Associates, Contributors and Mentors

Alia Alzougbi

CEO, Consultant, Coach

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Alia Alzougbi

CEO, Consultant, Coach

I am a leader in the creative and cultural industries, with significant experience in the education sector. Having grown and established the international cultural learning organisation Global Learning London in my role as Head, I moved on to become Joint CEO at Shubbak — Europe’s largest festival of contemporary Arab arts. I have worked closely with national and international organisations including the British Museum, the National Theatre, Clore Leadership and the British Council to create high-profile, critical encounters that question the parameters of cultural representation and inclusion in education and the arts. I curated the launch events of the British Museum’s new multi-million pound Albukhary Galler of Islamic Arts. I have produced critically-acclaimed theatre works by playwrights from Arab heritage, a number of which have gone on to tour internationally. I am a British Council/Chevening Scholar, a Clore Fellow and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. I am recipient of the Writer’s Guild Olwen Wymark Award for encouragement of new writing in 2019 and was nominated for a BAFTA Scotland in 2008. I am an accredited RD1st coach (with distinction) and volunteers nationally and internationally to coach and mentor people with reduced access to opportunities in the cultural industries.

Amanda Smethurst

Associate Facilitator

Dan Simmons

Writer | Consultant | Coach

Elizabeth Mischler

partnerships and strategic projects manager, Culture Mile

Fearghus Ó Conchúir

Associate Facilitator

Gaylene Gould

Creative Director

Hilary Jennings

Freelance (Director Happy Museum)

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Hilary Jennings

Freelance (Director Happy Museum)

Hilary Jennings is a freelance consultant working across the creative & cultural sector in project management, facilitation, coaching and mentoring. She is part-time Director of the Happy Museum Project which re-imagines the role of museums focusing on the wellbeing of people, place and planet. She has worked as an Associate of the Clore Leadership and Cultural Leadership Programmes and is facilitator of the Extend Leadership Programme. She worked extensively with the craft sector and was manager of the inaugural Craft Skills Award as well as Chair of the UK Craft Industry Board and Director for Craft at Creative and Cultural Skills. An experienced facilitator she has led strategy sessions for a range of organisations including the Museums Association, VocalEyes, Edinburgh Museums, The Heritage Craft Association and The Audience Agency. She is Co-Chair of the international Transition Network and a steering group member of the Co-Creating Change network.

Isabel Mortimer

Associate Facilitator

Jo Walley

Coach

Keith Arrowsmith

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Keith Arrowsmith

In 2014, Keith Arrowsmith decided to leave the mainstream. Instead of working with other lawyers, he became one of the senior partners at Counterculture Partnership LLP, a unique multi-disciplinary firm, providing practical strategic, finance, and legal services. Keith’s training as a solicitor, and his experience in providing advice to arts, media and heritage sector clients is the basis for his work. He enjoys bringing his specialist and technical knowledge to projects in a way that is practical, cost effective and understandable. His legal work includes company and charity regulatory issues, contracts and licensing, intellectual property issues and governance advice. He is a board member for CC Skills and the Children’s Media Conference. For fun, he is a theatre producer with Kitchen Sink Live. Keith (reluctantly) recently appeared on Channel 4’s The Bank of Dave, and wrote the Methuen Amateur Theatre Handbook.

Prue Skene CBE

Chair

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Prue Skene CBE

Chair

Prue Skene CBE has worked in the arts all her life, running performing companies such as Ballet Rambert and the English Shakespeare Company, setting up a Fellowship programme to give grants to artists from all artforms as Director of the Arts Foundation, and working as a freelance consultant, now mainly supporting arts organisations with their governance. Her non-executive appointments have included President of the Theatrical Management Association, a non-executive Director of Royal United Hospital NHS Trust and of Bath Theatre Royal and Rosie Kay Dance Company, and Chair of the Arvon Foundation, Rambert Dance Company, Free Word and the Stephen Spender Trust. From 1992-2000 she was a member of the Arts Council of England, chairing its Dance and then Lottery Panels; her experiences during that time are outlined in her book, Capital Gains: How the National Lottery transformed England’s Arts, published in October 2017. Prue is Head Governance Associate of Clore Leadership and has led its Board Development programme since 2007, delivering Board away-days and training days as well as governance sessions on the Clore Courses. She is currently Chair of Cardboard Citizens and trustee of the Nureyev Foundation. She was awarded a CBE in the 2000 Birthday Honours List for services to the arts, especially dance.

Richard Beecham

Associate Facilitator

sarah cartwright

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sarah cartwright

Sarah is a qualified Executive Coach with a Diploma in Leadership Mentoring and Executive Coaching from The Institute of Leadership and Management and is a member of The EMCC. Originally an actor, she combines her coaching and communication skills to help people develop their personal brand and presence. Practice and experience are always at the heart of the coaching and training she offers and above all, her coaching is about change, action and achieving desired goals. Courses Sarah designs and delivers include; Presenting With Impact, Coura-geous Conversations, Assertiveness and Influencing With Impact. She has a strong track record of working with senior and high potential people, helping them to develop the skills and confidence to raise their impact and influence. Sarah is a co-founder of Verve Women, an organisation that reflects her pas-sion for helping women achieve their career goals and realise their full potential. She is also an associate of CSW Inc, a US based company that focuses on un-conscious bias and cross cultural awareness. Sarah works globally and her clients include The Clore Leadership Programme, The British Library, The Royal College of Art, The National Theatre of Scotland, BBC, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Lloyds Bank Foundation, Wolff Olins, Farfetch, Moet Hennessy, LVMH, Microsoft, Nissan, UCL, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Ashridge Business School, KPMG, Fagerhult, Sport England, Leaders In Sport, The Parliamentary Strategic Unit and Coca Cola.

sarah m pickthall

CEO

Sarah Pickthall

Steve O’Smotherly

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Steve O’Smotherly

Steve is a professional speaker, facilitator, mentor and coach with more than thirty years’ experience in the Cultural, Social and Private sectors. He has a proven track record of designing and delivering highly effective learning and development workshops for clients in all of the main industry sectors and from leading organisations in the UK, Europe, The Middle East and the United States and he is a visiting speaker at Kings College London and the SAID Business School in Oxford. His clients include individuals and/or teams from the following organisations: Age UK, Ambassador Theatre Group, Arts Council England, the BBC, Breast Cancer Now, The British Armed Forces, The Clore Cultural Leadership Programme, The Clore Social Leadership Programme, The Disability Partnership, Hilton Worldwide, The Rank Foundation, Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Star & Garter Homes, the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and Yorkshire Bank amongst others. Steve graduated with an MBA from Henley Management College in 2001 and he qualified as a ‘Certified Performance Coach’ at The School of Coaching in 2004. He is recognised as an ‘Approved Performance Coach’ for a variety of different organisations in the Cultural and Social Sectors. Steve has been an adviser to, and a member of, a number of leadership working parties for various UK Government departments including the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Culture Media and Sport.

Alia Alzougbi

CEO, Consultant, Coach

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Alia Alzougbi

CEO, Consultant, Coach

I am a leader in the creative and cultural industries, with significant experience in the education sector. Having grown and established the international cultural learning organisation Global Learning London in my role as Head, I moved on to become Joint CEO at Shubbak — Europe’s largest festival of contemporary Arab arts. I have worked closely with national and international organisations including the British Museum, the National Theatre, Clore Leadership and the British Council to create high-profile, critical encounters that question the parameters of cultural representation and inclusion in education and the arts. I curated the launch events of the British Museum’s new multi-million pound Albukhary Galler of Islamic Arts. I have produced critically-acclaimed theatre works by playwrights from Arab heritage, a number of which have gone on to tour internationally. I am a British Council/Chevening Scholar, a Clore Fellow and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. I am recipient of the Writer’s Guild Olwen Wymark Award for encouragement of new writing in 2019 and was nominated for a BAFTA Scotland in 2008. I am an accredited RD1st coach (with distinction) and volunteers nationally and internationally to coach and mentor people with reduced access to opportunities in the cultural industries.

Alison Tickell

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Alison Tickell

Alison established Julie’s Bicycle in 2007 as a non-profit company helping the music industry reduce its environmental impacts and develop new thinking in tune with global environmental challenges. JB has since extended its remit to the full performing and visual arts communities, heritage and wider creative and cultural policy communities. JB is acknowledged as a leading organization bridging sustainability with the arts and culture. Originally trained as a cellist, Alison worked with seminal jazz improviser and teacher John Stevens. She worked for many years at Community Music and at Creative and Cultural Skills where she established the National Skills Academy. She has been on many advisory and awarding bodies including Observer Ethical Awards, RCA Sustainable Design Awards, D&AD White Pencil Awards. She has been on the boards of the Music Business Forum, Live Music and Sound Connections, and is on the board of Energy Revolution.

Amarha Spence

Contributor

Anna Dinnen

Contributor

Anu Giri

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Anu Giri

Anu is currently Head of Business & Operations at BFI London Film Festival which features over 600 screenings and events to an annual audience of 200,000. She leads on strategic business development, finance and operations. Prior to this she was Executive Director at Dance Umbrella, international contemporary dance festival and was responsible for finance and business development; Co-Director of English National Ballet School where she led on developed the ‘My First’ series of children’s ballets in partnership with English National Ballet and set up ENBS Juniors – high quality children’s ballet classes across 3 London boroughs. Anu spent 10 years at Arts Council England and was Head of Dance from 2003 – 2010. Before this, she was General Manager at Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company, Education Administrator at Birmingham Royal Ballet; managed small-scale dance companies Chitraleka and Company and Claire Russ Ensemble and was Projects Administrator at Dance 4, National Dance Agency. Anu also works in a freelance capacity supporting dance artists and organisations with business development and fundraising. Clients have included: British Council, Clore Leadership Programme, ZooNation Dance Company. Anu co-presented Network East for BBC2, trained in Indian Classical Dance and has a BA in Drama and a Diploma in Management and currently is Chair of Aakash Odedra Company and Board member of One Dance UK.

