About Ben
Dr Ben Francombe (he/him) is a Hampshire-based academic, teacher, dramaturg and educational consultant, with more than 30 years-experience in theatre-based higher education and independent arts practice.
“Ben Francombe is a values-driven, fairness-oriented, kindness-enabling force for good working in sectors (Higher Education and the arts), which can often seem plagued with problems. Both an astute leader and thoughtful dramaturg, Ben's talent is in listening and facilitating pathways and projects which are as empowering as they are innovative”.
Brian Lobel, Performer, Teacher and Curator - Professor of Theatre and Performance, Rose Bruford
Ben has worked full-time in higher education teaching theatre for 29 years, although his first ever teaching work was 35 years ago in 1989, as a PhD student at Glasgow University. Throughout his career, Ben has had significant education-management responsibility: he became Head of Acting at Bretton Hall in 1997, before joining the University of Chichester in 2004 to become Subject Leader in Performing Arts and, consequently, set up the Department of Theatre in 2010. He has combined departmental management with wider university responsibility: a member of Academic Board at two institutions and an elected staff governor for the University of Chichester between 2008 and 2011.
“There are few people who've been as influential to Action Hero - and to us as individual artists and creative people - as Ben Francombe”.
Gemma Paintin and James Stenhouse, Co-Artistic Directors, Action Hero.
Photo: Amber Elbishlawi
Outside the University-sector, Ben has a keen interest in School Governance. He has been a community governor for 4 different schools, Chair of Governors in one OFSTED outstanding school, and has been a Trustee for the Bohunt Education Trust.
Ben is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy: an award based on a primary focus of his career: the conception, writing, approval and delivery of a series of nationally and internationally-recognised programmes at Undergraduate and Postgraduate levels that reflect significant and shifting understanding of the nature, value and opportunity of theatre and performance studies in UK HE.
Ben has served and chaired countless approval and quality assurance processes for both the Universities of Leeds and Chichester. He has been an external examiner for ten programmes and works regularly as an external consultant for other university approval processes, primarily for the Open University. Much of his consultancy and quality assurance work has been built on early-career research focused on key questions to do with the relationship between industry and the academy, offering ideas on the evolution of the conservatoire within the wider HE sector.
A significant, and ever evolving, aspect of his career has been within an independent arts community as a dramaturg with leading theatre-makers, primarily 1927, but also with many emergent artists, to whom he has offered his services for free.
The one thing that remains constant in this shifting, diverse and intensive career has been Ben’s continuing work as a teacher, director, mentor and supervisor across a wide range of educational contexts and learning opportunities.
He offers his services as an experienced HE teacher in Drama, Theatre and Acting, a dramaturg and script editor, and as a consultant in HE Quality Assurance, Curricula Design, and wider Governance structures and delivery.
“Over the past thirty years, Ben has played a big part in my academic/career development. He is always my first port-of-call for advice and mentorship”.
Helen Evans Acting Lead, Musical Theatre Performance, Trinity Laban
CREDITS:
Web Design: Dan MacNeil
All uncredited headshots: Connor Cleary
All uncredited photos: Ben Francombe, Dan MacNeil or Keira Turner