About…

Post-Covid, it was looking like we might get a once in a lifetime chance to get the transition to the “new normal” right, but this is currently an ever-decreasing window of opportunity, given our under-performing politicians and the running conflict in Ukraine. I had hoped it was not going to be rocket science to get right – IF there was enough political will and direct action from those of us who CAN – but looks like the whole thing will have to be postponed. Hey-ho.

Colin Hicks

  • is an inveterate internationalist, but a butterfly all the same. He has enjoyed an amazing career of differences – which means he receives invitations to get involved in a wide variety of essential and contemporary fields of interest. He lives in the UK and has a decent network of contacts across Western Europe and North America.
  • Currently, he is a writer (for himself), an amateur genealogist and musician, writing several memoirs and researching the lost lives of people’s families, as well as trying to retrieve some of his linguistic and musical skills from former lives.

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Professionally, since 1990, Colin has had the privilege to be involved in new market opportunities in retail, artist mobility, landscape architecture and garden design, community engagement, international cultural relations, socially sustainable festivals, publishing, television, dramaturgy, world music, cultural giving and philanthropy, women in technology, visual arts, the migrant voice, the absent voice, digital opportunity, tangible IPRs, cultural tourism, and cross-cultural production.

In recent years he has found himself involved in many things:

  • providing servant leadership or cultural brokerage; guidance on international cultural relations; assistance to senior staff and board chairs in the not-for-profit sector the better to unlock their best ideas – all through conference facilitation, teaching or workshop sessions
  • but also saving the high street, using the heritage dividend, greening spaces with guerrilla and community gardening, developing STEAM and digital solutions, seeking out sustainable travel options, celebrating cooking and food

Operating as:  

Cultural Broker – Across the entire 1990-2020 period Colin dealt primarily in personal and organisational development, leadership, creative enterprise, the benefits of joined-up government and responsible not-for-profit governance. 

Thought Leader – Starting around 2005 he began providing focussed conversation, aggregated ideas, global networking and good governance to cultural workers and their organisations, including others from related sectors.

Expert Facilitator – Since 2010 he has been in demand as a truly disinterested listener (which does not mean that he is UNinterested!), because he’s had his career, built his reputation and created a network. So your ideas will be safe with him. Many people look on him like a favourite relative to whom you can reveal the things you can’t really tell your mum.

Extreme Volunteer – At the end of 2019, Colin emerged from a 6-year period of close involvement in the SME (small business) world and local community politics, dealing convincingly with issues of representation, transparency, communication, leadership and vision in that interesting interface between the private and public sectors in a small rural town (29,000 souls).

Public Speaker – Colin has also been used a lot for lecturing, public speaking, facilitation, workshops and for his expertise as coach, mentor and (increasingly in those difficult times) as a mediator.

Teacher – His teaching work in the university sector covered topics as various as business awareness, cultural diplomacy and critical thinking in the workplace.

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One thought on “About…

  1. Hello, Colin
    Iris just told me you are over in Westgate
    Must catch up some time.
    All best
    alan

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