Turner Contemporary appoints 5 New Trustees to its Board, further strengthening its connection to Kent

Today Turner Contemporary announces the appointment of five new trustees, who will play a key role in leading the future of the organisation as it builds a vision for the next 10 years.

The new appointments form part of Turner Contemporary’s commitment to championing creativity and strengthening communities in Margate and Kent. On 16 April 2021, the gallery will mark 10 years since opening. Turner Contemporary’s impact on East Kent has been widely recognised, and the vision for the future is evolving to ensure that the gallery’s work continues to makes a real difference to people’s lives.

Since it opened, Turner Contemporary has created considerable social and economic impact in Margate, with research by Canterbury Christ Church University demonstrating that the gallery delivers benefits to educational attainment, community cohesion and connectedness, self-belief and inspiration.

The appointments are part of the gallery’s ongoing drive to reflect the diverse community it serves by cultivating a culture of inclusivity at every level of the organisation, including in board and leadership roles. All the newly appointed trustees have a connection with Kent and bring expertise from the fields of education, law, media, the arts and creative industries as well as on issues of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

The new trustees are:

Stephen Deuchar, Former Director of Art Fund

Lucy Edematie, Former Editor of the Margate Mercury

Peter Hawkes, Senior Partner at Furley Page LLP

Yasmin Khan, Senior BBC Journalist

Keith Valentine, Director of the Royal National Institute of Blind People

Clive Stevens, Chair of Turner Contemporary says: “Since Turner Contemporary opened in 2011, we have achieved so much more than we anticipated. As we look towards the next 10 years ensuring that our governance works to support the gallery’s ambitions against an increasingly challenging context is critical. I am delighted to welcome 5 new trustees, who will work with our existing board, to develop the gallery’s work. All of the new trustees have links to Kent, and bring impressive expertise, with a passion for supporting transformation through art in Margate and more widely.”

Victoria Pomery, Director of Turner Contemporary says: “It was fantastic to have so many applications from many talented candidates to join the Board of Trustees. Our new appointments will join an already deeply committed and passionate Board of Trustees who play a crucial role in ensuring the ongoing success of the gallery.”

Turner Contemporary’s Board, chaired by Clive Stevens, meets quarterly, and there are a series of active committees and subcommittees comprising different members of the Board. In 2020, the Board undertook a recruitment process to appoint new trustees. Following an open process, almost 80 applications were received, and 23 individuals were interviewed. The five new trustees will take up their appointment from April 2021.

Sir Stephen Deuchar

Stephen has a wide background in museums, galleries and the history of British art. After completing a PhD he became a curator at Royal Museums Greenwich and in 1998 was appointed as founding director of Tate Britain, overseeing the establishment and first decade of the gallery’s revised role as a centre for historic and contemporary British art. He organized the Turner Prize annually and chaired its jury in 2008 and 2009. From 2010-20 he was director of Art Fund, the national charity for art, where he re-cast its national role and impact through the introduction of the National Art Pass and a significant increase in fundraising and grant-giving.

He is also a trustee of the international cultural agency the British Council, and a trustee of Creative Folkestone. He lives in Westwell, Kent.

Lucy Edematie

Lucy is a freelance writer and former editor of the Margate Mercury. She works on commissions and projects with artists and arts organisations in Thanet and further afield.

Before relocating to Margate in 2017, Lucy worked as a teacher and leader in London-based secondary schools, where she witnessed first-hand the potential of the arts to empower and transform lives. She has also lived, studied and taught in Northern Italy.

Drawn to causes that seek to address inequality and benefit communities, Lucy has served as a trustee at Age UK Thanet and is currently Co-Chair of the Trustee Board at POW!

Peter Hawkes

Peter has lived and worked in Kent throughout a long career in the law. He qualified as a Solicitor in 1981 with Furley Page LLP, a Kent-based regional law firm. Peter was appointed Senior Partner of the firm in 2001 and continued in that role until his retirement in April 2021.

Peter’s professional practice focused around dispute resolution, and he is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Peter advised a wide range of commercial clients in both the private and public sector, including not-for-profit organisations.

Peter has had a long-standing involvement in supporting the Arts, and has encouraged business engagement in this sector amongst his many contacts and clients.

Yasmin Khan

Yasmin is a senior BBC journalist and Project Lead for the BBC’s 50:50 Equality Project. During her career she has worked on regional, national and international news programmes and held leadership roles at the BBC Academy’s Creativity Programme and BBC Global Women in News. Yasmin lives in Kent with her family and grew up on the Sussex coast. She supports several change-making initiatives in the South East in an advisory capacity and believes passionately that art, culture and creative spaces should be accessible for all.

Keith Valentine

Keith has a lifelong passion for the visual arts. With roots in the east end of London and a home in Broadstairs, he joins Turner Contemporary with a strong sense of the relationship between art and social progress. Keith has the Freedom of the City of London, and is a Director of the Royal National Institute of Blind People. Registered blind, Keith is supported by Guide Dog Dotty.

CURRENT BOARD OF TRUSTEES

The current trustees are; Clive Stevens (Chair); Laura Wright (Vice Chair); Caroline Alton; Vivienne Bennett; Jill Constantine MBE; Martin Cook; Kemet Hawthorne Pink; Sarah Hohler; Simon Ofield Kerr; Piers Sanders.

Full biographies are available here.