What Next? Leadership Group
NEW MEMBERS
Elizabeth Lynch MBE, What Next? Wandsworth, Freelance Arts Advisor, Leadership coach and Arts Emergency Mentor
Elizabeth Lynch specialises in generating creative, purposeful collaborations between artists and communities, previously as a director/producer, now as an advisor, researcher and coach. As founding Director of Roundhouse Studios, she pioneered its youth-led programming. Recent projects drawing on her engagement experience include Government Art Collection, National Gallery, Wellcome Collection, Action Space, LAMDA and Creative People and Places. She is an Associate Research Fellow in Contemporary Theatre at Birkbeck University, RSA Fellow, Chair of Theatre-Rites, Trustee of I Am Irish, Co-chair of CADA (Creative Ageing Development Agency) and Arts Emergency mentor. She has been Chair of What Next Wandsworth since 2013.
Jeanie Scott, Director, Culture Radar
Jeanie Scott is Director of Culture Radar, a research and development consultancy based in Edinburgh. She has over 25 years’ experience working across the arts, heritage and creative industries as a Director and CEO, and as a funding and organisational development consultant. Jeanie led the Review of Fair Work in the creative and cultural sectors in Scotland in 2022 on behalf of the Scottish Government’s Cultural Strategy, and she is currently conducting research around Industry Standard Rates of Pay with Queen Margaret University on behalf of Creative Scotland. Recent projects also include developing new cultural strategies with regional partnerships in both Angus and Moray; supporting organisational development and change in a range of creative organisations and festivals; and providing interim-director support. She will publish The Illustrated Fair Work Guide for the Creative and Cultural Sector in 2023 (with editor Heather Parry and illustrator Maria Stoian). Jeanie is a Clore Fellow, a Fellow of the RSA, and is an accredited coach and a facilitator.
Lilli Geissendorfer, Deputy Director, Creative Policy and Evidence Centre
Lilli Geissendorfer was appointed Director of Jerwood Arts, the leading independent funder of early-career artists, makers, curators and producers in the UK, in January 2018. Since then she has rebranded Jerwood Arts and opened up its approach to funding for organisations and individuals, focusing on creating fully resourced, artist-centred and equitable processes and opportunities. She has significantly increased its partnerships, national reach and impact, including through innovating with random selection and pooled funds. Current programmes include Weston Jerwood Creative Bursaries, Jerwood Curatorial Accelerator, Jerwood Developing Artists Fund, Jerwood Art Fund Makers Open and Jerwood/Photoworks Awards.
Lilli is a trustee of Fuel, a mentor with Arts Emergency and regularly contributes to national policy conversations. Her previous roles include Producer at Almeida Theatre, Relationship Manager at Arts Council England and co-producer of the first HighTide Festival.
Reyahn King, Freelance Consultant, Facilitator, Grant assessor and Executive Coach
Reyahn is a consultant and facilitator who brings a wealth of senior and strategic leadership experience to What Next? most recently as Director of Heritage Properties, National Trust for Scotland. As Chief Executive of York Museums Trust for seven years, Reyahn led the organisation to success with a collaborative organisational vision and resilience through Covid. Reyahn has also held positions as Head of Heritage Lottery Fund West Midlands, Director of Art Galleries at National Museums Liverpool and Head of Exhibitions and Interpretation at Birmingham Museums.
Della Hill, Operations & Social Impact Manager, National Theatre Wales
Della specialises in project management and business development to improve the strategic & operational direction of a range of organisations across the UK. She is currently the Operations & Social Impact Manager at National Theatre Wales, Consultant and Speaker at people make it work, Trustee of Spread the Word and a WJCB Toolkit Associate. Della was previously Creative Lead Literature Wales and Diversity and Inclusion Lead at Chwarae Teg. She has managed and delivered large-scale initiatives that reflect her passion of addressing and dismantling structural inequalities alongside advocating for high-level social change within Creative, Arts & Culture, Education and Equalities Sectors.
David Lockwood, CEO, The Arts Development Company, What Next? Dorset
David is CEO of The Arts Development Company, a social enterprise based in Dorset that specialises in enabling the strategic delivery of culture. Before this, David ran Trowbridge Town Hall in Wiltshire, where he reimagined the historic building as a centre of culture and community, securing £8 million from central government. And before that, he jointly set up and led the Bike Shed in Exeter, which served delicious cocktails and supported emerging and small scale performance.
Leila D’Aronville – Independent Producer and Consultant, Founder North East Cultural
Freelancers and Creative Producer at Northern Roots.
