Meet our Industry Champions. They are a UK-wide network of practitioners, drawn from all parts of the creative industries to provide Creative PEC with on-the-ground insight to inform our research and policy
Our Industry Champions meet regularly to discuss key issues and potential solutions to challenges facing creatives and creative businesses in the UK. They also provide a opinion and write guest blogs. The Industry Insights papers from Industry Champion roundtables are published here.
Global Director, Recruitment & Outreach at Framestore
Amy has been working in talent related roles within the visual effects industry across both the UK and Canada for over twenty years. In each role she has had responsibility for working with schools, colleges and universities to provide careers guidance and support educators with content. She is a non-executive Director of Access:VFX, an industry organisation working to improve the diversity of the visual effects industry. She is also part of the steering group of the Next Gen Skills Academy who, with industry, launched a Level 3 Diploma in Games, Animation and VFX Skills and she took responsibility for working with NextGen to develop, launch and promote VFX apprenticeships. Amy has also completed work as Chair of the T-Level panel for Media, Broadcast and Production. The panel was responsible for providing an employer perspective on the post-16 education landscape in the UK.
Executive Director (Programmes and Impact), New Writing North
Anna Disley works as Executive Director (Programme and Impact) for New Writing North, the literature development agency for the north of England. As part of the executive team which leads the organisation’s strategy, Anna is responsible for identifying and developing programmes of work, delivery partnerships, and funding models which engage people in NWN work, including those from under-represented communities. She oversees the programme at NWN which includes talent development programmes, events, skills, creative health and community engagement programmes.
Anna joined as Education Director in 2002, when NWN was still a two-person organisation, to develop the young people and community programmes which she still leads. She has been part of the leadership team at New Writing North since 2003. Besides working closely with writers and artists to realise their ambitions, Anna is interested the role of arts and culture in supporting connected communities, platforming under-heard voices and in promoting wellbeing and literacy. She is Chair of Glow, Newcastle, a new charity that has grown out of Newcastle’s Cultural Education Partnership, and which aims to provide every young person in the city with a rich and accessible cultural offer. She is a Trustee of climate organisation Threads in the Ground and is on the board of Directors and Advisory Group for digital start up The Living Archive.
Associate Professor in Creativity and Literary Culture, University of Exeter & Co-director, The Literary Platform
Dr Anna Kiernan is Associate Professor of Creativity and Literary Culture at the University of Exeter. She is also co-director at The Literary Platform and co-founded Circe, a creative leadership network. Anna’s work centres around storytelling, creative innovation and partnership brokering for organisational change. Alongside her academic roles, she has worked with communications departments at organisations such as The Guardian, Everyman Cinema and Lush Cosmetics and for government agencies (DEFRA and the Department for Transport), to enhance their approach to storytelling in the digital age.
Freelance artist and Policy Officer, Centre for Cultural Value
Anna Kime – Creative PEC
Anna Kime is an artist and freelancer. She is currently completing a part time contract as Policy Officer for Centre for Cultural Value. Her portfolio career covering senior Lottery distribution, talent development, evaluation and relationship management is motivated by the perpetual precarity of employment in the creative sectors. Her primary interests are in the genuine articulation of the value working creatively brings and keeping the health and outlook of the individual practitioner at the heart of strategic decision-making. These preoccupations surrounding notions of care and responsibility are explored at depth in her sculptural and creative writing practice. Anna is a founding Trustee for RivelinCo in Hillsborough, a Yorkshire Artspace member and a fundraising volunteer for a number of community care charities and groups in Sheffield.
CEO, Goldsmiths’ Company
Annie Warburton is CEO at the Goldsmiths’ Company. She was previously CEO of Cockpit Arts, London’s leading studios for contemporary craft and design and a NatWest SE100 award-winning social enterprise. She curates exhibitions and writes, presents and broadcasts on craft, art and design in the UK and internationally. She also chairs the Government’s industry panel developing the new T-Level in Craft and Design.
Prior to joining Cockpit, Annie was Creative Director at the Crafts Council, where she led on exhibitions, international programmes, education and research, and directed an innovation programme on the intersections between craft, science and technology. Previously she served as CEO at ArtsMatrix and Head of Partnerships at Creative Skillset, where she pioneered industry apprenticeships in fashion, textiles and media. She is an Associate of Newnham College Cambridge.
Anra works with museums, arts and heritage organisations in the UK and internationally to help them develop their strategic practice, build resilience and successfully navigate the impact of digital transformation. She designs and delivers action research, training, and capacity-building programmes for cultural leaders and practitioners, all in the context of social impact and values-led practice.
Her work involves looking beyond arts and heritage to understand the ways societal and digital changes impact cultural organisations’ ability to realise missions. She supports clients to integrate these insights into their strategy and practice, helping them understand and tackle challenges and embed new ways of working. Anra often plays a bridging role, connecting individuals, organisations and networks informally, as communities of practice, and formally, in multi-stakeholder collaborations.
