Siân Evey-Arli appointed Open City Education Programme Manager

City-making educator promoted to lead two programmes supporting young people in London and Birmingham.

Open City is delighted to announce that Siân Evey-Arli has been promoted to the position of Education Programme Manager.

Evey-Arli, studied architecture at the university of Greenwich and has a background in tuition, music and carpentry as well as architectural practice. She is now leading two key educational programmes at Open City supporting children and young people from diverse backgrounds to learn about architecture, landscape and urbanism, often for the first time in their lives.

Siân Evey-Arli gives out medals at an awards ceremony celebrating the graduates of Open City’s Key State Two Young City Makers programme

Evey-Arli said: “In my role as Education Programme Manager, I intend to further develop our primary school and special educational needs programmes, Young City Makers and It’s My City Too, which I’ve worked across since joining Open City in 2022.

I want to continue supporting young people to cultivate a sense of curiosity and awareness of the built environment, that inspires them to envision alternative, more equitable futures for our cities and all who inhabit them. Equally, I hope that the professionals who volunteer on our programmes are able to take the opportunity to enjoy exploring what their practice looks like outside of real-world constraints.

For our SEN programmes in particular, I look forward to exploring the limits of what an accessible built environment education could look like alongside our incredible delivery teams.”

Phineas Harper, Chief executive of Open City said: “Siân joined the team almost two years ago and has brought immense energy, creativity and skill to the charity. Her unflinching commitment to supporting young people in London and Birmingham is deeply inspiring and she is a joy to work with. I am extremely excited to see her and her work develop and grow in more senior role. Many congratulations, Siân – it is an honour to work with you.”

Open City’s education programmes currently support around 3,000 children and young people from under-represented and working class backgrounds to learn about architecture, landscape and city-making and pursue careers in the build environment industries.