Leila has worked in the cultural sector in the North East for over 20 years; most recently founding North East Cultural Freelancers which advocates and works on behalf of cultural freelancers and independents in the North East of England. Leila also leads Northern Roots – a music development agency which presents a diverse programme of music and supports marginalised artists through mentoring and platforming opportunities. Leila has a passion and drive to put people at the heart of the cultural sector, developing equity and encouraging collaboration and collaborative leadership. She has an aspiration for
the North East of England to becoming the best place to be a cultural worker in the UK.Leila D’aronville – What Next? Newcastle and Gateshead, Freelancer, North East Cultural Freelancers
CURRENT MEMBERS
Dave Moutrey (pronoun he/him) – Director and Chief Executive, HOME, Director of Culture for Manchester City Council – CURRENT CO-CHAIR
Dave Moutrey is Director and Chief Executive of HOME a purpose built 7,500m2 multi art form venue that opened in May 2015. In this role he conceived and led both the merger of Cornerhouse and Library Theatre Company and the £25m capital project to create HOME which has attracted almost 1m visits per year since it opened. In April 2018 he was seconded to Manchester City Council in a part time role of Director of Culture. He is responsible for advising the Council on policy and strategy for culture and working closely with the Cultural Leaders Group on joint working and other collaborative initiatives.
Dave has worked in Manchester in leadership roles in the arts since 1984 previously at Abraham Moss Centre Theatre, Arts About Manchester and Cornerhouse. He was awarded a Doctor of Arts honoris causa by the University of Salford is a Fellow of the RSA, a member of the Chartered Management Institute, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Dave is also an advisor to the British Council and holds a number of nonexecutive roles on not-for-profit boards
Suzanne Alleyne, Creative Strategist and leader of Neurology of Power (joined in 2019)
Suzanne Alleyne is a Cultural Thinker. Collaborative working is at the heart of everything she does. She is driven by the belief that considering people, profit and purpose at all levels of business, benefits both organisations and wider society. Her business navigates the intersection of culture and commerce underpinned by 25 years experience supporting and consulting for high profile international organisations and individuals. Her portfolio of clients includes Barclaycard, Channel 4, V&A, Wellcome Trust and Roundhouse. Within the arts she has an impressive track record working with UK writers and poets on their professional development and associated shows. She is an inaugural Arts Council England Changemaker, through which she was Commercial, Brand and Strategy Director at Apples and Snakes. She is a Fellow of the RSA, a Cultural Animateur for Signifier, and a Visiting Research Associate and guest lecturer at King’s College London.
Jamie Beddard, Joint Artistic Director of Diverse City, and Lead Artist in Extraordinary Bodies. He is a Clore Fellow and a qualified RD1st coach.
Recent artistic projects include two Extraordinary Bodies theatre productions; Delicate, (writer and co-director) that toured nationally autumn 2022, Waldo’s Circus of Magic and Terror (co-writer with Hattie Naylor) touring nationally spring 2023. He was also involved in co-directing a large-scale outdoor film and community project on Dartmoor as part of Green Spaces Dark Skies in 2022, and co-directing Extraordinary Bodies’ outdoor, inclusive circus performance, ‘Splash!’. As a performer Jamie has played the title role in the Elephant Man, the Leader in The Messiah at Bristol Old Vic, the role of Mathias in The National Theatre’s production of The Threepenny Opera, and performed in ‘Weighting’, a large-scale outdoor circus show created by Extraordinary Bodies. He has previously been Agent for Change at The New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, Diversity Officer (Arts Council), Associate Director (Graeae Theatre Company) and Editor of ‘Disability Arts in London’ magazine (DAIL). Additional directing credits include ‘The Last Freakshow’ (Fittings), ‘Can I Be Frank With You’ (‘Datco’) and ‘The Trouble With Richard’ (Graeae). Numerous acting credits include Quills, I.D, All the King’s Men, Wonderful You (Film/TV) and Ubu, Alice in Wonderland, Flesh Fly (Graeae), 15 Seconds (Traverse) and Waiting for Godot (Tottering Bipeds).
Alexandrina Hemsley – Freelance Creative Practitioner and Consultant
Alexandrina Hemsley’s choreographic, writing and facilitation practice is shaped by and insists on embodied ways of voicing realities resulting from systemic, racial, gender-based and ableist marginalisation. The breath of their creative approach also sees them invested as much in discourse and organisational structures as choreographic or aesthetic enquiries. Alexandrina is an Associate Artist at Cambridge Junction, Dance Ireland International Associate 2020, and a board member of Chisenhale Dance Space.
Website: www.alexandrinahemsley.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/alexandrinahem Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/alexandrinah/
Alison Clark – Head of Culture Sport & Tourism, Durham County Council
Having been told by a careers teacher at 16 ‘people from places like this don’t do jobs like that’, Alison has had a 25-year career in arts and culture leadership. She is currently Head of Culture Sport and Tourism at Durham County Council. Previously she spent 15 years with Arts Council England, the last 6 as director of the north west and national director for Combined Arts where she raised profile and investment across outdoor arts, festivals, arts centres and social arts practice, and designed and lead the influential Ambition for Excellence programme. She is a fellow of the DeVos Institute of Global Arts Management at the University of Maryland.
