Prudence Skene obituary

In a career that lasted half a century, Prue (Prudence) Skene, who has died aged 81, experienced much change in the role of the arts administrator – from keeping companies going in a rather makeshift manner to a formal career in which fundraising skills and the understanding of governance were crucial. She was an architect of a great deal of this change, becoming one of the best connected figures in the arts network in Britain and one who constantly aimed to improve the lot of arts leaders and practitioners. Her time as chair of the Arts Council of England (ACE) dance panel between 1992 and 1995 proved challenging: the dance scene was changing, with the rise of many smaller companies resulting in the need to axe larger organisations. In 1994 she became the first chair of the ACE lottery panel. This gave her responsibility for the distribution of a considerable amount of ACE funds in the 1990s, making her a key player in the development and rebuilding of theatres including the Royal Opera House and the Royal Court in London, and the Lowry in Manchester. Her awareness of some of the weaknesses of lottery funding and how the panel evolved was reflected in her book Capital Gains: How the National Lottery Transformed England’s Arts (2017). In 2007 Skene became governance associate for Clore Leadership, part of the Clore Duffield Foundation, initiating a board development programme and providing awaydays, training days and governance sessions on short courses to myriad cultural organisations. In many respects she was filling gaps she had become aware of earlier in her career, and was making arts organisations and boards more accountable. Making this information more widely available, she co-authored with Keith Arrowsmith and Tom Wilcox the book Governance in the Arts and Museums: A Practical Guide, a toolkit of resources for trustees and staff who work with boards. Born in Amersham Buckinghamshire, Prue was the second of four children of Phyllis (nee Langley) and Robert Skene, a company director, who had met at Oxford University. The family moved to London after the second world war, and Prue went to Francis Holland school, later, in 2009, gaining a first-class honours degree from the Open University. She claimed that theatre, dance and cinema played little part in her youth, but secretarial work took her into the theatre before she became deputy administrator at the Roundhouse, in north London (1973-75). At the time it was buzzing with weekend rock concerts, in which she took no interest, but she was captivated by seeing her first contemporary dance companies, Twyla Tharp and Ballet Rambert, performing on the venue’s open stage. It was suggested that she apply to become administrator – in effect chief executive – of Ballet Rambert, a position that she held for 11 years until 1986. The friendliness of the company attracted her, and her willingness to learn about dance and management made her a great success. She had a clear vision of her aims, inspiring collaborators and colleagues to whom she would always be kind and generous. Her first task was to organise Rambert’s 50th anniversary celebrations in 1976, with two exhibitions and a gala. She helped John Chesworth, Christopher Bruce, Richard Alston and Robert North, each of them artistic director at some point, to build a repertoire of primarily new, contemporary works, tour extensively and gain international respect for the company. She also developed their sponsorship from commercial companies, most notably the John Player Foundation, at a time in the 70s and early 80s when tobacco sponsorship was still acceptable. Through this she met and married Brian Wray, the marketing director of Imperial Tobacco. They set up home in Bath in 1986, and as it was a time of change in artistic direction at Rambert, Skene decided it was time to move on. She returned to the company as chair of its board (2000-09), drawing on her intense knowledge while respecting new developments. One of her achievements lay in initiating its move of the company from its run-down base in Chiswick, west London, to purpose-built, accessible studios on the South Bank. Friendly but possessed of a sharp business acumen, Skene was involved with a wide range of professional and voluntary organisations. She was executive producer of the English Shakespeare Company (1987-90 and 1992), and director of the Arts Foundation (1993-98), a charity that gives fellowships to artists in all disciplines. Between 2016 and 2024 she served as chair of Cardboard Citizen, a theatre company that gives opportunities through workshops and performances to those who have experienced homelessness, inequality or poverty. She was a trustee of the Nureyev Foundation, established after the dancer’s death to promote his legacy supporting talented dancers, promoting his own choreography and advancing the health and well-being of dancers, and of Nesta, an innovation agency for social good. The Theatrical Management Association, Friends of the V&A, Bath Theatre Royal and the Rosie Kay Dance Company were among the organisations she was involved with, and she was a non-executive director of Royal United Hospital NHS Trust in Bath (1999-2003). In 2000 she was appointed CBE. Brian died in 2002, and she is survived by two sisters, and eight nephews and nieces. • Prudence Patricia Skene, arts administrator, born 9 January 1944; died 5 March 2025