Cultural Leadership Summit 2011

West Kowloon Cultural District Authority newly appointed Chief Executive Officer, Michael Lynch is an experienced arts administrator who has been working in major arts spaces and arts organizations in different parts of the world: he was the Chief Executive of London’s Southbank Centre from 2002 to 2009, Chief Executive of the Sydney Opera House from 1998 to 2002, General Manager of Australia Council from 1994 to 1998, and General Manager of Sydney Theatre Company from 1989 to 1994. Over the past 30 years, Mr Lynch made great contribution to the promotion of arts and culture. In 2001, he was awarded an Order of Australia (AM) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to arts administration; and in 2008, he was named a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in the Birthday Honours for his services to the arts in the UK.

Adrian Ellis has been the Executive Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center since 2007.  From 1990 to 2007 he ran AEA Consulting, the international arts management company and in that capacity worked on strategic, operational and facilities planning and cultural strategies for cultural organizations and their funders around the world. Prior to that, he was Executive Director of The Conran Foundation, where he was responsible for planning and managing the establishment of the Design Museum in London opened in 1989. Adrian also writes and lectures extensively internationally on management and planning issues in the cultural sector, and is a regular contributor to The Art Newspaper. In 2010, he was a Scholar in Residence at Teachers College of Columbia University.

The Chief Executive and Artistic Director of Roundhouse, a vibrant converted arts space dedicated to nurture young people in the arts. After studying music at college, he started his career in arts administration and has been the Arts Manager for Dartington Hall Trust, the Director of concerts programming for Exeter University, and the Artistic Director and Chief Executive of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival. He was appointed Chief Executive of The Roundhouse Trust in 1999, where he oversaw and managed the £30m re-development of the Roundhouse into a world class performance space and a state of the art creative centre for large numbers of young people to take part in new media and creative arts programmes. Voluntary positions have included Chair of the Dartington International Summer School Foundation, member of the Olympic Park Public Realm Commissioning Committee and Board Member of Arts Council London.

Chief Executive Officer of JUT Foundation for Arts and Architecture, Managing Director of JUT Land Development Group, and the Chief Executive Officer of JUT Living Development Co. Ltd, Aaron Y.L. Lee joined the JUT Land Development Group founded by his father Lee Chung-Yi after graduated, and become the 2nd generation of the JUT group. With genuine interest in the arts, he strives to fuse fusing arts and architecture together to develop a strong and innovative image for his company. Aaron founded the JUT Foundation for Arts and Architecture in 2007. Utilising their company’s greatest assets – their land bank and empty buildings waiting to be re-developed as creative spaces and arts incubators, he curated a Museum of Tomorrow - mobile gallery series and organized the UrbanCore project, with the aim of nurturing artistic talents, as well as many other architectural education projects. The Foundation encourages cross media experimentation in various arts, architecture and creativity, and facilitates different forms of partnership between arts and business.