Twitter and Instagram is @alisoncj
Dan de la Motte – Freelance as Producer, Curator, Performer and Activist.
DAN DE LA MOTTE is a Queer performer, presenter, lecturer, producer, curator and activist. As PERFORMER recent credits include A Deed Without A Name (Theatro Technis) A Delicate Balance (Southbank Centre) The Hound of the Baskervilles (Abney Park); Fine and Dandy (King’s Head Theatre, Arcola Theatre) Live to Tell: (A Proposal For) The Madonna Jukebox Musical (Pulse Festival – New Wolsey Theatre and Yard Theatre). As CO-DIRECTOR Qtopia (Arcola Theatre), MAMMA QUIA – THE ZOOMSICAL! (via Zoom) As PRODUCER Stark Dallas Naked (Pleasance Theatre and regional tour) Disney Love (music video) Carnation for a Song (Young Vic and London tour) Bird la Bird’s Queer People’s History Show (national tour), DISNEY LOVE (music video for Alekxandr, filmed at the Glory) As CURATOR Artist Climate Lab 2018, Artist Climate Lab 2019 (Hawkwood College) Bloolips and Radical Drag (Platform Southwark) GLF AT 50; THE ART OF PROTEST (Platform Southwark) Dan is a Creative Climate Leader and is the host of Off Book, the Young Vic Podcast. UPCOMING: On Railton Road (Brixton Community Base), Do The Jellyfish Bop! (Barbican Centre) Different Ways of Living and Loving (Alexandra Palace) MOLLY’S MASQUERADE (St Margaret’sHouse)
Social media is @Dandelamotte
Lora Krasteva is Artist | Cultural Producer | Activist Founder of Global Voices Theatre
Lora Krasteva is a theatre maker, political scientist, and activist. She is the Activist Founder of Global Voices Theatre, a female, non-binary and immigrant company platforming work from underrepresented creatives. Since the COVID lockdown, Lora has been podcasting as Untrained Effort, investigating cultural policy around the world and working with other migrants in theatre to increase representation across the industry. She recently joined the Cultural Freelance Taskforce, a nationwide taskforce setting agendas and enacting change as part of the UK cultural recovery.
Socials are @lorakrasteva and @GlobalVoicesTh
Holly Lombardo – Director, NRTF
Holly has worked in creative industries at a senior level since 2001. She founded the Brighton Fringe in 2004, managing it to become the 3rd largest Arts Fringe Festival in the world. She was a senior manager at the Edinburgh Fringe Society and Director of an Edinburgh Fringe venue. Known for working within some of the UK’s largest international Festivals. In 2007 pooled her knowledge of the cultural sector to found World Fringe Network, which links nearly 300 Fringe Festivals across the globe. As well as this she lectured at Universities on event & business management. Was an assessor for the Arts Council England, where she assessed the NRTF and has been an Executive Trustee of the British Arts Festival Association for 8 years. More recently she was the Project Director for Wooden O Theatres and left her position as the Artistic Director of Fusion Arts Oxford to join the NRTF as the Director. She is also the Director of World Fringe
Socials are: @ruraltouring @WorldFringenet @HollyPLombardo
Kate McGrath – Director, Fuel
Kate McGrath is the Director of Fuel, a producing organisation which she co-founded in 2004. Fuel collaborates with theatre makers exploring the big questions of our times to produce an adventurous, playful and significant programme of live performance for audiences across the UK and beyond. Kate is also Curator for Edinburgh International Festival’s You Are Here programme, Co-Chair of the Board of Camden People’s Theatre, and a School Governor. Prior to this Kate worked as a freelance producer, and at Battersea Arts Centre, after starting her career in journalism at The Scotsman
@1KateMcGrath on Twitter.
Keisha Thompson – Artistic Director and CEO of Contact, Manchester
Keisha Thompson is a Manchester based writer, performance artist and producer. Keisha is the AD and COE at Contact, chair of radical arts funding body, Future’s Venture Foundation, is a fellow of the MOBO x London Theatre Consortium Fellowship and is a member of Greater Manchester Cultural and Heritage Group. She is currently touring award-winning solo show, Man on the Moon. Her debut book, Lunar, features her poetry and the show script. Whilst Moonwhile is a poetic mini album featuring music from the show. In 2020 she will work with commissioners Eclipse Theatre, York Theatre Royal and Pilot Theatre to stage new play, The Bell Curves. The script was made in development with Box of Tricks. She will also work with Fuel Theatre and Alan Lane (Slung Low) to create new children’s show, Izzy, BOSSS & Fractal. She will release a new mini album, Ephemera, in collaboration with Tom “Werkha” Leah.
Social media handles: Twitter: Keke_Thom Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shebekeke Instagram: shebekeke https://keishathompson.com/bio/