Richie Turner

“I have always looked to support the fields of the arts and creative industries in Wales, even when not working directly in those sectors. My most recent appointment to Newport Live board, as Chair of Arts is allowing me to bring my work in USW together with other roles to enhance cultural activities throughout the City. I am also an advisory board member of Creative Cardiff and have been appointed by the Welsh Government as a Non-Executive Director of Creative Wales. Again, my previous and current experience in supporting creative industries startups and freelancers is hopefully helping shape future Government strategies around skills and training in these fast-growing sectors.

“Before joining Creative Wales I spent nine years on the Arts Council of Wales, again appointed by the Welsh Government, and during this time I was given the responsibility for equalities and diversity matters at board level. These issues have always been very close to my heart, having grown up at a time when mixed marriages were very rare and frowned upon by most people, and where I faced daily racist abuse for being the only person of colour in the whole of my secondary  school.

“Most recently that has led to me working on two key projects around equality and diversity in the arts. My proposals for a UK-wide disability arts access card for all D/deaf and disabled people (commissioned by the four UK arts councils) have just been greenlighted by the UK Government and my research with colleagues into the reasons why D/deaf and disabled people largely do not engage in the arts and heritage services in Wales has just been published by Arts Council Wales and National Museums Wales.

“Last, but not least, I am a board member with Gentle/Radical – a Cardiff based arts collective – which has adopted a decolonising and hyperlocal model for our work with the highly diverse community of Riverside, seeking to enable radical thinking as the foundation of creative, cutting edge, visionary, and collaborative arts practice. Gentle/Radical was shortlisted for the Turner Prize 2021, run by the Tate Britain, and the competition exhibition opened as part of the UK City of Culture in Coventry. Being there to support our incredible artists made me very proud of Cardiff and Wales’ creative abilities.

“Startup companies actually generate all the net increase in jobs in our economy. Big companies are predominately focused on their profit margins and maximising shareholder value whereas entrepreneurs and startup companies are passionate about getting their new ideas to market, they want to make a difference to their customer’s life experiences and many now, of course, also want to contribute to a more sustainable and fairer society, alongside creating new jobs. But the first few years of running a business are usually the hardest times, so anything I can do to help our entrepreneurs survive and grow their businesses, and hopefully go onto employing people, is all the reward I need.”