Director Collusion
Rachel Drury is a creative strategist and producer operating at the intersection of arts, technology, and academia. As the Co-Founder and Director of Collusion, she leads an incubator for artist-led experimentation with technology, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, creative innovation, and socially-impactful projects. Under her leadership, Collusion has become an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation (NPO), known for its ART // TECH // PLAY programme which bridges the gap between creative practice and emerging technologies like AI and data science.
Deeply embedded in the regional ecosystem, Rachel is the Co-Lead for the Create Cambridge compact, a cross-sector partnership championing culture’s role in civic change and innovation. Her work is informed by a 15-year tenure at Arts Council England, where as a Senior Manager she oversaw regional partnerships and large-scale strategic investments. Rachel regularly collaborates with universities on major knowledge exchange initiatives such as the SHAPE programme with University of Cambridge, which facilitates R&D between academics and artists to generate novel public outcomes. She has served as a Research Fellow with Norwich University of the Arts, sits on Anglia Ruskin University’s Creative Industries Advisory Board, and recently brokered new collaboration between the culture sector and five HEIs across East Anglia. A specialist in place-making and sector development, she has served on several NPO boards and is an advocate for the growth and impact of the UK’s creative industries.