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A Conversation with Katy Wickremesinghe 

Interview Shemaiah Gold 

Katy Wickremesinghe is the founder of KTW London, a strategic cultural communications agency formed in 2014 and The Wick, a cultural content platform to connect the culturally curious and make businesses more art responsible, which she launched earlier this year. A leading voice in the arts and business sector, WOTC catch up with Katy to speak about the industry.

Photographer: Shaun James Cox

Shemaiah: Where did it all begin for you?

Katy: I was born in London and I am half Sri Lankan, half British. I definitely think growing up in a family which bridges the culture and belief system of east and west combined has informed the way I live my life. This combined with the first 10 years of my career being at global brand agency Freuds led me to realise I always wanted a career which centred around creating connection with culture.

When I started KTW I didn’t have a formal business plan but I knew at that time in 2014 that there was a need for an agency to be creating that vital conversation between commerce and creativity and business and art. At KTW we’ve been privileged to work on some of the most prestigious and largest biggest brands, individuals, art collectors and auction houses. We’ve delivered cultural programming and campaigns for global brands from: Fortnum & Mason and Soho House Group to Montblanc and Belmond as well as amplified shows and moments for Ben Brown Fine Arts, Lazinc, Marquee TV, The Paul Feiler Estate, Freelands Foundation, Chris Levine and Make a Wish.

We’re the first agency to create our own bespoke content B2C channel, The Wick, a cultural content platform lighting up the art world and telling its human journeys and stories. Comprising a full bespoke website, Instagram and video content The Wick gives people a special lens on their lives through arts and culture so they can see its value and importance on their daily lives and be welcomed into a place of exploration for the culturally curious.

Photographer: Shaun James Cox

Shemaiah: Why do you think art, culture and design are so important and influential in the 21st century?

Katy: Arts and culture since the dawn of time has conveyed so many different concepts – from education, patronage, class and wealth. It’s been used as a tool. But in reality I see art as the unequivocal point of human connection. You could see over Covid-19 that art was an enduring tool. We saw rainbows adorning windows of school kids from the NHS, we saw museums like MOMA taking their exhibitions online and even VOMA - the world's first virtual museum. The RSC introduced gaming technology into their version of a Midsummer Night’s Dream which means viewers could create their own journey through the narrative.  

Arts, culture and design is a blotting paper to the life that we're living. It also enables us to transcend the usual matrices we tend to put onto quantifying things – via gender, race, income and transcends into something much bigger and more important, humanity.  

The commercial impact of arts, culture and design on our economy is vital and cannot be overlooked. It brings in 10.8 billion per year and employs around 30 million people. There's also the health side of things. 1 billion people suffer from mental health disorders and the World Health Organisation has already started to create quantifiable research outlining this to continue and explore the results started by Matt Hancock’s social prescriptioning work in 2018 which saw a marked reduction in GP Visits using social prescribing rather than traditional prescription drugs. I recently moderated a Goal’s House conversation on this topic with the WHO, Tristram Hunt (V&A Director), Marc Quinn (Artist) and Lord Ed Vaizey (ex-Minister of Culture for the UK) troubleshooting this dense area.  

In a time of living through technological means, art is a tool that enables us to unleash our own creativity but it shapes our individual and collective personalities.

Covid-19 has underlined a new found appreciation for people who create the environment we live in, how well we live and what we see where we're living. Culture has become a language for this. At a time of unprecedented disconnect and fracture in the world, from Black Lives Matter to economic struggle post Covid, art has helped to unite, strengthen and catalogue these times. I often look at the imagery of Misan Harriman – the first black photographer to shoot a British Vogue cover in 104 years.

Photographer: Shaun James Cox

Shemaiah: What inspired you to create The Wick?

Katy: If you imagine KTW as a body – then KTW is the analytical thinking brain and The Wick is the mouth and the heart - my creative playground. The Wick is a cultural content platform on a mission to connect the culturally curious and to include people into a world which can often feel hard to reach and intimidating. At the moment our content is digital at thewickculture.com and on Instagram but I’m excited we have a host of exciting physical and event partnerships and moments coming up. I've been lucky – after a decade in this sector – to find myself in the heart of the art world having not come from a traditionally trained art historian background. I self taught the market and am a natural historian. The Wick gives me an opportunity to help to tell the dynamic human journeys and stories of this world. I really wanted to share my access to some of those stories with people that wanted to learn and explore it and I know when I started KTW, I would have hoped to have The Wick as one of my guides.

