Philip Dodd
Encyclopedia
Philip Dodd is a British broadcaster, writer and editor. He is chairman of the creative industries company Made in China.
During the early 1980s, he began work on notions of national identity, precipitated by the onset of the Falklands War
and in 1986 with Robert Colls co-edited the volume of essays, Englishness: Politics and Culture, 1880-1920, the first modern study of the formation of modern English identity. The book brought him to the attention of both Melvyn Bragg
at London Weekend Television
and Alan Yentob
, then Head of the Music and Arts department at BBC television. Dodd joined the Music and Arts Department as Alan Yentob's consultant, working on series on culture, writing scripts, helping to found The Late Show, and working on the major six-part art series Relative Values: art and value. He also co-wrote (with Louisa Buck
) the book of the series, which is still a set text on foundation art courses. In 1989, he left academic life and joined the New Statesman and Society
, as deputy editor, while remaining consultant to BBC, working on series on subjects as wide as political reform and contemporary art From 1991 to 1998, he worked as consultant with Jane Root
, the co-owner of Wall to Wall TV, on a wide variety of television series.
, which was merged with the Monthly Film Bulletin
both published by the British Film Institute
. The new magazine was relaunched in 1991 as a monthly newsstand magazine, winning Dodd an award as PPA smaller publisher of the year. Writers who wrote for the magazine whose global circulation rose to 26,000 included J. Hoberman
, Paul Gilroy
, Peter Wollen
, Amy Taubin
, Peter Biskind
, Jeanette Winterson
, Ian Christie
, Ginette Vincendeau
, Michael Tolkin
, Quentin Tarantino
.
in London
, at a turbulent point at its history. The ICA had a deficit of nearly £1 million and poor attendance figures. He restructured the organisation and tried to return it to its original role as an arts lab of interdisciplinary work, something recognised by the novelist JG Ballard who said that Dodd had transformed the ICA into a 'post 2000 ideas lab'. Dodd introduced many innovations, including a writer-in-residence programme, which included Zadie Smith
, a scientist-in-residence programme, the first time in Britain that a major arts organisation had appointed a scientsts as creator, the Beck's Futures
prize and the 'Cultural Entrepreneurs Club', a networking agency which supported 500 of London's young creative businesses. and a PhD programme. In 1998, he took the ICA to China, to Shanghai and Beijing - the first British contemporary arts institution to stage events there - and in 1999, hosted 'Beijing London: Revolutionary Capitals', a series of events which showcased new Chinese creativity for the first time in Britain. Artists included Wang Jianwei and Zhang Dali, Xing Xing and Zhang Yuan. With events such as the Chinese season as well as a one devoted to contemporary India, Dodd moved the ICA from a white world into a global one. Annual attendance at the ICA increased from 250,000 in 1997 to 750,000 in 2004 and the balance was back in the black. His tenure at the ICA was not without controversy. The then junior Minister for Culture
Kim Howells
described Dodd as a "sneering guardian of the emperor's new clothes". and chairman Ivan Massow
left in 2002 following Massow's criticism of the art the ICA supported.
and creative consultant to the UK Pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.Its latest initiatives are a club for Chinese students and London's creative businesses and an introductory course delivered with Chinese partners for Chinese students intending to study in Britain.
rebranding of the UK. He is visiting Professor, University of the Arts London and a Fellow of the RSA.
He has held various visiting academic professorships, at South Bank University and at King's College London and has developed post-graduate education around the needs of the cultural economy, founding the MA programme in Creative Industries at King's College. He is a Sony award winning broadcaster and regular presenter of BBC Radio 3
arts and ideas programme, Nightwaves
.
Early career
Until 1986, Philip Dodd was a university academic where he established a reputation in nonfiction studies and rhetoric, having founded (with the late JC Hilson) in 1977 the journal Prose Studies, the first journal exclusively devoted to the study of the aesthetics of nonfiction. It is still published, out of the US.During the early 1980s, he began work on notions of national identity, precipitated by the onset of the Falklands War
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
and in 1986 with Robert Colls co-edited the volume of essays, Englishness: Politics and Culture, 1880-1920, the first modern study of the formation of modern English identity. The book brought him to the attention of both Melvyn Bragg
Melvyn Bragg
Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg FRSL FRTS FBA, FRS FRSA is an English broadcaster and author best known for his work with the BBC and for presenting the The South Bank Show...
at London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and...
and Alan Yentob
Alan Yentob
Alan Yentob is a British television executive and presenter who has worked throughout his career at the BBC.-Early life:...
