Adrian Ellis is the founding director of AEA Consulting and director of the Global Cultural Districts Network, an initiative of the New Cities Foundation. AEA is a leading cultural consultancy with offices in London and New York, and expertise in the fields of cultural planning and policy; concept development, design and evaluation of cultural. initiatives; and strategic and operational planning for cultural institutions. AEA has an extensive international client base and is currently working on projects with the Barbican Arts Centre (London), CERN (Geneva), the Frick Collection (New York), the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation (New York), the New York Philharmonic, the League of American Orchestras (New York), Kronos String Quartet (San Francisco), Cambridge University, Petronas (Kuala Lumpur), Lai Sung Holdings (Hong Kong), the Barangaroo Delivery Authority (Sydney) and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (Athens).. Adrian returned to his full-time position at AEA at the beginning of 2012, after serving as Executive Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center from 2007 to 2012. Prior to founding AEA in 1990, he was Executive Director of The Conran Foundation, where he was responsible for planning the establishment of the Design Museum in London.. From 1981 to 1986 he worked in the UK Treasury and Cabinet Office. Adrian writes and lectures extensively on management and planning issues in the cultural sector and has served on the boards of the National Museum of Wales, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, and the Kaufman Center (New York).. In May 2010, he was a Scholar in Residence at Teachers College, Columbia University where he taught a graduate seminar series on “Special Topics in International Cultural Policy.” In 2012, he was named a “Jazz Hero of the Year” by the Jazz Journalists Association.. He was educated at Ysgol Y Gader (Dolgellau, Wales); Oxford University; and the London School of Economics. He is married to Elizabeth Ellis; has two children; and lives in the Hudson Valley and North Wales.