Governance and its role in socially purposeful arts, heritage and education is one Anra’s key areas of expertise, often with a focus on change. She is currently Chair of Creswell Heritage Trust, an internationally significant archaeological site (home to the UK’s oldest known cave art!), where she is leading the organisation through a process of deep-rooted re-development and business recovery. She was a founding trustee of the high-impact, national campaigning charity Kids in Museums, now one of ACE’s NPOs. This was a passion project, supporting their formation and development over 15+ years. Anra also led an organisational restructuring as Vice-Chair of Group for Education in Museums’ board, recruiting a new Director and Chair. She’s a regular speaker and chair at cultural sector conferences and events and loves the writing and content design aspects of her work.
Carys Taylor is an independent consultant specialising in supporting efforts to tackle climate change in the creative industries. As the former Director of BAFTA albert, Carys led the film and television industry’s efforts to tackle climate change on and off screen and now provides freelance consultancy to the creative industries. Carys provides consultancy alongside her work in the energy sector where she also supports the roll out of the overhaul of the energy grid to help reach national climate targets.
Carys has a longstanding interest in social and environmental issues having grown up on the North Wales coast, surrounded by important landscapes and renewable energy infrastructure and worked with communities facing long-term unemployment. Prior to her role in BAFTA, Carys also worked on creative industries policy, through the Creative Industries Council and as an advisor to Tim Davie whilst at BBC Studios, and spent earlier years of her career at UK Parliament. Away from work, Carys is enjoys exploring the great outdoors with her husband and her dog, Murphy.
Entrepreneurial Designer and Stylist
Charlotte is an award-winning Entrepreneurial Designer and Stylist with a passion for colour, sustainability and creative direction. She is known for her painterly style, unique use of colour and illustration that has captured the attention of, and launched a variety of high profile collaborations with brands including Sofa.com, Made.com and Hillary’s Blinds.
After freelancing for international brands including Lululemon, American Greetings and Marks and Spencer, working for studios in Italy and Vancouver and exhibiting at Premier Vision in Paris, Charlotte continues to work with companies around the world in different areas of the industry.
Charlotte is a proud member of the Society of Dyers and Colourists and The Association of Independent Professionals and the Self Employed, and guest lectures at a variety of universities. She has been featured in publications such as Elle Decoration, Ideal Home, House Beautiful, Living Etc, Pantone View, The Times and many more.
Chris Hildrey is the director of Hildrey Studio and the founder of ProxyAddress, a social enterprise providing those facing homelessness with stable address details to access critical services. His work has been named one of TIME Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2021, the Guardian’s Best Designs of 2022, and Beazley Designs of the Year 2019. He has been awarded the RIBA President’s Medal for Research, the D&AD Award for Humanitarian Aid, the Innovation in Politics Award for Human Rights, and the Geospatial Innovation Award for Protection of Life. He has spoken on television, in Parliament, and at the Guggenheim New York, about the role of design in creating social impact. His work sits in the permanent collections of the V&A Museum and Design Museum, London.
CEO of Southampton Forward
Claire is CEO of Southampton Forward, an independent charity with a remit across culture, including culture-led regeneration, festivals, events and tourism for the city, having previously led its shortlisted bid to be UK City of Culture. Before this she co-led and grew Serious, a highly respected live music and events organisation and prolific commissioner of artists and projects, which operated across the UK and internationally. Serious runs the London Jazz Festival, producing over 800 events and education programmes each year, as well as a suite of talent development opportunities which number Grammy and Mercury Music Prize nominees in its alumni. Serious also contributed to many national moments, including London 2012 and the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, held at Buckingham Palace. Claire’s career has involved working with an extensive range of partners from the creative industries, civil society, business and local, national and international governments.
She has combined her executive roles with a successful career as a Non-Executive Director on a range of educational, philanthropic, housing, health and charitable organisations, as well as being a member of several high-profile advisory boards. Claire was an independent board member of the Culture Recovery Fund, administered by DCMS to oversee £1.57 billion financial support to cultural organisations and heritage sites during the COVID–19 pandemic.
Claire’s expertise ranges from the creation and delivery of ambitious cultural events and programmes to the development of strategic partnerships with a broad range of stakeholders. She is actively involved in policy development across, culture, civil society and placemaking.
Director of Culture and Creative Industries at Manchester City Council
Dave Moutrey OBE is Director of Culture and Creative Industries at Manchester City Council where he is responsible for advising the Council on policy and strategy for culture and creative industries in the city. Dave has worked in Manchester in leadership roles in the arts since 1984 previously at Abraham Moss Centre Theatre, Arts About Manchester, Cornerhouse and most recently at HOME. He was awarded an OBE in the Queens Jubilee Honours List in 2022 for services to the arts especially during Covid and Doctor of Arts honoris causa by the University of Salford. Dave is a Fellow of the RSA, a member of the Chartered Management Institute, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Dave is Chair of the Theatres Trust and a trustee of the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh.
Fiona Mozley is the author of two novels, Elmet and Hot Stew, and several short stories. She is the winner of a Somerset Maugham Award and The Polari Prize, has been shortlisted for The Booker Prize, The Ondaatje Prize and The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. She was longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and The Women’s Prize. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Independent, The Financial Times, The New Statesman and British Vogue. Both her novels are being adapted for the stage. She lives in Edinburgh.
