Adrian's tenure at Jazz at Lincoln Center was a period of stability – notwithstanding the 2008 financial crisis – and of a number of programmatic initiatives, including Jazz at Lincoln Center's visit to Cuba,[3] JALC's long term residency at the Barbican Arts Center, the move of the NEA's annual Jazz Masters awards ceremony to JALC, and the forging on an agreement with St Regis hotels to open jazz clubs, the first of which opened in Doha in 2012.
[5] Prior to 1990, Adrian served as Executive Director of The Conran Foundation in London (1986-1990), where he planned and managed the creation of the Design Museum.
[7][8] Adrian writes and lectures extensively on management and planning issues in the cultural sector.
He has published, lectured, and organized conferences for numerous distinguished forums including The International New York Times Art for Tomorrow Conference,[9] The Independent,[10][11] The New Statesman, Apollo Magazine,[12] London Essays,[13] Fortune, The Salzburg Seminar,[14] Blouin Creative Leadership Summit,[15] Demos, the Lord Mayor of Sydney's Annual Design Excellence Forum,[16][17] the J. Paul Getty Trust, The Clark Art Seminar, the Canadian Arts Summit, New Cities Summit,[18] REMIX Summit, and annual conferences of the American Institute of Architects, International Society for the Performing Arts, and many others.
Adrian is a past member of the Governing Council of the National Museums and Galleries of Wales, and the Royal Institute of British Architects' Architecture Centre Committee.