Asma Shah

Founder CEO

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Asma Shah

Founder CEO

I’m Founding CEO of You Make It, a self empowerment charity for young unemployed and underemployed people. I first got it going on a virtually funding free, pilot programme basis in 2011. However, I’m proud that even in the most difficult of climates, because of how I’ve demonstrated strong social impact, I’ve since secured continued grant funding for the past 5 years. Currently investment comes from the Big Lottery Fund, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Clore Duffield Foundation and Henry Smith Foundation, amongst others. This has allowed me to grow a staff team and more than double the numbers of young women who benefit from engagement with us. It has also allowed me the time to focus on research for a new programme of work aimed at young men. My experience of setting up not for profit company turned charity has taught me a huge amount, not least how to grow and develop a board of directors and trustees. Through YMI, I now offer consultancy and coaching to individuals and organisations to empower them to realise personal and professional goals. Note that income generation from these services is being diverted back into our core programmes for young people. Prior to establishing my own organisation, I completed the Clore Leadership programme in 2008, which I’d applied to following a career working in management roles within several organisations including, for example, the Roundhouse, Channel 4 and Creative Skillset. Before working in these mostly cultural and creative sectors, I was a Policy Adviser for one of the first lottery good causes – the New Opportunities Fund, which focused on education, health and environmental issues. I annually deliver talks for new Clore fellow intakes at Bore Place, focussing on the lessons of leading and entrepreneurialism. I am a trustee of Oxford House, an arts, community and heritage building in the East End, and also a trustee of People’s Palace Projects, an independent arts charity that advances the practice and understanding of art for social justice – PPP works extensively in Brazil. All of my work to date shows my passion for unlocking the potential of others, challenging limiting self perceptions of what can be achieved. This links back to my own social background – I was raised on a Peckham council estate with my late single mother and three elder sisters from the 1970s-early 90s, and while there were many challenges to overcome, I nonetheless managed to progress in education and professionally. I’m a firm believer that with confidence, clear purpose, the right questions asked, connections and networks, anything is possible and can be done brilliantly!

Claire Antrobus

independent

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Claire Antrobus

independent

I’m a coach, facilitator, trainer and consultant based in York working with individuals and organisations around the UK, face-to-face and online – supporting others to learn to change. I began my career in the mid 1990s in curatorial roles at Leeds City Art Gallery and Yorkshire Sculpture Park before moving into funding and development with London Arts Board / Arts Council England and later as Head of Arts at British Council France. Over the past decade I’ve held interim senior management roles at Tate Liverpool and Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, and delivered a variety of successful independent projects helping people and organisations to learn and create change. I trained as a coach in 2010, as part of my Fellowship, and a strong coaching ethos now underpins all my work – building confidence, clarity and commitment to achieve better performance. With a background in research, I ensure my practice is informed by current thinking, but not hampered by jargon or unnecessary complexity. I work with a wide range of people and organisations from artists and volunteer-run museums through to universities and national museums and arts companies.

Claire Hodgson

CEO

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Claire Hodgson

CEO

Claire Hodgson is a theatre/dance director and artist. Claire is founder and Chief Executive of Diverse City. In 2012 Diverse City created Breathe an international project between Brazil and Dorset that brought together 64 young disabled people to perform at the opening celebrations of the Olympic sailing events, to an audience of 10,000. After the Olympics Claire co-created Extraordinary Bodies with Billy Alwen, Cirque Bijou. Claire was a Clore Fellow in 2012 and writes for The Guardian online. She is the former head of Performing Arts at London Metropolitan University and was awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours list 2016 for services to inclusion in the performing arts. Together with Jamie Beddard, Claire won the Clore Duffield 50th Anniversary prize, which was used to tour Extraordinary Bodies Weighting across the UK.

Daisy Hale

Trustee

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Daisy Hale

Trustee

Daisy Hale (they/them) is an award winning independent producer of exciting performance artists and Creative Director of The Hale. The Hale produces and develops artists who have been traditionally ostracised from the mainstream, with a focus on Queer, Trans, Global Majority & Learning Disabled & Neurodivergent identities. Daisy’s work is not bound by form and takes place in theaters, cabaret, clubs, digital and large scale events and focuses on using fun and populism that often has a grassroots activism strand to have wider conversations about socio-political topics. They advocate for producer development and creating alternative models of working, leadership and project creation built from a process of care and counterculture. Previously, Daisy was Associate Producer for Theatre Royal Stratford East and Assistant Producer for the Borough of Enfield’s Theatres. They have been part of the Old Vic 12 (2018/19) and did Clore Emerging Leaders in 2020. Daisy regularly facilitates for organizations including Clore, Soho Theatre, Yard Theatre, Stage One, NYT and Bradford Producing Hub. Daisy is an access consultant and disability equality trainer for arts organizations. They are also a trustee of ArtsAdmin. See more at: www.the-hale.com

David Bryan

Founder/Director

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David Bryan

Founder/Director

Working with senior management teams and boards in the public sector and voluntary sector for more than 30 years I am passionate about enabling people to fulfil their potential and contribute to their organisations and therefore civic society. I am a champion of everyday creativity and the importance of the arts as evident through my Non Executive commitments. As an independent consultant my work focuses on leadership training with the most senior members of staff across sectors. Acting as a coach, trainer or facilitator I have a track record of success in empowering people to be resilient, and encouraging them to be bold in order to build robust and successful leadership teams. In particular I have supported a number of senior leaders in seeking long-term solutions to addressing equality and diversity in their management teams and wider organisation. Currently, I chair three arts organisations – Battersea Arts Centre, Brixton House and Voluntary Arts. Outside of the arts, I’m a trustee of Dunraven School.

David Price

Deb Barnard MBE

Director

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Deb Barnard MBE

Director

Deb has extensive, early career experience working within the UK creative and third sector industries combining artistic practice with arts/business management at Senior Executive level. As Director of Relational Dynamics 1st Ltd (established in 2009), she currently works as a Trainer, Supervisor & Coach; specialising in relational dynamics, personal development and leadership. She is regularly commissioned to design bespoke and creative ‘learning journeys’ for organisational and leadership development and, more recently, she has been involved in creatively transforming many of the popular RD1st Coaching Courses to online formats. She is a Leadership Coach for several UK leadership initiatives and also manages an ongoing, private client base. As well as training coaches, Deb is also an experienced Supervisor for coaches. Most of her international work has been with NGO’s; for example, Ruwwad, the Youth Empowerment Programme for Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt & Palestine, LOYAC; a young people’s leadership initiative in Kuwait and LASeR the Lebanese Assoc. for Scientific Research based in Tripoli, Lebanon. Clients in the UK range from Santander Bank to the Royal Opera House to the Young Women’s Trust to the British Psychological Society and working at a grassroots level locally in Lancaster, UK. Deb remains passionate about working to shake up human hierarchies and inequalities and sees the philosophy of coaching and many of the skills as ways to engender a kinder, more creative and collaborative world. She achieved full membership with the Association for Coaching (AC) in 2005, is a BBC Accredited Coach and was shortlisted for the ‘Award for Influence’ at AC in 2010. In 2005, she was awarded an M.B.E for her ‘services to young people’. Deb holds a B.Ed (Hons) with a specialism in Child Psychology and also holds diplomas in Cognitive Behavioural Psychology (2016), Grief and Bereavement Counselling (2018), Person-Centred Counselling (2019) and is currently studying an M.A. in Psychotherapy with the University of Cumbria (2020/21).

Debs Williams

Contributor

Delia Barker

Consultant

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Delia Barker

Consultant

Delia is Programmes Director at the Roundhouse, a live music and performance space which is also a charity using creativity to transform, inspire and change the lives of young people aged 11- 25. Her previous role was Director of English National Ballet School, a world leading specialist training centre for highly talented ballet dancers aged 16-19, continuously rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted. Delia is also Chair of the Board for Studio Wayne McGregor (SWM) a world-leading, multi-faceted dance and creative organisation that is part of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio and that recently opened the first artist-led arts space in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford. Delia is a dance specialist and as such held the post of Senior Officer, Dance for Arts Council England for seven years, leading nationally on South Asian, African Peoples’ and Disability-led dance practice before going on to manage a portfolio of diverse cultural organisations receiving £9.1 million of public investment. She has delivered business and organisation development as a consultant to Drake Music, StopGap Dance, Boy Blue Entertainment and Avant Garde Dance and she regularly mentors. She is a qualified organisational development practitioner certified by the NTL Institute, experienced in executive leadership development and management and trained in Action Learning Set facilitation and Virtual ALS facilitation with Action Learning Associates.

Dian Donovan

Contributor

Dr Maria Balshaw CBE

Trustee

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Dr Maria Balshaw CBE

Trustee

Maria Balshaw is Director of Tate, a role she has held since June 2017. She has overall responsibility for Tate’s strategic direction and day-to-day operations. She has worked to reframe the context and perspective of this long-established institution to engage with sensitive times, furthering the mission of inclusiveness and equality to connect with a wider audience. As Director, Maria is also the Accounting Officer appointed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Previously, Maria was Director of the Whitworth, University of Manchester; Director of Manchester City Galleries; and Director of Culture for Manchester City Council. Maria holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Cultural Studies from the University of Liverpool and a Master of Arts degree in Critical Theory and a DPhil in African American Visual and Literary Culture from the University of Sussex. Maria is Chair of the National Museum Directors’ Council and is a Trustee of the Clore Leadership Programme and Manchester International Festival’s Boards. In 2015, she was awarded a CBE for services to the arts.