Director, Fred Deakin and Company Limited
A multidisciplinary artist and musician, Fred Deakin is half of the Mercury/Brit nominated band Lemon Jelly who have sold over half a million albums, toured internationally and headlined stages at various major festivals. Fred was founder/director of the ground-breaking digital design studio Airside which won and was nominated for two Baftas, nine D&ADs, four Design Week awards including Best in Show and a Webby among many others. From 2013 to 2020 he was Professor of Digital Arts at the University of the Arts London, where he focused on emerging digital creative processes and cross-disciplinary collaboration. In the last decade he has produced several large-scale interactive gallery installations and innovative live performances blending music, technology and improvisation. His current project Club Life, an immersive club/theatre experience based on his club running history in the 80s and 90s, won a Fringe First award in 2023 and is currently touring. More information at http://freddeak.in.
CEO, First Light Festival
Genevieve was a founder director of First Light Festival CIC before becoming CEO in 2022, leading on strategy, programming, and place-making. She oversees management and programming of the East Point Pavilion on Lowestoft’s seafront and leads a consortium of local, regional and national partners for the Battery of Ideas, an Arts Council England Place Partnership project. As part of this, she leads on testing ideas around the design, operation and programming of the new cultural quarter development in Lowestoft town centre. From 2027 First Light will run the new cultural quarter.
Genevieve was a founder and director of Full Circle Editions, an award-winning publisher for the East of England, and of the literary arts charity, FlipSide . Previously she worked as a television producer, training at the BBC, and then working for LWT on a raft of factual programmes before co-forming independent production company Carey St Productions. In collaboration with John Christie she has commissioned many co-productions between UK and international broadcasters. Genevieve has a keen interest in education and served for thirteen years as a trustee and chair of trustees of an academy trust. She is a board member of University of East Anglia AHRC IAA Delivery Board and Anglia Ruskin University Advisory Board for Creative Industries, as well as sitting on the executive of the Norfolk and Suffolk Culture Board.
Account Manager, Clarity
Grace is currently part of the Public Affairs team at Clarity, a global integrated communications agency. Before joining Clarity, she spearheaded BAFTA’s year-round games programme, working with major games companies to deliver events that celebrated games as an art form and honoured the breadth of talent across the industry.
Previously, Grace was the Policy and Public Affairs Manager at Ukie, the UK’s leading games industry trade body. In this role, she represented the sector to policymakers and advocated for policy measures aimed at supporting and driving growth in the UK games industry. She brings with her a deep understanding of all levels of the sector – from on-the-ground practitioners to business leaders and the wider global ecosystem. In 2022, she was recognised as one of MCV’s 30 Under 30 in the UK games industry.
Development Director, Big Change
Hannah Pater – Creative PEC
Hannah has worked across a variety of areas within the creative industry: from advertising agencies to The Royal Society of Arts, teaching English to developing creative education charities. The golden thread throughout her career is helping others define and develop the skills and talent that are valued in creative industry. Hannah entered the advertising industry creating communications for clients such as Morrisons, Procter & Gamble and Department of Health until she became the Head of Learning Development at AMVBBDO. Having taken a career pivot in to teaching English in secondary schools, Hannah then moved into business development in the not-for-profit sector. At the RSA, she led the development of flagship innovation programmes, raising funds and creating partnerships with shared impact goals. Now as an independent consultant, Hannah works with organisations such as London Interdisciplinary School, Huddlecraft and Big Change. She is a qualified teacher and sits on the creative advisory board of the Ideas Foundation.
Co-Founding Partner, We Made That
Holly co-founded We Made That in 2006 and is a trusted voice in shaping healthy, fair and well-designed places. She cares deeply about locally-informed and impact-driven outcomes. She is a registered architect and affiliate member of the Landscape Institute. She has led a unique range of urban projects for the practice, from pioneering industrial intensification work through to comprehensive high street regeneration projects. Holly advocates for community involvement within the design process, empowering women in the built environment and equitable city-making. Holly is a national Town Architect for Hackney Central, Mayor’s Design Advocate for the Greater London Authority and a Design Council Built Environment Expert.
Director, Campaign for the Arts
Jack Gamble is Director and CEO of the Campaign for the Arts. Previously he was Associate Director of the Arcola Theatre in London, where he directed plays and worked on the production of over a hundred shows.
Director of Asian Arts Agency
Jaswinder Singh is the Director of the Asian Arts Agency, a dynamic arts and music development agency based in Bristol that develops, promotes and supports international contemporary and traditional South Asian music and arts. Jas is the driving force, creative brain and strategic thinker behind the agency’s programme of work and ongoing development.
He has worked extensively in arts within the UK and internationally. From artistic programming, commissioning, festival development, national touring, international showcasing and touring, cultural conferences, and managing complex partnerships and consortiums, he has a wealth of experience and dynamic skills to help achieve outstanding results in the creative arts sector.
Since becoming Asian Arts Agency’s first Director in 2006, the Agency has grown rapidly, delivering more than 500 high quality artistic events internationally at 100+ venues, reaching an audience in excess of 2 million.
Jaswinder is on the regional Board of Arts Council England and has worked with many other strategic bodies, LEPs and creative agencies like BPI, DIT.
Jennifer Johnston is Into Film’s Head of Learning UK, and Head of Programme, Northern Ireland, leading the Curation, Training, Resources, Filmmaking, Careers and Educational Research teams.