, then Head of the Music and Arts department at BBC television. Dodd joined the Music and Arts Department as Alan Yentob's consultant, working on series on culture, writing scripts, helping to found The Late Show, and working on the major six-part art series Relative Values: art and value. He also co-wrote (with Louisa Buck
Louisa Buck
Louisa Buck is a British art critic and contemporary art correspondent for The Art Newspaper. She was a jurist for the 2005 Turner Prize.-Life:...
) the book of the series, which is still a set text on foundation art courses. In 1989, he left academic life and joined the New Statesman and Society
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
, as deputy editor, while remaining consultant to BBC, working on series on subjects as wide as political reform and contemporary art From 1991 to 1998, he worked as consultant with Jane Root
Jane Root
Jane Root is a creative executive in the media industry, who has run major television networks on both sides of the Atlantic...
, the co-owner of Wall to Wall TV, on a wide variety of television series.
Sight & Sound
In 1990, he left the New Statesman and Society and accepted a post as editor of the quarterly Sight & SoundSight & Sound
Sight & Sound is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute .Sight & Sound was first published in 1932 and in 1934 management of the magazine was handed to the nascent BFI, which still publishes the magazine today...
, which was merged with the Monthly Film Bulletin
Monthly Film Bulletin
The Monthly Film Bulletin was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a narrow arthouse release. The MFB was edited in the mid-1950s by David Robinson, in the late...
both published by the British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
. The new magazine was relaunched in 1991 as a monthly newsstand magazine, winning Dodd an award as PPA smaller publisher of the year. Writers who wrote for the magazine whose global circulation rose to 26,000 included J. Hoberman
J. Hoberman
James Lewis Hoberman , also known as J. Hoberman, is an American film critic. He is currently the senior film critic for The Village Voice, a post he has held since 1988.-Education:...
, Paul Gilroy
Paul Gilroy
-Biography:Born in the East End of London to Guyanese and English parents , he was educated at University College School and obtained his bachelor's degree at Sussex University in 1978. He moved from there to Birmingham University where he completed his Ph.D...
, Peter Wollen
Peter Wollen
Peter Wollen is a film theorist and writer. He studied English at Christ Church, Oxford. Both political journalist and film theorist, Wollen's Signs and Meaning in the Cinema , helped to transform the discipline of film studies by incorporating the methodology of structuralism and...
, Amy Taubin
Amy Taubin
Amy Taubin is an American film critic. She is a contributing editor for two prominent film magazines, the British Sight & Sound and the American Film Comment...
, Peter Biskind
Peter Biskind
Peter Biskind is a journalist, former executive editor of Premiere magazine, and the author of numerous books depicting life in Hollywood, including Seeing Is Believing, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, Down and Dirty Pictures, and Gods and Monsters...
, Jeanette Winterson
Jeanette Winterson
Jeanette Winterson OBE is a British novelist.-Early years:Winterson was born in Manchester and adopted on 21 January 1960. She was raised in Accrington, Lancashire, by Constance and John William Winterson...
, Ian Christie
Ian Christie (film scholar)
Ian Christie is a British film scholar. He has written several books including studies of the works of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, Martin Scorsese and the development of cinema. He is a regular contributor to Sight & Sound magazine and a frequent broadcaster...
, Ginette Vincendeau
Ginette Vincendeau
Ginette Vincendeau is a French-born British-based academic who is a Professor of Film Studies at King's College London.Vincendeau was educated at the Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris III, gaining a degree in English and at the University of East Anglia, where she completed a doctorate in...
, Michael Tolkin
Michael Tolkin
Michael L. Tolkin is an American filmmaker and novelist. He has written numerous screenplays, including The Player , which he adapted from his 1988 book by the same name, and for which he received the 1993 Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay...
, Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
.
