Keith Khan (born 1963, Wimbledon) is an English artist, designer and performance artist.[1] In 1996, together with Ali Zaidi, he co-founded the arts organisation Motiroti.[2][3]

Designer Keith Khan, LEEDS 2023 (cropped)

Life

edit

Khan studied fine art / sculpture at Middlesex University.[4] Until 2004, most of the artistic events with which Khan was directly involved were under Motiroti, which produced notable projects such as Flying costumes, Floating Tombs[3] (1991) which won the Time Out Dance and Performance Award; Queen's Golden Jubilee Commonwealth Celebrations[5] (2002) and Alladeen[6] (2004) which won the Village Voice OBIE Award Special Citation, co-produced by The Builders Association. Khan departed from Moti Roti in 2004 and has filled a number of senior executive positions since then, most notably, Head of Culture[7][8] and then Artistic Executive to the[9] 2012 Summer Olympics (2007 to 2009) and sitting on the panels of high-profile funding bodies, including the Wellcome Trust[10] and as a Council Member of the Arts Council of England.[11] Keith Khan is also a member of the Advisory Panel of Art on the Underground[12] and was the Costume and 3D Designer for the Opening Ceremony for the Central and Opening Show at the Millennium Dome[13] (2000); Director of Design for the 2002 Commonwealth Games ceremonies under the direction of David Zolkwer. [verification needed]; Chief Executive of Rich Mix[14] (2004 to 2007); Chair of Diversity Group for Creative Economy Programme Working Group[15] (2006) and has been a member of the Commonwealth Group on Culture and Development since 2009.[16]

Controversy

edit

Rich Mix – Khan resigned amid questions of leadership and cost controlling. Karen Bartlett wrote in The Times ""Keith was not a natural cost controller, but the board was also weak". Overstaffing, disputes between builders and architects with some funders temporarily withholding revenue in 2007 until a new business plan could be agreed. Khan did not want to comment on Rich Mix for this article."[14][17][18]

London 2012 – While in his role as Head of Culture, Khan was criticised by some [who?] commentators for being excessively "anti-elitist".[19] He was commended by others for trying to make the Arts more relevant to young people across the UK.[20] His departure in 2008 was greeted with relief by some [who?] in the press and concern by others. The response of Richard Brooks in The Times was "Thank goodness... Keith Khan, its artistic executive, is leaving.".[21]

Interviews

edit

Talks

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ Alison Donnell, ed. (2002). "Khan, Keith". Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture. Routledge. p. 169. ISBN 978-1-134-70024-0.
  2. ^ "Moti Roti Company". Arts Council. Archived from the original on 20 October 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  3. ^ a b "motiroti (biography)". Fondation-langlois.org. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  4. ^ "Gloriously Impure « The Society of British Theatre Designers". Theatredesign.org.uk. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  5. ^ "Parade set to sparkle | Showbiz". Evening Standard. London. 29 May 2002. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  6. ^ "The Builders Association". The Builders Association. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  7. ^ "appoints Head of Culture | April 2007". London 2012. Archived from the original on 27 February 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  8. ^ "appoints Director of Culture | January 2010". London 2012. Archived from the original on 27 February 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  9. ^ Charlotte Higgins (25 March 2009). "Charlotte Higgins: Could the Cultural Olympiad be turning in to another Millennium Dome? | Culture". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  10. ^ "Arts Awards Funding Committee | Wellcome Trust". Wellcome.ac.uk. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  11. ^ "Keith Khan". Arts Council. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  12. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 June 2010. Retrieved 6 April 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ^ Ellen Lampert-Greaux (1 April 2000). "Under the big top". Livedesignonline.com. Archived from the original on 23 February 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  14. ^ a b "The Times". The Times. 10 September 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2011.[dead link]
  15. ^ "[ARCHIVED CONTENT] New Experts To Drive Creative Business". Culture.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 27 July 2008. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  16. ^ [1] Archived 12 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ^ "Home of the Daily and Sunday Express | UK News :: The fine art of wasting £1.1bn". Express.co.uk. 19 July 2009. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  18. ^ "Why have costly arts projects that were supposed to transform the country's cultural landscape flopped? – Features, Art". The Independent. UK. 11 February 2010. Archived from the original on 12 February 2010. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  19. ^ "Strike up the band for elitism". Archived from the original on 9 October 2009. Retrieved 31 March 2010.
  20. ^ "Building a new London Cultural Centre | Niki Gomez". Archived from the original on 29 January 2015. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  21. ^ "The Times". The Times. UK. 10 September 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2011.[dead link]
  22. ^ "Akademi's Frame By Frame Bollywood Symposium". YouTube. 23 September 2009. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  23. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20080705154258/http://www.akademi.co.uk/download/NML_report.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 July 2008. Retrieved 9 March 2010. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  24. ^ [2][dead link]
edit