[kj] The Director of Public & Cultural Engagement at UCL likes KJ!

[Rheinhold Squeegee]

I love finding random stuff like this:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/staff/staff-news/0115/22012015-spotlightonsimoncane




    Spotlight on Simon Cane

    

        
        
        
        

        22 January 2015

        

    

                This week the spotlight is on Simon Cane, Director of Public and Cultural Engagement.


What is
your role and what does it involve?





I have what
is quite possibly the best job in the world. As Director, Public and Cultural
Engagement (PACE) I have a really interesting portfolio that covers three
museums (the UCL Petrie, UCL Art Museum and the UCL Grant Museum) Collections including
the iconic auto icon Jeremy Bentham, the Public Engagement Unit, Teaching and
Research and The Bloomsbury Theatre. PACE’s role is to connect UCL with a wide
range of publics, enhance the student experience through the use of our world
class collections, and support staff and students in delivering research
impact.

How long
have you been at UCL and what was your previous role?





 
I started at UCL on the 6 January so just a few weeks. I have moved
from Birmingham Museums Trust where I was for 10 years in a number of roles but
latterly as Director of Operations and Commercial. 
 

What
working achievement or initiative are you most proud of?





My work on the Staffordshire Hoard project at Birmingham
(www.staffordshirehoard.org.uk). The Hoard is a unique and remarkable find. I
was one of the first people to see it at Birmingham and that is a moment I will
never forget an ‘Indiana Jones’ moment if ever there was one. The level of
media coverage the Hoard received when it was announced was unprecedented and
it was clear that the levels of expectation from the public, from
archaeologists and from academics were high and not always compatible. I worked
hard to keep the project in the public domain and I believe we broke new ground
in how to deliver a publicly engaged research programme.

Tell us about a project you are
working on now which is top of you to-do list?





 
The
development of UCL East at the Olympic Park is a once in generation opportunity
and I am very excited about how we will contribute to the Olympic legacy. We will also soon be opening the ‘Bloomsbury
Studio’, a new space for nurturing UCL talent, for media training, for engaging
London’s communities, for research performance and enhancing impact. Find out
more about it, and our submissions procedure, here.
 

What is your favourite album, film
and novel?





 
Album: Killing Joke – Killing Joke. This albums influence cannot be
underestimated. The band are still
making great records and delivering shamanic live performances. 
Film: Wild
at Heart
Book:
Underworld by Don DeLilo 
 

What is your favourite joke
(pre-watershed)?





 
Two parrots on a perch. One says to the other, can you smell fish?
 

Who would be your dream dinner
guests?





 
Hunter S
Thompson, Elvis, Bonn Scott, Youth (Killing Joke bass player and music
producer) Janis Joplin, P J Harvey, Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes, Paloma Faith – it
could get messy. 
 

What advice would you give your
younger self?





 
Don’t
listen to the older you. 
 

What would it surprise people to
know about you?





 
I used to
restore steam traction engines for a living.

What is your favourite place?





 
 Vietnam.
I have been lucky enough to travel extensively through this beautiful country
and I collect the costume and textiles of its many and varied minorities.   












 


                                        

    
    
    
	
    






                                        



                                    
 		 	   		  
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