At The Wick, alongside my brilliant editorial team, we juxtapose the raw grass root talent coming out from the new generation whilst still honouring the knowledge and expertise of those who have been in the industry for many years. We’ve built up compelling strands including our weekly feature on a female cultural leader, ‘Monday Muse’ and ‘On The Wick List’ our top pick of viewings and doings. We love being creators and navigators of content which truly enriches your brain and soul, enabling people to see the importance of arts and culture in their own lives. I want people to feel the human journeys behind big businesses and artists.

Shemaiah: What has been your most exciting discovery yet?

Katy: Speaking on a broader level, we've discovered colour and creativity through The Wick. For me it's been a journey of self-discovery and discovery of some amazing artists, whether it be a new emerging artist like James Rogers or sculptor and painters which are given a platform and shown in our 'spotlight' section, which is championed by well-known people in the industry - something very important to me. My painter discoveries are Shaq Whyte (shaq.whyte), currently studying at Slade and Emily Ponsonby (@emilyponsonbyart). Hauser and Wirth is a gallery which enables me to constantly re-discover art in new ways, whether from Rashid Johnson‘s ‘Anxious Red’ paintings, to beautiful interiors at Durslade Farmhouse or incredible food pairings at Roth Bar and Grill.

Shemaiah: As a trustee of the Dulwich Picture Gallery, what does your role entail?

Katy: Dulwich Picture Gallery is the world’s first purpose-built public art gallery: it was founded in 1811 when Sir Francis Bourgeois RA bequeathed his collection of old masters “for the inspection of the public”. The DPG houses a collection of over 600 paintings and is rich in European Masterpieces from Rembrandt and Rubens to Canaletto.

To be a Trustee of such a space is an incredible privilege – made even more special because  it's geographically based around the corner from my childhood home. Whenever I go back to see my parents, I visit it so it's an incredible privilege to be one of the youngest trustees in the history of the gallery. As stewards of the organisation we take part in some of the major decision making and recently I was on the judging committee for the Tessa Jowell prize where we were able to choose an incredible artist collective to create an installation in the local health centre. Public galleries and museums being seen as civic places of community is very important to me.

Shemaiah: If you could describe the relationship between humanity and art in one word, what would it be?

Katy: This is a really hard question. Can I have more than 1 word? (chuckles) Connectedness would be my main word, very closely followed up by responsibility. Art enables us to achieve a connectedness through its ability to unleash and empower our own creativity. Humanity has a responsibility towards art and art has a responsibility towards humanity. They are symbiotic – I often think of Kate McGwire’s beautiful ‘Swindle’ sculpture of iridescent magpie figures in the eternal figure of 8 when I think of this concept.

Shemaiah: Talk to us about relationships and partnerships. How have you successfully done this over the years and what are some key lessons you've learned?

Katy: Esther Perel has this amazing saying.. 'The quality of your life depends on the quality of your relationships'. I'm a huge fan of hers and I subscribe to that way of thinking; that we are the sum of our human relationships and connections. To build the best relationships, you have to be curious all the time and interested in people. Ask lots of questions to understand things from their point of view to demonstrate an empathy in what their perspective is.

In terms of work partnerships this can be more complex. Over a near 20 year career I’ve facilitated well over hundred large scale partnerships between brands, galleries, corporates and institutions. In every case understanding the need for a shared ethos and a mutual value is essential. The Wick will see us build much needed strategic partnerships between the business sector and art world, helping corporates and brands unearth their cultural DNA.  

Shemaiah: Why do you think art is such an important outlet for creatives today?

Katy: I believe art should be for everyone and the pandemic has shown that. We've never seen people be more creative whether from buying art to make their own homes more beautiful or by unleashing their own creativity through craft and independent art practice. Art is important for everyone because they need to be able to unleash creative thinking both for personal enrichment and professional development. Art doesn't necessarily have to be a painting on a canvas, it can be any creative discipline – from dance, to music and the written or spoken word. It’s ultimately a form of experience.

Shemaiah: What does the word 'culture' mean to you?

Katy: Culture is an umbrella encompassing norms in human society – a snapshot of how life is being viewed through creative conversation and consolation at that moment in time. I am pleased that the last couple of years has created a renewed responsibility and conversation around sustainability, diversity and inclusion which can only better our cultural spaces and experiences.

Photographer: Shaun James Cox