Mentoring and social justice charity Arts Emergency announces the appointment of Bonnier Books UK CEO Perminder Mann to the position of Chair of the Board of Trustees. Mann will lead and support the Board as Arts Emergency seeks to expand and deepen its award-winning mentoring and community-building work.
2023 will see Arts Emergency mark a decade spent pushing against policy and practices designed to erode broad access to the arts and humanities. Against a backdrop of spiralling inequality and mounting uncertainty, Mann’s experience will provide fresh context for Arts Emergency’s achievements and struggles, with her leadership and people-centred approach guiding the charity into the next 10 years.
The charity will mark its 10 year anniversary by working with its Youth Collective, partners, and Network of over 8,000 passionate volunteers and supporters to build a new strategy with a clear focus: to help curious and creative young people flourish through education, training and into meaningful and sustainable careers in their dream sectors on a national scale.
Neil Griths, CEO and co-founder said: “We are so excited to welcome Perminder to the board at Arts Emergency. For ten years we’ve been at the leading edge of support and empowerment for new voices in UK culture, and as a proven and transformative leader, Perminder will add so much experience and passion to our work. She is joining us at a time when young people need real opportunities and powerful voices more than ever, and I’m proud to be working with her.”
Perminder Mann, CEO, Bonnier Books UK added:
“I’m absolutely thrilled to have been appointed chair of the board of trustees for Arts Emergency. With the covid-19 pandemic and deepening cost-of-living crisis widening inequality, the work they do is more urgent than ever. From a low-income background, I didn’t have a network or social capital of my own to help me navigate my way through the publishing industry. Now – as a mentor and mentee – I realise how life-changing those connections can be and I’m committed to using my influence and privilege to help young people from all backgrounds break into the creative sector. I cannot wait to get to work with Neil, the trustees and their fantastic team.”
Appointed CEO of Bonnier Books UK in 2017, Mann has spearheaded the evolution of Bonnier Books UK into an agile, modern and sustainable publisher. Mann has built a reputation as an open and progressive leader, fostering a culture of inclusion, and creating a purpose-driven work environment where people are empowered to do their best work, and given the trust, time and flexibility to deliver.
Under Mann’s leadership, Bonnier Books UK became the first major UK publisher to announce a fully flexible working policy, and introduced an industry-first pregnancy loss policy. She also drove the publication of the company’s first Inclusion & Representation Action Plan, designed to accelerate progress in the book industry.
Yomi Adegoke, Trustee, said: “Every single one of us was blown away by Perminder during the interview process – her breadth of experience, her passion, her journey. How much her goals for Arts Emergency align with everything we are already doing, but also her ambitiousness in regards to what else we could be doing. Her energy is so contagious and we all left our chat with her hugely excited about what we could achieve with Perminder on board, so it’s wonderful to now be able to get working on making those plans a reality!”
Sam Oddie, Youth Collective, commented: “She had a real sense of optimism for what’s possible in the future which, being a trademark of Arts Emergency, shows you exactly how well she’s going to fit in! To see how proud she was of the work she had been a part of at Bonnier Books UK made me excited to see what Perminder would do with that passion as Chair. I know that she’s going to take Arts Emergency into the next chapter while maintaining what makes it so great.”
And Layemi Ikomi, London Programme Officer, said: “Perminder has used her position as CEO of Bonnier Books UK to platform marginalised voices and she is an advocate for giving young people the tools they need to carve out their creative futures. I think her ability to create solutions from honest conversations will be the most valuable thing she’ll bring to the organisation. I’m very excited to see what we can achieve with her support!”
Mann will take up the role of chair in October.
