Claire Cooke

Claire Cooke is a part-time Lecturer in Arts Management at the Institute for Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship (ICCE), Goldsmiths, University of London. She specializes in coordinating professional practice modules, arts education, and teaching arts project budgets, co-convening courses like Arts in London and Professional Practice Project with Dr. Pauline Muir.

• Research Interests: Stage magic, ritual, public space performance, contemporary art and film, sound art, experimental music, Finnish culture and language, refraction/birefringence in gemstones, play, and playgrounds.
• Professional Roles: Head of Widening Participation at the Royal Academy of Music, focusing on increasing diversity in applications to the conservatoire.
• Charities: Founder and director of Mirror Mirror Education (public engagement activities using magic and illusion) and Architecture for All (promoting design and architecture awareness).
• Projects: Collaborated on heritage initiatives like Pitzhanger Manor and Olympic Park Summer School, and established early cinema festivals and radio programs.

Her work bridges art, science, and public engagement, with recent interdisciplinary research exploring optics in gemstones and Finnish cultural studies.