New chair for Hall For Cornwall:
The search is on

After more than three years championing the theatre’s mission to inspire, entertain and enrich lives through the performing arts, Hall for Cornwall’s Chair, Lord John Hutton, has announced that it is time to move on. 

Lord Hutton has led the successful conclusion of the Hall for Cornwall’s more than £30 million transformation project, and played a key role in guiding us through the exciting period of growth that has followed. 

We are deeply grateful to John for his leadership during his time as Chair. His experience, dedication and support for Hall for Cornwall have been invaluable, helping us to strengthen our role as a cultural beacon for the duchy and set the organisation on course for a sustainable future. We want to thank him and wish him the very best for the future. 

This means that from today we launch the search for a new Chair to help guide us into what is undoubtedly going to be one of the most exciting periods Hall for Cornwall has seen in its more than 30-year history.  

Our vastly experienced vice-Chair, Alan Davey CBE, has agreed to take on the mantle of interim Chair as we begin our search for a new permanent incumbent. 

Alan, who rather humbly describes himself as “just a Northern bloke who thinks the arts really do matter”, joined the Hall for Cornwall Board of Trustees in 2018 and was appointed vice-Chair in January 2025.   

His glittering CV includes being controller of BBC Radio 3, the BBC Proms and BBC Orchestras until 2023. Before that he was Chief Executive of Arts Council England and director of culture at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to the Arts in 2015.  

Hall for Cornwall is also looking to appoint several new trustees to our board. Members of the board have played a vital role in helping develop the theatre and set its direction over the past 30 years, and new appointees would have a major part to play in our bright, exciting future.  

The Hall for Cornwall Board of Trustees was initially set up during the 1990s to lead the fund-raising campaign to create Hall for Cornwall. 

Members of the board have played a key role in developing the theatre and setting the overall direction of the organisation during the past 30 years. 

They have also been vital in helping secure the funding needed to deliver our multi-million-pound transformation projects. 

Successful appointees will join an illustrious list of past and present trustees, including Dennis Arbon MBE, former Chair and President of the Board who donated Upton Towans beach to Hall For Cornwall to help raise funds to support the theatre; David Brierley CBE, former general manager of the Royal Shakespeare Company; actor Jenny Agutter OBE; international soprano and music teacher Wendy Eathorne; Sue Hill, founder of WildWorks; James, Lord St Aubyn; Peter Davies MBE DL; film producer Martin Schute; Sue Wolstenholme; Chris Pomfret OBE; and Dame Rosemary Squire.