by Sarah Weir, who has died aged 65 from complications following a lung transplant, believed that art and design were central to creating a more vibrant and better connected nation, as well as enriching people’s lives. Prior to the London 2012 Olympic Games, as head of arts and culture strategy at the Olympic Games Delivery Authority, Sarah oversaw the integration of the arts into the Olympic Park in east London, alongside advising on design, engineering and landscaping.
Wanting to ensure that the arts were fully represented, even though they were not included in the original proposal, Sarah tried to convince the many stakeholders to part with their funds in support of her artistic vision. Her work has resulted in over 40 art commissions, including Monica Bonvicini’s sculpture RUN for the Olympic Park and poetry from writers including Carol Ann Duffy, Jo Shapcott, John Burnside, Caroline Bird and Lemn Sissay inscribed around the park. In 2011 Sarah founded the Legacy List (now the Foundation for Future London), a charity that encourages creative connections between people and the Olympic Park, with a focus on arts and culture, education and skills.
In 2017, Sarah was appointed Chief Executive of the Design Council. Rather than a cosmetic business tied to commercialism, packaging and elitism, Sarah argued that “design is an essential discipline that allows us to create places, products and services to improve everyone’s life”. Disturbed by the lack of diversity in the design and technology industries, she helped develop mentoring schemes, and inspired ideas such as Lauren Currie’s Upfront programme, which invites young women onto public platforms. As Sarah said: “Those who have experience sitting in front of an audience are 30% more likely to promote themselves in the future.” She praised the message “to make an impact, we need to be present”.
Sarah was born in Edinburgh, the daughter of Marion (nee Miller) and David Weir, an egg trader, and when she was a child the family moved south. After her parents divorced, she was brought up in Kent and Sussex by her mother and stepfather, Stephen Cox, a Lloyd’s underwriter.
Leaving St Agnes and St Michael’s convent school, East Grinstead, aged 16, Sarah worked in a series of uninspiring jobs until she applied to become a gofer for insurance brokers Aldgate Group in London, where she rose to become the first uninspiring woman. – marine management director at brokerage firm Lloyd’s.
Still only 31, and realizing she needed new challenges, Sarah enrolled in the art history program at Birkbeck, University of London. For the next few years, she juggled her work in the City with part-time university study in the evenings, and a thesis on the pioneering 19th century photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.
When she graduated, she swapped her career in the City for one in arts management. Her passion for collecting art attracted the attention of the Purdy Hicks Gallery, who hired her in 1994 to lead their move from premises in the West End to Bankside. This was followed by a few years at Arts and Business, an organization that matched business sponsorship with arts projects.
In 1997, she was appointed head of development at the Royal Academy of Arts. Sarah attracted unprecedented sponsorship from Ernst & Young for the large-scale 1999 exhibition Monet in the Twentieth Century. It included 14 of Claude Monet’s Thames paintings, eight of Venice, and 23 water lily paintings, which had never been shown together before.
After a period as co-CEO of the Almeida Theatre, in 2003 Sarah was appointed executive director of Arts Council England, overseeing the delivery of all public funding for the arts in London. For Sarah, the Artichoke organization was commissioned by the French street theater group Royal de Luxe to bring The Sultan’s Elephant to the streets of London. Between 4 and 6 May 2006, a 40ft high, 242 tonne mechanical elephant was at the center of London’s biggest ever free theater event. It drew in people who were normally excluded from the arts.
Other marginalized groups interested Sarah. She was active on the board of Stonewall, the charity dedicated to supporting LGBTQ people around the world. She served on the board of the Alzheimer’s Association and was made Honorary Vice President last April. She was appointed OBE in 2011; she was awarded the CBI First Woman award in 2013; became a fellow of Birkbeck in 2013; and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of the Arts, London in 2019.
She was known for her lively, mischievous spirit, her bold and bright jewellery, her love of gardening, and her keen eye for seeing something of beauty even in the most obscure surroundings.
In 2020, Sarah was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which led to a single lung transplant. In March last year, her body began to reject the transplanted lung.
For 30 years, Sarah shared her life in north London and Suffolk with historian Louise Hide; they registered a civil partnership in 2006 and married in 2023. She is survived by Louise and two sisters, Diana and Harriet.
• Sarah Weir, arts manager, born 9 October 1958; he died 19 December 2023
