The Secretary of State has reappointed William Bush and Deborah
Shaw as National Council Members for Arts Council England.
William Bush
Bill is Deputy Chair of English Touring Opera and a Trustee of
Civic Future. He has recently stood down as Chair of the Alliance
for Intellectual Property and as Board member of the Football
Foundation.
During Bill's 20 years at the Premier League as Executive
Director and latterly Senior Adviser, he led areas including
intellectual property, public policy, relations with government
and the EU, relations with fans, communications and the community
programme. Before joining the Premier League, Bill worked as a
Special Adviser to the Prime Minister and to at the Department for Culture,
Media and Sport and was Head of Research for BBC News 1991-1999.
Early in his career, as a local government officer he ran the
Office of the Leader of the Greater London Council (Ken
Livingstone) from 1981-1986.
Deborah Shaw
Deborah is Chief Executive of the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury
(Theatre of the Year, Stage Awards 2022). As CEO, she has led on
the creation of a new vision and business model bringing together
the best of the subsidised and commercial sectors. Her recent
focus has been on setting up Marlowe Theatre Productions to make
and tour large-scale theatre and the development of the 800 year
old Poor Priests' Hospital into a creative learning centre and
heritage destination.
Deborah has worked in regional, national and international
theatre for over 30 years, including Associate Director at
Watford Palace and Artistic Director at Chester Gateway theatres.
She was Associate Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company for 8
years, including Director of the World Shakespeare Festival for
London2012.
At Historic Royal Palaces, she commissioned artworks including
the Sky/South Bank Award-winning Blood Swept Lands and Seas of
Red (‘the Poppies') at the Tower of London; The Lost Palace at
the Banqueting House (European Heritage in Motion Best
Achievement Award) and East Wall, with Hofesh Shechter Company,
East London Dance and LIFT, one of the Guardian's top 10 dance
productions of the 21st century.
She read History at Cambridge and has an honorary doctorate from
Oxford Brookes for services to theatre. She chairs Creative Kent,
co-chairs The Touring Partnership, is a Kent Ambassador and a
founder-member of the Iraqi Theatre Company in Baghdad.
Remuneration and Governance Code
William Bush and Deborah Shaw's four-year second terms commenced
on 15 May 2025.
The National Council Members for Arts Council England are not
remunerated. These appointments have been made in accordance with
the Governance Code on Public
Appointments. The appointments process is regulated by the
Commissioner
for Public Appointments.
Under the Code, any significant political activity undertaken by
an appointee in the last five years must be declared. This is
defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a
recordable donation, or candidature for election. No significant
political activity in the last 5 years has been declared by
William Bush or Deborah Shaw.
DCMS has around 400 regulated Public Appointment roles across 42
Public Bodies including Arts
Council England, Theatres Trust, the National Gallery, UK Sport
and the Gambling Commission. We encourage applications from
talented individuals from all backgrounds and across the whole of
the United Kingdom. To find out more about Public Appointments or
to apply visit the HM Government
Public Appointments Website or follow us on LinkedIn.