Five questions with Elaine Bedell, chief executive of Southbank Centre

Throughout the week, Ambition A.M. will pass the pen (or keyboard) to those eager to share the unfiltered stories fuelling Britain’s entrepreneurial spirit.

This week, we place the latest spotlight on the next runner-up for Veuve Clicquot’s Bold Woman Award, Elaine Bedell, chief executive of cultural arts venue Southbank Centre.

The first female chief executive of the UK’s largest arts centre in its over 70-year history, Bedell tells us a little bit about who she is and what she’s learned as a woman in business.

Why did you move into the arts from TV or why did you enter the cultural industries?

I grew up in the East End of London and my parents used to bring me to the Southbank Centre because they felt it was a welcoming place for people like them to enjoy arts and culture. Christopher Nolan, director of Oppenheimer, said last week at the Bafta Film Awards (which were held here at the Southbank) that he also got brought here as a child and that was his introduction to culture, as it was mine.

Coming here after so many years in television felt a bit like coming home – I couldn’t possibly say no. I suppose the key thread running through my career has been a passion to reach a broad audience with strong storytelling, and at Southbank, I can bring a different but complementary lens to the work the team do here.

What is your biggest accomplishment (to date) as a female leader

I’m the first female CEO of Southbank Centre in its 70+ year history and have recently been awarded, with a ceremony this spring, an OBE for Services to Business and the Arts. I‘m proud to stand up for women in the arts – especially working mums.

What do you hope to achieve next?

Southbank Centre is an incredible and unique institution – I am so proud of everything we’ve achieved so far – and I want to make sure we continue to present relevant, innovative, work that brings in the widest possible audiences.

We are an engine of creativity, supporting artists and embracing all the varied creative communities who rely on our free and open spaces and I want to develop new partnerships that will cement our role as the most exciting multi-arts and popular culture centre in the world.

What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced?

Certainly the pandemic and, post-pandemic, the rising costs of energy prices and inflation, as well as the recent reduction in our Arts Council funding. That said, adversity brings creativity and resilience and I think we (and the arts sector generally) have been amazingly resilient.

We have a very robust plan in place to meet the financial challenges, including new partnerships such as Bafta and Apple, which have helped broaden our portfolio, but there is always more we must do.

How do you define success?

I would not be successful without an unbelievably hard-working, courageous and talented staff, and without the support of senior colleagues.

My definition of success is knowing that they’re all fulfilled, happy and enjoying their work and that in doing so, we’re all delivering to audiences the best possible experiences in the most welcoming spaces.