S5E1: Built to heal a nation... Elaine Bedell, CEO of the Southbank Centre
Guest
Elaine Bedell
In conversation with
Adrian Ellis
Our host, Adrian Ellis, sits down with Elaine Bedell, OBE, CEO of Southbank Centre to discuss what it means to lead Europe’s largest centre for the arts.
Date of Recording
17 December 2024
Date of Publication
16 January 2025
[00:00:00]
Elaine Bedell: That principle, that idea that you can heal a nation by presenting a much more positive vision of cohesion – social cohesion, social value, the importance of arts and culture, is built into the bricks and mortar of what has now become the Southbank.
[00:00:20]
THEME MUSIC
[00:00:25]
Adrian Ellis: Hello, and welcome to The Three Bells. This podcast is part of the fifth season produced by AEA for the Global Cultural Districts Network. The focus is, as always, the relationship between cultural and urban life, and the ways in which cultural life contributes to urban vitality and vice versa.
The series and supporting materials can be found at www.thethreebells.net. And if you like our content, please subscribe and give us a positive review on your favourite podcast listening platform.
I'm Adrian Ellis. The chair of GCDN and the director of AEA Consulting. And I'm delighted to say that our guest for this first episode of our 2025 season is Elaine Bedell. Elaine has been the CEO of the Southbank Centre in London since 2017. And the Southbank Centre is Europe's largest complex in the performing and visual arts, on an 11 acre site across the Thames from the Houses of Parliament. It's a hyperactive presenter and producer across music and the performing arts, the visual arts, it includes London's Hayward Gallery, and even literature. As well as extensive programming in literature, it includes the National Poetry Library.
Prior to the Southbank, Elaine had a distinguished career in television and media, and she's also a distinctive and effective voice in the cultural sector across a range of topics, including leadership in general, and the challenges still faced in today's society for women in positions of leadership.
Elaine, thank you for taking the time in what I know is an extremely busy schedule to talk to me and to your colleagues in the Global Cultural Districts Network, and hopefully some more people, on The Three Bells. Thank you very much.
[00:02:06]
Elaine Bedell: It's a pleasure.
…
About our Guest
Elaine Bedell has been CEO of Southbank Centre since 2017. Before this, Elaine enjoyed a 25-year career in media. She's been a Trustee of the V&A Museum and was the Executive Chair of the Edinburgh International TV Festival. Elaine's also a published novelist and has won a BAFTA. She was awarded an OBE in the 2024 New Year’s Honours for Services to Business and the Arts. +