In addition to her work with Into Film, Jennifer recently stepped down from her 10-year role as CCEA’s Principal Moderator of Moving Image Arts and remains involved in the subject through the subject advisory panel. Jennifer sits on the board of Northern Ireland Screen, the principal funding body for film production and culture in Northern Ireland. Jennifer has post-graduate qualifications in Education, Online Learning and Film and Visual Studies.
Jo operates at the intersection of research, design and enterprise. Focusing on digital innovation and multidisciplinary collaboration, she creates and delivers successful strategies and projects to maximise impact, accelerate growth and create rich customer experiences across a range of sectors – including the built environment, creative industries, culture and education.
Improving the social, cultural, economic and environmental prosperity of towns and cities through digital innovation is a core ambition of Jo’s work. In particular, discovering the opportunities and value that bespoke digital placemaking affords clients involved in large scale urban developments, regeneration and heritage – with the aim of creating more pleasurable, sustainable and citizen-centred future urban spaces
Josie is a strategic designer with a decade of experience working with grassroots, policy, business, and civil society organisations to create systemic change and build a more regenerative future, with particular experience in the fields of fashion and textiles. She has Bachelors degree in textile design and a Masters in Sustainable Development. Between 2016 and 2023 she worked at the RSA (Royal Society of Arts), in both the Economy and Design teams, most recently as an Associate Director and Head of Regenerative Design, and now works as an independent designer and consultant. She has experience of designing and leading complex, multi-stakeholder research and action projects involving the community groups, business and entrepreneurs, including for the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, thinkpublic and RMIT University. Projects have included Cities of Making, Rethink Fashion and the ReGeneration Rising podcast series. She combines strategic and systems thinking, creativity and empathy with high quality project management and is a member of the Design Council Design Expert network.
Senior Consultant and Executive Chair, Animation UK
Kate O’Connor is a senior consultant in the creative industries, collaborating with private and public-sector clients throughout the UK, Ireland, and internationally. In her consultancy practice, Kate delivers strategic insights to leading UK and inter-national clients, leveraging her comprehensive expertise in skills, training, strategy, and policy related to the screen industries’ growth plans. As the founder and Executive Chair of the formally established Animation UK in 2017, Kate represents the sector at the governmental level and formulates business, export, and employment related policies to bolster the industry’s growth. This position situates her at the vanguard of international policy and the analysis of global fiscal and wider developments.
Appointed as Co-Director of XR Stories and the Yorkshire-based Screen Industries Growth Network, Kate supported this government-backed initiative investing in R&D, innovative storytelling and production techniques, such as immersive and interactive content for film, television, and gaming. She led the EDI work and has re-searched and co-authored a report on inclusive working practices in the screen industry partnership with the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre. Kate’s non-executive roles encompass board membership on numerous UK universities and film schools, a member of the BFI Screen Industries Research Advisory Group, where she served as chair. Kate is a Trustee of You Make IT, a London based charity, a BAFTA member and a member of BAFTAs Children’s Committee.
Cultural Consultant
Lara is a freelance cultural consultant specialising in diversity, innovation, leadership, collaboration and cultural policy implementation within the HE, cultural and digital sector. She develops and delivers projects and policy on how cultural and digital technology intersect for a number of national partners as well as programmes around leadership, resilience and business development for the arts and creative industries.
She co-produced RE:Present and ASTONish, two leadership programmes supporting the development of cultural leaders from diverse backgrounds. She is currently co-producing AD:Vantage which places the vantage point of d/Deaf, neurodivergent and disabled creative practitioners at the heart of leadership. She is also the Co-Curator of Hello Culture, an ongoing series of events that explores how digital technologies and media are disrupting the way cultural and heritage organisations can produce, interact, create, curate content, transforming how audiences can connect and engage with cultural experiences.
She is on the Derby Theatre, Vivid Projects and the Advisory Groups of SHOUT Festival and Coventry Biennial. She is also a Member of Arts Council England Midlands Area Council and the Equality Monitoring Group for Arts Council Wales, and the Centre for Cultrual Value Covid-19 Policy Reference Group.
Laura’s work is characterised by a deep commitment to fostering innovation and addressing the skills void in the creative, cultural and heritage sectors. She is a founding Director of Culture Change Works, a consultancy of change-experts working with cultural organisations and higher education. Her career began as an artist and teacher, and Laura has extensive experience across a range of education settings, working in senior management within the arts and the higher education sector.
Before launching Culture Change Works, Laura was Director of Public Engagement and Culture at London College of Fashion, UAL where she supported the development of the EastBank cultural quarter. Prior to that, she was Director of Children, Young People, Learning and Skills at Arts Council England. At Culture Change Works, Laura collaborates with a diverse range of partners to drive systemic change and enhance the cultural sector’s impact. Her expertise includes stakeholder engagement, partnership development, and strategic planning, all aimed at creating sustainable growth and local clusters for skills, innovation, business, and investment. Laura has held a number of Board positions including at Ravensbourne University, Creative & Cultural Skills and Mountview Higher Education Institution.
