Helen Pheby

Helen Pheby is Head of Culture, Heritage and Sport with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.^[1] She was formerly Associate Director, Programme, at Yorkshire Sculpture Park.^[2] Dr Pheby was Vice Chair of the Civic art gallery and theatre in Barnsley;^[3] the Chair of UP Projects, London (2019–22);^[4] curatorial advisor to ArtRole in Iraqi Kurdistan and NIROX in South Africa. She is also a Cultural Fellow of York St John University and was an advisor to the Arts Council Collection Acquisition Committee (2016–17).^[5] Dr Pheby is regularly invited to undertake international lectures and tours including Sculpture Dublin (2020); Park 3020, Ukraine (2019); the Contemporary Austin, USA (2017)^[6] and as the guest of Creative India (2013).^[7] Helen has collaborated with Selfridges since 2018 to curate the Duke Street entrance to their flagship London store.^[8]

Helen Pheby
Occupation	Curator
Nationality	British

Career

Pheby's PhD thesis considered the social and economic benefits of access to culture and the barriers to that access.^[9][10]

Pheby has worked with international partners to co-curate several offsite projects including the Kyiv Sculpture Project (2012).^[11][12] In 2016 she curated 'A Place in Time' at the NIROX sculpture foundation in the UNESCO Cradle of Humankind, South Africa.^{[citation needed]}

Pheby's 2016 exhibition 'Beyond Boundaries: Art by Email' in collaboration with ArtRole in Kurdistan-Iraq gave a platform to artists in the Middle East and North Africa whose political and other circumstances made it very difficult for them to travel to the UK.^[13][14]