Yasmin Khan
I am a Creative Consultant and Multidisciplinary Curator with expertise in cross-pollinating art, science, and cultural heritage to create innovative content. I have over 20 years of grassroots experience in spearheading high-impact programmes with a social purpose. I enjoy collaborating with artists, museums, and festivals to co-create transformative visitor experiences and exhibitions through my cultural consultancy, Covalent Creatives.
Project highlights include:
- Curating 'Outwitting Cancer' at the Francis Crick Institute, Britain’s largest biomedical lab.
- Evaluating 'Artists Make Space', an international programme delivered by Tara Theatre, funded by the British Council, to foster co-creation between artists in Bangladesh and the UK.
- Collaborating with Morris Hargreaves McIntyre to jointly lead a public consultation on the placement of the 4th cast of 'Physical Energy', a prominent art sculpture owned by the Watts Gallery Trust.
- Mentored Colchester and Ipswich Museums to produce a comprehensive Decolonising Strategy which enabled them to successfully be awarded a £4.3m redevelopment grant by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
- Co-led the inception of the Cultural Governance Alliance from conception through to delivery, along being founding commissioning editor of its website. In parallel, I was the inaugural conference producer for Governance Now, launched in 2018.
- Artistic Quality Assessor for Arts Council England.
- Specialist Assessor for the British Council’s Cultural Protection Fund.
I was awarded the 2011/12 Wellcome Trust Creative Fellowship which included a secondment to the Mayor of London's culture team as an associate for Big Dance, a central feature of the London 2012 Festival. Experiencing a different art form stretched me beyond my original grounding in museums and heritage. Being embedded in GLA's Culture Team gave me tremendous insights into the realm of developing cultural policy.
My Clore Fellowship was transformational in giving me a springboard to set up my consultancy and scale up my ambitions to strategically influence the cultural sector through mission-orientated projects. I have served as a trustee for the Culture Trust, fulfilled two tenures as a committee member for Arts Council England’s Accreditation Scheme and remain a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). My Clore Fellowship empowered me with the motivation and momentum to build connections, critical thinking, and knowhow to take part, shape, advise and evaluate, big decisions by big players in the sector.
Having peers in my cohort that span a spectrum of artistic disciplines and regions has helped to heighten my own creativity.
Over the last decade, I’ve coached CEOs, boards, and aspiring senior leaders to become more confident and resilient. Since qualifying as an accredited ILM Action Learning Set facilitator, I’ve become adept at moderating focus groups and delivering personalised training workshops for emerging cultural leaders on strategic themes such as navigating change.
I’m fortunate to have been involved with the inception of Coaching for Creatives as part of its inaugural pool of coaches since its pilot phase in 2021. I’ve supported its ongoing tailored programmes including ‘Creative Lives’, ‘Culture Collective’, and ‘Refreshing your Creative Practice’ which provides subsidised coaching for creative industry professionals. I’ve had the pleasure to coach artistic directors, theatre-makers, creative writers, and independent portfolio workers seeking to amplify change.