Darren Henley has been announced as the new chief executive of Arts Council England. He will take over from Alan Davey, who has left after seven years to be controller of BBC Radio 3 from January 2015.
Henley is currently managing director of Classic FM, and he has led the commercial radio station since 1999.
As well as writing 27 books about music and the arts, Henley has chaired the national music education campaign Music Manifesto from 2007-2010 and carried out two independent reviews for the Department of Education (2011) and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (2012). He was awarded an OBE for services to music in 2013.
‘Alan Davey leaves quite a legacy,’ says Henley, ‘I want to build on that by working … to champion the importance of art and culture in so many aspects of our lives – personal, social and economic.’
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