Rob Dickins - Appointments in The Arts

Appointments in The Arts

In July 2000, Dickins was appointed as a trustee of the Victoria and Albert Museum, where he also is a director of V&A Enterprises, the commercial arm of the museum. Dickins was re-appointed as a Trustee of the V&A Museum in October 2004 for a further term of three years. He was a founding Trustee of Youth Music, a charitable foundation which helps provide access to music-making for young people, particularly in socially deprived areas. This foundation received a £1.3 million contribution from the BRIT Trust due to Dickins' personal major involvement in the fund-raising Abbamania project on TV and record. In July 2002 Dickins was appointed Chairman of the V&A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green.

Within the music industry Dickins has chaired the PR Committee and the Brit Awards Committee, where he was responsible for making the show one of the highlights of the British Record Industry's calendar. Dickins served on the BPI Council from 1983 to 2002, their longest-serving member.

He chaired the BPI Council from 1986 to 1988, dealing with the 1988 Copyright Act, as well as gaining rights for the industry, particularly within the music video world. It was during this period the Brit School of Performing Arts was initiated. He accepted the Chairmanship of the Council in 1997 and again in 1999, during a period of great challenges such as new delivery systems and piracy. Dickins agreed to a fourth period as Chairman of the BPI (2000–2002); he is the first person to hold the post four times. He is a trustee of the Brit Trust, the record industry's charitable organisation.

Dickins accompanied the then Secretary of State for DCMS, Chris Smith, on his 1999 fact-finding mission to China.

In 1999, Dickins was elected Chairman of the BPI Classical Committee. He simplified and made the classical charts more effective, and organised the inaugural Classical BRIT Awards TV show, which has now been broadcast for five years.

In 2004, he became a Trustee of the Watts Gallery in Surrey, an organisation dedicated to preserving the heritage of Victorian artist and social campaigner George Frederic Watts. He donated his collection of books, letters, and Victorian photographs to the Gallery, Two hundred of The Rob Dickins Collection of "Victorian Artists In Photographs" was exhibited at Watts Gallery, Guildhall Art Gallery in London, Mercer Art Gallery in Harrogate, and the Forbes Galleries in New York.

In October 2007 was appointed Consultant to the British Music Experience museum at The O2 (London).

In 2009 he became Chairman of The Theatres Trust, the National Advisory Public Body for Theatres.

In February 2012 was appointed Trustee of The Julia Margaret Cameron Trust at Dimbola, Isle of Wight

In October 2012 was appointed Trustee at the Handel House Museum in Brook Street, London