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Our ex-colleague and friend Karen Dust, who has died aged 48 after suffering from a progressive form of multiple sclerosis, made a considerable contribution to arts education, through her written work and in her development and management of programmes and projects.
Born in Ware, Hertfordshire, she was educated at Presdales girls' school there, and went on to study drama and education at Lancaster University. After cutting her teeth as education manager at the small touring company Nexus Opera, Karen made an indelible mark with Artists in Schools (1990), co-written with Caroline Sharp while they both worked at the National Foundation for Educational Research in Slough, Berkshire. Updated and republished in 1997, this book had what would become Dust hallmarks – intellectual authority, breadth of reference, clarity, practicality and an instinctive sympathy for the needs of children and teachers.
After the report's publication, Karen was recruited as education officer by the Eastern Arts Board (now Arts Council England East), based in Cambridge, where she put the region at the forefront of arts education policy and practice. During the past 15 years or so, her illness had progressively curtailed the quantity (but never the quality) of her work. Her 1999 research review Motive, Means and Opportunity, for the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, looking at the area of creativity and talent, remains as relevant and valuable today as when it was first published.
Karen, a deeply loyal colleague and friend, is survived by a son, Joseph.
