Alistair Hardaker | Image: Ben Terrett in 2018
Former GOV.UK design director to lead art education charity as it reaches one million artworks and celebrates 10th anniversary.
Art UK has appointed Ben Terrett CBE as its new Chair, the charity announced today.
Terrett is the CEO and Co-Founder of Public Digital. He was director of design at the Government Digital Service where he led the design team that launched GOV.UK. He was awarded a CBE in 2025 for services to design, and won the Design Museum’s Design of the Year for GOV.UK in 2013.
Art UK is an art education charity and online platform for public art collections in the UK.
The appointment comes as Art UK marks the tenth anniversary of the launch of its platform at the Palace of Westminster in 2016. The charity said it is currently nearing one million artworks on its platforam.
It is now planning a platform upgrade and continuing to roll out its visual literacy programme, The Superpower of Looking, to UK primary schools.
The newly appointed chair said: “I’m honoured to take on the role of chair and look forward to working with the Board and team to help the charity grow its impact, reach new audiences and continue opening up the UK’s public art collections to everyone.
Andrew Ellis, the Deborah Loeb Brice director and chief executive of Art UK said: “I could not be more excited aboutBen taking on the role of Art UK Chair. His deep understanding of the importance of good digital design and the way in which digital can help deliver great public benefit will be of enormous value to our charity as we focus on meeting the needs of our global audience and approaching 3,500 UK collections. I very much look forward to working with him.”
Terrett will assume the role at the next Art UK Board meeting in late March 2026.
