Lynch in Sync with struggle

Kelly Mullan

Apart from being Australian and disabled, the unassuming chief executive of London’s Southbank Centre says, perhaps tongue in cheek, that he’s no different from any of the people with whom he works.

Before joining the Southbank in 2002 and superintending the refurbishment of the Royal Festival Hall, Michael Lynch (pictured, left) was director of the Sydney Opera House.

He says that recognising his impairment has led him to a change in conscious­ness and a change in his leadership agenda.

Lynch is backing Sync, a new leadership programme exploring ways for disabled people in the arts to break through the glass ceiling bisecting their career ladders. Some of the questions raised by Sync are particularly pertinent to Lynch, such as: “Do disabled leaders need to hide their impairment to be taken seriously?”

He explains how he came to be open about his own impairment: “I’ve had polio since I was three but I’ve spent most of my life pretending it wasn’t a problem. I was overcompen­sating to show I could do anything anyone else could do. But as my body became more frail, physically, to do my job was getting harder.

“A few years ago, when I was working at the Sydney Opera House – one of the least disability-friendly buildings at that time – I started using a cane. So in the last few years I’ve become more aware of the difficulties people face negotiating public buildings.” As a result, he is very conscious of access needs.

Sync wants to find out how the agendas of disabled arts leaders are shaped by their experiences of exclusion and involvement. Lynch, for his part, believes that participation in cultural life is a fundamental human right and that arts organisations should be at the fore­front of providing opportunities for disabled people.

He says: “Employers have to find ways of creating an even playing field…Some barriers are obvious but others are more unexpected. Take my colleague Cathy Woolley’s experience: the hardest thing for her in terms of being able to move forward as a deaf person in the visual arts is that most of the business is done at opening nights and she is significantly disadvantaged at these huge, loud gather­ings. It’s the greatest inhibitor to her development and it’ll be interesting to see how it can be resolved.”

Apart from ensuring the refurbished Royal Festival Hall is fully accessible to all, Lynch says the most powerful thing he can do to promote inclusiveness
is to be open about his impairment.

“I noticed as soon as I started using the cane that people did react and respond differently to me but if I’m recognising myself as a disabled person, I think that has an important impact on the people I work with.

“There’s been an unnatural interest from photographers in taking photos of me with my cane. But it’s probably important for people to see that. You can influence others by being open about yourself.”

• www.syncleadership.com