05/08/2013 - Industry veteran brings wealth of experience to the position

The British Film Institute (BFI) has appointed Dr Paul Gerhardt as Director of Education. He will be responsible for strategy, advocacy and helping position the BFI as a major cultural force for film education across the UK and internationally and his role will include fostering new educational strategic partnerships, including Higher Education, and working closely with the BFI research and curatorial programmes. Gerhardt will join on September 2 and will report to the BFI’s Deputy CEO Tim Cagney.

Gerhardt, who currently runs the independent consultancy Archives for Creativity, has a wealth of experience across the education, broadcasting, film and archive sectors.  Previous roles include Controller of Adult Learning at the BBC and Project Director of the BAFTA winning Creative Archive Project and Head of Commissioning at the BBC / Open University.

Cagney said, “Paul couldn’t have joined the BFI at a more dynamic and transformative time for film education – at the BFI and across the UK. With education firmly at the heart of the BFI’s future strategy I am confident that Paul will help drive forward opportunities to achieve our big ambitions in this area.”

Gerhardt said, “I can't think of anything more exciting than working with all the talented people and world class collections at the BFI to put film, film archive and moving image at the heart of what we learn, how we learn and how we share our culture.”