Anne Bonnar

Anne Bonnar , MA, FRSA, Dip. Education, Dip Arts Administration, Accredited Coach

Anne Bonnar works with cultural leaders,artists, cultural organisations and policy makers to help them to achieve their goals.  She performs this role as an advisor, consultant, mentor, curator, facilitator, provocateur,  coach and developer in the arts, culture and creative industries in Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales.  She specialises in working with artists and cultural leaders in designing and achieving organisational change and development.  Much of her work involves reviewing, restructuring and nuancing business models and practice to be fit in today’s environment.  She mentors and coaches a number of individual cultural leaders and teams and is an expert facilitator who enjoys working with disparate arts and cultural individuals.

Anne’s arts management career in Scotland and in London includes periods with organisations during periods of strong artistic development, including the Almeida, Young Vic, Riverside Studios, Citizens’ and Traverse Theatres. She has specific expertise in PR and Marketing, producing and touring theatre commercially, in Scotland and internationally. As General Manager of Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre, she led the transformation of Scotland’s theatre for new writing from being a membership club in a back alley to a fully public theatre in a new home.

In 1991 she co-founded Bonnar Keenlyside an internationally respected arts and cultural management consultancy and led and collaborated on major research and policy projects for public agencies and on projects with a wide range of artistic and creative enterprises at local, national and international level, public and private. Examples of major remodeling and change include   Yorkshire Dance,  Abbey Theatre, National Theatre of Ireland, GI Glasgow International Festival of Contemporary Art,  Byre Theatre St Andrews, Eastgate Theatre Peebles and Dukes Theatre and Cinema.

Current projects include: transition planning for Citymoves dance agency to leave Aberdeen City Council and become a new independent organisation, business planning for Dundee Repertory Theatre Ltd, support to Cumbernauld Theatre in a new capital development and a review of governance for the Orange Tree Theatre.

During 2008 she led the development of the new public body for the arts and culture encompassing the creative industries, Creative Scotland, a role which included exploration and development of Creative Scotland’s role and design of its operating model and organisational structure.

She was a Trustee of the National Galleries of Scotland 2002 – 2010 and was a founding director of the National Theatre of Scotland.

Anne is an Honorary Research Fellow at Edinburgh’s Napier University.

A graduate of the universities of Glasgow and the City University London, Anne has maintained a life long passion for the arts and creativity.

anne@b-k.co.uk