Photo: Jonathan Page
Naseem Khan has been at the forefront of Britain’s cultural change as commentator, policy developer and initiator for over thirty years.
The daughter of Indian and German immigrants, she has focused on the themes of diversity, innovation and social change nationally and internationally. She has worked on feasibility and research projects, formulated policy, run training sessions and contributed to conferences.
Her ground-breaking report, ‘The Arts Britain Ignores’ was the first to highlight the cultural work in ethnic minorities communities. She followed it up with a substantial body of work in diversity policy for organisations that include the Council of Europe, UNESCO, Museums and Galleries Commission, Gulbenkian Foundation, Asia-Europe Foundation and Arts Councils of England, Scotland and Wales. As both an independent and staff journalist she has written regularly for the Guardian, Independent and New Statesman and others.
After seven years as Head of Diversity for Arts Council England, she returned to freelance life in 2003 to run her own consultancy, KC. It focuses on research, training, evaluation and policy advice.
In recent years, she has been increasingly involved with community development in her area, East London (see ‘Community: Arts/Action‘), chairing the Friends of Arnold Circus that was shortlisted for a Guardian Small Charity Award in 2010. She is a founder-member of the pilot network, ‘Taking Up Space‘, a group of practitioners working with the arts at grassroots level: funded by the Cultural Leadership Programme.
She was one of five Women of the Decade in the Arts in 1993 and was awarded the OBE for her work in 1999.
Her telephone contact is: 44 (0)20 7729 8213, mobile: 44 (0)7748 490114 and email: [email protected].