VSDB Director
Venu Dhupa works with organisations that aspire to be vision led and with an ambition to achieve or accelerate change and renewal.
Venu is a recognised expert in national and international cultural policy and is sought after for her innovative thinking on culture, leadership, diversity and the creative industries. She works as a consultant where culture brushes with politics and social change. Venu has an execeptional network of cross-sector contacts and maintains an active programme of self-development influenced by research and training.
Venu Dhupa with Others
EdinFestival-006---Venu-as-a-guest-of-the-Korean-Ambassador-at-the-Edinburgh-Festival
Italy---Rome---Venu-with-Jean-Leonard-Toudai---Deputy-Mayor-of-Rome-and-Member-of-European-Parliament
South-Africa---Cape-Town---Venu-with-the-British-Ambassador-to-Cape-Town,-Paul-Boateng
South-Africa---Cape-Town---Venu-with-the-Director-of-the-Design-Indhaba---Ravi-Naidoo
Venu-speaking-at-a-Conference-in-Istanbul-re-European-Co-operation
Venu-with-Bharati-Prasad-an-Award-Winning-Amateur-Radio-Enthusiast-in-New-Delhi
Venu-with-Jude-Kelly-(Director-South-Bank-Centre)-and-Clare-Short-(former-Sec-of-State-for-Int-Dev-at-100-Ideas-to-Change-the-World-Festival
Venu-with-the-Director-of-the-British-Council-in-Istanbul
Venu Dhupa
Press and Media
For press and media, see Venu’s biography in less than 400 words, less than 200 and less than 100.
Bio in 400 Words
Venu is the Managing Director of VSDB Consultancy.
Former roles include: Senior Director of Programmes at Stonewall; Senior Executive at Creative Scotland where she was part of the leadership team with responsibility for the Arts, portfolio review, the organisational re-structure (budget responsibility £30million), developing 15 new investment programmes and the new International Engagement Strategy; World-wide Director Arts for the British Council where she led and successfully completed the first international consultation/review in 25 years on the Council’s global arts strategy; Director of the Creative Innovation Unit at the Southbank Centre (Europe’s largest cultural centre); Fellowship Director at NESTA, the UKs National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts where she took on the leadership of new programmes, managed a portfolio value of £13million and grew an International Strategy; Chief Executive at the Nottingham Playhouse one of the UKs major repertory companies; and Producer (Mobile Touring) at the Royal National Theatre. She was also the inaugural Chair of the East Midlands Cultural Consortium appointed by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.
Venu is motivated by positive social change, social justice and entrepreneurship. In 2010 she led the cultural celebrations for Commonwealth Day (as Creative Director) in London and she has been awarded the prestigious UKs National Asian Woman of Achievement Award. She holds two Visiting Professorships, one at the University of Nottingham Trent (Art and International) and the other at the University of the West of Scotland (Culture, Media and Society). She has been an External Examiner on the MA in Creative Entrepreneurship for the University of East Anglia and is currently engaged in a similar role for the Open University.
Alongside professional roles has been a: Trustee of the Theatres Trust, a Member of University College London’s Museums and Heritage Committee; a Governor of Guildford Conservatoire; a Council Member of Loughborough University; a Member of the Institute of Ideas; a Fellow of the RSA; a Board member of Saheylia (Women and Mental Health.)
Current Non Executive Roles are: As a Patron of the Asha Foundation; Co-Editor of the International Journal for Creativity and Human Development www.creativityjournal.net; and Non-Executive Director of Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce and a Member of the European Cultural Parliament.
Bio in 200 Words
Venu is the Managing Director of VSDB Consultancy. She has held several Senior Executive Roles in the Public Sector, including 3 at Non Departmental Public Bodies. She has held two senior roles in UK Charities, as CEO at the Nottingham Theatres Trust, with responsibility for over 100 staff and 200 volunteers and as Senior Director of Programmes at Stonewall. She has raised nearly £14million in additional or funds for the organisations in which she has held senior roles.
Venu also has an active Academic career, holding 2 Visiting Professorships, one in England and one in Scotland, and has had 2 External Examiner roles, one at the University of East Anglia and the other at the Open University.
She is currently Co-Editor of the International Journal for Creativity and Human Development www.creativityjournal.net; and Non-Executive Director of Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce and a Member of the European Cultural Parliament.
Bio in 100 Words
Venu is the Managing Director of VSDB Consultancy, a business that undertakes, organisational development, capacity building across sectors and programme management in the creative and cultural sector.
An experienced Senior Executive having held roles in the Public and Charities sector, with budget responsibility for up to £30 million p.a. She holds 2 Visiting Professorships, a role as an External Examiner and maintains an active international speaking programme.
She is Co-Editor of the International Journal for Creativity and Human Development www.creativityjournal.net; and Non-Executive Director of Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce and a Member of the European Cultural Parliament.