Tributes to Ken Robinson - A man with a conviction that no child and no adult should ever be left behind

No stranger to the North West, Liverpool native Sir Ken was a major figure in the global cultural scene and took a keen interest in Derry particularly in and around the time of the City of Culture designation in 2013.

Sir Ken’s TedTalk ‘Do schools kill creativity?’ has been viewed around 66 million views. An accomplished teacher, author and government adviser, he continually advocated for radical reform to education and the need to nurture creativity and celebrate individual talent and ability over traditional academic means of testing and measuring success.

Here are some of the tributes and recollections of those who knew and worked with him in the north west.

MARIE LINDSAY, former Principal of St Mary’s College Derry and former Chair Foyle Learning Community:

I was very lucky to hear Sir Ken Robinson speak in Derry on a number of occasions. He was a breath of fresh air and very funny to boot.

Sir Ken helped me understand why our education system fails so many of our young people by explaining that our entire education system is built around high stakes examinations that sort and rank students for entry to university. He talked about the emphasis on academic success and the way in which pupils’ performances in literacy and numeracy tests are used to judge them and their school. He believed we need to transform education to make it fit for purpose in the 21st century built on the belief that all children are talented. Schools and classrooms, he said, should unlock creativity and nourish the individual talents of every child.

This was an epiphany moment for me and it had a huge influence on my work at St Mary’s College. I was so sorry to hear of his death as I feel we have still work to do re the importance of creativity in the classroom.

It was a great privilege to hear him and to learn so much from him. I offer my sincere condolences to his family and friends and I am forever grateful to Aideen McGinley and all who were influential in bringing him to Derry.

PAULINE ROSS, founder of The Playhouse, Derry:

One of the highlights over 30 years in my role as Founder and Artistic Director of The Derry Playhouse was meeting in person the man whose vision, wisdom and words inspired and energised me in my work and life-long commitment to Arts Education.

While speaking at a conference in CalArts, Los Angeles a many years ago, speaking to an international gathering of academics and students about The Derry Playhouse’s Theatre and Peace Building work in NI, I visited The Getty Museum in the hope I could meet my hero. Unfortunately, having travelled 3,000 miles with the hope of meeting Sir Ken, he was in Europe. Little did I know then that during our magnificent City of Culture year I’d get to meet him on home turf at Lisneal College and hear him speak. Such a sad loss to all of us who know and understand more deeply the importance of our work in Arts Education through the vision, leadership and guidance of Sir Ken Robinson who was our Guru. May he Rest in Peace.

MARTIN MELARKEY, Nerve Centre, Derry

Ken Robinson was a stalwart supporter of the Nerve Centre and of our model for promoting the creative use of digital technologies in the classroom - the Creative Learning Centre. It was with great sadness that we learned of his sudden death at the weekend.

Thanks to Ken’s pioneering work on the new NI government’s Unlocking Creativity strategy, the Nerve Centre and our sectoral representative body NI Screen were able to establish Creative Learning Centres in Derry and Belfast in 2003 which have upskilled thousands of teachers in moving image, animation music, coding and other digital literacies over the past 17 years.

When this work was put under imminent threat in 2014 by potentially devastating funding cuts as part of austerity measures, Ken Robinson came to our rescue, publishing a heartfelt plea in the Belfast Telegraph not to cut off the lifeline for school pupils to find pathways into the creative industries. I last enjoyed his company in April 2015 at the World Creativity Conference in Oklahoma City where he was the keynote speaker. His unabashed enthusiasm for breaking down the institutional constraints that stymie the imagination, his championing of the creative maverick and his wicked sense of humour set the tone for the entire conference. He was very proud of his work in Northern Ireland and drew special attention to it in his conference address. His wonderful legacy endures today and we are privileged to be part of it.

PADRAIG CANAVAN, Chairperson, Derry City and Strabane Learning City

As chair of Derry Learning City I would like to acknowledge Sir Ken Robinson on his work and passion in Education on a Global platform and to Northern Ireland Unlocking Creativity Agenda supporting Creativity in Education and Digital Literacy and specifically his committment and support to Derry & Strabane Region. as an Educational Champion to Derry ~ Londonderry City of Culture 2013 and wider Education Community across schools College and University.

He challenged the school systems in order to make Education accessable and fair for all students and championed the importance of making creativity and digital literacy a core part of the School Curriculum. He believed in the potential of this City, Region & its people.

