Gyles’ role

As Director of Education for the College of Arts, Gyles leads the continual improvement of the learning, teaching and student experience, and then looks for more ways to make them even better! The College is made up of six very different schools: Fine & Performing Arts; History & Heritage; Film & Media; Design; Architecture & the Built Environment; and English & Journalism. The wide range of subjects and disciplines mean that there are always plenty of opportunities for cross disciplinary, creative collaboration. Recently, Gyles has led the development of Creative Showcase (https://creativeshowcase.lincoln.ac.uk) – a portfolio site for all University of Lincoln students to show-off their incredible talent and work.

He also leads the Lincoln Festival of Creativity that is supported by C4CC. The Festival is the annual showcase of the latest talent at the University of Lincoln where everyone can debate, celebrate and champion the value and importance of creativity to businesses, society and our culture in the 21^st Century. The Festival has rapidly developed into a much-anticipated feature of the region’s arts calendar, featuring speakers including Robert Webb and Sir John Hegarty. Checkout the website (www.lincolnfestivalofcreativity.co.uk) for all details of the end of year shows / performances / exhibitions, special events, talks and opportunities to get involved. Prepare to be amazed and inspired!

A bit of background

After graduating from the Birmingham Institute of Art & Design, Gyles worked in central London for a wide range of advertising and design companies. His work has been featured in the national design press and has won a number of awards including D&AD, the British Interactive Media Association (BIMA) and the US Creativity Awards. He teaches on the highly regarded BA (Hons) Creative Advertising course that he originally created in 2004 where students are regularly successful in national/international advertising competitions and securing impressive jobs in the creative marketing and communications sector.

He has a distinction in MA Design and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He is a judge for the international Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year competition and he regularly undertakes advisory roles in the area of practice-based arts higher education. He also speaks at business events and runs workshops on the subjects of creativity, idea generation and copywriting. His book ‘Read Me – 10 Lessons for Writing Great Copy’ (in collaboration with Roger Horberry) was published by Laurence King in September 2014 (see www.readmewriting.com).

And finally…

In between doing all the above, he spends his time gardening and running a Grassroots football team. Both activities require creativity + outdoors + patience.