Ellen O’Hara

Business coach, consultant and facilitator

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Ellen O’Hara

Business coach, consultant and facilitator

Ellen O’Hara is an independent coach and consultant in creative and cultural enterprise with 18 years experience spanning the private, public and third sectors. She has designed and delivered enterprise and business development programmes for Nesta and Arts Council England (Digital Arts & Culture Accelerator), Innovate UK (Enterprise Skills for grantees), British Council, and Creative United. Ellen delivers coaching, consultancy and training in business model innovation, income diversification, impact measurement, and access to alternative finance. Ellen previously held roles School for Startuos, award-winning craft incubator Cockpit Arts, the Prince’s Trust and Arts Council England; she began her career in management consultancy at Arthur Andersen. Ellen is a published researcher, SFEDI accredited coach, holds a degree in Economics & Econometrics from the University of Birmingham and a postgraduate diploma in Administrative Management. She sits on the board of regional theatre company Little Earthquake and is also co-founder and editor at City Writers Room, a place for writing about people, places and ideas on the theme of city. She works internationally and is based in the Derbyshire Dales, UK.

Emma Haughton

Co-Founder

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Emma Haughton

Co-Founder

Emma is an accredited coach, facilitator, and trainer with over 25 years experience supporting individuals and organisations in the creative and social sectors to realise their vision and potential. She is co-founder of Generate, a company of coaches and facilitators with a strong belief in the power of human relationships and creativity to support team and organisational purpose and sustainability. Emma is accredited as a coach with Relational Dynamics; is qualified in Time to Think (Nancy Kline’s Thinking Environment), in Gestalt Coaching and Facilitation and is a Certified Practitioner in Systemic Coaching and Constellations. Clients, past and present, include East London Dance, Exeter Culture, Rising Arts Bristol, Royal Opera House, Freud Museum, Clean Break, Community Cycleworks and MIND. Emma is a coach for Clore Cultural Fellowship Programme, for Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the Climate Emergency Coaching programme and for Peace Nexus. She is a Trustee of the Trust for Developing Communities in Brighton, a Member of the Association for Coaching and an RSA Fellow. Co-Founder, Generate – www.generatepartnership.co.uk www.emmahaughton.co.uk

Farooq Chaudhry OBE

Dance Producer

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Farooq Chaudhry OBE

Dance Producer

Farooq Chaudhry, co-founder and Producer of Akram Khan Company, plays a key role in forming innovative business models to support Akram Khan’s artistic ambitions as well as offering creative support during the development of Khan’s projects. Chaudhry is a witness of the School for Social Entrepreneurs and on the advisory board of Global Future. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs acknowledged him in a list of the world’s top hundred cultural actors and entrepreneurs in 2008. In addition to his work for Akram Khan Company, Chaudhry is also International Creative Producer for China’s national dance icon Yang Liping since 2016 and was Producer for English National Ballet 2013-2017. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from De Montfort University for his services to dance in 2014. In 2018 Chaudhry became the Course consultant for the new MA Dance Producing and Management at London Studio Centre. Photo credits: Maya Almeida Araujo

Gaynor Sharp

Grace Chan

Grace Chan

Hilary Jennings

Freelance (Director Happy Museum)

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Hilary Jennings

Freelance (Director Happy Museum)

Hilary Jennings is a freelance consultant working across the creative & cultural sector in project management, facilitation, coaching and mentoring. She is part-time Director of the Happy Museum Project which re-imagines the role of museums focusing on the wellbeing of people, place and planet. She has worked as an Associate of the Clore Leadership and Cultural Leadership Programmes and is facilitator of the Extend Leadership Programme. She worked extensively with the craft sector and was manager of the inaugural Craft Skills Award as well as Chair of the UK Craft Industry Board and Director for Craft at Creative and Cultural Skills. An experienced facilitator she has led strategy sessions for a range of organisations including the Museums Association, VocalEyes, Edinburgh Museums, The Heritage Craft Association and The Audience Agency. She is Co-Chair of the international Transition Network and a steering group member of the Co-Creating Change network.

Immy Kaur

James Ainscough

Contributor

James Beddard

Co-Artistic Director

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James Beddard

Co-Artistic Director

Jamie is Co-Director of Diverse City, Agent for Change at The New Wolsey Theatre, and freelance director, writer and actor. He is also a consultant, trainer and workshop leader, and has worked across the arts, educational and social sectors. He lives in North London with partner Jo, and children, Llewelyn (Lewi) and Willow. His most recent acting credits include John Merrick in the Elephant Man at Bristol Old Vic, directed by Lee Lyford, Matthias in The National Theatre’s production of The Threepenny Opera, directed by Rufus Norris, and the title role in The Messiah at Bristol Old Vic, directed by Tom Morris. Jamie is the lead artist on Extraordinary Bodies, a collaboration between Diverse City and Cirque Bijou, and the UK’s only integrated circus company. In the summer of 2019, Jamie co-directed (with Billy Aldwen) Splash! an inclusive outdoor circus and theatre performance that toured venues in the Midlands. Other Extraordinary Bodies shows include “What Am I Worth?”, set to continue its tour to indoor and outdoor venues in the coming months, and ‘Weighting’, their first production, which toured nationally. Jamie became a Clore Fellow in September 2013, and worked on an AHRC project – ‘How can the experience of disability infuse effective leadership?’ – and trained as a ‘Relational Dynamics’ Coach. During the Clore Fellowship, Jamie was seconded to the Southbank, the RSA, Channel 4 Film and the What Next? movement. In 2012, Jamie directed ‘Breathe/Battle for The Winds’, a cross-art, international collaboration, bringing together 5 companies and 80 performers. This outdoor spectacular played to 12000 people on Weymouth beach, and was the opening event for the Sailing Olympics. Jamie left his role as Diversity Officer at the Arts Council in April 2011, to concentrate on his freelance portfolio. He is a Senior Associate of Diverse City, has been Associate Director of Graeae Theatre Company, co-editor of ‘Disability Arts in London’ magazine (DAIL) and facilitated in many higher education institutions, drama colleges and community settings. He has worked in advisory capacities for many organisations including the Independent Theatre Council, London Metropolitan University, the Football League and Transport for London.

Jenny Sealey

Artistic Director

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Jenny Sealey

Artistic Director

Jenny’s directing career began with Interplay Theatre, co-directing Sea Changes, then directing Stepping Stones and Mad Meg. Jenny has been Graeae’s Artistic Director since 1997. Directing credits for Graeae include: This Is Not For You, Reasons to be Cheerful (2017, 2012, 2010 and concert versions), The House of Bernarda Alba (in a co-production with Royal Exchange Theatre), Blood Wedding (in a co-production with Dundee Rep and Derby Theatre); The Threepenny Opera (with Pete Rowe in a co-production with New Wolsey Theatre Ipswich, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Nottingham Playhouse and Birmingham Rep); Belonging (with Vinicius Daumas and performed in Brazil & London); also Signs of a Star Shaped Diva; Static; Blasted; Whiter than Snow; peeling; Bent; Iron Man and Rhinestone Rollers. International credits include: Blood Wedding (Setagaya Public Theatre, Tokyo); Romeo and Juliet (Saitama Arts Theatre, Tokyo); and at Greenwich+Docklands International Festival (GDIF) then touring outdoor arenas: Against the Tide; The Garden; The Limbless Knight – A Tale of Rights Reignited. Jenny co-directed the London 2012 Paralympic Opening Ceremony alongside Bradley Hemmings (GDIF). She also won the Liberty Human Rights Arts Award and was on the h.Club 100 list of the most influential people in the creative industries.

Jo Verrent

Director

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Jo Verrent

Director

Jo believes that ‘different’ is delicious not divergent. She works in arts & culture at strategic levels embedding the belief that diversity adds texture, turning policy into real action. Jo is the senior producer for Unlimited, the world’s largest commissions programme for disabled artists. Unlimited is a programme delivered by Shape and Artsadmin, working with partners ACE, Arts Council Wales, Southbank Centre, Tramway, Spirit of 2012 and British Council. She created a video installation -Take Me to Bed – with Luke Pell, which won Best Work in Festival in Limerick Light Moves and tours internationally. Working with Sarah Pickthall, she created SYNC – examining the interplay between disability and leadership which has run in UK, Australia and Korea. Jo has won both Cosmopolitan’s woman of achievement award and her village’s cup for making jam. She is on the Northern Advisory Panel for ACE and regularly advises on access. Jo is a Clore Fellow.

John Kelly

Contributor

John McGrath

CEO & Artistic Director

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John McGrath

CEO & Artistic Director

John E. McGrath is Artistic Director and CEO of Manchester International Festival. His first Festival in 2017 featured world premieres from leading international artists; a new digital direction for MIF; a series of participatory commissions in public spaces, and My Festival a year-round programme forging closer connections with Manchester communities. John was previously Artistic Director of National Theatre Wales, where he achieved a reputation for large-scale site-specific work, digital innovation and extraordinary community involvement. As CEO of MIF John will also be responsible for The Factory, a flagship cultural space for the creation of ambitious new work, opening in 2020.

Keith Arrowsmith

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Keith Arrowsmith

In 2014, Keith Arrowsmith decided to leave the mainstream. Instead of working with other lawyers, he became one of the senior partners at Counterculture Partnership LLP, a unique multi-disciplinary firm, providing practical strategic, finance, and legal services. Keith’s training as a solicitor, and his experience in providing advice to arts, media and heritage sector clients is the basis for his work. He enjoys bringing his specialist and technical knowledge to projects in a way that is practical, cost effective and understandable. His legal work includes company and charity regulatory issues, contracts and licensing, intellectual property issues and governance advice. He is a board member for CC Skills and the Children’s Media Conference. For fun, he is a theatre producer with Kitchen Sink Live. Keith (reluctantly) recently appeared on Channel 4’s The Bank of Dave, and wrote the Methuen Amateur Theatre Handbook.

