Les Johnson

I am a visiting research fellow in the Faculty of Arts, Design and Media at Birmingham City University. I was awarded my PhD for research into cultural visualisation, entrepreneurship and innovation. I am an alumnus of the Royal College of Art and was CEO of multi-award winning design, media, marketing and management consultancy firm Equator International. I have worked for the BBC, Channel 4, Carlton Television,The Arts Council, the Tate, the South Bank Centre, the Design Museum, IBM, BPI, Clydesdale Bank, Virgin and Sony among many other cultural development organisations including local, regional and central government.

I have served on a range of boards, and have been a non-executive director and consultant for public and private sector organisations at local, regional and national levels in the UK. I also work internationally as counsel, lecturer and a consultant in business development and culture sectors.

My academic interests, cultural studies, entrepreneurship and philanthropy are channeled through my foundation where I support a range of projects, research and enterprise.

I am the founder and chair of the National Windrush Museum, set up to research, document, exhibit, and preserve the legacy of the Windrush generation and their successors.

Born in Jamaica, I am part of the second wave of Windrush migrants to Britain in the 1960s. My design pedagogy experience has been applied to learning and teaching in a variety of education institutions. My expertise in practice-based and practice-led research have been combined to innovate a practice-driven methodology.

I initiated reggae music archive research at BCU, and co-produced my reggae and sound system Innovation research to implement my doctoral analysis. I aslo established a partnership to develop a MOU between BCU and the University of West Indies, Institute of Caribbean Studies.

I have been co-convenor of major international conferences such as: Reggae Innovation and Sound System Culture at Birmingham City University, Royal Birmingham Music Conservatoire, and University of West Indies. I initiated, then co-produced a successful funding bid with colleagues for international exchanges between BCU and the UWI and have delivered the prestigious Bob Marley Lecture at UWI. My research innovation led to the development of a new genre reggae futurism and new knowledge resulting from study. The research will culminate in the establishment of a reggae music archive. My research model is being used to establish other Black popular culture/music innovation projects. These include symposiums, new media, exhibitions, music and publications conceptualised in my doctoral research.

I also serve as co-chair of an international advisory group for the Jamaican Museum and Cultural Centre (Atlanta). I am working on a series of projects to study tangible and intangible Jamaican cultural heritage. This innovation research aims to promote cultural heritage tourism, and a major international Jamaica festival inspired by the Jamaica 60 celebration of Jamaican independence,

I am a member of the Royal Society of Arts and a practising visual artist, musician and community development activist. I spend my time between research and consultancy bases in the UK and Jamaica, West Indies.