Ken Robinson

Sir Ken Robinson (4 March 1950 – 21 August 2020) was a British author, speaker, and international advisor on education in the arts to government, non-profits, education, and arts bodies. He was director of the Arts in Schools Project (1985–1989), and Professor of Arts Education at the University of Warwick (1989–2001), and Professor Emeritus after leaving the university. In 2003, he was knighted for services to the arts.

Originally from a working-class Liverpool family, around September 2001 Robinson moved to Los Angeles with his wife and children to serve as Senior Advisor to the president of the J. Paul Getty Trust. Born in Liverpool, to James and Ethel Robinson, he was one of seven children from a working-class background. One of his brothers, Neil, became a professional footballer for Everton, Swansea City, and Grimsby Town. 

After an industrial accident, his father became quadriplegic. Robinson contracted polio at age four and spent 8 months in the hospital. He attended Margaret Beavan Special School due to the physical effects of polio, then Liverpool Collegiate School (1961–1963) and Wade Deacon Grammar School, Cheshire (1963–1968). 

He then studied English and drama (Bachelor of Education – BEd) at Bretton Hall College of Education (1968–1972). He completed a Ph.D. in 1981 at the University of London, researching drama and theatre in education. Learning Through Drama: Report of the Schools Council Drama Teaching (1977) was the result of a three-year national development project for the UK Schools Council. 

Robinson was the principal author of The Arts in Schools: Principles, Practice, and Provision (1982), now a key text on arts and education internationally. He edited The Arts and Higher Education (1984) and co-wrote The Arts in Further Education (1986), Arts Education in Europe, and Facing the Future: The Arts and Education in Hong Kong.

Robinson's 2001 book, Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative (Wiley-Capstone), was described by Director magazine as "a truly mind-opening analysis of why we don't get the best out of people at a time of punishing change." John Cleese said of it: "Ken Robinson writes brilliantly about the different ways in which creativity is undervalued and ignored in Western culture and especially in our educational systems."

The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, was published in January 2009 by Penguin. "The element" refers to the experience of personal talent meeting personal passion. He argues that in this encounter, we feel most ourselves, most inspired, and achieve to our highest level. The book draws on the stories of creative artists such as Paul McCartney, The Simpsons creator Matt Groening, Meg Ryan, and physicist Richard Feynman to investigate this paradigm of success.