The Royal Opera House’s aim is to enrich people’s lives through opera and ballet. Home to two of the world’s great artistic companies – The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet, performing with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House – it seeks to be always accessible and engaging, to develop audiences across the UK and to break new ground in the presentation of lyric theatre.
Under the leadership of Chief Executive Alex Beard, the senior executive team and a distinguished Board of Trustees, the Royal Opera House has been through a recent period of great success and achievement. The ‘Open Up’ project concluded in the autumn of 2018, resulting in a redesign of the iconic Covent Garden building with new entrances and foyers, as well as an updated Linbury Theatre.
In March 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic saw theatres across the world, including the Royal Opera House close to the public and instruct staff to remain at home, with the vast majority furloughed. This has had an unprecedented impact on ROH’s ability to deliver its core programme and on all its income streams. Despite a period of sustained success and significant organisational resilience, the next few years will be highly challenging and uncertain for the Royal Opera House and the sector more generally. This appointment comes at a testing time for all arts organisations and the ROH is no exception, with the impact of COVID-19 the ability of the Chair to be calm and resilient in this crisis is of great importance.
Following Ian Taylor’s resignation from the Board in December 2019, Lady Heywood assumed the role of Acting Chair. After a pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Board of Trustees of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden Foundation have now resumed the search to appoint a new Chair of the Board. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Opera House is responsible for the governance of the Royal Opera House and is their ultimate decision-making body. Supported by the Executive team and artistic leadership led by Chief Executive Alex Beard, it is responsible for overseeing the delivery of the Royal Opera House’s mission and aims.
The incoming Chair will have a key role to play in ensuring the institution is best placed to face challenges that lie ahead and can continue to enrich people’s lives through opera and ballet, while honouring its core values of creativity, excellence and inclusivity. The Chair is pivotal in creating the conditions for overall Board and individual Trustee and Executive effectiveness, both inside and outside the Boardroom.
The incoming Chair will be leading the Board of this multi-disciplinary organisation comprising of two of the world’s great artistic companies and will need to have the requisite gravitas, seniority and bandwidth to carefully manage the organisation’s governance arrangements and to ensure the Board of Trustees is expertly run. The incoming Chair should be able to mentor and challenge the Chief Executive and be a compelling communicator and advocate for the organisation’s activities.
The Royal Opera House is committed to diversity and to providing equal opportunities for all. ROH is especially interested to hear from candidates from backgrounds and communities that are under-represented in the performing arts, including black and minority ethnic, and disabled candidates.
The Chair is appointed for an initial term of five years, which may be renewed for a further term of three years. The Chair should be prepared to invest the significant time necessary for this role, in the next couple of years it is likely that this would be in the region of 6-8 days per month. The role is unremunerated, however reasonable expenses will be paid.
Saxton Bampfylde Ltd is acting as an employment agency advisor to The Royal Opera House on this appointment. For further information about the role, including details about how to apply, please visit www.saxbam.com/appointments using reference BAROB. Alternatively, telephone +44 (0)20 7227 0880 (during office hours). Applications should be received by noon Friday, 3rd July.