Andrew Miller

For 30 years Andrew Miller has been blazing a trail across arts and broadcasting. He began in children’s television presenting Channel 4’s Boom! in 1989, a ground-breaking series that integrated disabled children with their non-disabled peers at a time when education was largely segregated. As one of the first generation of disabled presenters on mainstream British television, Andrew became known for pushing his limits parascending and crashing hot air balloons.

Later moving behind the camera, Andrew made BAFTA nominated documentaries on leading artists such as Antony Gormley and Gerry Rafferty. He then switched careers again and established a new arts centre at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, becoming the first wheelchair user to run a major entertainment venue.  

Uniquely, Andrew is a member of the National Councils of both Arts Council England and The Arts Council of Wales. He is a trustee of Welsh National Opera and UK digital arts agency The Space, chairs the British Film Institute’s Disability Advisory Forum and is Disability Advisor to the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Andrew is also the UK Government’s first Disability Champion for Arts & Culture, establishing the role as a powerful platform to campaign for greater inclusion across the arts, museum and film sectors.

In all these roles, Andrew advocates for disabled people as artists, employees and audiences aiming to improve training and employment opportunities alongside promoting equality of experience.

Andrew says: “I want to use my influence to further democratise our national culture, to ensure it is accessible to everyone.” He is currently developing a free national arts access card for disabled audiences and exploring how an Inclusive Cultural Strategy could make the UK’s arts sector the most accessible in the world. In 2019 Andrew was shortlisted for Lifetime Achievement at the National Diversity Awards.