Sarah Phillips and Siraaj Mitha join Open City’s new Education and Empowerment Team
Open City is proud to annouce the appointment of two new members of staff to lead its work empowering children and young people from under-represented backgrounds. The new Education and Empowerment team will be led by the pioneering teacher and creator of the first global art history A Level, Sarah Philips while Open City’s Accelerate programme, which is nearing its tenth year supporting diverse young Londoners to pursue careers in city-making, will be led by architect Siraaj Mitha.
Mitha took up his position this week joining existing Accelerate course leader Sahiba Chadha and course tutors Elliot Nash and Marcela Escobar. He said: ‘I'm really excited to be joining the incredible Open City team and building on the amazing work of the Accelerate programme. I hope to steer it to new heights and expand the course to reach as many young people as possible.’
Philips will join the charity at the end of August ahead of the Open House Festival which runs from the 4th to the 12th of September.
Meet Open City’s Education and Empowerment team
Sarah Phillips
Head of Education and Empowerment
sarah@open-city.org.uk
Sarah wrote the first global Art History A Level for Pearson and has been their Principal Examiner and Subject Expert as well as teaching at Godalming Sixth Form College for the last 15 years. She is a Fellow of the Association for Art History, and writes and presents widely on art and architecture for both teachers and students. She presents on the University of Leeds post-graduate certificate programme (Plan, Prepare, Provide) at the Association for Art History's annual national conference, 'Ways of Seeing', for Art History in Schools and AD magazine. She has been a council member for NSEAD, sits on the Advisory Board for Art UK and the APPG for Education in Art and Design. Before teaching, she ran a sailing and travel PR consultancy.
Siraaj Mitha
Head of Accelerate
siraaj@open-city.org.uk
Siraaj spent three years working predominantly on affordable housing for London architecture practices Allies and Morrison, where he qualified as an architect. He then spent six months living, working and educating in Nairobi, Kenya for an architectural NGO after which he returned to the UK and has spent the last three years working for Stanton Williams as part of the team designing the new Museum of London.
Siraaj is passionate about educating and diversifying professions in the built industries. Having mentored for the last two years in the programme, he joins us as the new Head of Accelerate.
