Offering ambitious participants a bespoke professional development opportunity, the Programme has returned in the wake of the pandemic with three new categories – each designed to broaden the scheme’s outlook.

New Excellerate Fellowships will be funded by Arts Council England, Clore Duffield Foundation and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation in the pursuit of supporting early-career leaders – aged between 24 and 35 – to fast track their professional development.

Another addition to the Programme are the Duffield Fellowships, funded by Clore Leadership founders the Clore Duffield Foundation. This strand will focus on leaders working within UK cultural institutions with 200 or more staff.

Finally, Transform Fellowships, funded by Arts Council England’s Transforming Leadership Fund, will zero in on providing support to individuals from communities and backgrounds currently underrepresented in the culture sector.

These new categories “demonstrate the continued commitment of our funders to the leadership of culture in the UK, flexing funding to support what is needed in today’s sector, which in turn will reap rewards for culture in our society”, according to Clore Leadership’s director, Hilary Carty.

This year’s cohort

The line-up of participants for the 2021 Clore Fellowship Programme is:

  • Duffield Fellowships, supported by Clore Duffield Foundation

Dr Dominique Bouchard

Laura Greenfield

Sarah Robertson

  • Excellerate Fellowships, supported by Arts Council England, the Clore Duffield Foundation and Esmée Fairbairn Foundation

Linda Bloomfield

Adem Holness

Angelica Sule

Kate Whitley

  • Heritage Fellowship, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund

Joanna Killeya

  • National Trust Fellowship

Amanda Chinneck

  • Transform Fellowships, supported by Arts Council England via its Transforming Leadership Fund

Cathy Mager

Amanda Parker

Phil Sanger

Dr Cecilia Wee

Robyn Winfield-Smith

  • Visual Arts Fellowship, supported by a-n The Artists Information Company

Polly Brannan

  • Wellcome Fellowship, supported by Wellcome Trust

Jen Wong

  • Creative Scotland Fellowship

BRYONY Mcintyre

  • Natural Resources Wales supported Fellowship

Joseph Roberts

  • Theatre Fellowships

Lindsey Alvis

Pooja Ghai

  • Dance Fellowship, supported by The Linbury Trust and DCD

Jonathan Watkins

One absentee for 2021 are the Hong Kong Fellowships. Due to ongoing disruptions and uncertainty caused by Covid-19, it has been agreed with the Home Affairs Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region that this will return in 2022 after a one-year hiatus.

Tried and tested

“Leadership in our sector has been tested this year in ways that no one could have foreseen,” notes Moira Sinclair, chair of Clore Leadership.

“What we know is that as we start to emerge from lockdown, reset and rebuild we will need leaders with vision that are ambitious and able to see the way forward, inspiring those around them to work together with funders, policy makers and communities to create great art for society.”

It will give heart to the Programme’s 17th cohort that so many of the prominent industry leaders currently helping to navigate the Covid challenges are themselves Clore Leadership alumni. Sara Wajid, co-CEO of Birmingham Museums Trust; Gus Casely-Hayford, director of V&A East; and Hilary Knight, Tate’s director of digital, are just a few examples of this.

To find out more about this year’s participants, click here.

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