Lois Keidan is a British-born cultural activist and writer. She co-founded the

Live Art Development Agency Live Art Development Agency, also commonly known by its acronym LADA, is a publicly funded arts organisation and registered charity founded in London in 1999 by Lois Keidan and Catherine Ugwu. LADA provides professional advice for artists as well ...

with

Catherine Ugwu Catherine Oliaku Ugwu (born 1964) is a British executive producer, artistic director, and consultant working in large-scale ceremonies and events, including for the Summer and Winter Olympics, the Summer Paralympics, the Asian, European, Islamic ...

in 1999 and was the Director of the Agency until 2021. She was the former director of

live art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

s at the

Institute of Contemporary Arts The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch, the ICA c ...

(ICA) from 1992 to 1997. Prior to working at the ICA, she was responsible for national policy and provision for Performance Art and interdisciplinary practices at the

Arts Council of Great Britain The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council (l ...

. Keidan is a proponent and advocate for Live Art in the UK and has been instrumental in the development and support of artists who have tended to be 'marginalised, misunderstood and misrepresented". Keidan has written articles and edited books on performance and Live Art and made contributions to a range of journals and publications. She regularly gives talks and presentations on performance and Live Art at festivals, colleges, venues and conferences in Britain and internationally. She has participated in a number of boards and advisory panels, including

Artsadmin Artsadmin is a UK-based organisation founded in 1979 by Judith Knight, MBE and Seonaid Stewart, providing project management, producing, support and resources for artists working in the fields of performance, dance, live art and mixed media work. ...

(London) and

Performa The Macintosh Performa is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Inc., Apple Computer, Inc. from 1992 to 1997. The Performa brand re-used models from Apple's Macintosh Quadra, Quadra, Macintosh Centris, Centri ...

(New York), and is currently on the board of

Spill Festival SPILL Festival of Performance is an artist-led biennale of experimental theatre and live art in the UK which began in 2007 and takes place in a variety of venues in London and Ipswich, England. The festival is produced by Pacitti Company and the Art ...

. In 1999, she was awarded an honorary fellowship by

Dartington College of Arts Dartington College of Arts was a specialist arts college located at Dartington Hall in the south-west of England, offering courses at degree and postgraduate level together with an arts research programme. It existed for a period of almost 50 ...

, and in 2009 she was awarded an honorary fellowship by

Queen Mary, University of London , mottoeng = With united powers , established = 1785 – The London Hospital Medical College1843 – St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College1882 – Westfield College1887 – East London College/Queen Mary College , type = Public researc ...

Arts Council Report 1991

In response to the significant shifts in the in the UK in the 1980s and 1990s, Keidan authored the Arts Council of Great Britain's ''Strategy: Discussion Document on Live Art'' in 1991. This document was written to "map current practices and provisions for live art as well as to identify key issues". The report used the term Live Art, instead of performance art to define a set of practices and cultural strategies that were apparent in the UK at the time. The report covered "areas as diverse as the history, development, status of artists, critical coverage, potential venues and training/education".

Publications

*''Strategy: Discussion Document on Live Art,'' report for Arts Council of Great Britain (1991) *''Franko B'' by

Nicholas Sinclair Nicholas Sinclair (born 1954) is a British portrait

, Stuart Morgan and Keidan (1998) *''Exposures'' by Manuel Vason, Keidan and Ron Athey (2002) *''Sheng Qi: Madness, Appropriation'' by Huang Du, Keidan, Wang Ming'an and Hou Hanru (2005) *''Programme Notes: Case Studies for Locating Experimental Theatre'' by Daniel Brine and Keidan (2007) *''Access All Areas: Live Art and Disability'' by Keidan and C. J. Mitchell (2012) *''Programme Notes: Case Studies for Locating Experimental Theatre'' by Keidan and CJ Mitchell (2013) *''The Live Art Almanac: Volume 3'' by Keidan and Aaron Wright (2014)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keidan, Lois Living people Performance art British arts administrators Women arts administrators Year of birth missing (living people)