We are delighted to announce that Dame Jenny Abramsky DBE has been appointed Patron of the Appeal. Dame Jenny has been Chair of the Royal Academy of Music since September 2014 and is also Chair of the Board of Governors of the Royal Ballet. From 2008 to 2014 she was Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund/National Heritage Memorial Fund, as well as Chair of the University of London, Board of Trustees.

Previously she was for ten years the BBC’s Director of Radio and of Music. Before that, as Director of Continuous News, she ran all the BBC’s 24 hour news services on TV, Radio and Online. At the BBC she created and launched more new services than any previous BBC executive, including Radio Five Live, BBC News Online and BBC News 24.

She is a Trustee of the Shakespeare Schools Festival and sits on the Board of Birmingham Royal Ballet. Previously she was Chair of Hampstead Theatre, a Governor of the British Film Institute, a trustee of Central School of Ballet and sat on the Economic and Social Research Council. Jenny was awarded a CBE in 2001 and made DBE in 2009.

Jenny will serve as Patron alongside eminent historian, Simon Sebag-Montefiore.