Kim Simpson

Programme Manager – Remembering Together

Kully Thiarai

Artistic Director & Chief Executive

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Kully Thiarai

Artistic Director & Chief Executive

Currently Artistic Director & CEO of National Theatre Wales – a company that uses the nation of Wales as its stage. A strategic and dynamic thinker with nearly 30 years experience of working in the performing arts leading, developing and delivering high quality projects and programmes across a diverse range of organisations including Red Ladder Theatre Company, Contact Theatre, Leicester Haymarket Theatre, Theatre Writing Partnership, Cast in Doncaster. Highly creative individual with demonstrable experience of developing innovative visions and new organisational models, as well as dual ability to work artistically at the coalface and in strategic, executive positions. Experienced in leading major change initiatives, brokering complex relationships across sectors, building consensus around new ideas and securing funding. Enjoys working collaboratively, in teams, across sectors and with diverse communities. Knowledgeable about capital programmes and experienced in working with architects, developers, design and project teams, funding bodies and other stakeholders. Experienced in creating learning environments and bespoke models to nurture and harness talent, community participation and engagement in the creative industries.

Kwame Kwei-Armah

Artistic Director and CEO

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Kwame Kwei-Armah

Artistic Director and CEO

Kwame Kwei-Armah is Artistic Director at the Young Vic, he was previously the Artistic Director of Baltimore Center Stage where he directed: Jazz, Marley, One Night in Miami, Amadeus, Dance of the holy ghosts, The Mountaintop; An Enemy of the People, The Whipping Man and Things of Dry Hours. Other work as a director includes: Twelfth Night, Comedy of Errors, Much Ado About Nothing, Detroit’67 (Public Theatre, New York), The Liquid Plain (Signature Theatre, New York and Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Porgy and Bess (Baltimore Symphony Orchestra) the Olivier Nominated One night in Miami for Best New Play 2016 (Donmar Warehouse) and One Love (Birmingham Repertory Theatre). As a playwright his credits include One Love (Birmingham Repertory Theatre), Beneatha’s Place (Baltimore Center Stage) Elmina’s Kitchen, Fix Up, Statement of Regret (National Theatre) Let There Be Love and Seize the Day (Tricycle Theatre). Kwame was Artistic Director for the Festival of Black arts and Culture, Senegal, in 2010. He conceived and directed the opening ceremony at Senghor National stadium. He is an Associate Director of the Donmar Warehouse and has served on the boards of the National Theatre, Tricycle Theatre, and Theatre Communications Group. Kwame was the Chancellor of the University of the Arts London from 2010 to 2015, and in 2012 was awarded an OBE for Services to Drama. In 2012, 2013 and 2014 Kwame was named Best Director in City Paper’s Best of Baltimore Awards and in 2015 was nominated for the prestigious Stage Directors and Choreographers Zelda Fichandler Award for Best Regional Artistic Director. In 2016 he was awarded the Urban Visionary Award alongside House Representative Elijah Cummings by the Center for Urban Families for his work in the Baltimore community.

Matt Wilde

Director

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Matt Wilde

Director

Matt Wilde is a Manchester-based musician, producer and founding Director of Blaze; a youth-led charity that aims to develop the next generation of creative producers. Matt is a Trustee on the board of pioneering music charity Brighter Sound and the international concert venue Bridgewater Hall. Matt also specialises in coaching and facilitation, helping leaders identify and implement their own creative solutions and ideas.

Maureen Salmon

Chair

Moira Sinclair OBE

Chair

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Moira Sinclair OBE

Chair

Moira Sinclair OBE is Chief Executive of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. In 2018/2019, PHF will make £30m grants to organisations and individuals working in the arts, in cultural education, in migration and integration, and in giving young people voice. PHF also partners with Comic Relief on a £3m Tech for Good programme, and with Esmee Fairbairn and Step up to Serve on the £4m Act for Change Fund. Moira is Chair of East London Dance and Vice Chair of the London Mayor’s Cultural Strategy Board. She is also a member of the British Library Advisory Council, of the Investment Committee for the Arts Impact Fund and of the Governing Council for the European Foundation Centre. Previously she was Executive Director London and South East for Arts Council England, and Director of Vital Arts. She has worked in local government, and in theatre and production management. A graduate of Manchester University where she studied drama, Moira became a Clore Fellow in 2004/05.

Rachel Bagshaw

Contributor

Rhiannon White

Co Artistic Director

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Rhiannon White

Co Artistic Director

Rhiannon co-runs and co-directs Common Wealth. Directing and devising credits include Radical Acts, We’re Still Here (National Theatre Wales), The People’s Platform (National Theatre Wales/ Common Wealth) I Belong There, The Deal Versus The People (West Yorkshire Playhouse), No Guts, No Heart, No Glory/ Associate Director (Scotsman Fringe First Award / Live From TVC with BBC4.) Our Glass House (Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award). Rhiannon has collaborated and made work with National Theatre Wales, National Theatre (UK) Chapter Arts Centre, Sherman Cymru, Southbank Centre & Circus 2 Palestine. Rhiannon was recipient of a Cultural Clore Fellowship in 2016 and a Creative Wales Award Winner 2017. She was a panel member on the Independent Inquiry into the Future of Civil Society, chaired by Julia Unwin and is on the Artistic Advisory panel for Aberstwyth Arts Centre.

Sandy Nairne

Deputy Chair

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Sandy Nairne

Deputy Chair

Sandy Nairne CBE FSA was Director of the National Portrait Gallery from 2002 to 2015. His early career included experience at the Richard Demarco Gallery in Edinburgh, the Museum of Modern Art in Oxford and Tate Gallery. He was Director of Exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, and then co-created the innovative television series and book, State of the Art, for Channel 4 in 1987. From 1987 to 1993, Sandy was Director of Visual Arts at the Arts Council, with responsibility for key policy developments in relation to cultural change and diversity. He re-joined Tate in 1994, as Director of Programmes, which included supporting the development of Tate Modern and leading the creation of the Centenary Development of Tate Britain, as well as new initiatives in learning and digital engagement. He was formerly a governor of Middlesex University and a member of the Councils of the Royal College of Art and the British School at Rome. He is currently Chair of the Fabric Advisory Committee at St Paul’s Cathedral, supports the Maggie’s Cancer Care Centres as Chair of the Maggie’s Art Group, and is a Trustee of the Courtauld Collection and the National Trust. He was formerly Chair of Clore Leadership. Sandy Nairne has been awarded honorary doctorates from Middlesex University, De Montfort University and the University of London. He is a Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art and an Honorary Fellow of University College, Oxford.

sarah Weir OBE

Trustee

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sarah Weir OBE

Trustee

Sarah Weir OBE, the first female appointed as Chief Executive of Design Council stepped down on 29 October 2020, after three and a half years at its helm. This brought to a close an illustrious career spanning 45 years. Her decision follows her diagnosis of a rare lung disease. Having left school at 16, Sarah started her career as a broker at Lloyd’s of London. Over a 15-year period, she went from being the office junior to the first female Managing Director in the Lloyd’s market. A passionate advocate of the creative economy, much of Sarah’s career since then has focused on arts, culture and design. Before joining Design Council, Sarah was previously Executive Producer at the Roundhouse in London and Chief Executive of Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire. Her other past roles include Chief Executive of The Legacy List, the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park charity (now called Foundation for Future London); Head of Arts and Cultural Strategy for Olympic Delivery Authority; Executive Director, Arts Council England; London and Executive Director of the Almeida Theatre. Sarah has a History of Art BA from Birkbeck College (1993-7), was awarded an OBE for services to the arts (2011), First Woman Awards for public service (2013) and is a Fellow of Birkbeck College (2013). Sarah was awarded an honorary doctorate from University of the Arts London for services to design in 2019 and she has served on the board of the Alzheimer’s Society since 2013.

Shreela Ghosh

Stephen Page OBE

Chief Executive

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Stephen Page OBE

Chief Executive

Stephen began his career in bookselling before moving into publishing where he initially worked in marketing and sales. In 1994 Stephen joined Fourth Estate, becoming its Managing Director in 2000. In 2001 he moved to Faber and Faber as Chief Executive and the positive impact of the changes he made was recognized by the industry in 2006 when the company was named Publisher of the Year. Stephen is also an active member of some of the important publishing trade bodies including the Publishers Association. Stephen is also active in promoting the importance of libraries and non-corporate publishing. He is a founding member of Reading Partners – a dynamic alliance of 40 publishers and the entire UK public library network, set up in 2004 and led by The Reading Agency. In 2005 he was instrumental in founding the innovative Independent Alliance, made up of ten of the most exciting independent publishing companies in the UK. In 2007 the Guardian chose Stephen to give the keynote address for World Book Day and he is frequently asked to speak or write on issues facing the publishing industry, especially the ways in which technological developments may affect authors and publishing in the future. In 2007 he received the Vista Award for Industry Achievement. In autumn 2011 he joined the board of Creative Skillset, the industry body which supports skills and training for the UK creative industries.

Alex Beard, CBE

Chief Executive

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Alex Beard, CBE

Chief Executive

Alex Beard CBE has been Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House since 2013. During his tenure ROH has undertaken a major transformation of its public facilities including the creation of a new world class theatre for chamber opera and ballet, extended its digital presence and reach through national learning programmes and live cinema relays, and strengthened its reputation as one of the world’s leading lyric theatre organisations. Alex is also Chairman of High House Production Park Ltd, an international centre of excellence for the industry located at Thurrock in the Thames Gateway. Alex was educated at Manchester Grammar School, Westminster School and King’s College London. After a year at KPMG he joined the Arts Council in 1986. In 1994 he was appointed Director of Finance and Administration of Tate, then Director of Business in 1999 and Deputy Director in 2002. During Alex’s time with Tate he worked closely with Sir Nicholas Serota in the creation of Tate Modern, an extensive programme of capital development across the four Tate Galleries in London, Liverpool and St Ives, while also leading the business operations of the organisation. At the end of 2012 Alex was appointed a CBE for his services to the arts, and was made a Fellow of Kings College London in 2016. He is a keen cyclist, cricketer and cook.

