‘The creative arts change things’: Welcome to our new Vice President, Dr Rowan Williams

Dr Rowan Williams, The Rt Rev'd and Rt Hon The Lord Williams of Oystermouth, and long-term supporter of the College, joins RWCMD as a Vice President.

Dr Rowan Williams, Vice President RWCMD

'We’re delighted that Dr Rowan Williams, The Rt Rev'd and Rt Hon The Lord Williams of Oystermouth is joining us a Vice President,' said Principal Helena Gaunt.

'He is a long-term supporter of the College, attending events and speaking at our graduation ceremony. His passion for nurturing creative talent, and commitment to diversity and inclusivity, as well as his strong connection, as a Welsh speaker, to Welsh identity and culture, align with the College’s own commitment to these values.'

Dr William's message to our students and graduates:

‘The creative arts do change things, as you are constantly reminded, through your time in this wonderful institution.

They change the frontiers of our world, they change the levels of our openness to one another’s experience, they change the energy of our engagement with a world that desperately needs transformation.

You will be agents of change. You will be the ones opening up a line of understanding to the experience of others.

You'll be the ones surprising society with possibilities that haven’t been thought of. You'll be the ones generating new energy for transformation, for acceptance and reconciliation and positive engagement with one another in this divided society.

You will be the ones.’
Dr Rowan WilliamsRWCMD Vice President

Dr Rowan Williams speaks to graduating students at the RWCMD graduation ceremony

He joins fellow Vice Presidents which include CEO of Race Council Cymru Uzo Iwobi, Fellows Michael Sheen and Sir Bryn Terfel, and Fellow and graduate Sir Anthony Hopkins.

Dr Williams is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet, who served as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 – 2012. Previously the Bishop of Monmouth and Archbishop of Wales, he was the first Archbishop of Canterbury in modern times not to be appointed from within the Church of England.

His poetry includes commissions for the 60th anniversary of the Aberfan disaster, and a collaboration with poet Michael Symmons Roberts, artist Sophie Hacker and RWCMD piano tutor Cordelia Williams on the year-long series of events and performances exploring music, context and theology of Messiaen’s 'Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus'.