Managing Director at Screen Cornwall
Having started in corporate communications and advertising, Laura studied for an MBA and worked as a management consultant, making short films on the side, before moving to the British Film Institute in 2011. After moving to Cornwall in 2014 she has run projects for the British Film Commission, Raising Films, the UK Film Centre in Cannes and taken a delegation to the GREAT Festival of Creativity in Shanghai, as well as working for an app company and as a creative business adviser for an European funded programme supporting the creative sector. Laura set up Screen Cornwall in 2019 and also continues to work as a producer of short and long form content through her company Storm Force Films. She is creative industries representative on Cornwall Council’s Economic Forum. Laura is passionate about sustainable growth and one of the founders of Goodfest Cornwall CIC.
Director at National Museums Liverpool
Laura Pye, Director of National Museums Liverpool, joined the organisation in August 2018. Born in Liverpool, Laura returned from the city following several years as Head of Culture for Bristol City Council, with responsibility for the five museums in the city. Prior to moving to Bristol, Laura was interim Heritage and Culture Manager for Warwickshire County Council, covering a similar mix of services to Bristol including the Museums and Archives, Arts, Archaeology and Ecology teams. Laura’s early career in museums was focused mainly on museum education, and she has a wealth of experience of working in the North of England, across Liverpool, Yorkshire, and Lancashire.
Philanthropy Advisor and Director at The Twentieth
Leslie Ramos is a philanthropy advisor specialised in the arts and culture. She is the co-founder of The Twentieth, an international arts philanthropy agency providing independent expertise around philanthropy, collecting, and engaging with the arts. She supports and holds voluntary positions in multiple arts non-profits, and frequently lectures on philanthropy and museum studies. Leslie is the author of Philanthropy in the Arts: A Game of Give and Take, published by Lund Humphreys, 2023.
Independent Consultant and Director, Theatre Green Book
Lilli is a freelance arts consultant and Director of Theatre Green Book. Previously, she was Deputy Director of the Creative Policy and Evidence Centre (Creative PEC), where she introduced the first four State of the Nations research reports and oversaw its strategic growth at Newcastle University and the RSA. Before that, she was Director of Jerwood Arts, where she channelled £10 million of funding to over 1000 early-career artists, makers, curators and producers across the UK and designed and delivered the influential inclusive career and culture change programme Weston Jerwood Creative Bursaries. As a producer, Lilli co-founded HighTide in 2007, and made shows for theatres including Arcola, Bush and Almeida, where she transferred numerous productions to the West End and beyond including Ghosts, Charles III, 1984, Chimerica, Ink and Mary Stuart. She has also worked at ACE, Demos and Young Foundation. She has been a Clore Emerging Leader, and a Salzburg Global Seminar Next Generation Cultural Fellow. She is currently a trustee of Fuel Theatre and Project Europa, an Advisor to the national movement What Next? for culture, a mentor with Arts Emergency and really wants to start a podcast to go where Front Row can’t.
Cultural Consultant and Producer
Linda is a freelance consultant and producer in the Culture and Creative Industries. She has twenty years of experience as a as a digital leader within museums. She led on digital strategy, transformation and innovation at Birmingham Museums Trust for 10 years, managing the Digital, IT and Marketing teams. Her influential work on open access in museums has also been a catalyst to her working closely with digital artists on creative projects in photography, film, animation, XR and the metaverse. She is the Chair of Vivid Projects and a Blooloop Innovation Awards judge.
Game Designer and Creative Producer
Malath Abbas is a game designer, artist and creative producer working on experimental and meaningful games and experiences in Scotland. Malath is a founding member of Biome Collective, a creative studio, community and digital space for people to create, collaborate and explore new frontiers in game design, digital art and technology. With over 10 years working in games and arts in Scotland, Malath has created a diverse portfolio of work and has exhibited internationally. Malath has a passion for the arts and has a track record of cross-disciplinary collaborative projects. Malath sits on the Creative Scotland board of directors and serves on the General Purpose & Finance and Screen committees.
Founder of Sail Creative
Mandy is founder of Sail Creative, and a participatory designer focusing on story-led solutions. With a strong focus on co-creation, Mandy built Sail to collaborate directly with audiences to find design solutions that are relevant and meaningful. With experience spanning the heritage, arts and culture sectors; Sail create relevant projects through branding, campaign work, narrative and experiences. Mandy strives to continue to build Sail as a leader of participatory and audience-led design.
Maria’s background is in film production, from line producing, budgeting to distribution strategies. She is passionate about tech solutions that bring transparency and automation in the creative industries, creating a level playing field for creators and enterprises.
Alongside Irina Albita, Maria founded the FilmChain platform that collects, allocates and analyses revenues for film, TV and digital content on the blockchain, replacing the traditional practices with transparent, real-time payments from viewers to filmmakers. The founders won multiple film and tech awards including UKBAA 2019 and were Screen Awards nominees “Gamechangers” 2019. Clients using the platform end-to-end include Council of Europe Eurimages, Golden-Globe winning producers and numerous funds from the UK, Germany, Canada, Australia etc. The team is backed by the UK government through several grants. Imperial College and University of Toronto are their tech partners.
