Gary Donaldson

Gary leads Placemaking London's internal business operations and also advises on external stakeholder engagement.


Gary’s specialisms are in the arts, people management and business productivity.


Gary has managed twelve of London’s largest historic theatres including the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Her Majesty’s Theatre and the Victoria Palace Theatre, managing teams of up to 75. A passionate fundraiser for arts projects, his professional fundraising work includes the Oxford Playhouse, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the rebuilding fund for the Manchester Royal Exchange.

Gary was brought in to address declining sales and customer connection at international design company Sanderson, where he helped identify and put in place initiatives to rebuild customer engagement. His work resulted in an independently-audited increase of 32% in sales.

Gary is also an accomplished writer with an acclaimed theatre blog, unrestrictedtheatre.co.uk and he writes a regular Theatre Preview feature for Barbican Life magazine.

Gary has spent the last forty years advocating for the retention and creative reuse of historic cinemas and theatre buildings through his work with the Cinema Theatre Association, the UK’s leading authority on cinema buildings.

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