Press Releases

Andrew Barnett

Andrew Barnett has been Director of the UK Branch of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation since September 2007. He is also a board member of Yorkshire Metropolitan Housing and a Trustee of Addaction, the UK’s largest drug and alcohol misuse charity.

Barnett (39) joined the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation where he held the post of Director of Policy Development and Communications. Prior to this, he was Director of Communications at the UK Sports Council and Head of Public Affairs at the National Consumer Council. He previously held posts at HSBC Holdings, the Arts Council of England, and the Foyer Federation for Youth, as well as working for the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Homelessness and Housing Need. He has served, in a voluntary capacity, as Chair of the Trustees of SPACE Studios, a London-based arts property charity, and as a Director and Trustee of St Christopher's Fellowship, a housing association providing care and support to disadvantaged young people.

Born in New South Wales, Australia, Barnett was educated at King’s School, Bruton in Somerset, and St Andrews University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an enthusiast for contemporary abstract and Aboriginal art.