Directorship of ICA
In 1997, he accepted the post of Director of the Institute of Contemporary ArtsInstitute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, at a turbulent point at its history. The ICA had a deficit of nearly £1 million and poor attendance figures. He restructured the organisation and tried to return it to its original role as an arts lab of interdisciplinary work, something recognised by the novelist JG Ballard who said that Dodd had transformed the ICA into a 'post 2000 ideas lab'. Dodd introduced many innovations, including a writer-in-residence programme, which included Zadie Smith
Zadie Smith
Zadie Smith is a British novelist. To date she has written three novels. In 2003, she was included on Granta's list of 20 best young authors...
, a scientist-in-residence programme, the first time in Britain that a major arts organisation had appointed a scientsts as creator, the Beck's Futures
Beck's Futures
Beck's Futures was a British art prize founded by London's Institute of Contemporary Arts and sponsored by Beck's beer given to contemporary artists....
prize and the 'Cultural Entrepreneurs Club', a networking agency which supported 500 of London's young creative businesses. and a PhD programme. In 1998, he took the ICA to China, to Shanghai and Beijing - the first British contemporary arts institution to stage events there - and in 1999, hosted 'Beijing London: Revolutionary Capitals', a series of events which showcased new Chinese creativity for the first time in Britain. Artists included Wang Jianwei and Zhang Dali, Xing Xing and Zhang Yuan. With events such as the Chinese season as well as a one devoted to contemporary India, Dodd moved the ICA from a white world into a global one. Annual attendance at the ICA increased from 250,000 in 1997 to 750,000 in 2004 and the balance was back in the black. His tenure at the ICA was not without controversy. The then junior Minister for Culture
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is a department of the United Kingdom government, with responsibility for culture and sport in England, and some aspects of the media throughout the whole UK, such as broadcasting and internet....
Kim Howells
Kim Howells
Kim Scott Howells is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Pontypridd from 1989 to 2010, and held a number of ministerial positions within the Government.-Biography:...
described Dodd as a "sneering guardian of the emperor's new clothes". and chairman Ivan Massow
Ivan Massow
Ivan Massow is a British entrepreneur and financial adviser. He founded PayMeMy.com in September 2011; a service which pays back 'trail' commissions - often thousands of pounds a year - to policy-holders themselves, instead of the IFAs who originally set the policies up.Ivan was also Chairman of...
left in 2002 following Massow's criticism of the art the ICA supported.
Made in China
In 2004, he left the ICA to found the agency Made in China, develop major projects between China and the UK, some cultural, some educational and some business-oriented. He set up the agency in a belief that the future 'belongs to a constellation of India and China'. Made in China was the senior consultant (2007/8) on Shanghai eArts, the first annual digital arts festival in China., was one of the founders of the UK-wide festival 'China Now' in 2008, is strategist to Art HK., the largest artfair in Asia, was advisor to the Chaoyang District government of BeijingBeijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
and creative consultant to the UK Pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.Its latest initiatives are a club for Chinese students and London's creative businesses and an introductory course delivered with Chinese partners for Chinese students intending to study in Britain.
Other appointments
Dodd worked with Demos under the leadership of Geoff Mulgan and the pamphlet that he produced, 'The Battle Over Britain, helped to shape the New Labour government’s Cool BritanniaCool Britannia
Cool Britannia is a media term that was used during the late 20th century to describe the contemporary culture of the United Kingdom. The term was prevalent during the 1990s and later became closely associated with the early years of "New Labour" under Tony Blair...
rebranding of the UK. He is visiting Professor, University of the Arts London and a Fellow of the RSA.
He has held various visiting academic professorships, at South Bank University and at King's College London and has developed post-graduate education around the needs of the cultural economy, founding the MA programme in Creative Industries at King's College. He is a Sony award winning broadcaster and regular presenter of BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
arts and ideas programme, Nightwaves
Nightwaves
Night Waves is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 3. The BBC describes it as "Radio 3's flagship arts and ideas programme".The Guardian said in May 2010 "...the king of radio arts programmes is undoubtedly Night Waves, a programme so clever that it regularly makes me stand still and listen,...
.
Selected bibliography
- Englishness: Politics and Culture, 1880-1920 (1986)
- Modern Selves: Essays on Modern British and American Autobiography (1986, editor)