Darren Henley

Education

He is a graduate of the University of Hull (BA Hons, politics) and the University of South Wales (MSc, management). He holds an FLCM fellowship diploma from the University of West London.

Career

Between 1989 and 1994, he worked as a freelance radio journalist for stations including Invicta FM, LBC, and Classic FM (UK), first working for Classic FM in 1992 as a weekend and overnight newsreader before becoming programme editor of the station's Classic Newsnight programme in 1995. He was made News Manager in 1996, Programme Manager in 1999, Managing Editor in 2000, Station Manager in 2004 and Managing Director in 2006. In 2014, he was announced as the new Chief Executive of Arts Council England, succeeding Alan Davey.

Government reviews

In 2011, he undertook an independent review of the funding and delivery of music education in England for the Department for Education and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport of the UK government. The following year, he authored an independent review of cultural education in England for the same two government departments. He was a member of the Scottish Government's Instrumental Music Group, which published a report into instrumental music tuition in Scotland in 2013.

Music and cultural education

From 2007 to 2010, he chaired the Music Manifesto Partnership and Advocacy Group, set up by Education Minister Andrew Adonis as part of a government-backed campaign to improve young people's music education in England. From 2013 to 2015, he co-chaired the government's Cultural Education Board, first with Schools Minister Elizabeth Truss MP and Culture Minister Ed Vaizey MP and then with Nick Gibb MP and Ed Vaizey MP. His other arts related roles have included Chair of the Mayor of London's Music Education Task Force, Patron of the Mayor of London's Fund for Young Musicians, member of the governing body of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, trustee and Vice-President of the Canterbury Festival and Commissioner on the University of Warwick's Commission on the Future of Cultural Value.

Books

Henley has written or co-written thirty books on arts related subjects, including the Sunday Times bestselling Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Classical Music...But Were Too Afraid To Ask and an official history of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Along with the leading arts educationalists Sir John Sorrell and Paul Roberts, he authored The Virtuous Circle: Why Creativity and Cultural Education Count. It argues that an excellent cultural education is the right of everyone, bringing personal, social and commercial advantages that can only benefit the lives of all individuals in our society. His book The Arts Dividend: Why Investment in Culture Pays makes the case for sustained strategic investment in arts and culture.

Awards

Henley's audiobook for children The Story of Classical Music was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2005. He was a Finalist in the Station Programmer category at the Sony Radio Academy Awards in 2008 and was named Commercial Radio Programmer of the Year at the Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards in 2009, having been nominated in the same category in 2007. Classic FM won the UK Station of the Year Category at the Sony Radio Academy Awards in 2007, the Music Programming Gold Award in 2009, a Special Award to mark the station's 20th anniversary in 2012 and the inaugural UK Radio Brand of the Year Gold Award in 2013. At the Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards, Classic FM was named Station of the Year in the TSA 1 million+ category in 2011, while Henley and Classic FM jointly won the Arqiva Gold Award in 2012. The station also won a Classic BRIT Award in 2012 and a Royal Philharmonic Society Award in 2013. Henley was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 1998, a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute in 2009, an Honorary Fellow of Canterbury Christ Church University in 2010, an Honorary Fellow of Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in 2011, a Fellow of the Radio Academy in 2011, an Honorary Member of the Royal Northern College of Music in 2012, an Honorary Member of the Incorporated Society of Musicians in 2013, an Honorary Fellow of Liverpool John Moores University in 2014, an honorary fellow of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2015, an honorary member of the Royal College of Music in 2016, a companion of the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts in 2016 and an honorary fellow of Arts University Bournemouth in 2017. He holds honorary doctorates from the University of Hull, Birmingham City University and Buckinghamshire New University and an honorary MA from the University for the Creative Arts. He was awarded the Sir Charles Groves Prize for "his outstanding contribution to British music" in 2013 and the President's Medal by the British Academy for the humanities and social sciences in 2015 for "his contributions to music education, music research, and the arts".