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Anthony Bowne

Principal of Trinity Laban

Tel: +44 (0)20 8305 4391

Email: a.bowne@trinitylaban.ac.uk

Anthony Bowne

Biography 

Professor Anthony Bowne has been Principal of Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance since 2010.

He was Joint Principal and Designated Officer previously. As Director of Laban between 2003 and 2005, Anthony played a key role in the merger (2005) with Trinity College of Music which formed Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, the largest of the conservatoires in UK higher education.

His focus has been, and remains, the development of Trinity Laban as an international hub for the development of performing artists who will lead their art forms throughout the first half of the 21st century.

Anthony Bowne’s education in dance at (then) Laban in the early 1980s is complemented by an honours degree in Economics from the University of Southampton and an MSc from the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London. Anthony’s early career was as an economist in the motor industry. Later, he held an academic position at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

His experience as an educator was balanced with creative expertise as a lighting designer for both theatre and architecture. Projects include theatre design for Matthew Bourne’s Adventures in Motion Pictures, Hong Kong Ballet, Rosemary Butcher, the Cholmondeleys and the National Theatre of Taiwan and architectural design for the World Finance Centre in Shanghai, Chijms in Singapore and Joyce retail stores in Hong Kong.

Utilising his training and experience in the performing arts, economics and architecture, Anthony led the project to realise the Stirling Prize-winning Laban Building which opened in 2003. He acted as Arts Council England capital project mentor on the Lottery funded New Vic theatre and served on the Rambert Dance Company Property Committee for the company’s relocation to London’s South Bank.

Anthony currently chairs both the Finance and Remunerations Committees of London Higher, the ‘umbrella’ organisation for London’s universities and higher education colleges. He is also Deputy Chair of Conservatoires UK and Chair of the UCAS Advisory Group for Universities and Colleges Admissions. Other board memberships include One Dance UK, the Bonnie Bird Choreography Fund, HEFCE’s Teaching Quality and Student Experience Strategic Committee, and Blackheath Halls (Chair). He has served on both the DCMS Dance Forum and the All Party Parliamentary Dance Group and is Visiting Chair of Dance for Lasalle College of the Arts in Singapore and Visiting Professor of City University, London.

Qualifications

University College London, Bartlett School of Architecture, EMSC Architecture 1992
Laban Centre for Movement and Dance, Post-Graduate Diploma, 1982
University of Southampton, BSc (Hons) Economics, 1977

Previous experience

Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance
Joint Principal and Designated Officer, 2005-2010

Laban
Chief Executive, 2003-2005

Laban
Deputy Chief Executive, 1994-2003

Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
Senior Lecturer, Theatre Lighting Design, 1996-1998 (sabbatical position)
Leading the teaching of theatre and architectural lighting design and developing the Academy’s first Master’s programme

Laban Centre for Movement and Dance
Senior Lecturer, 1987-1994
Lecturing in lighting design and theatre production skills
Course Co-ordinator of Advanced Performance Course
Technical Direction and Management of Transitions Dance Company

Laban Centre for Movement and Dance
Lecturer, 1983-1986
Lecturing in lighting design and theatre production skills

Rover Cars
Senior Financial Analyst, 1979-1981
Leading a team of Financial Analysts

Rover Cars
Financial Analyst, 1978-1979

Professional Lighting Design (selection 1993 – 2003)

2003
Rite of Spring, Natalie Weir, Hong Kong Ballet, tour

2002
Now Blind Yourself, Jan De Schynkel,  The Place Theatre, London
Slow-Still-Divided, Rosemary Butcher, Tanzquartier, Vienna

2001
Chijmes, Singapore (architectural)
Rite of Spring, Natalie Weir, Lyric Theatre, Hong Kong 

2000
Vast Desert, National Theatre, Taiwan

1999
World Finance Centre, Shanghai, China (architectural)

1998
Joyce Department Store, Central, Hong Kong (architectural)
Dusk ’til Dawn, Hong Kong (architectural)
Joyce Department Store, Nathan Road, Hong Kong (architectural)

1997
Usa Cosa Rara (opera), Drama Theatre, HKAPA, Hong Kong
G’S Club, Shanghai, China (architectural)
Dance! Dance!! Dance!!!, Lyric Theatre, Hong Kong

1996
Spring Dance, Lyric Theatre, Hong Kong

1995
Swinger, Yolande Snaith
Car, The Cholmondeleys
Fierce/Pink/House, Della Davidson

1994
Metalcholica, The Cholmondeleys
Forgotten Voices, Fin Walker
Silence of the Pestle Sound, National Theatre, Taiwan

1993
Carmina Burana, National Theatre, Taiwan
Silent Tongues, Fin Walker
Set the Night on Fire, Three’s Company, Royal Festival Hall

Awards

Anthony was one of 10 lighting designers chosen as ‘ones to watch’ in ‘Lighting Dimensions’ (USA) and won a London Dance and Performance Award in 1992 for the lighting design of Yolande Snaith’s No Respite.

Professional activities / memberships

Current

  • Board member and Chair of Remunerations and Finance Committees, London Higher

  • Board member One Dance UK

  • Member of Universities UK

  • Member of HEFCE’s Teaching Quality and Student Experience (TQSE) Strategic Committee

  • Deputy Chair, Conservatoires UK

  • Chair, UCAS Conservatoires Advisory Group for Universities and Colleges Admissions System (UCAS Conservatoires)

  • Board member, Bonnie Bird Choreography Fund

  • Guest Professor, Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore

  • Chair, Blackheath Halls, Greenwich, London

  • Visiting Professor, City University London

Past

  • Member of Mayor of London’s Cultural Strategy Group

  • Board member, Bird College, Sidcup

  • Mentor for Arts Council England Lottery Capital Programme (Young Vic Theatre)

  • Member, Scholarship Review Panel, Western Australia Academy for Performing Arts

  • Chair, Cholmondeleys and Featherstoneshaughs dance companies

  • Member of DCMS Dance Forum

  • Member, Property Committee, Rambert Dance Company

  • Board member, Creative Lewisham

  • Board member, Deptford Creative Village

  • Degree Accreditation Panel member, Hong Kong Council for Academic Accreditation

  • Validation Panel member, Open University validation of Lasalle College, Singapore

  • Governor, Finnish Institute, London