On Chris Wright
Executive Director, 2021–2026
Chris Wright is exactly what every creative organisation needs in an executive director – and rarely finds. His values, integrity, seriousness of purpose and genuine consideration for others were evident in everything he did – and the quality of his outputs matched.
Chris joined FutureEverything in March 2020 as Producer, bringing over 25 years of experience as a creative producer and director at organisations including the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester International Festival and Absolutely Cultured, spanning theatre, site-specific work, festivals and large-scale installations. He became Executive Director in November 2021, and from that point was a senior leader and co-director of the organisation – first working alongside Creative Director Irini Papadimitriou, then Lucy Sollitt. In that role he produced or executive produced every FutureEverything project between 2020 and 2026 – over 30 exhibitions, commissions, artist development programmes, international partnerships and cross-sector collaborations.
Innovation Labs is one example of a programme Chris led with full creative and strategic latitude, shaping this iteration into one of FutureEverything's most distinctive and durable service offers. Rachel Kenyon, Business Engagement Manager at the University of Manchester, credited his facilitation as what made the difference: someone whose credibility meant academics and industry partners alike engaged with genuine investment. "The labs foster a sense of shared purpose and collaboration that is palpable and invigorating." He also played a central leadership role in the major international partnerships with the Onassis Foundation – You and AI and Plasmata – ambitious initiatives that together reached over half a million people – and shepherded the British Council programmes in Jordan and India with the same steady hand.
Through the organisation's final chapter, Chris held FutureEverything together through a period of enormous pressure and uncertainty, with the same calm, the same values, and the same quality of output he had brought from day one. He is one of the most impressive people I have worked with across my career. I am deeply grateful to him.
Chris is now seeking his next significant leadership role. He leaves as a cultural leader of rare range – at ease in governance and creative development, international partnership and local community engagement alike – with a particular interest in building on the international dimension of his recent work, and in reconnecting with his theatre and live performance roots. Whoever has the good fortune to work with him next will be very lucky indeed.
Drew Hemment, Founder, FutureEverything