Manchester’s ambitious new plan to ensure culture is at the heart of the city over the next decade will be overseen by Dave Moutrey OBE, currently Director and CEO of HOME.
Already working as an independent Director of Culture for the City Council alongside his role at HOME, from 1 April next year Dave will swap his desk at HOME for a desk in the town hall to focus full-time on helping ensure the city achieves its cultural ambitions.
Continuing to work in an independent capacity, he will be tasked with leading the delivery and implementation of the city’s brand-new cultural strategy which is currently being co-created with local residents and the culture sector and is due to be published in early 2024.
Dave has been Director and Chief Executive of HOME, the purpose built 7,500m2 multi art form venue since it opened in May 2015.
In this role he conceived and led both the merger of Cornerhouse and Library Theatre Company and the £25m capital project to create HOME which has attracted almost 1million visits per year since it opened.
In April 2018 Dave took on the part time role of Director of Culture for the City Council. He has responsibility for advising the Council on policy and strategy for culture and working closely with the Cultural Leaders Group on joint working and other collaborative initiatives. Dave has worked in Manchester in leadership roles in the arts since 1984 previously at Abraham Moss Centre Theatre, Arts About Manchester and Cornerhouse.
He was awarded an OBE in the Queens Jubilee Honours List in 2022 for services to the arts especially during Covid and awarded a Doctor of Arts honoris causa by the University of Salford in 2018.
Dave is a Fellow of the RSA, a member of the Chartered Management Institute, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Dave is Chair of the Theatres Trust and a trustee of the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh.
The council’s major citywide consultation ‘It All Starts with a Spark’ with the people of Manchester on what culture looks like and how to ensure it is at the heart of the city and what the city does over the next ten years, began a fortnight ago and continues until the end of November.
