Our South Kensington headquarters is managed by a team of specialists who bring together a wide range of valuable skills and experience.
Dr Stephen Deuchar
Director
Dr Deuchar stepped down as director of Tate Britain in December 2009 and brings a wealth of experience with him to The Art Fund. He directed the creation of Tate Britain in 2000 at Millbank, home of the original Tate Gallery.
Stephen Deuchar oversaw the realisation of a wealth of ambitious exhibitions, including major retrospectives of William Blake (2000) and Lucian Freud (2002), as well as the hugely popular group shows, Turner Whistler Monet (2005) and, most recently, the critically-acclaimed Turner and the Masters (2009).
During his time at Tate, Stephen Deuchar worked closely with The Art Fund on various fundraising initiatives, including the campaign to secure Rubens’s Sketch for the Banqueting House Ceiling, towards which The Art Fund contributed £600,000. He also took an active role in The Art Fund’s successful campaign to acquire Turner’s Blue Rigi in 2007. The evocative watercolour was saved for the nation for £4.95 million. It now stands proudly in the newly re-hung Turner galleries at Tate Britain.
Prior to working at Tate he spent 12 years as a curator and exhibitions director at the National Maritime Museum. Educated at the universities of London and Yale, Stephen Deuchar has a strong interest in contemporary art and is a specialist in 18th century British art. His publications include Sporting art in eighteenth-century England: a social and political history (Yale University Press, 1988).
Andrew Macdonald
Deputy Director
After graduating from Cambridge University, Andrew Macdonald began his career working on the BBC’s Newsnight and Panorama. As Senior Foreign Editor at Channel 4 News, he was in charge of the programme’s international coverage for 10 years before becoming a freelance film producer making current affairs documentaries for both the BBC and Channel 4.
He joined The Art Fund in 2006 as Deputy Director, responsible for grant-giving, communications and marketing. The following year, Andrew devised The Art Fund’s highly successful, pioneering ‘Buy a Brushstroke’ campaign to save JMW Turner’s Blue Rigi for the nation, and played a key role in the successful campaign to save Dumfries House in Ayrshire. He has been responsible for a number of new initiatives at The Art Fund, including the sponsorship of The Art Fund prize for museums and galleries, involvement in Channel 4’s Big Art Project, and the campaign to realise Steve McQueen’s vision for his Queen and Country work honouring UK servicemen and women killed in Iraq.
He is currently implementing The Art Fund’s sponsored and ambitious UK-wide tour of ARTIST ROOMS, and the ground-breaking £5 million Art Fund International initiative that is encouraging UK museums and galleries to build outstanding collections of international contemporary art.
Jonathan Cubitt ACA
Finance Director
After leaving Exeter University, Jonathan qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG and went on to work for both Binder Hamlyn and Arthur Andersen. On leaving the accountancy profession, he worked for the Royal Opera House Trust before joining the Art Fund in 1998. Jonathan is a trustee of several local charities and is a director of Fine Art Commissions Limited.
He is responsible for controlling the financial affairs of The Art Fund, including the production of annual accounts and budgets. Other key roles include risk management and planning, the human resource function and supervising the management and development of all IT systems.
Leigh Spiers
Director of Volunteering
Leigh Spiers joined The Art Fund as Director of Volunteering in April 2004. This post was newly created thanks to funding from the Monument Trust and emphasises The Art Fund's recognition of the crucial contribution that volunteers make to the organisation.
After more than 20 years as an NHS manager, Leigh took a career break to study Art History at the University of Sussex, after which she worked as an Assistant Curator at Charleston. She has degrees in both Business Administration and Art History.
A former chair of The Art Fund’s Volunteer Committee in Sussex, Leigh brings to the job an intimate understanding of volunteering; her role is to support the network of volunteers and co-ordinate their efforts to best effect.
Carolyn Young
Director of Marketing and Membership
Carolyn was previously Head of Membership at the British Museum before joining The Art Fund in 2009. She has 15 years experience in the charity sector, including 8 years at The National Trust responsible for Membership Marketing and National Appeals. While at the Trust, she worked on the Save Tyntesfield Campaign, which raised more than £8 million from the public in six weeks. In addition, she has managed Donor and Supporter Marketing at Samaritans, and spent time Agency-side as an Account Director, working on fundraising projects for UNICEF, Mind, Save the Children, Care International and Action for Children.
As well as being responsible for marketing and membership, her team also manages our Patrons and appeals programme, commercial and affinity partnerships, database and supporter management through our out-sourced supplier and The Art Fund’s mail-order range.
Caroline Bugler
Editor, Art Quarterly and Review
Caroline Bugler studied Art History at Cambridge University and the Courtauld
Institute of Art, London. An editor and writer, she has worked for Penguin
Books, Marshall Cavendish Publications, Frances Lincoln Books and National
Gallery Publications. Her publications include Art in Focus: Vienna (Studio
Editions) and Dutch Painting (Phaidon Press).