Alistair Spalding

Artistic Director & Chief Executive

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Alistair Spalding

Artistic Director & Chief Executive

Under Spalding, Sadler’s Wells has become the UK’s leading dance house, presenting an ambitious programme of cutting-edge dance in all its forms and hosting world-class national and international companies and artists, such as The Forsythe Company, Pina Bausch Tanztheater Wuppertal, Ballet Nacional de Cuba, Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures and Wayne McGregor l Random Dance. The theatre welcomes audiences of over 500,000 across its three London venues and attracts touring audiences of over 100,000 each year. In 2005, he announced his vision for Sadler’s Wells to become a producing house. He has since driven the commissioning, producing and co-producing of more than 90 shows, including acclaimed cross art form collaborations zero degrees, PUSH and Sutra. In the last nine years, Sadler’s Wells’ productions have toured to 233 venues in 164 cities across the world. Spalding’s first job in arts management was at the Hawth Theatre, Crawley, where he was a programmer from 1988 to 1994. Between 1994 and 2000, he was Head of Dance and Performance at the Southbank Centre in London. He has been responsible for the artistic programme at Sadler’s Wells since February 2000, when he joined as Director of Programming, before becoming CEO and Artistic Director in October 2004. He was appointed as a national member of the Arts Council England Council in 2009. He was a member of the Arts Council England Dance Advisory Panel between 1995 and 2003. He was awarded the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2005. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2012, for services to dance.He was one of the cultural leaders who established What Next?, a movement bringing together arts and cultural organisations from across the UK to articulate and strengthen the role of culture in society.

Andrea Stark

Director of Employment, Skills and Culture

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Andrea Stark

Director of Employment, Skills and Culture

Andrea is the first Chief Executive of High House Production Park in Thurrock, a new charity established to advance culture-led regeneration. Based on a fourteen acre campus, overlooking the Thames, are purpose built creative industries workspaces, specialist training and education facilities, shared with resident partners Royal Opera House, Creative and Cultural Skills and ACME Studios. Previously a member of the National Executive Board of Arts Council England, with responsibility for East and South East and for its national work to shape public policy beyond the cultural sector. Andrea first arrived in the East of England to take up the post of Chief Executive of Eastern Arts Board, where she devised a highly successful investment strategy that generated over £125 million in funding for a series of world class arts centres. As arts chief for Dundee City Council and the City of Sunderland, Andrea led major regeneration programmes that positioned creative industries as a driver of local economic development. After completing postgraduate studies at University of Birmingham, Andrea’s early career was in youth and community theatre in London.

Anna Higgs

Head of Entertainment

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Anna Higgs

Head of Entertainment

Anna Higgs is an award-winning producer and creative executive who leads ground-breaking work at the intersection of film and digital storytelling. Anna has recently taken up the position of Head of Entertainment at Facebook, where she leads the team working strategically across film, TV, music and publishing – helping partners connect more meaningfully with audiences. Anna also sits on various media, arts and culture bodies including the British Screen Advisory Council, the BAFTA Film Committee and has been a mentor the Clore Fellowship and the Creative Diversity Network. Prior to joining Facebook, Anna was Creative Director at NOWNESS, a global video channel bringing together the best in culture, with the best of emerging and established filmmaking voices. A partnership between Dazed Media and the LVMH group, NOWNESS is a movement for creative excellence in storytelling celebrating the extraordinary of every day. Before NOWNESS she was Head of Digital at Film4, spearheading innovation for the Oscar-winning film fund with projects including Ben Wheatley’s A Field in England, Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard’s 20,000 Days on Earth, Ken Loach’s The Spirit of ’45 and Lenny Abrahamson’s Frank. Other credits include the upcoming High-Rise starring Tom Hiddleston, Sundance-winner Dark Horse and Peter Strickland’s The Duke of Burgundy. She was named as one of Time Out’s inaugural ‘Culture 100’, described as “the innovators, visionaries and pioneers behind what’s now and what’s next” alongside Stella McCartney, Danny Boyle and Steve McQueen, and in 2017 was selected by Creative Review as one of their Creative Leaders 50 among the likes of Felix Barrett and Jude Kelly.

Baroness Genista McIntosh

Arts Consultant, Theatre Executive and Life Peer

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Baroness Genista McIntosh

Arts Consultant, Theatre Executive and Life Peer

Genista (Jenny) McIntosh has held a number of senior positions in major arts organisations She was Executive Director of the Royal National Theatre between 1990 and 1996 and again between 1997 and 2002, and was briefly Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House in 1997. Between 1972 and 1984, and again between 1986 and 1990, she held a number of posts at the Royal Shakespeare Company. She was a founder Trustee of NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) from 1998 to 2005 and currently serves on the Boards of Southbank Sinfonia, Roundhouse Trust, National Opera Studio and Royal Shakespeare Company. Genista holds honorary doctorates from the University of York (1998), the University of Middlesex (2002) and City University (2002) and received an Honorary Fellowship from Goldsmiths College, University of London in 2003. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 1999 she was created a Life Peer, taking the title Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall, and now devotes most of her time to her work in the House of Lords.

Caroline Collier OBE

Coach and consultant

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Caroline Collier OBE

Coach and consultant

Caroline Collier, is coach and consultant. She was previously Director of Partnerships and Programmes at Tate. As senior Director she was responsible for a number of departments and activities, including Tate’s galleries in Liverpool and St Ives. She oversaw Tate’s national and international partnerships, its Learning and Research departments, the Collection Care division and chairs Tate’s Loans Committee, and its Diversity and Programme Groups. A graduate of the University of Oxford, Caroline has over 30 years’ experience of working in the visual arts, covering all aspects of museum and gallery management and development. She has worked as a writer and curator and in a range of cultural organisations in London and the regions. Before joining Tate in 2005, she was Director of Arnolfini, the contemporary arts centre in Bristol. From 2010 to 2013 Caroline was a Board member of Arts Council England and chair of the South East Regional Arts Council.

Caroline Norbury

CEO

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Caroline Norbury

CEO

Caroline Norbury MBE is the founding Chief Executive of Creative England, the organisation that uncovers, supports and invests in creative talent and businesses, and the Chief Executive of the Creative Industries Federation, the body which represents the UK’s creative industries, arts and cultural education. Caroline sits on the Creative Industries Council and chairs the Investment for Growth sub-group of the Council. She is a non-executive director of Crowdfunder, the UK’s largest rewards-based crowdfunding platform; a member of BAFTA and the Royal Society of Arts and a trustee for the PRS Foundation, a charity supporting new music and talent. She was awarded an MBE in 2012 for services to the film industry.

Dave Moutrey

Director and CEO

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Dave Moutrey

Director and CEO

Dave leads HOME a purpose built 7,500m2 multi art form venue that opened in May 2015, a project he conceived and led which has attracted almost 2.5m visits since it opened. He is seconded to Manchester City Council in a part time role of Director of Culture responsible for advising the Council on policy and strategy for culture.

David Kershaw

Trustee

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David Kershaw

Trustee

David Kershaw was CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi in 1995 when with Charles and Maurice Saatchi he resigned to set up M&C Saatchi where he was CEO until he stood down in 2021. He, with two other partners, has now formed Act 111 as a communications and investment group. David was a Director of the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 1988 to 1992. He was Chair of the Cultural Leadership Programme from 2006 to 2011 and Deputy Chair of the Southbank Centre until 2021. He is currently a Trustee of Grange Park Opera and of JW3.

Dawn Austwick

Chief Executive

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Dawn Austwick

Chief Executive

Dawn was appointed as Chief Executive of The National Lottery Community Fund in late 2013, where she responsible for the effective distribution of c£600m of National Lottery funding each year and for delivering the Fund’s Strategic Framework, People in the Lead. Prior to joining the Fund, Dawn was Chief Executive of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and was previously Deputy Director of the British Museum, Project Director for Tate Modern and a Principal Consultant at KPMG. She began her career in fringe theatre. Dawn is Chair of the Kiln Theatre in London, a Trustee of the London Marathon Charitable Trust and a member of the Advisory Boards of the Institute of Policy Research at the University of Bath and RAND Europe. She was previously a Trustee of the Historic Royal Palaces and of the Woodland Trust. She has an MBA from the London Business School and an honorary doctorate from London Metropolitan University, and was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by Queen Mary University in 2019.

Deirdre Figueiredo, MBE

Director

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Deirdre Figueiredo, MBE

Director

Deirdre Figueiredo, MBE is Director of Craftspace, a leading craft development organisation and creative producer creating opportunities to see, make and be curious about exceptional contemporary craft. Craftspace positions makers to take an active role in civic society. It connects creative practice with diverse communities of interest and place through a range of activities and partnerships. These include touring exhibitions, cross art form productions and participatory projects. Building cultural, social and human capital is a key driver of its work. Deirdre has worked as a curator and manager in the field of contemporary visual arts, craft and museums for 30 years. In a wider role she has contributed to diversity and cultural policy development, a range of advisory panels, boards and steering groups and has selected for numerous awards and open exhibitions including the Jerwood Makers Open 2017 and the Woman’s Hour Craft Prize 2017. She is the Co-founder and Secretariat of CraftNet, a national craft leadership network and also a Trustee of Punch, Create in Ireland, The Crafts Study Centre and the Clay Foundation.

Ete Davies

Ete Davies

helen marriage

Director

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helen marriage

Director

Helen Marriage is Director of Artichoke, one of the UK’s most innovative creative companies. Founded in 2006 the company’s presentation of Royal de Luxe’s The Sultan’s Elephant in the centre of London set a benchmark for large-scale spectacles that invade public space and reinvent the notion of a city’s landscape. For Helen, audiences, as well as artists, are always right at the heart of an Artichoke project. From 1994 – 2000, Helen was Director of the Salisbury Festival, which she turned from a local affair into what The Times described as ‘a miracle of modern British culture’. She was inaugural Director of Arts & Events at Canary Wharf and has worked as an Associate Director at both LIFT and Artsadmin. Her interests have always centred on the conjunction of art, civic disruption, public engagement and the transformation of daily life. In 2012, she was awarded a prestigious Loeb Fellowship at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in recognition of her on-going work in the urban environment. In 2016 she was awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours list. She was made a Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2018.