His passion and wisdom will be sorely missed.

JENNIFER NEFF, co- founder and co- ceo Elemental Software Derry

Ken’s visit to Derry in 2012 left an everlasting impression on me. He talked about when you find your passion that anything is possible, you are in your element.

Soon after that I met Leeann Monk and we decided that we wanted to help people to find their passion so we set up Elemental Software to better connect people into their communities. Since then, we have helped connect over 51,000 people to walking clubs, Men’s Sheds, gardening clubs, singing groups and art classes. In helping people find their passions, we found ours. Thanks Ken for being the catalyst that got us started.

BRIAN TIERNEY, Mayor of Derry City & Strabane District Council:

I was very saddened to hear of Sir Ken’s passing. He was an expert in his field of creative education and visited Derry many times to share his thoughts, ideas and learning on the creative classrooms approach – and that kindness then benefitted our young people throughout the Council area.

Sir Ken was also a passionate supporter of our successful bid for the City of Culture and his role will always be a part of the story of that fantastic year for Derry in 2013.

Sir Ken was a true visionary and will be missed by so many, but I extend my condolences in particular to his family and friends. I hope that they can find comfort in the great work that he did and in the legacy that he has left behind fo others to carry on.​

DR AIDEEN MCGINLEY, Former Permanent Secretary for Department of Culture Arts & Leisure NI and Former CEO Ilex URC, Derry:

Ken Robinson was a true visionary with the ability to cut through complexity and get to the root of things and make it all so comprehensible , achievable and most important of all desirable.

I first had the opportunity to meet Ken back in 1999 on taking up my position as Permanent Secretary of the newly formed Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure. On facing a blank sheet, Noelle McAlinden, pioneer that she is, kindly gave me a copy, from the boot of her car, of ‘All our Futures’. I was hooked.

It is one of the few government reports that inspires and resonates to this day, and I decided to track Ken down at Warwick Business School. I rang him and asked him for help and he said ‘What do you want me to do?’ To my reply, ‘I don’t know...’ he replied ‘Yes, of course’. Thereafter he admitted he was used to being asked such questions by Northern Ireland women as his beloved wife Terry was from Newry!

His personal guidance and leadership has left an indelible mark on NI in programmes, policy and most especially practice. Many of the activists in culture, arts and education and the many young people to whom he reached out to, and who had the privilege of working with and listening to Ken, have literally lived their lives, built their businesses and shaped their children’s lives according to his teachings.

I remember him in the very early days of Stormont going in on his own to a room of full of ministers from across all parties and coming out having achieved the first ever integrated development strategy across four government departments - ‘Unlocking creativity’. This proved to be a golden age for the arts, culture, education and the economy in NI and underpinned our precious peace with hope, respect and optimism.

I had the privilege of working with him over that last 20 years in NI and beyond where he stretched my horizons, especially on the best practice in the USA and Europe from Oklahoma to Finland.

One of my favourite quotes of his many was that “creativity was connecting things not previously connected”. He was the master of bringing people together, of inspiring everyone he met from parents to teachers, actors to producers ,businessmen to environmentalists and ministers to monarchs . He worked with governments all over the world - a world where he had a apostolic passion for delivering his vital message with the mischievous humour and twinkle in his eye - that was when he was truly in his element.

I thank my dear friend Ken for giving me the courage to do things differently, for being there in the best of times such as celebrating and inspiring the bid process for City of Culture 2013 in Legenderry, and worst of times as we went in and out of devolution.

Especially I thank him for helping me and countless others to understand that finding your passion really does change everything.

NOELLE MCALINDEN, former Advisory Officer, Western Board & former Creative Adviser City of Culture 2013:

I was privileged to have first met Ken Robinson in 1999 while I was Arts Adviser for WELB attending a Conference at Stramillis College facilitated by Hamish Fyffe. I wasn’t the only member of the audience of arts educators, creatives, artists and arts organisations who were literally blown away by not just the content but his delivery of his presentation, ‘All Our Futures’ .... we all were.

All our Futures was not just the proposal to reform education but transform it. The importance of an education system that unlocked the potential of both students and teachers, promoting creativity at the heart of the curriculum, collaborative ways of learning and teaching and the recognition schools could not exist in isolation but rather in partnership with a range of agencies, a report I shared with Dr Aideen McGinley who had been recently appointed Perm Sec for Dep. of Culture Arts and Leisure.

