John Newbigin is Chairman of Creative England and of Cinema Arts Network.
As Special Advisor to the Minister for Culture, Rt Hon Chris Smith MP, he was closely involved in developing the UK government’s first policies for the creative industries in the 1990s. He was Head of Corporate Relations for Channel 4 Television and executive assistant to Lord Puttnam as the Chairman of the film company Enigma Productions Ltd. As a policy advisor to the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition, Rt Hon Neil Kinnock, MP, he had responsibility for environmental and cultural issues, amongst others.
He is a member of the Creative Industries Council; of the British Council’s Advisory Board for Arts and Creative Industries; of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship at Goldsmiths, University of London; and of the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Knowledge Exchange Oversight Group. He is an Honorary Professor at the University of Hong Kong.
He was a youth worker in East London for 6 years and writer-in-residence for Common Stock.