Indhu Rubasingham

Artistic Director

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Indhu Rubasingham

Artistic Director

Indhu Rubasingham is the Artistic Director of Kiln Theatre. Productions as Artistic Director include: Red Velvet (Evening Standard Award and Critics’ Circle Award, also at St Ann’s Warehouse, NYC and Kenneth Branagh Season, West End), A Wolf in Snakeskin Shoes, Multitudes, The House That Will Not Stand, Handbagged (Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre, also West End transfer and UK tour), Paper Dolls, The Invisible Hand, Holy Sh!t, and White Teeth. Other selected directing credits include: The Great Wave, Ugly Lies the Bone, The Motherf**ker With The Hat, The Waiting Room, The Ramayana (National Theatre); Women, Power and Politics, Stones in His Pockets, Detaining Justice, The Great Game: Afghanistan, Fabulation, Starstruck (Tricycle Theatre); Belong, Disconnect, Free Outgoing, Lift Off, Clubland, The Crutch, Sugar Mummies (Royal Court); Ruined (Almeida); Yellowman, Anna in the Tropics (Hampstead); Secret Rapture, The Misanthrope (Minerva, Chichester); Romeo and Juliet (Festival Theatre, Chichester); Pure Gold (Soho Theatre); The No Boys Cricket Club, Party Girls (Stratford East); Wuthering Heights (Birmingham Rep); Heartbreak House (Watford Palace); Sugar Dollies, Shakuntala (Gate); A River Sutra (Three Mill Island Studios); Rhinoceros (UC Davis, California); A Doll’s House (Young Vic).

Jenny Sealey

Artistic Director

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Jenny Sealey

Artistic Director

Jenny’s directing career began with Interplay Theatre, co-directing Sea Changes, then directing Stepping Stones and Mad Meg. Jenny has been Graeae’s Artistic Director since 1997. Directing credits for Graeae include: This Is Not For You, Reasons to be Cheerful (2017, 2012, 2010 and concert versions), The House of Bernarda Alba (in a co-production with Royal Exchange Theatre), Blood Wedding (in a co-production with Dundee Rep and Derby Theatre); The Threepenny Opera (with Pete Rowe in a co-production with New Wolsey Theatre Ipswich, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Nottingham Playhouse and Birmingham Rep); Belonging (with Vinicius Daumas and performed in Brazil & London); also Signs of a Star Shaped Diva; Static; Blasted; Whiter than Snow; peeling; Bent; Iron Man and Rhinestone Rollers. International credits include: Blood Wedding (Setagaya Public Theatre, Tokyo); Romeo and Juliet (Saitama Arts Theatre, Tokyo); and at Greenwich+Docklands International Festival (GDIF) then touring outdoor arenas: Against the Tide; The Garden; The Limbless Knight – A Tale of Rights Reignited. Jenny co-directed the London 2012 Paralympic Opening Ceremony alongside Bradley Hemmings (GDIF). She also won the Liberty Human Rights Arts Award and was on the h.Club 100 list of the most influential people in the creative industries.

Jenny Waldman

Director, Art Fund

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Jenny Waldman

Director, Art Fund

Jenny Waldman was appointed Director of 14-18 NOW, the UK’s official First World War Centenary Cultural Programme, in July 2013. This 5-year programme is commissioning new art-works from UK and international artists, reflecting on WW1 and the period 1914-18. Jenny was Creative Producer of the London 2012 Festival, the finale of the Cultural Olympiad for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, where she led a team of producers responsible for delivering over 600 projects and partnerships across the UK involving 1,270 venues and including 160 world and UK premieres. From 1999-2011 Jenny was Public Programmes Consultant to Somerset House Trust, opening the iconic central London building and its outdoor spaces to the public and creating a successful outdoor programme of concerts, films, London’s first open-air ice rink, as well commissioning site-specific theatre and visual art installations. Jenny has commissioned large-scale performing arts events for Tate Modern and Tate Britain and was for five years Director of Arts Centre Programmes at the Southbank Centre, the UK’s largest arts centre, where she was responsible for programming across festivals, dance, literature, outdoors and performance. As a senior arts management consultant her clients included the National Theatre, Young Vic, Punchdrunk, Manchester International Festival, Roundhouse, Film4 and Tate. She is an Associate of the Cultural Institute at Kings College London and a Trustee Punchdrunk theatre company.

John Holden

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John Holden

Professor John Holden is a Visiting Professor at the University of Leeds, a former Honorary Professor of the University of Hong Kong, and an Associate at the think-tank Demos, (where he was Head of Culture for 8 years). He has MAs in both Law and Design History. John is the author of works including The Ecology of Culture, Influence and Attraction, Democratic Culture, and Cultural Value and the Crisis of Legitimacy, and is the co-author of The Cultural Leadership Handbook, Cultural Diplomacy and All Together. He has given many keynote speeches in the UK, the rest of Europe, Japan, Asia, North America and Australia. In addition to being a Trustee of Clore Leadership, he has served as a member of the European Expert Network on Culture, and on boards and committees at Oxford University, the Royal Opera House, the Design Museum, the Hepworth Wakefield and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

John McGrath

CEO & Artistic Director

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John McGrath

CEO & Artistic Director

John E. McGrath is Artistic Director and CEO of Manchester International Festival. His first Festival in 2017 featured world premieres from leading international artists; a new digital direction for MIF; a series of participatory commissions in public spaces, and My Festival a year-round programme forging closer connections with Manchester communities. John was previously Artistic Director of National Theatre Wales, where he achieved a reputation for large-scale site-specific work, digital innovation and extraordinary community involvement. As CEO of MIF John will also be responsible for The Factory, a flagship cultural space for the creation of ambitious new work, opening in 2020.

John Newbigin

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John Newbigin

John Newbigin OBE is Chairman of Creative England and of Cinema Arts Network. As Special Advisor to the Minister for Culture, Rt Hon Chris Smith MP, he was closely involved in developing the UK government’s first policies for the creative industries in the 1990s. He was Head of Corporate Relations for Channel 4 Television and executive assistant to Lord Puttnam as the Chairman of the film company Enigma Productions Ltd. As a policy advisor to the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition, Rt Hon Neil Kinnock, MP, he had responsibility for environmental and cultural issues, amongst others. He is a member of the Creative Industries Council; of the British Council’s Advisory Board for Arts and Creative Industries; of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship at Goldsmiths, University of London; and of the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Knowledge Exchange Oversight Group. He is an Honorary Professor at the University of Hong Kong. He was a youth worker in East London for 6 years and writer-in-residence for Common Stock Theatre.

Kathleen Soriano

Director

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Kathleen Soriano

Director

Kathleen Soriano began her career at the Royal Academy of Arts over 35 years ago. In 1989 she joined the National Portrait Gallery, where as Director of Exhibitions & Collections she was also responsible for national and international programmes. In 2004 she became one of the first cohort of Clore Leadership Fellows, working at the South Bank Centre and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. In February 2006 she became Director of Compton Verney Art Gallery, Warwickshire. January 2009 saw her appointed Artistic Director at the Royal Academy of Arts, London. In 2014 she set up her own curatorial, artistic advisory and strategic consultancy company. In addition she has recently acted as Interim Director at Firstsite, Colchester and Artistic Director of the Jakober Foundation, Mallorca. As well as curating many successful exhibitions she has lectured and written extensively in her field and her book Madam and Eve on women artists, was published in April 2018. Her broadcast activities include the seven series of Portrait/Landscape Artist of the Year for SkyArts. She is Chair of the Liverpool Biennial, and a specialist advisor to the National Trust. Previously she has held roles on the strategic committee of the Grand Palais, Paris, the Wellcome Collection exhibition advisory group, chaired the Churches Conservation Trust’s Art Advisory group, was a founder member of Women Leaders in Museums Network and is currently on the Advisory Board of ArtUK, 2 Temple Place, the editorial board of Apollo and the visual arts committee of St Paul’s Cathedral, London.

Kim Evans OBE

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Kim Evans OBE

Kim Evans has extensive experience as a creative practitioner and leader in the cultural sector. She began her career as a documentary filmmaker on The South Bank Show, and then at the BBC where she won a BAFTA for her film Angela Carter’s Curious Room. She went on to become Head of Music & Arts at the BBC and then Executive Director of Arts at Arts Council England. She is currently a Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery and Chair of Clean Break, the women’s theatre company that works with leading playwrights and women in prison or at risk of offending. She also works with a wide range of individuals and cultural organisations as a mentor and advisor. In 2007 she was awarded an OBE for her services to the arts.

Kully Thiarai

Artistic Director & Chief Executive

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Kully Thiarai

Artistic Director & Chief Executive

Currently Artistic Director & CEO of National Theatre Wales – a company that uses the nation of Wales as its stage. A strategic and dynamic thinker with nearly 30 years experience of working in the performing arts leading, developing and delivering high quality projects and programmes across a diverse range of organisations including Red Ladder Theatre Company, Contact Theatre, Leicester Haymarket Theatre, Theatre Writing Partnership, Cast in Doncaster. Highly creative individual with demonstrable experience of developing innovative visions and new organisational models, as well as dual ability to work artistically at the coalface and in strategic, executive positions. Experienced in leading major change initiatives, brokering complex relationships across sectors, building consensus around new ideas and securing funding. Enjoys working collaboratively, in teams, across sectors and with diverse communities. Knowledgeable about capital programmes and experienced in working with architects, developers, design and project teams, funding bodies and other stakeholders. Experienced in creating learning environments and bespoke models to nurture and harness talent, community participation and engagement in the creative industries.

