Ben Evans (director)

Ben Evans CBE (born 1963) is the Director of London Design Festival,[1] and Executive Director of London Design Biennale,[2] which he co-founded with Sir John Sorrell in 2003 and 2016 consecutively.[3] He is an advocate and campaigner for the creative industries.[4][5]

Career

Evans is Director of London Design Festival,[6][7][8] which he co-founded in 2003, and co-produces with Sir John Sorrell.[9] The Festival is an annual event involving 300 partner organisations and attracts over 900,000 individual visits. As well as managing the Festival, Evans initiates, commissions and curates projects[10] for the event including an annual residency in the V&A museum;[11] along with directing Global Design Forum.[12]

In 2016 he added a new activity—London Design Biennale[13]—with the forthcoming third edition taking place in September 2020. This biannual exhibition, staged at Somerset House, invites participating countries and cities to exhibit original design installations in response to a theme. Installations are curated by museums and design organisations. Evans is the Executive Director of the Biennale.

Evans has been a governor of the University of the Arts London,[14] a board member of the Roundhouse, and a trustee of Artangel.[15] Since 2017 Evans has become Chairman of the Mayor's Cultural Leaders Board[16]—a statutory advisory group to the London Mayor.

Honours and awards

In 2010 Evans was awarded an honorary degree from the Royal College of Art,[17] having lectured there for a number of years, and graduated from in 1989 with a MA in History Of Design.

In the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours, Evans was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to the creative industries.[18]

Personal life

Evans was born in London in 1963. He married architect Amanda Levete in 2007 and has 3 children from his previous marriage. He is the son of Tom Evans and Tessa Blackstone.[19]

References
  1. "The Progress 1000: London's most influential people 2018 - Visualisers: Design". Evening Standard. Retrieved 2018-11-29.
  2. "London's first Design Biennale reveals details of its "utopian" debut". It’s Nice That. 2016-03-22. Retrieved 2019-02-14.
  3. "In search of Utopia: London Design Biennale. Co-Founders explain why they favour ideas over products". Financial Times. Retrieved 2018-11-29.
  4. "Brexit's impact on education is a disaster for design says Ben Evans". Dezeen. 2016-10-06. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  5. "How the creative sector was invented". www.artsindustry.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  6. Mariani, Di Valentina (2017-09-08). "Design will prove stronger than Brexit, says Ben Evans". ELLE Decor (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  7. "The inside scoop on the London Design Festival". The Week Portfolio. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  8. "Interview: Ben Evans - DesignCurial". www.designcurial.com. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  9. "The inside scoop on the London Design Festival". The Week Portfolio. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  10. "Ben Evans, Director of London Design Festival and Executive Director of the London Design Biennale". www.britishland.com. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  11. Magazine, Wallpaper* (2014-11-07). "The V&A announces new acquisitions at its annual Design Fund dinner". Wallpaper*. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  12. "Global Design Forum ... one day to set the global agenda for design | Desire". Retrieved 2019-02-14.
  13. "The brainchild of London Design Festival founders Sir John Sorrell and Ben Evans, the London Design Biennale was brought to life in 2016". Creative Review. 2018-08-29. Retrieved 2018-11-29.
  14. Evans, Ben. "Art and design courses are in crisis and Brexit won't help". British GQ. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  15. "Artangel". www.artangel.org.uk. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  16. "Mayor announces new Ambassadors for Culture". London City Hall. 2017-06-12. Retrieved 2018-11-29.
  17. "Honorary Fellows". Royal College of Art. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  18. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/807440/BD19_Queens_List__3_.pdf
  19. "How We Met: Ben Evans & Peter Mandelson". The Independent. 2008-09-14. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.