Creative Technologist, Co-Founder at Ricebox Studio, Digital Designer at CRIN, and Digital Design Lecturer at UAL/University of Greenwich
Maria Than is a creative technologist, educator, and designer. She explores fragmented identity, Buddhism, and escapism through AR, illustration, moving image, and creative AI and is co-founder of the award-winning Ricebox Studio and a Digital Designer at Child Rights International Network.
She teaches digital and purpose-driven design, creative AI and AR at University of Greenwich, Central Saint Martins, in schools and communities, and exhibited internationally, with work shown in London, Paris, Barcelona, New York including Tate Modern and V&A Lates. In 2024, she launched her debut solo art show Homage to Quan Âm, commissioned by arebyte Gallery, as part of the Hotel Generation 23’24 residency.
Equalities Designer and Researcher
Natasha Trotman is an Equalities Designer and Researcher whose practice explores extending the frontiers of knowledge around neurodivergence and cognitive difference (inclusive of acquired neurodivergence), including non-typical ways of being bodyminds, marginalised experiences, and reframing mainstream notions of equality, equity, diversity, and inclusion. This is done via an intersectional design lens involving the forming of physical interactions through therapeutic arts, investigative play, and policy design. Natasha has a Master’s degree in Information Experience Design from the Royal College of Art and is a qualified therapeutic arts practitioner. Previously working as a Research Associate at The Royal College of Art’s Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design (HHCD), as well as at The Wellcome Collection Hub on the Wellcome Trust and HHCD Design and The Mind Research 2-year project, focused on engagement and co-creation with neurodiverse and disabled people. Natasha is a Design Expert for the Design Council, an Advisory Board Member for The DisOrdinary Architecture Project, a British Council Arts and Creative Economy Advisory Group Member, and a consultant for Wellcome, one of the Co-Designers and Developers for Wellcome’s Social Justice Curriculum. She is also a Co-production Matters Strategic Implementation Panel Member (pan-disability neurodiversity) for Local Government and sits on a local authority Inclusive Design Review Panel (public realm, built environment).
Director of Learning and Engagement at National Museum Wales
Nia Williams is Director of Learning and Engagement at Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. A qualified teacher and fluent Welsh speaker, she has worked in the field of education in Wales for over 30 years.
Since 2012 Nia has steered the new strategic vision for St Fagans National Museum of History. This major redevelopment has Welsh Government support and secured the largest Heritage Lottery Grant ever awarded to Wales. She leads Amgueddfa Cymru’s strategic direction in terms of learning and engagement across all seven museums, ensuring public programmes are developed collaboratively and provide social benefit.
Passionate about people’s right to participate in the life and work of museums, Nia leads Amgueddfa Cymru’s involvement in the Welsh Government Programme Fusion: Creating Opportunities through Culture. She is also responsible for the Museum’s compliance with the Welsh Language Standards and the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.
Phil Holton is a Senior Qualification Manager at Pearson, a global learning company, where he is responsible for managing the creative subject qualifications studied within UK schools and prioritizing the best for those subjects in any future changes to education. Phil’s background in education began as a classroom practitioner, culminating at senior leadership level in the secondary sector, complemented by extensive experience working outside of schools across the creative sectors from primary years to higher/further education. He was the founder of an organization providing free, at the point of demand, professional training for design educators with an ethos of “for teachers, by teachers,” which at its height ran a UK-wide accessible network of free CPD, a free national publication, and an annual conference for design teachers. More recently, he has worked across a number of design and STEM education partners as an education consultant, including charity work and as an expert panelist. Phil is credited with developing a vision for the future of UK design education, a large-scale sector and education-led curriculum disruption program aimed at shifting design education into a purposeful and responsible offer to all students aged 5-19. His passion for expanding the creative opportunities of young learners reflects a personal ambition to improve the lives of others through equitable and accessible design education for all.
Founder and Executive Director, Careful Trouble
Rachel Coldicutt is a researcher and strategist specialising in the social impact of new and emerging technologies. She is founder and executive director of research consultancy Careful Industries and its sister social enterprise Promising Trouble. She was previously founding CEO of responsible technology think tank Doteveryone where she led influential and ground-breaking research into how technology is changing society and developed practical tools for responsible innovation. Prior to that, she spent almost 20 years working at the cutting edge of new technology for companies including the BBC, Microsoft, BT, and Channel 4, and was a pioneer in the digital art world. Rachel is an advisor, board member and trustee for a number of companies and charities and, from 2020-2023, served as a non-executive director at Ofcom. In 2019, Rachel was awarded an OBE in the New Year’s Honours for services for the digital society.
Artist and NUAcT Research Fellow
Born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1987, artist Rachel Maclean has spent the last decade showcasing her ground-breaking work in galleries, museums, film festivals and on television. Working across a variety of media, including video, digital print, paintings and VR, she creates complex and layered works that reference politics, fairy tales, celebrity culture and more. She has shown her work widely, both in the UK and internationally, receiving critical acclaim in the spheres of film and visual art.
Her major exhibitions include solo shows at Tate Britain and National Gallery, London; Arsenal Contemporary, New York; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Germany; and KWM Artcentre, Beijing. Maclean represented Scotland at the Venice Biennale in 2017 with her film commission Spite Your Face. In 2013, Maclean was awarded the prestigious Margaret Tait Award. Her recent film DUCK won the prestigious Prix Ars Electronica, and she has been twice shortlisted for the Jarman Award.