Kwame Kwei-Armah

Artistic Director and CEO

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Kwame Kwei-Armah

Artistic Director and CEO

Kwame Kwei-Armah is Artistic Director at the Young Vic, he was previously the Artistic Director of Baltimore Center Stage where he directed: Jazz, Marley, One Night in Miami, Amadeus, Dance of the holy ghosts, The Mountaintop; An Enemy of the People, The Whipping Man and Things of Dry Hours. Other work as a director includes: Twelfth Night, Comedy of Errors, Much Ado About Nothing, Detroit’67 (Public Theatre, New York), The Liquid Plain (Signature Theatre, New York and Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Porgy and Bess (Baltimore Symphony Orchestra) the Olivier Nominated One night in Miami for Best New Play 2016 (Donmar Warehouse) and One Love (Birmingham Repertory Theatre). As a playwright his credits include One Love (Birmingham Repertory Theatre), Beneatha’s Place (Baltimore Center Stage) Elmina’s Kitchen, Fix Up, Statement of Regret (National Theatre) Let There Be Love and Seize the Day (Tricycle Theatre). Kwame was Artistic Director for the Festival of Black arts and Culture, Senegal, in 2010. He conceived and directed the opening ceremony at Senghor National stadium. He is an Associate Director of the Donmar Warehouse and has served on the boards of the National Theatre, Tricycle Theatre, and Theatre Communications Group. Kwame was the Chancellor of the University of the Arts London from 2010 to 2015, and in 2012 was awarded an OBE for Services to Drama. In 2012, 2013 and 2014 Kwame was named Best Director in City Paper’s Best of Baltimore Awards and in 2015 was nominated for the prestigious Stage Directors and Choreographers Zelda Fichandler Award for Best Regional Artistic Director. In 2016 he was awarded the Urban Visionary Award alongside House Representative Elijah Cummings by the Center for Urban Families for his work in the Baltimore community.

Maggie Appleton

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Maggie Appleton

Maggie is CEO at the RAF Museum and President of the Museums Association. She has 28 years’ experience in the sector and is passionate about the difference that museums and culture can make to people’s lives. The Royal Air Force Museum is a National Museum with sites in Hendon, North London and Cosford in the West Midlands.

Moira Sinclair OBE

Chair

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Moira Sinclair OBE

Chair

Moira Sinclair OBE is Chief Executive of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. In 2018/2019, PHF will make £30m grants to organisations and individuals working in the arts, in cultural education, in migration and integration, and in giving young people voice. PHF also partners with Comic Relief on a £3m Tech for Good programme, and with Esmee Fairbairn and Step up to Serve on the £4m Act for Change Fund. Moira is Chair of East London Dance and Vice Chair of the London Mayor’s Cultural Strategy Board. She is also a member of the British Library Advisory Council, of the Investment Committee for the Arts Impact Fund and of the Governing Council for the European Foundation Centre. Previously she was Executive Director London and South East for Arts Council England, and Director of Vital Arts. She has worked in local government, and in theatre and production management. A graduate of Manchester University where she studied drama, Moira became a Clore Fellow in 2004/05.

Mr Michael Day CVO

Chief Executive

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Mr Michael Day CVO

Chief Executive

Michael Day was CEO of Historic Royal Palaces from 2003 to 2017. Previously he was Director of the Jersey Heritage Trust from 1987, where his projects twice won the UK Museum of the Year Award. He started his career as a curator with the Norfolk Museums Service in 1974 before moving in 1983 to the Ironbridge Gorge Museum. At Historic Royal Palaces, he led a sustained programme of organisational transformation, including major projects at the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace, Kew Palace and Hillsborough Castle. He had overall responsibility for HRP’s part in the epic Tower Poppies installation in 2014. He is currently a trustee of the National Trust and chair of The Royal Tennis Court. He was formerly chair of Battersea Arts Centre, a trustee of the Alnwick Garden Trust and board member of the UK’s Cultural Leadership Programme. He has taught on leadership programmes and lectured at universities and conferences around the world on cultural leadership and historic site interpretation. This has included, since his retirement, a visiting professorship at the University of Illinois and teaching assignments for IMD in Lausanne and Brunel and Queen Mary Universities. Michael is a Fellow of the Museums Association and the Royal Society of Arts, and a Companion of the Institute of Management. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Kingston University in 2010 for his work in the heritage and museums sector and was appointed Commander of the Royal Victorian Order by HM The Queen in the 2015 New Year Honours.

Pam Warhurst

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Pam Warhurst

Pam cofounded Incredible Edible, an initiative begun in Northern England dedicated to growing food locally by planting on unused land throughout the community, she called it propaganda gardening. Pam Warhurst CBE has been an activist and advisor for over 40 years. She has been involved in local politics and national policy as the Chair of the Board of the Forestry Commission, which advises on and implements forestry policy in Great Britain. She also cofounded Incredible Edible Todmorden, a local food partnership that encourages community engagement through local growing. Incredible Edible started small, with the planting of a few community herb gardens in Todmorden, and today has spin-offs in the U.S. and Japan, counting over 120 groups in the UK and 1000 world-wide. Incredible Edible empowers ordinary people to take control of their communities through active civic engagement, redefining prosperity through the power of small actions. Today Pam chairs the Incredible Edible Network, supporting and amplifying the work of groups around the UK, she also chairs Pennine Prospects which works with local authorities, government agencies, businesses, voluntary organisations and the local community to deliver a range of initiatives including the objectives of the “Heritage Strategy for the South Pennines”. She is currently developing the impact work of Incredible Edible through the proposition of a New Social Contract to transform the frameworks of our lives so that all people can live well and live long. Pam also works as part of a global network of social entrepreneurs, as an Ashoka Fellow.

Roly Keating

Trustee

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Roly Keating

Trustee

Roly Keating has been Chief Executive of the British Library since September 2012. In his tenure so far, he has overseen a series of significant developments including: the launch in 2015 of Living Knowledge, an ambitious new vision and strategy; a major expansion of cultural and learning activities, including landmark exhibitions on Magna Carta and Harry Potter; new pan-UK partnerships with public libraries including the successful Business & IP Centre national network; digital initiatives including Save Our Sounds to preserve the UK’s audio heritage; the creation of the Knowledge Quarter, an innovative partnership of knowledge-based organisations near the Library’s London HQ; and the initiation of major new capital projects in London and Yorkshire, including full-scale renewal of the Library’s Boston Spa campus and creation of a major new public space in Leeds. Roly joined the Library after a long and successful career as a programme-maker and broadcasting executive at the BBC, where he played key roles in the launch of UKTV, as its first Head of Programming, and BBC Four, as its launch Controller in 2002, before moving on to become Controller of BBC Two and Director of Archive Content, with editorial oversight of the BBC’s online services including BBC iPlayer. Roly is a member of the board of Channel 4 and a Trustee of the Clore Leadership Programme. He chairs the Conference of European National Librarians and the Steering Committee for the 5-year AHRC-funded research programme Towards a National Collection. Roly holds Honorary Doctorates from the Universities of Lincoln, Warwick and York.

Rosemary Squire

Joint CEO

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Rosemary Squire

Joint CEO

Dame Rosemary Squire is one of the most prominent women in British theatre of the modern era. Co-founding Ambassador Theatre Group in 1992, it has gone onto become the world’s number one live-theatre company. In 2016, Squire stepped down from her post as CEO to move into a new creative phase. Her latest venture with Sir Howard Panter is Trafalgar Entertainment, an innovative live entertainment business and home to Trafalgar Studios, Trafalgar Theatre Productions, Stagecoach Performing Arts and Trafalgar Releasing. In 2014, she made history as the first woman to be named EY UK Entrepreneur of the Year. She was a National Member of the Arts Council England Board for almost 10 years and Joint Chair of The Hall for Cornwall. As Chair of Great Ormond Street’s Theatres for Theatres Appeal she raised over £5m and now Chairs another major appeal to raise £10m for the hospital. Widely respected in the industry, Rosemary and her husband/business partner, Sir Howard Panter, have topped The Stage 100 for seven consecutive record-breaking years. In 2007 Rosemary was awarded an OBE for Services to Theatre and in the 2018 New Year Honours she was named Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for Services to Theatre and Philanthropy.

Ruth Mackenzie CBE

Ruth Mackenzie CBE

sarah Weir OBE

Trustee

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sarah Weir OBE

Trustee

Sarah Weir OBE, the first female appointed as Chief Executive of Design Council stepped down on 29 October 2020, after three and a half years at its helm. This brought to a close an illustrious career spanning 45 years. Her decision follows her diagnosis of a rare lung disease. Having left school at 16, Sarah started her career as a broker at Lloyd’s of London. Over a 15-year period, she went from being the office junior to the first female Managing Director in the Lloyd’s market. A passionate advocate of the creative economy, much of Sarah’s career since then has focused on arts, culture and design. Before joining Design Council, Sarah was previously Executive Producer at the Roundhouse in London and Chief Executive of Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire. Her other past roles include Chief Executive of The Legacy List, the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park charity (now called Foundation for Future London); Head of Arts and Cultural Strategy for Olympic Delivery Authority; Executive Director, Arts Council England; London and Executive Director of the Almeida Theatre. Sarah has a History of Art BA from Birkbeck College (1993-7), was awarded an OBE for services to the arts (2011), First Woman Awards for public service (2013) and is a Fellow of Birkbeck College (2013). Sarah was awarded an honorary doctorate from University of the Arts London for services to design in 2019 and she has served on the board of the Alzheimer’s Society since 2013.

Sir John Tusa

writer, broadcaster, manager, arts leader

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Sir John Tusa

writer, broadcaster, manager, arts leader

Sir John Tusa is a broadcaster, writer and arts manager. Born in Czechoslovakia in 1936, he came to England with his family in the summer of 1939. Educated at St Faith’s School, Cambridge and Gresham’s School, Holt, he took a first class Honours Degree in History at Trinity College, Cambridge. He served his National Service between 1954 and 1956 mainly in West Germany ending as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery. Sir John Tusa joined the BBC as a General Trainee in 1960, becoming a Producer in the BBC’s General overseas Service. He resigned from BBC staff in 1966 to freelance as a broadcaster, interviewer and reporter. In 1980, Tusa became a founding presenter of the new “Newsnight” programme where he remained for 6 years. During that time he was honoured by the Royal Television Society and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. From 1986-92, Tusa was Managing Director of BBC World Service. Between 1995 and 2007, he was Managing Director of the Barbican Centre. Thereafter, he was Chair of the University of the Arts London and of the Clore Leadership Programme. Now he is Co-Chair of the European Union Youth Orchestra and a Trustee of the Turquoise Mountain trust. His books on the arts include “Art Matters” (1999), “Engaged with the Arts” (2007) and “Pain in the Arts” (2014). Tusa published his memoirs ” Making a Noise: Getting it Right, Getting it Wrong in Life, the Arts and Broadcasting” in 2018. He received a knighthood in 2003.

