Former 5 chief executive Dawn Airey named chair of Arts Council England

UK media executive and broadcast veteran Dawn Airey has been appointed as chair of Arts Council England, the government-funded body dedicated to promoting creativity and culture.

Dawn Airey

She starts her four-year term in August, replacing Sir Nicholas Serota, and will be paid £60,000 (US$80,000) a year and commit to working two days a week.

Industry stalwart Airey has over 30 years of experience in the media and creative industries, holding senior leadership positions across major broadcasters.

She is perhaps best known as the former chief executive of 5, then known as Channel 5, where she was the inaugural director of programmes. Airey has also served as MD of channels and services at pay TV broadcaster Sky, MD of global content at ITV and senior VP at Yahoo! for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

In 2021, she joined the board of public service broadcaster Channel 4, where she acted as interim chair from 2022 to 2025. Airey is currently deputy chair of the board.

In 2024, Airey was awarded a CBE for services to theatre and to charity. She is a VP and fellow of the Royal Television Society, and a fellow of the Royal Society for Arts.

Lisa Nandy, secretary of state for culture, media and sport, said: “Dawn brings more than just a wide range of experience across broadcasting, theatre and the wider arts – she brings a passion for what the arts can do for this country and all the people in it. I have no doubt that she will insist on pressing ahead with long overdue action to put people back at the centre of their own national story.

“I would also like to thank Sir Nicholas Serota for his tireless dedication to the arts and to artists. His tenure as chair was during perhaps the most challenging time for the arts, encompassing funding cuts, a global pandemic, Brexit negotiations and the downgrading of arts on the national curriculum.

“Throughout all of this he has been a calm, passionate and reassuring presence and a steadfast champion for access to great art. We owe him our gratitude.”

Airey said: “The importance of the Arts Council in championing art and culture has never been more needed because the sector has never been more vital to our nation.

“In a world where Al, technology and automation are increasingly dominant, human connection, experience, imagination and creativity are the things that bring us together. They are the quintessential elements of a creative life and of a life well lived.

“The Arts Council has a clear new mandate, informed by the recent independent review, to do more to support, nurture and protect the arts, and to do so transparently, with speed and with a fairer distribution of spend.”