Principal – Creative Industries, Culture and NTE, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, and freelance Curator, DJ and Producer
Rebecca is Senior Policy Officer in the Creative Culture and Nighttime Economy team at Greater Manchester Combined Authority and a freelance event curator, DJ, community connector, producer and programmer. She works on various creative projects, city partnerships, and events across Greater Manchester and is passionate about connecting communities and creating opportunities for others within the creative industries.
CEO and Creative Director, Scottish Music Industry Association
Having been involved in the SMIA since 2014, Robert has spent a decade building the organisation in a range of executive roles; delivering work to support and champion Scotland’s music industry. With a proven track record in creative and strategic direction, project management, leadership and business development, Robert was appointed CEO and Creative Director in 2023. He leads the SMIA’s executive team and is responsible for designing, developing and implementing an effective company strategy; working with the SMIA company board to fulfil the company’s mission. Since 2017, Robert has led the development and delivery of the SMIA’s flagship project and Scotland’s national music prize; the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award. The SAY Award has grown year on year and has now distributed over £360,000 in prize money to Scottish artists since its inception in 2012.
Founder and CEO of Sour Lemons
Sade Banks is currently the co-director of the social justice consultancy, The What If Experiment, where she creates strategies that build cultures of belonging across the creative and cultural sectors. The What If experiment evolved from Sour Lemons, which Sade founded in 2016 to address the lack of diversity in creative leadership based on her own experiences of exclusion and othering within the industry.
Sade is a life coach and mother to two tiny humans. She currently sits on the Mayor of London’s Cultural Leadership Board and the Main Advisory Board for the Freelands Foundation. She was previously a 2020 Clore Cultural Leadership Fellow, a Founding Member of the UK Lived Experience Movement and the Founding Chair of the Centrepoint Youth Parliament. She has previously served as a Trustee for the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, was the Social Entrepreneur in Residence at UnLtd (2017-19) and a Friend of Red Bull Amaphiko (2018-19).
Awards include Champion of Change: The Champion of Women Awards (2022), Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s BHM campaign as a ‘Next Gen Trailblazer for Racial Justice’ (2020), Natwest WISE100 ‘Leading Woman in Social Business’ (2018) and AMV BBDO’s ‘Top 50 Diversity Trailblazers’ (2018). In 2015 Sade received an award from Prince William for ‘Turning Her Life Around’.
Sara is an independent designer and researcher, helping organisations discover opportunities for new or improved tech-enabled products and services. Sara founded Therewith, a solo studio exploring technologies that make or help to make automated decisions on behalf of children and young people. Because young people should have a say over the technologies that will radically shape the society in which they live. Sara has been part of the teams at Nesta, The Behavioural Insights Team, Normally design studio and BBC. As a hybrid practitioner, Sara intentionally applies diverse people-centred design processes, such as interaction, UX, research and service design. She tackles challenges from many different perspectives, helping teams transform deep research into actionable insights, concepts and prototypes that people can relate to. Her experience is centred around purposefully and responsibly using data and emerging technologies to fulfil users’ needs, goals and ambitions.
Director of Digital Development at Royal Shakespeare Company
Sarah Ellis is an award winning producer currently working as Director of Digital Development for the Royal Shakespeare Company to explore new artistic initiatives and partnerships. The latest partnership she is leading for the RSC is the Audience of the Future Live Performance Demonstrator funded by Innovate UK which is a consortium consisting of arts organisations, research partners and technology companies to explore the future of performances and real-time immersive experiences.
In 2017, she became a fellow of the University of Worcester for her work in the arts and technology. In 2016 she was awarded The Hospital Club and Creatives Industries Award for cross industry collaboration for her work on The Tempest in collaboration with Intel and in association with The Imaginarium Studios. In 2013 she was listed in the top 100 most influential people working in Gaming and Technology by The Hospital Club and Guardian Culture Professionals. In partnership with Google’s Creative Lab, she recently produced Midsummer Night’s Dreaming which won two Lovie Awards for Innovation and Experimentation. In 2012, she produced myShakespeare, an online artistic commissioning platform for the World Shakespeare Festival. In 2011, she was the producer of the RSC’s new work Adelaide Road, which mixed live performance with an app and website map. As a theatre and spoken word producer, she has worked with the Old Vic Tunnels, Battersea Arts Centre, Birmingham REP, Contact, Freeword, Improbable, Southbank Centre, Soho Theatre, and Shunt. She has been Head of Creative Programmes at the Albany Theatre and Programme Manager for Apples & Snakes, England’s leading performance poetry organisation. She is a regular speaker and commentator on digital arts practice.
Director of Interactive Media Practice Masters, University of Westminster, and Practitioner in Creative Technology & Strategy
Savraj Matharu is a multi-award-winning educator and practitioner who operates at the intersection of technology, design, and innovation. With a distinguished career in both industry and academia, Savraj has significantly contributed to globally recognized creative brands and organizations, particularly within creative technology. His dual expertise allows him to seamlessly navigate these domains, driving the development and implementation of innovative digital solutions from concept through to market delivery. Savraj’s skill set spans complex problem-solving, computer programming, and design engineering, all focused on crafting solutions that address contemporary challenges.