Sonita Alleyne

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Sonita Alleyne

Sonita Alleyne is the founder of The Yes Programme, a unique online service that helps school pupils make career decisions by giving them an insight into how classroom skills translate to the real world. Sonita currently holds a number of non-executive board roles including the London Legacy Development Corporation, British Board of Film Classification, Archant Media Group, the Cultural Capital Fund. She is also a member of the BBC Trust. Previous board roles include the National Employment Panel and the London Skills and Employment Board, Chair of the Radio Sector Skills Council and non-executive director of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and being a member of the Court of Governors at the University of the Arts London. Sonita Alleyne also founded the production company Somethin’ Else and led it as Chief Executive from 1991 until 2009. Brought up in east London. Sonita won the Carlton Multicultural Achievement Award for TV and Radio in 2002 and is a Fellow of The Royal Society of the Arts and the Radio Academy. Sonita is an Ambassador for Street Kids International and was awarded an OBE for services to broadcasting in November 2003.

Stephen Page OBE

Chief Executive

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Stephen Page OBE

Chief Executive

Stephen began his career in bookselling before moving into publishing where he initially worked in marketing and sales. In 1994 Stephen joined Fourth Estate, becoming its Managing Director in 2000. In 2001 he moved to Faber and Faber as Chief Executive and the positive impact of the changes he made was recognized by the industry in 2006 when the company was named Publisher of the Year. Stephen is also an active member of some of the important publishing trade bodies including the Publishers Association. Stephen is also active in promoting the importance of libraries and non-corporate publishing. He is a founding member of Reading Partners – a dynamic alliance of 40 publishers and the entire UK public library network, set up in 2004 and led by The Reading Agency. In 2005 he was instrumental in founding the innovative Independent Alliance, made up of ten of the most exciting independent publishing companies in the UK. In 2007 the Guardian chose Stephen to give the keynote address for World Book Day and he is frequently asked to speak or write on issues facing the publishing industry, especially the ways in which technological developments may affect authors and publishing in the future. In 2007 he received the Vista Award for Industry Achievement. In autumn 2011 he joined the board of Creative Skillset, the industry body which supports skills and training for the UK creative industries.

Tessa Ross

Co-CEO

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Tessa Ross

Co-CEO

Tessa Ross is CEO of House Productions, the film and television production company that she launched in 2016 with her business partner Juliette Howell. Their recent projects include Brexit, a single film by acclaimed playwright James Graham, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Rory Kinnear and Trigonometry, a series written by Duncan Macmillan and Effie Woods, starring Ariane Labed, Thalissa Texeira and Gary Carr. She was previously Controller of Film and Drama at Channel 4, during which time Film4 worked with the most innovative talent in the UK and built a reputation for developing and financing some of the most acclaimed British films of recent years. These include Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, Kevin Macdonald’s The Last King of Scotland, Chris Morris’ Four Lions, Shane Meadows’ This is England, Steve McQueen’s Hunger, Shame, and 12 Years A Slave, Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges, Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin, Lenny Abrahamson’s Frank and Room, Todd Haynes’ Carol, and Alex Garland’s Ex Machina. Her work in television includes commissioning programmes such as Shameless, Sex Traffic, The Devil’s Whore, Longford, White Teeth, and Clocking Off. Tessa has been a governor at the NFTS, a governor of the BFI and a member of the ICA Council. She was on the Board of the National Theatre and appointed as its first CEO. She was appointed CBE in the New Year 2010 Honours List and was awarded a BAFTA for Outstanding British Contribution to Film in 2013.

Tom Bloxham

Group Chairman

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Tom Bloxham

Group Chairman

Tom Bloxham MBE is chairman and founder of award-winning regeneration company Urban Splash, which has received 419 awards to date for architecture, design and business success. The company is responsible for development projects across the country, including Manchester, Liverpool, Cambridge, Milton Keynes, Birmingham, Leeds, Bradford Sheffield, Bristol, Plymouth, North Shields and Morecambe. In 1999 Tom was awarded an MBE for Services to Architecture and Urban Regeneration. Tom also upholds a number of other positions including;Chairman of Manchester International Festival, and trustee of Tate, the Manchester United Foundation and The Bloxham Charitable Trust. In 2016, Tom and Urban Splash co-founder Jonathan launched House by Urban Splash – their modular housing concept which is being rolled out across the country. House is created using modern methods of construction allowing for customer specification. The first homes are completed, fully sold and occupied at sites in Manchester, Salford and North Shields, with other modular homes on sale in Manchester, Birmingham and soon to launch in Cambridge, Walsall, the Wirral and Milton Keynes.

Tonya Nelson

Area Director, London

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Tonya Nelson

Area Director, London

Tonya Nelson is Director, Arts Technology and Innovation at Arts Council England. She also currently Chair of ICOM UK and sit of the board of trustees of the National Gallery. She was previously Director of Museums and Cultural Programmes at UCL where she oversaw exhibitions, public art and theatre programming across UCL’s three public museums and the Bloomsbury Theatre. In 2017 she was seconded to the DCMS to help develop a digital strategy for the cultural sector and was co-author of the Culture is Digital policy report. She has been a British Council Cultural Leadership International (CLI) Fellow and was Director of the British Council’s new international training academy for museum professionals. Tonya joined the cultural sector after working as a lawyer and management consultant in the United States. She holds a B.A. degree in Public Policy, M.A degree in History of Art and a J.D. degree in Law.

Vanessa Reed

Private

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Vanessa Reed

Private

Vanessa has repositioned the PRS Foundation as the UK’s most pioneering and effective funder of new music and talent development, significantly increasing resources for the music industry and launching a diverse range of award-winning initiatives which support composers and songwriters of all backgrounds. Recent initiatives initiated by Vanessa include Momentum – the ground-breaking talent development fund for artists working in pop music in partnership with Arts Council England, PPL and Spotify and a range of international initiatives including the Keychange campaign which invests in female talent whilst encouraging music festivals to aim for a 50:50 gender balance by 2022. Between 1997-2007, Vanessa worked as an independent arts consultant, as Grants Manager at the European Cultural Foundation (Amsterdam), in the Education and Culture Directorate of the European Commission (Brussels) and as Promotions Manager at the British Music Information Centre. Vanessa was selected as one of fifty ‘Women to Watch’ by the Cultural Leadership Programme in 2010. More recently Vanessa won the music category of the Hospital Club’s 100 Awards for UK creative industry influencers, was awarded a Fellowship by Leeds College of Music for her contribution to music in the UK and accepted Music Week’s Oustanding Contribution to Charity Award on behalf of PRS Foundation. Vanessa is Chair of Sound UK Arts, Board member of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts.

Vikki Heywood

Arts Co-ordinator

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Vikki Heywood

Arts Co-ordinator

Vikki Heywood was appointed for a second three year term as RSA Chairman at the AGM in October 2015, the first time ever that the Chairman has been invited to remain. Previously, she was the Executive Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), a position from which she stepped down in 2013. Since leaving the RSC she has taken on the Chairmanship of The RSA, The Warwick Commission on the Future of Cultural Value which published January 2015, Mountview Drama Academy and the five year First World War Centenary Arts Commissioning Programme, “14-18 Now”. She is also on the Board of the National Theatre. Prior to her appointment at the RSC, Vikki was Joint Chief Executive of the Royal Court Theatre, the country’s foremost theatre for the development of new writing. At both the RSC and the Royal Court she was responsible for their two multiple million pound capital projects which transformed two iconic theatre buildings in London and Stratford Upon Avon. Previously she has been a board member of the Society of London Theatre, The London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership and a member of Warwick University Council as well as a number of theatre boards. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Birmingham, becoming a Doctor of Letters in December 2009 and was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2012 for services to theatre.

Wayne McGregor CBE

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Wayne McGregor CBE

Wayne McGregor is a multi-award-winning British choreographer and director, internationally renowned for his physically testing choreography and groundbreaking collaborations across dance, film, music, visual art, technology and science. He is Artistic Director of Wayne McGregor | Random Dance, Resident Company at Sadlerʼs Wells, and Resident Choreographer of The Royal Ballet. McGregor has created new works for Paris Opera Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, New York City Ballet, Australian Ballet, English National Ballet, NDT1, Rambert Dance Company among others. His works are also in the repertories of the leading ballet companies in the world including the Bolshoi, Royal Danish Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Boston Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Mariinsky Ballet. He has directed movement for theatre and film including Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire, and has choreographed music videos including the Grammy-nominated Lotus Flower video for Radiohead, and Ingenue for Atoms for Peace. He has also directed opera for La Scala, Milan and the Royal Opera House, London, and choreographed for plays, musicals, fashion shows and art galleries including site specific installations at the Hayward Gallery, Saatchi Gallery, National Gallery, Canary Wharf, Glastonbury, the Pompidou Centre and for Secret Cinema. In July 2012 he created a large-scale public dance work with 1000 performers, Big Dance Trafalgar Square, part of London 2012 Festival in celebration of the London Olympic Games. Most recently he premiered Tetractys – The Art of Fugue for The Royal Ballet, Atomos for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance, and presented Thinking with the Body at Wellcome Collection, an exhibition exploring his collaborative enquiry into choreographic thinking. McGregor’s work has earned him three Critics’ Circle Awards, two Time Out Awards, two South Bank Show Awards, two Olivier Awards, two prix Benois de la Danse and a Critics’ Prize at the Golden Mask Awards. In January 2011 McGregor was awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) for Services to Dance.