Sarah Weir, who has died at the age of 65, from complications following a lung transplant, believed that art and design were central to forging a more vibrant and better-connected nation, as well as enriching people’s lives. In the lead-up to the 2012 London Olympics, as head of arts and cultural strategy at the Olympic Delivery Authority, Sarah oversaw the integration of art into the Olympic Park in east London, alongside advising on design, engineering and landscaping.
Determined to ensure that the arts were fully represented, despite not having been included in the original bid, Sarah set out to persuade the numerous stakeholders to relinquish some of their funds in support of her artistic vision. Her work culminated in over 40 artistic commissions, including Monica Bonvicini’s sculpture RUN for the Olympic Park and poetry from writers including Carol Ann Duffy, Jo Shapcott, John Burnside, Caroline Bird and Lemn Sissay that was inscribed around the park. In 2011 Sarah founded the Legacy List (now the Foundation for Future London), a charity that encourages creative connections between people and the Olympic Park, with a focus on arts and culture, education and skills.
In 2017, Sarah was appointed CEO for the Design Council. Rather than simply a cosmetic enterprise tied to commercialism, packaging and elitism, Sarah argued that design is “an essential discipline that allows us to create places, products and services to improve life for everyone”. She was struck by the lack of diversity within the design and technology industries, and helped develop mentoring schemes, and encourage ideas such as Lauren Currie’s Upfront programme, which invites young women on to public platforms. As Sarah said: “Those who have the experience of sitting in front of an audience are 30% more likely to put themselves forward in the future.” She propagated the message that “to make an impact, we have to be present”.
Born in Edinburgh, Sarah was the daughter of Marion (nee Miller) and David Weir, an egg-trader, and while she was a child the family moved south. After her parents divorced, she was raised in Kent and Sussex by her mother and stepfather, Stephen Cox, a Lloyd’s underwriter.
Leaving St Agnes and St Michael convent school, East Grinstead, at the age of 16, Sarah worked in a series of uninspiring jobs until she applied to be a gofer for Aldgate Group insurance brokers in London, where she rose to be the first female non-marine managing director in a Lloyd’s broking firm.
Still only 31, and realising that she needed new challenges, Sarah enrolled in the history of art programme at Birkbeck, University of London. For the next few years, she juggled her work in the City with part-time university study in the evening, and a dissertation on the pioneer 19th-century photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.
On graduating, she exchanged her career in the City for one in arts management. Her passion for collecting art caught the attention of the Purdy Hicks Gallery, who in 1994 engaged her to lead their move from premises in the West End to Bankside. This was followed by a couple of years at Arts and Business, an organisation that matched business sponsorship with arts projects.
In 1997, she was appointed head of development at the Royal Academy of Arts. Sarah raised unprecedented sponsorship from Ernst & Young for the blockbuster 1999 exhibition Monet in the Twentieth Century. It included 14 of Claude Monet’s Thames paintings, eight Venice ones, and 23 waterlily paintings, which had never before been exhibited together.
After a stint as joint CEO at the Almeida theatre, in 2003 Sarah was appointed an executive director of Arts Council England, overseeing delivery of all public funding of arts in London. For Sarah, a highlight was the Artichoke organisation commissioning the French street-theatre group Royal de Luxe to bring The Sultan’s Elephant to London streets. Between 4 and 6 May 2006, a 40ft-tall, 242-tonne mechanical elephant was at the heart of the largest free street-theatre event that had ever taken place in London. It drew in people who were usually excluded from the arts.
Other marginalised groups engaged Sarah’s interest. She was active on the board of Stonewall, the charity devoted to supporting LGBTQ people worldwide. She served on the board of the Alzheimer’s Society and last April was made its honorary vice-president. She was appointed OBE in 2011; awarded a CBI First Woman award in 2013; made a fellow of Birkbeck in 2013; and awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of the Arts, London in 2019.
She was renowned for her lively sense of mischief, her bold and bright jewellery, a love of gardening, and a keen eye for spotting something of beauty even in the most unpromising of environments.
In 2020, Sarah was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which resulted in her undergoing a single lung transplant. In March last year, her body started rejecting the transplanted lung.
For 30 years, Sarah shared her life in north London and Suffolk with the historian Louise Hide; they registered a civil partnership in 2006 and were married in 2023. She is survived by Louise, and by two sisters, Diana and Harriet.
• Sarah Weir, arts manager, born 9 October 1958; died 19 December 2023
• This article was amended on 18 January 2024 to specify that Sarah Weir headed Arts Council England provision for London.
