Leading with James Ashton

Episode 8 - The Design Museum and Shelter

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Episode notes

Polly Neate and Alice Black join James Ashton to discuss delighting visitors, the joy of campaigning, forever fundraising and the importance of self-knowledge.



Polly Neate is the chief executive of housing charity Shelter which last year helped 4.7m people struggling with homelessness and bad housing.

Shelter has successfully campaigned to improve tenants’ rights and is still pressing for greater provision of social housing.

Originally a journalist, Neate joined the charity sector in 2005 at Action for Children, later leading Women’s Aid for four years and taking over at Shelter in 2017.



Alice Black is co-director of the Design Museum, the West London institution dedicated to celebrating the impact of design on everyday life.

The relocation to Kensington three years ago tripled space for exhibitions that have featured Stanley Kubrick and Ferrari and the Design Museum was named European Museum of the Year in 2018.

Black began her career in banking but her experience in museums includes senior roles at the Imperial War Museum and the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms.

She was appointed deputy director of the Design Museum in 2007 and co-director in 2016.





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