Miranda Harrison - Cultural Publishing Powerhouse.
- Mark Walmsley FRSA AGSM
- 12 hours ago
- 4 min read
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Meet Miranda Harrison.
In this interview, Mark invited Miranda Harrison to create her own fantasy cultural year from the answers to some easy questions where there are no wrong answers. Enjoy her journey below.
Miranda Harrison is a publishing specialist, writer, and arts professional whose career spans many of the UK’s leading cultural institutions.
As Senior Publishing Manager at the Design Museum, she develops books and written content that bring design culture to wider and more diverse audiences. Her work combines strategic oversight, editorial expertise, and an instinctive understanding of how storytelling can enrich the public’s relationship with museums and the creative industries.
Miranda’s background includes roles at the V&A, Tate, Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers, and Lund Humphries, giving her deep insight into the full spectrum of museum publishing — from exhibition catalogues to accessible design titles. She is also co-founder of WL Creative, a consultancy dedicated to helping cultural organisations communicate with clarity, confidence, and creativity.
Driven by a passion for accessibility in the arts, Miranda is committed to opening doors for audiences who may feel excluded from cultural spaces. She believes in the transformative power of publishing to make art, design, and heritage more understandable, relatable, and inclusive.
Her fantasy year-long project, supported by a fictitious philanthropic foundation, will see her work with museums internationally — particularly in the Middle East — to strengthen their publishing capability and unlock the storytelling potential within their collections.
Across every role, Miranda brings a collaborative spirit, a keen editorial eye, and what colleagues often describe as a superpower for troubleshooting: the ability to untangle challenges and guide organisations towards elegant, effective solutions.
Miranda's Fantasy Cultural Year ... with a magic wand and time machine to hand.
Miranda’s Fantasy Cultural Year reflects her love of architecture, literature, travel, and creative discovery. She begins at her favourite building, Strawberry Hill House in south-west London — Horace Walpole’s gothic fantasy villa.
On a warm June evening, she imagines herself on the lawn with a pop-up café and a glass of champagne, soaking in the theatrical atmosphere of the house she adores.
Her literary inspiration comes from her childhood book The Conjurer’s Box by Anne Lawrence, a story that shaped her early sensitivity to sound, imagery, and the immersive potential of reading. This early encounter with imaginative storytelling continues to influence her work in arts publishing today.
Her year opens with international travel, starting in Dubai, where she chooses to experience contemporary ballet and enjoy vegetarian Indian cuisine. From there she heads to Melbourne — a dream trip for a cricket fan — to watch the Ashes.
The journey continues in Berlin, where Miranda imagines exploring an immersive, digitally enhanced art gallery. Given the chance to step inside the work of any artist, she chooses Kazimir Malevich, drawn to his experiments with dimension, abstraction, and the meeting point between art and science.
Back in London, her perfect cultural week includes theatre, opera, exhibitions, West End musicals, live music, and cinema. She recalls impactful experiences including Death and the Maiden with Juliet Stevenson, Les Misérables, and performances by Franz Ferdinand, and she chooses alternative 80s music as the soundtrack to her entire fantasy year — her ultimate happy place.
For her Hero Lunch, Miranda selects Judi Dench as her dream guest, picturing an elegant modern Indian fusion restaurant in Devonshire Square as the perfect setting.
Her Fantasy Cultural Year concludes with a series of achievements that beautifully mirror her talents and passions: delivering a TED talk, securing a book deal, presenting her own TV programme, and travelling the world on a university lecture tour — all celebrating her expertise in cultural storytelling and accessibility.
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Mark Walmsley FRSA FCIM AGSM
Chief Culture Vulture
Arts & Culture Network
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