Nick Ewbank
Nick Ewbank has worked in the field of arts-led regeneration since graduating from Durham University in 1982. He ran venues at the Edinburgh Fringe and arts centres in Staffordshire and North London before moving to the role of Director of The Exeter Phoenix Arts Centre in 1994. Whilst in Exeter he developed a new performance venue and a media centre, advised the University of Exeter and Torbay Council on capital projects, commissioned the late Sir Terry Frost to make his only major public artwork and published the New Exeter Book of Riddles. Working with medical colleagues, he also set up Upstream HLC, a pathfinder Healthy Living Centre, serving the rural communities of Mid Devon.
Nick moved to Folkestone in 2001 as Director of The Metropole Arts Centre and established a visual arts programme and the Folkestone Literary Festival. In 2003 he became the first Chief Executive of The Creative Foundation, a charity established under the Chairmanship of Roger De Haan CBE to drive forward the regeneration of Folkestone. The Creative Foundation is currently refurbishing a portfolio of more than 80 dilapidated properties in Folkestone’s Old Town as workspaces for artists, galleries, live/work units and premises for creative businesses. In partnership with The University of Greenwich and Canterbury Christ Church University, the Foundation has established the new University Centre Folkestone, which opened in September 2007. It has also delivered a new Adult Learning Centre and will open a new £4m Performing Arts and Business Centre in November 2008. Nick has executive responsibility for the Folkestone Triennial, a major international contemporary art exhibition for Folkestone’s public realm, which was launched in July 2008. He also recently led a successful bid to host one of the government’s ten national Find Your Talent pilots, offering cultural engagement opportunities to 23,000 young people in the Folkestone area.
Nick is Vice Chair of the Shepway Community Partnership, a Director of Kent Hothouse and a trustee of The Theatre Royal Margate. He lives in Folkestone with his wife Sarah and four children.