To celebrate the five-year tenure of Sherry Dobbin as a Partner of Futurecity, our Founder and CEO Mark Davy sat in conversation with Sherry to discuss her work and her role in the legacy of Futurecity as a Cultural Advisor.
They talk about how they first met, Sherry’s highlights of working on Futurecity’s projects, and her thoughts on where the cultural sector is moving towards in the future.
Watch the full Digital Dialogue here.
Sherry would also like to thank the Futurecity team, the artists, clients, and collaborators she has worked with over the years. This is her note of thanks.
For the past five years, I have been fortunate to work at an enviable intersection of art, cultural infrastructure, and cities. I have been able to assist public art commissions with Futurecity’s incredible curators that have been realised in London, Melbourne, Dubai and ones still to come in Boston, Kent, and London; or the public art strategies for Sydney, Boston, and London. We have found homes for existing cultural organisations; funded local cultural institutions and curators; and crafted new ones, like the Centre Pompidou-Beulah collaboration.
I am thankful to the cultural leaders who have been transparent about their needs, which has enabled us to make meaningful value propositions for the developers and the local authorities. When I moved back to London in January 2017, I wanted to shift culture into being bold and part of these discussions as early as possible. By extending into ULI UK as a participant and Chair of the Urban Art Forum to create Including Culture in Development, and joining the Creative Estuary Cultural Colocation Advisory Group and the LDN Collective’ I could help Futurecity join collaborative relationships in the UK and bring the resulting knowledge to our international clients.
I would like to thank the Futurecity team members and associates who have broadened my knowledge of hospitality, craft, artist retail, ESG measurements, grassroot collectives in the UK, human geographies., Thank you to the artists who have taught me about zoetropes, Dracula legacy in Chelsea, apples in Kent, symphonic music in e-sports, suspending steel sculptures from the Shard, collaborative poetry, clay facades, digital profiles, banksia and LED neon. Thank you to the BIDs and local authorities who considered new models, solutions, and partnerships with artists – from road takeovers to Piccadilly Lights to affordable workspaces merging with digital studio needs. Thank you to the architects and landscape architects that worked so diligently (and often to the wire) to make purposeful spaces for artists and presentation.
I will be working with cultural organisations, networks and other large-scale initiatives to support new business models for the cultural sector. And while I am leaving as Partner, I am happy that I can continue the Futurecity relationship as Cultural Advisor on specific projects.
Above all, thank you, Mark Davy for the trust and ambition – and our addiction for purchasing website domain names…!
Until more,
Sherry Dobbin
Learn more about our Public Art Strategy and Public Art Delivery projects:
Image Credits:
- Image 1: ©Jonty Wilde_Jaume Plensa
- Image 2: © MARS Gallery, Melbourne
- Image 3: Futurecity Team Lunch Image
- Image 4: © Jonty Wilde Photography Ltd 2021