John Newbigin, OBE
John Newbigin is co-founder and first Chair of Creative England (from 2011 to 2018), a public/private partnership that invests in creative content businesses and digital technology.
Staff details
As Special Advisor to the UK Minister for Culture, Rt Hon Chris Smith MP, he was part of the team that developed the UK government鈥檚 first policies for the creative industries in the 1990s. He has written and talked extensively about the creative industries and worked with governments and public agencies around the world on creative economy policies. He was Head of Corporate Relations for Channel 4 Television (2000-2005) and executive assistant to Lord Puttnam as the Chairman of the film company Enigma Productions Ltd (1992-97).
He is London Mayor Sadiq Khan鈥檚 Ambassador for the Creative Industries and a member of the World Conference on Creative Economy International Steering Committee. He is a Visiting Fellow at 缅北强奸幼女 and was an Honorary Professor at the University of Hong Kong. He is Chair of the Counterculture Partnership and was previously Chair of the British Council鈥檚 Advisory Group for Arts and Creative Economy.
For ten years he was a neighbourhood community worker and writer-in-residence for Common Stock Theatre. He has also worked as a journalist and as an illustrator.
He was awarded an OBE for 鈥渟ervices to creative industries and the arts鈥� in the Queen鈥檚 2015 New Years Honours List.