Aideen saw the significant potential of his previous work with governments and invited Ken to support NI Strategy, beginning with a dedicated Future Search Process facilitated by Sandra Janoff, Director of Future Search Network, an innovative strategic planning method introduced first to Fermanagh while Aideen was CEO Fermanagh District Council.

His commitment to work in NI with the government and to chair a Task Force across four Depts with DCAL leading the way, to develop a strategy for creative and economic development as part of the Peace Process, to unlock potential of people and region was visionary. I was fortunate to participate in both the Future Search process and the working parties on this strategy with fellow educators, artists, creatives, colleagues from across Arts, Education, Culture and Government departments. His pioneering work continues to inspire many of us since and has influenced significantly my personal and professional commitment to creativity in education, arts and culture and as an artist and arts activist.

Ken returned to NI at the request of Aideen again this time while CEO ILEX URC, leading Derry ~ Londonderry City of Culture in partnership with Derry City Council and Culture Company 2013. His overwhelming support as an Educational Ambassador has been ongoing for Derry ~Londonderry City of Culture beyond 2013. The ongoing promotion of Digital Literacy and Three Creative Learning Centres in Derry, Armagh and Belfast, initiated by The Nerve Centre and ELBs has continued to thrive as well as ongoing partnerships with Pushkin Trust and connections fostered between NI and Creative Oklahoma through Susan Shaw McCalmont.

He will be sorely missed by all of us but his legacy is as relevant today as it was then. A privilege to have known him, worked alongside him. We are all indebted to Aideen for her vision and to Ken Robinson for his influence, commitment, friendship and passion.

At a time when Derry has acquired The Learning City status along with Belfast and ongoing support for expanding College and University spaces, perhaps this is the time to revisit the successes and insights from The Unlocking Creativity NI Strategy and reimagine our educational and cultural landscape during a time of chaos and uncertainty... where no child or no adult is left behind... where finding their passion and unlocking their full potential moves from vision to a reality.

SHONA MCCARTHY, Chief Executive Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society and former CEO 2013 Culture Company:

It is hard to overstate the importance of Ken Robinson’s pioneering thinking on the people whose lives he touched across the world and nowhere more so than in Northern Ireland.

From his intelligent and passionate call for the reform of our outdated education system, to his belief in the need to nourish the innate creativity of every human, I feel privileged to have learned from him and to be part of a creative community who grew from his brilliant call to action.

I thank Aideen McGinley for bringing him into our lives. He had a profound effect on me at an early stage of my career and his teachings have influenced everything I’ve done, from my approach to work, to how I’ve raised my children. I am forever indebted.

SHIELA MCCAUL MBE, Chair of Pushkin Trust and Former CEO WELB:

In the early nineties I was a Senior Adviser in the Western Education Board in Northern Ireland and saw advertised a Conference in the North of England , sponsored by the local LEA , with the intriguing title ”Education is stifling Creativity”. The speaker was Ken Robinson.

I had not heard of Ken Robinson at that time, but I talked to our Chief Executive whom I knew was open to new thinking and we both set off to join colleagues from LEAs all over the UK.

Neither of us were prepared for the dynamic presence of Ken Robinson or the impact of his talk on the audience that evening. The power of his presentation lighted sparks throughout the Conference Hall that continue to burn in creative spirits everywhere.

His presentation was laced with humour throughout, but his message was deadly serious -Education can stifle Creativity. He strongly believed in the internal creativity of the human person and provided ideas as to how to foster, develop and release it.

Back in Northern Ireland , her Grace, the Duchess of Abercorn who had founded the Pushkin Trust in memory of her ancestor, Alexander Pushkin , with the intention of releasing the creativity in children of Ireland, North and South, embraced the teaching of Sir Ken for they were kindred spirits. He generously advised the Trust on how the arts and creativity can foster cross-community collaboration and understanding, impacting on hearts and minds.

His visits to Northern Ireland and the Barons Court Estate were eagerly awaited and created many “disciples.”

The Pushkin Trust continues to hold dearly to the principles espoused by Sir Ken and Sacha Abercorn and the beauty and poignancy of work created in poetry, sculpture, music and dance continues as testament to the “fire within.”