust. He was, until March of this year, chair of the West Pier Trust and worked closely with Marks Barfield architects to secure the development of the i360. He described is a strong supporter of the city’s artistic and cultural heritage and has been a trustee of the Brighton Philharmonic Society and chair of the Hanover Band, and continues to raise money for the local schools music trust. In 2002, Dr Jones was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Sussex and in 2014 received an OBE for services to the community in Brighton and Hove and East Sussex.

Joining him on the board is Tim Aspinall, CEO of Aspinall Consultants. Mr Aspinall has lived in Brighton for more than 30 years, and he advises professional services firms on strategy, business transformation, and mergers and acquisitions. He is a trustee of the Royal Pavilion Foundation, and is described as being ‘passionate about the arts’.

Jane Weeks, a museum consultant specialising in strategic planning and project management in the heritage sector, will sit on the board. She is the deputy chairman of Pallant House Gallery in Chichester and a former deputy chairman of the Churches Conservation Trust. She has worked with cultural heritage organisations and national, institutional and independent museums in the UK and abroad, and her clients include the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the British Council, Arts Council England, the Museums Association, University College London, and the National History Museum of Bulgaria

Michael Bedingfield, trustee of the National Museum of the Royal Navy, was born in Brighton and attended Hove County Grammar School (now Blatchington Mill). He has worked for American Express, Alliance & Leicester Building Society, P&O Cruises and VisitBritain. He is also a former chief executive of Tourism South East. He spent six years as a trustee of the Brighton Dome and Festival Limited and as a trustee of Brighton based digital agency Culture24.

Professor Julian Crampton was vice-chancellor of the University of Brighton from 2005 until he retired in 2015. He is chairman of trustees for the Royal Pavilion and Museums Foundation, board member of the Brighton Dome and Brighton Festival, chairman of the Council of the University of Gloucestershire, chairman of Sea Change Sussex (the economic development company for East Sussex), chairman for ‘Our Future City’ oversight board, and is a member of the advisory committee for the Chichester Harbour Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Danny Homan, lives in Hove and until the end of last year, was chief of staff at the Big Lottery Fund. Prior to this, he was director of communication and development at Historic Royal Palaces for 14 years where he helped to establish and build the success of the independent charity that cares for Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace, Kew Palace, the Banqueting House and Hillsborough Castle. Since 2014, Danny has been a trustee of Brighton Dome and Festival.

There are three city councillors also on the board: Cllr Alan Robins (Labour), Cllr Ann Norman, (Conservative) and Cllr Phelim Mac Cafferty (Green Party).

Cllr Robins, who is chairman of the city’s tourism, development and culture committee, said: “The new appointments are the next step in the formation of the cultural trust which will be the driver in helping maintain and develop our precious cultural and arts venues. We’re extremely pleased that the trustees positions generated such a positive response and we have been able to select a strong team of people with a cross section of experience and skills from business, arts, heritage and culture sectors.

“Arts and culture has a considerable part to play in our local economy as well as enriching the lives of residents and helping to draw in the millions of visitors that choose to come here each year so it is vital we are able to move with the times and find sustainable ways to support the continuation of this.”