Described as 'the doyenne of the international theatre consulting world, creating wonderful pioneering performance spaces,' by Gwyn Miles, ex-director of Somerset House Trust and ex-head of projects of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Anne has spent 30 years combining science with art to produce spaces that look and sound beautiful and inspire further creativity.
Bestowed at the London Marriott Hotel in Grosvenor Square in June, the First Women Awards were created by the CBI and Real Business to increase diversity in the workplace. The broad canvas and international reach of Anne's firm AMPC (Anne Minors Performance Consultants) was reflected in support from top theatre practitioners who create their work within her buildings, from building owners and clients, award-winning architect collaborators as well as journalists, academicians and religious leaders.
The judges cited: "Anne operates her business with an obvious passion and will leave a legacy that whole communities will enjoy long into the future . . . A true inspiration and a brilliant collaborator, Anne has taken opportunities - no matter how scary they may have seemed at the time - and used them to further women in the industry."
In her acceptance speech, Anne stated that it was following her passions and volunteering that had opened up many of the opportunities she found in life. Her education and her intuition had helped her to work in many new and different circumstances abroad. "If I would offer any advice it would be to say, take risks, but with integrity," she said. "Do things that others would not do. Find your own place and purpose in the forest. I have felt at my free-est and learnt the most about the human spirit in places like Kazakhstan and Hong Kong in the 1980s, because in a different culture, I have had to look for the common denominator and the human connection."
(Jim Evans)
