Scott Burnham
Scott Burnham’s work in design, contemporary culture and creative catalysts has appeared in numerous cities throughout Europe, North America and China.
He is the former Creative Director for the Urbis Centre for Urban Culture in Manchester, UK, where he directed “Ill Communication”, one of Europe’s largest biennials of street art; ‘SuperCity’, a multi-disciplinary collaboration with architect Will Alsop to completely re-think the future of the urban environment, and Urban Oasis with Berlin’s Office for Subversive Architecture. Among a long list of work before Urbis, he was one of the original members of Jude Kelly’s METAL organisation in London where he directed the innovative Mulberry Design project.
His lectures include a keynote address on cultural leadership to the Transforma organisation in Portugal, an open forum on the future of public space in Linz, Austria, and talks at London Architecture Week and numerous international design events and universities. He has addressed the International Conference on European Policy, Amsterdam, on innovative creative catalysts, the CulturMed Conference, Catania, Italy, and the city of Amsterdam’s ‘Space for the Creative Economy’ symposium.
Burnham’s work and commentary has been featured on BBC television, The Today Programme, BBC Radio 4, BBC World Service, Sky News, Spain TV1, Design Week, Grafik, The Guardian, Icon magazine, and The BBC Culture Show.
In 2005 Burnham was named as one of Prospect Magazine’s “Power 100” – 100 of the most influential people in the UK, and The Guardian (UK) credited his work at Urbis as transforming the institution into “an intellectual powerhouse that explores modern urban environments with creative flair.”
In 2007 Burnham was appointed Creative Director of the 2009 Biennale de Montréal. He maintains a series of international projects with Droog Design and Premsela Foundation, Amsterdam, among others and various writing and lecturing appearances.
