Annie Lucas

Annie has been immersed in the cultural and heritage sectors for nearly 20 years.

Following a period designing costumes for ballet and theatre, Annie graduated in 2008 with a Masters in Costume Design from the London College of Fashion.  During this time she won a bursary from the Costume Society of England for a research project which resulted in an interpretive laboratory performance exploring the S-bend corset of 1906. This project gave her access to many unique museum collections and was pivotal in a change of career focus.

In 2008 she was appointed Interpretation Manager at Rochester Cathedral following the successful HLF grant application for £937,000 towards a project entitled Ancient Stones, Untold Stories. The project was a multi-layered re-interpretation of the cathedral building and its history.  Having spent many years interpreting and communicating characters in performance, there are many parallels with heritage interpretation and her creativity ensured that this project dispelled some of the myths about cathedrals and their purpose, ensuring a new generation of audiences will be able to engage with and enjoy the space for years to come.  The project won a Medway Culture and Tourism Award in 2010.

In 2012 she returned to Rochester Cathedral to oversee the Exhibition and Interpretation plan for a second HLF bid for Hidden Treasures Fresh Expressions, a £3.5 million project encompassing a brand new permanent Treasury exhibition with the prestigious mediaeval manuscript Textus Roffensis (also known as the Annals of Rochester) at its heart.

In 2010, following a relocation to the West Country, Annie began her consultancy and since then has undertaken numerous audience development, interpretation and evaluation assignments and strategic plans for clients across the country.  She has an established track record for successful HLF bids, specifically regarding activity planning and interpretation.

Clients include Jurassica for whom she developed the concept for an interpretative sculpture trail on Portland, Tunbridge Wells Museum and Art Gallery, City of Westminster College, Medway Council, Sadler’s Wells, Cubert Church and the Cornwall Lord Lieutenancy, for whom she project managed and delivered a county-wide art competition for all young people to celebrate Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

For the Royal National Institute for Blind People Annie created and delivered a comprehensive evaluation strategy for an HLF funded heritage engagement project called Sensing Culture.  Five museum partners are working together to develop new technology and other programmes to improve access for blind and partially sighted audiences and the evaluation will lead to a number of legacy outputs including vital tools to aid other heritage sites in improving their own access to collections.

Annie sits on the Board of the South West Federation of Museums and Art Galleries.

Testimonial