Introducing
Peter Kyle
Peter
Kyle studied drama and acting at Bretton Hall College
of Education and followed this by training at the
Rambert School of Ballet in London and at the Institut
fur Buhnentanz in Cologne. This led to a career as
a soloist dancer, teacher and choreographer with a
number of companies including Northern Ballet Theatre
and the Royal New Zealand Ballet.
Subsequently, Peter was invited to join Leicestershire
Education Authority’s Arts Advisory Service
where he was responsible for a team of peripatetic
teachers. He also founded the National Festival of
Youth Dance and the National Youth Dance Company and
was part of the team that founded the National Festival
of Youth Theatre. During this period he was Chairman
of East Midlands Arts Dance and Mime Panel and a member
of its Council. He was a board member of the Gulbenkian
Foundation, contributing to the publication ‘Dance
Education and Training in Britain’ and was Chairman
of an Arts Council of Great Britain Panel.
The next two years were spent as Dance and Mime Officer
for the Arts Council of Great Britain, where, in addition
to assessing grant applications and monitoring grant
awards, he held special responsibilities for developing
arts and education policies nationally and for monitoring
the work of a number of Regional Arts Associations.
This was followed by five years in Northumberland
as Founder/Director of a newly created arts complex
comprising performance and exhibition spaces, a library,
crafts workshops, a cinema, photographic studios,
a teachers’ centre and attendant facilities.
During this period he was Chairman of Panel and a
member of Council for Northern Arts and organised
‘Dance for Africa’ – a nation-wide
series of hundreds of events, raising large sums for
UNICEF.
Peter was invited to become Chief Executive of The
Scottish Ballet, responsible for all functions of
this international touring company. A member of the
Board of Directors and Company Secretary, he was responsible
for a staff of 90 plus a seasonally contracted orchestra
of 70. International touring was revived and the artistic
repertoire enhanced substantially. Inheriting a deficit
of £270,000 this was converted to a healthy
operating surplus and the company’s financial
turnover increased threefold.
Two years as an arts management consultant included
tutoring an international management course for leaders
of cultural and educational establishments, held in
Poland, and advising on the creation of a new arts
complex in Malaysia. In Zimbabwe, he directed a black
Zimbabwean dance company introducing international
touring and devising a new company structure. In Scotland,
he was Chairman of the Centre for Contemporary Arts,
leading the bid for a successful £9.4 million
application to the National Lottery; he was chairman
of International New Moves Ltd and was an external
assessor for National Lottery arts funding bids.
After being ‘headhunted’ for a newly created
post as Dean of the Arts Educational Schools, London,
his responsibilities combined the formerly separate
functions of Principal and Bursar. Ultimately responsible
for all areas of academic study and vocational training
in the arts, he led the management team, served on
the Board of Governors and was Company Secretary.
Also ‘headhunted’ as the first General
Director of Shakespeare’s Globe and subsequently
appointed Chief Executive, he chairs the Executive
Committee. Responsible to the Trustees for all functions
of the organisation, he is additionally a Director
of the affiliated Shakespeare Globe Centres in the
USA, Canada, New Zealand, Germany and Japan.
Peter is a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute
(CIMgt), is Chairman of Innovision Media and of Tavaziva
Dance Company. He is a member of the Court of Governors
of the University of Westminster and an Honorary Fellow
of South Bank University. He has been an external
examiner for several BA and MA courses. For many years
he was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a
member of the Institute of Directors but in recent
years has allowed membership to lapse!
Peter is married to Kathryn, a Headteacher, and they
have two daughters.
