LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM.- Sir Nicholas Grimshaw was elected the new President of the Royal Academy of Arts at a General Assembly meeting of Royal Academicians today. He succeeds Professor Phillip King who has stepped down after five years in office.

Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, 65, is an architect with an international reputation. He was elected a Royal Academician in 1994. His own practice is best known in the UK for the International Railway Terminal for Eurostar at Waterloo and the Eden Project in Cornwall, among many others. Current projects worldwide include the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Centre for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York State, The Fulton Street Transport Interchange close to Ground Zero in New York and Southern Cross Railway Station in Melbourne, Australia. He was knighted in 2002 and continues to actively lead his practice as Chairman of the Board.

Sir Nicholas Grimshaw said: “I am grateful for the vote of support that my colleagues have given me. The Royal Academy is one of the world’s leading arts organisations and is unique because it is run by artists. I am looking forward to meeting the challenges of taking the Royal Academy into the future and building on its past successes.”

The President is Chairman of Council, the governing body of the Academy, which represents the Membership. The Membership comprises 80 Royal Academicians, all of whom are practising painters, sculptors, engravers, printmakers, draughtsmen and architects, as well as a number of Senior Academicians over the age of 75. The position of the Academy as an institution governed by its Members and not dependent on any public funding means that the President represents the only body able to speak with consistent authority in defence of art and artists in this country.

Past Presidents of the Royal Academy:
Sir Joshua Reynolds 1768–1792
Benjamin West 1792–1805
James Wyatt 1805-1806
Benjamin West 1806-1820
Sir Thomas Lawrence 1820-1830
Sir Martin Archer Shee 1830-1850
Sir Charles Lock Eastlake 1850-1865
Sir Francis Grant 1866-1878
Lord Leighton 1878-1896
Sir John Everett Millais 1896
Sir Edward J. Poynter 1896-1918
Sir Aston Webb 1919-1924
Sir Frank Dicksee 1924-1928
Sir William Llewellyn 1928-1938
Sir Edwin Lutyens 1938-1944
Sir Alfred Munnings 1944-1949
Sir Gerald Kelly 1949-1954
Sir Albert Richardson 1954-1956
Sir Charles Wheeler 1956-1966
Sir Thomas Monnington 1966-1976
Sir Hugh Casson 1976-1984
Sir Roger de Grey 1984-1993
Sir Philip Dowson 1993-1999
Professor Phillip King 1999-2004