Arts Council chief among Queen’s Birthday Honours recipients

The Chief Executive of Arts Council England (ACE) and the founder of Creative UK are among scores of people in the sector to be recognised in the 2022 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Darren Henley, who took over as Chief Executive at ACE in 2014, has been awarded a CBE for services to the arts, while Caroline Norbury, founder and Chief Executive of Creative UK since 2011, has been made an OBE for services to the creative sector.

Norbury said the honour recognises the efforts of her colleagues to continually champion the UK’s creative industries.

"The past few years have been difficult for creative and cultural organisations, but I am optimistic that investing in the UK’s talent and creative ingenuity will build a fairer, more prosperous future for us all," she said.

Meanwhile, the senior team behind Coventry’s year as UK City of Culture was also recognised. Martin Sutherland, Chief Executive of Coventry City of Culture Trust, was awarded an OBE for services to culture and to economic and social regeneration in Coventry.

Creative Director Chenine Bhathena and Director of Audience Strategy Laura McMillan were both awarded MBEs for services to culture and to the community in Coventry.

Sutherland said that the pandemic “meant delivering a very different UK City of Culture than those that had gone before, and that was obviously made more challenging”.

“It is therefore a great tribute to everyone involved in the year that we were able to deliver on so many of our promises to the city. I am grateful that our work has been recognised in this way,” he added.

Performing arts in the spotlight

Music and dance were among the most represented categories on the honours list, with almost 30 professionals awarded for their services to music or their work with music in an educational or charitable context, and 15 honours awarded for services to dance.

Zoie Golding, founder and Artistic Director of ZoieLogic Dance Theatre, was awarded an MBE for her service to the sector.

“The honours system remains one of the few avenues for recognising individuals and projects that have gone the extra mile. I feel strongly that this is a rare opportunity to spotlight and celebrate our work and the positive impact dance can have on people and communities,” she said.

Choreographers Rosemary Lee and Jasmin Vardimon were awarded an OBE for services to dance. And Chi-chi Nwanoku, founder of the Chineke! Foundation, was made CBE for her services to music and diversity.

Theatre was also widely recognised with 11 professionals working in the sector awarded for their services to drama and the arts.

Jennifer Sealey, Artistic Director and Chief Executive of disability-led theatre company Graeae Theatre was awarded an OBE for services to disability arts.

Stephanie Sirr, Chief Executive of Nottingham Playhouse and Joint President UK Theatre, was awarded an MBE for services to the arts. She credited the "brilliant" people she has worked with over the years for enabling “some transformative creative work to happen in and for the many communities I have been privileged to serve”.

Leaders working in heritage, preservation and restoration were also widely honoured. Bernard Donoghue, Director of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, was awarded an OBE for services to tourism and to culture. He said it was “an enormous privilege” to be able to contribute to the “recovery, growth and dynamism” of tourism and culture in the wake of the challenges posed by the pandemic.

Nicholas David Coleridge, Chair of the Victoria and Albert Museum, received a knighthood for having “presided over a remarkable period of resurgence for the museum” during which it “has acquired a new vibrancy, ambition and clarity of purpose”.

Joyce Fraser, founder of the Black Heroes Foundation, received an OBE for services to the promotion of Black history and heritage.

Dr Ingrid Samuel, Historic Environment Director at the National Trust and Acting Chair of the Heritage Alliance, was also awarded an OBE for services to heritage, alongside David Tomback, Development Economics Director at Historic England.

Janey Bell, Director of Glastonbury Abbey, was awarded an MBE, as were Nicholas Groves-Raines, Director of Groves-Raines Architects, and Eleanor Rachel Semlyen, Founding Trustee of Yorkshire Air Museum and Allied Air Forces Memorial.

Lindsay Collier, Founder and Trustee of the Walthamstow Pumphouse Museum and Founder and Chair of the Lea Valley Heritage Alliance, was awarded a BEM.

And Sandeep Mahal, former Director of Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature, was awarded an MBE for her services to literature, the arts and culture in Nottingham.

Companions of Honour

In total, more than 100 professionals working in the arts and culture sector were recognised .

