Celebrating the arts, enriching lives, and engaging communities - 2026 highlights
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In memory of Pamela Howard OBE
It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of our friend, the artist and theatre designer Pamela Howard.
It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of our friend, the artist and theatre designer Pamela Howard.
As a long-term supporter of the College and its International Chair of Design, Pamela inspired generations of students and staff. Her generosity, vision, boundless enthusiasm and commitment to scenography and design education helped shape not only our work at RWCMD, but also the global community of theatre designers and educators.
‘Pamela was possibly the most influential design educator in the country. From first meeting her at the Linbury Prize in 1999, she has been a significant inspiration for students and staff.
The success of her engagement with our students has been tangible in our incredible success as a part of the prestigious Linbury Prize for Stage Design. Her warmth, care, talent and uniquely colourful personality will be greatly missed by all of us at RWCMD, and by the wider international community of scenographers and design educators.
Her influence will continue to be felt through the many artists, teachers and students, and the wider international community of scenographers and design educators, whose lives she touched throughout her remarkable career.'Sean CrowleyDirector of Design
Pamela's most recent project with the College was 'Welcome to Wales,' a project celebrating the stories of immigrants who have travelled to and from Cardiff, and which helped others to tell their own stories in as positive and creative a way as possible. She described it as 'the project of my life: the world is wider than just the place on which you stand. It's got everything to do with all of us. Throughout history, art is the great civiliser.'
Pamela was once named a ‘living legend’ by the Prague Quadrennial, the world’s most prestigious celebration of theatre design and scenography, and worked as a designer for the National, Royal Shakespeare Company, and the Old Vic among many others.
Perhaps most crucially for us in Wales, she helped to create the first Dalek, but Pamela Howard also created countless shows in her seven-decade career, as well as training some of the UK’s top stage designers.
Pamela’s retrospective ‘The Art of Making Theatre’ was hosted by RWCMD in 2022.
Our thoughts are with her family, friends, colleagues and all those around the world who had the privilege of knowing and working with her.
