Ben Ayrton – NE-Generation Programme Manager

Ben joined the company in September 2009 to head up the NE Generation programme. NE Generation is the North East’s Legacy Trust UK programme, and will be delivered by the Regional Youth Work Unit (NE), with Arts Council England as the accountable body. NE Generation , through Legacy Trust UK, forms part of the region’s plans for the Cultural Olympiad – the culture programme inspired by the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. NE Generation aims to bring about a shift in the way in which children and young people and the North East’s arts and cultural sector collaborate and work together; developing a more tuned in and children and young people focused cultural sector where young people in the North East experience, participate in and generate arts and cultural activity on their own terms.

Ben was brought up on a farm in Warwickshire and started his career as a young actor with the RSC. Throughout the 90’s, he began to grow his directing/training/programme development work, spending time as Associate Director for both Chester Gateway and Contact Theatres . In 2000 he was appointed Artistic Director of Theatre Venture in East London, followed in turn by Director at NAYT in 2004. In late 2005, Ben broke his leg in spectacular fashion and spent three and half years in and out of various hospitals getting patched up. In 2006, Ben became an Associate Practitioner for the RSC, delivering work on crutches and falling over a lot.

As well as working with NE Generation, Ben writes across radio, theatre, film and TV, is an Associate Artist at Az Theatre in London and is on attachment to BBC Radio Manchester through being one of the recipients of the Alfred Bradley Bursary Awards 2009. Ben was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2005.

Ben lives in rural Co Durham with his partner, two children, a dog and massive house spiders. He finds it hard to believe that having moved so far away from London to work, he ends up in an office next to a Geordie Arsenal supporter. However, another colleague believed Ben was in his late-20’s ‘max’ which made things a little better: Ben is 44 and supports Tottenham.