New board members for Arts Council England

PHIL STOKES and ANDREW LOVETT have been appointed to the board of Arts Council England by Secretary of State LISA NANDY. Their terms will run for four years.

A finance professional, Stokes was an audit partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers for over twenty years. He founded the company’s global Digital Transformation group to respond to the impact of new technologies and changing consumer behaviours across all industries.

Stokes currently chairs the BFI’s Audit, Risk and Governance Committee. He is a partner of The Clive Barker Archive, co-author of several books and a commissioner on the Durham Commission – a joint research collaboration between Durham University and ACE to look at the role of creativity in education.

Lovett has been chief executive of Black Country Living Museum since 2009, having previously worked at Lake District National Park, York Museums, the Museum of the Great Western Railway and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art.

He chairs the Association of Independent Museums and the West Midlands Tourism & Hospitality Advisory Board, as well as serving as deputy chair of the National Museum Directors’ Council.

In July 2022, he was appointed a Director of West Midlands Growth Company, a public-private-sector partnership focused on creating jobs, attracting investment, and encouraging tourism.