Three cultural figures were made Companions of Honour. Novelist, art critic and curator Marina Sarah Warner, Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of London, was honoured for services to the humanities. Illustrator Sir Quentin Blake and writer Sir Salman Rushdie were also made Companions of Honour.

Former Culture Secretary Maria Miller was made a Dame for her parliamentary and public service. Philanthropist and founder of the Backstage Trust, Susan Carroll, the Lady Sainsbury of Turville, was also made a Dame for services to the arts, particularly during Covid-19.

Classical pianist and composer Stephen Andrew Gill Hough and artist and filmmaker Isaac Julien were also given knighthoods, alongside author Ian Rankin, who was honoured for services to literature and charity.

Full list

See below for a full list of award winners cited for their service in the arts. The full list of 2022 honours can be found here.

Dames and Knighthoods

Maria Miller
Susan Carroll Sainsbury
Nicholas David Coleridge
Stephen Andrew Gill Hough
Isaac Julien
Ian Rankin

CBE

James Rhys Bowen
Dr Darren Richard Henley
Damian Watcyn Lewis
Catherine Rowena Mallyon
Claire McColgan
Elisabeth Murdoch
David Anthony Nixon
Chinyere Adah Nwanoku
Cornelia Parker

OBE

Harry Alexander Clarence Bicket
Lisa Bryer
Nicholas Capaldi
Bernard Michael Donoghue
Sharon Elizabeth Durant
Mark Ryall Edwards
Michael Foreman
Joyce Fraser
Dr David Rhys Gwyn
Joanne Michèle Sylvie Harris
Justin David Hayward
David Macfarlane Jackon
Jane Alison Gibson
Rosemary Lee
David John Moutrey
Robert Frederick Strang Noble
Caroline Anne Rose Norbury
Dr Ingrid Helene Samuel
Jennifer Sealey
Martin Sutherland
Heidi-Louise Thomas McGann
David Henry Tomback
Iain Ashton Watson
Deborah Amanda Williams

MBE

Rozina Ahmed
Vicki Dela Amedume
Hugh George Atkins
Janet Ann Bell
Etta Jane Bertschinger
Chenine Bhathena
Clifford James Brooks
Dr Chila Kumari Singh Burman
Mark Caldon
Michael Coleman
Sandra Colston
Benjamin Alex Cowley
Julia Margaret Mary Desbruslais
Sanjeevini Dutta
Zoe Lesley Golding
Rebecca Goodrich (Rebecca Friel)
Nicholas Robert Pellew Groves-Raines
Jane Hamlyn
Dolores Letitia Henry-Jenkins
Caroline Howell
Jeanefer Jean-Charles
Dr Gwyneth Lewis
Margaret Ann Paterson Lewisohn
Matthew David Littleford
Elizabeth Lorraine Llewellyn
Sandeep Mahal
Laura Elizabeth Rose McMillan
Elaine Samantha Mitchener
Francesca Moody
Professor Daljit Nagra
Andrew Onwubolu
Philip William Phillips
Daniel Kwadwo Poku
Pauline Perpetua Quirke
Dr Chithra Ramakrishnan
Gurvinder Singh Sandher
Caroline Alexandra Patricia Seligman
Eleanor Rachel Semlyen
Stephanie Ann Sirr
Gaynor Sullivan
Adam Douglas Percy Sutherland
Melanie Helen Susan Unwin
Angela Usher
Jasmin Vardimon
Linda Elizabeth Watson
John Douglas Wellingham
Paul Martin Wilson
Helen Worth
Richard James Gregg Yarr
Julie McDonald Young

BEM

Banu Adam
Peter Sinclair Anderson
Thomas Sinclair Anderson
Glenys Marjory Andrews
Nigel James Brooks
Agnes Hamilton Cleghorn-Redhead
Lindsay Collier
Elizabeth Maud Crawford
Caroline Elizabeth Croft
William Dove
Ronald Douglas East
Daniel Robert James Ellis
James Wynne Evans
Henry Filloux-Bennett
William Geldard
Joy Humphreys
Iain MacFadyen
Barbara Joanne McColl Stopford
Frances Isabella Paterson
Grace Angela Redgrave
Norman Rushbrook
Jayesh Kumar Dayarambhai Solanki
Harriet Elizabeth Rose Stubbs
Louise Yates