Sigrid Rausing appointed vice president of Charleston

Sigrid Rausing, publisher of Granta Magazine and Granta Books, has been appointed vice president of The Charleston Trust, which has also appointed Kim Jones OBE, the creative director of Dior Men and Fendi Womenswear and Couture, to the same role.

Jones and Rausing will join the current president Virginia Nicholson, Vanessa Bell’s granddaughter, and its patron Her Majesty Queen Camilla, as ambassadors of Charleston.

Rausing previously served on the board of trustees of the charity and, in 2023, her publishing house Granta worked with the estate of Virginia Woolf to republish the five-volume Diaries of Virginia Woolf that had been edited by Ann Olivier Bell, Vanessa Bell’s daughter in law. These reissued diaries contain new introductions by Siri Hustvedt, Olivia Laing, Margo Jefferson, Adam Phillips and social historian Virginia Nicholson, Olivier Bell’s daughter. To mark its publication, Charleston and the Granta Trust commissioned a dramatic performance of  the diaries at Charleston Festival in 2023, featuring readings by actors Joanna Scanlon, Anjana Vasan and Miranda Richardson.

"Charleston to me is a space of creative contradiction; a museum dedicated to preserving the memory, home, art and artefacts of a circle known, above all, for their innovation and transgression in all the varied fields they engaged in—literature, art, philosophy, economics, and ideas about how to make a family and a home," Rausing said. "That the museum and festivals have succeeded in staying true to that spirit of innovation, while also commemorating it, is a testament to its governance and leadership, and I am delighted to become a vice president."

Jones has also worked closely with the Charleston team, to help acquire objects for the house—including a fire screen, which was once in John Maynard Keynes’ bedroom. He arranged a Vogue photoshoot with Kate Moss to mark his first womenswear collection for Fendi and the reopening of Charleston post-pandemic, and, in 2023, took 12 drawings from Charleston’s archive and turned them into the summer menswear collection for Dior, which was revealed in front of an almost life-size replica of the house during Paris Fashion Week. 

For Charleston Festival 2024, he designed the costume for a commissioning of the ballet "Afternoon of a Faun", danced by Reece Clarke and choreographed by Russell Maliphant. He has also announced his intentions to donate his Bloomsbury collection and library to Charleston to make it accessible for broader audiences.

"The impact of Charleston never left me after I visited the house for the first time when I was 14 years old," Jones said. "The work of the artists, writers and thinkers associated with Charleston and the Bloomsbury group has since become a life-long passion and it is an honour for me to be an ambassador for this remarkable house and cultural centre. I’m very grateful to join the Charleston team as vice president and would like to deeply thank Vanessa Bell’s granddaughter and president of the charity Virginia Nicholson for her trust in appointing me."

Since 2018, Charleston has been on a journey to transform from a "seasonal heritage attraction" into a "cultural centre" with a year-round offering. The completion of the Centenary Project in 2018 delivered new galleries at Charleston in Firle, alongside the restoration of the barns, which today house the café and an events space. Simultaneously, the house opened to visitors during the winter months for the first time.

The opening of Charleston in Lewes in autumn 2023 "significantly increased" Charleston’s gallery space and has facilitated the reestablishment of a learning and participation programme. According to the charity, visitor numbers in 2023 numbered over 81,000, representing a four-fold increase since 2016.

Charleston today delivers eight exhibitions and four festivals annually, including a contemporary commissioning strand. Now, plans are being put in place for the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the charity that saved Charleston. 

Nicholson said: "I’m absolutely delighted to welcome Charleston’s two new vice presidents, Sigrid Rausing and Kim Jones OBE, to their roles. Both are long term supporters of the charity and have already demonstrated their commitment and belief in the organisation over many years. Sigrid is famous for being an enterprising champion of literature and art, whose intelligent goodwill and philanthropy have actively benefited Charleston’s conservation and curatorial programmes, while Kim’s spectacular creative talents have shown the world his passion for Bloomsbury, bringing in new audiences. Both have now agreed to become vice presidents of Charleston, to celebrate and spread the word about the charity as it looks towards an exciting future."