Lucy Stout with Colin Tweedy, Chief Executive, Arts & Business
Photo: Paul Mellor Photography
At a ceremony held on the evening of 9 March, in London’s Grovesnor Square, Lucy Stout was awarded the prestigious Hollis Outstanding Contribution to Sponsorship Award.
Lucy has dedicated her career to arts fundraising and has worked tirelessly to support artistic growth at a number of major arts organisations. Lucy is truly passionate about bringing the arts together with the right business sponsors in relationships that go way beyond money. She has worked at a number of high profile organisations and made a real impact on the creative industries both in London and beyond.
Starting her career in PR and then as Deputy Director for ABSA (now Arts & Business), she saw the organisation secure significant government funding and open satellite offices in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
As Development Director of the Royal National Theatre in London, Lucy established the first such department there and raised the level of development income from £580,000 in 1988 to a sustainable £2.2m per annum by 1992/3. In 1993 she moved to Welsh National Opera as their first Director of Development and led this fundraising team for thirteen years.
Lucy is currently Head of Development at Artes Mundi, the international contemporary visual art exhibition and prize based in Cardiff, set up in 2002 with support from the Welsh Assembly and the City of Cardiff. She joined Artes Mundi specifically to make sure that its funding and sponsorship profile grew to reflect and develop its international ambition and artistic status. Between Artes Mundi 2 and Artes Mundi 3 sponsorship income rose by 280% and, despite the current economic climate, Lucy has continued to secure new and promising business partnerships for the current Artes Mundi 4.
Few people have done more to bring together the public, private, arts and education sectors in a way which benefits cultural, community and commercial stakeholders.
Click here for a full list of winners of the 2010 Hollis Sponsorship Awards