In 2016, Savraj founded and launched the Interactive Media Practice Masters at the University of Westminster, the institution’s first STEAM-based master’s program. This pioneering course is designed to meet the demands of Industry 4.0 by fostering interdisciplinary skills, research-informed education, and practice-led learning. It cultivates a start-up culture where students create digital solutions using a range of creative technologies, including AR, VR, Generative AI, connected devices, mobile apps, wearables, RCS, ChatBots, data analytics, and enterprise incubators. The program’s dynamic ecosystem allows students to engage in live projects, hackathons, and direct collaborations with industry leaders and NGOs. Savraj has collaborated with prominent brands such as Adobe, Arm, Coca-Cola, Dell, Nvidia, Orange, and the British Council. His efforts have also played a key role in driving cultural and digital transformation at the University of Westminster. Since the program’s launch, graduates have secured roles at leading global organizations including Orange, Deloitte Digital, KPMG, Santander, Inmarsat, Critical TechWorks, ARM, BMW, CitiBank, GOV UK, and ByteDance, with others founding their own tech start-ups. The program is known for producing pioneering and innovative outputs, from FinTech solutions and voice-controlled technologies to AR/VR-driven problem-solving. It is engineered to develop the next generation of digital professionals, addressing the challenges of the 4th Industrial Revolution and aligning with the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy.
Savraj is passionately committed to equipping the next generation with the digital skills essential for today’s workforce. His approach to interdisciplinary pedagogy and practice-based learning ensures students receive a world-class education rooted in applied knowledge. He holds multiple degrees in Computing, Design, and Technology, along with an executive program in Leadership and Innovation from MIT. His research focuses on user experience design systems, leadership, digital health, immersive media entertainment, and generative AI.
CEO and Principal of Northern School of Contemporary Dance
Sharon Watson CEO and Principal of Northern School of Contemporary Dance. Prior to this, Sharon was the 7th Artistic Director of Phoenix Dance Theatre. Trained at the London School of Contemporary Dance, she was one of the first female Principal Dancers invited to join the all-male award-winning Phoenix Dance Company, touring with the company from 1989 to 1997 where she choreographed Never Still and Shaded Limits. Having left Phoenix to pursue a number of other ventures, including setting up her own company ABCD and lecturing at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance for six years, Sharon returned in 2009 as the new Artistic Director. Since then Sharon has choreographed Fast Lane, Melt, Never 2 Still, Repetition of Change, TearFall and Windrush: Movement of the People. She was Yorkshire Woman of the Year in 2017, 2018 First English Woman’s Award for Arts and Culture and is in the Top 50 Power List of the Northern Power Women Awards and previous Chair of Leeds 2023. Sharon is committed to improving diversity within the arts by supporting the creative voices of women and BAME artists.
Stephen Bennett is a multimedia artist and policy-maker working at the intersection of art, science and politics. Stephen works in the Policy Lab team in the UK Cabinet Office where he experiments bringing in methodologies such as participatory art and systems mapping into policy-making. As an artist he has collaborated with Nesta at Tobacco Dock, CERN in Geneva, Tate Exchange, Imperial College and the Royal Society. He is a Clore 2019-20 Fellow and an Eden Project associate.
President of the Chartered College of Teaching and Senior Deputy Head, Sir William Perkins’s School
Dr Steven Berryman is the President of the Chartered College of Teaching (2022-2024), and Senior Deputy Head at Sir William Perkins’s School. He studied Music at Cardiff University and Royal Holloway, London, gaining a PhD in Composition (Cardiff, 2012). Steven is a Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College London, contributing widely to arts education research, policy and practice; recent work includes the DfE/DCMS National Plan for Music Education expert panel and appointment as Vice-President of the National Society for Educators of Art and Design. As a member of the Advisory Panel of the Cultural Learning Alliance, Steven works with cultural learning professionals drawn from across the sector to champion and advocate for a high-quality and equitable arts education. Steven is a Liveryman of both the Worshipful Company of Educators and the Worshipful Company of Musicians, a trustee of UK Music Masters and Spitalfields Music and a Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching and the Royal Society of Arts.
Design Futures Lead at Arup
Tobias Revell is a digital artist and designer from London, he is Design Futures Lead at Arup Foresight. He is approximately 47.6% of research and curatorial project Haunted Machines, a member of technological research outfit Supra Systems Studio and teaches at several design schools. In his practice, he lectures and exhibits internationally on design, technology, imagination and speculation. He is completing a PhD examining design’s role in the social construction of AI at Goldsmiths, University of London. Previously he held several leadership roles in design at University Arts London and was founding director of design research studio Strange Telemetry.
Development Producer at the Independent Film Trust and CEO of Creative Lions Productions
Tolu Stedford is a writer, producer and actress. With over 20 years of industry experience, she has entertained audiences on TV, stage, and cinemas worldwide.
She has written and produced an assortment of hard-hitting, thought-provoking short films, concept teasers and music videos. Tolu co-founded her award-winning production company ‘Creative Lions Productions’ in 2018 and worked as a co-producer at Link UP TV which has an audience of 16 million.
In addition, Tolu has been a Development Producer at the ‘Independent Film Trust’ and has been instrumental in championing diverse and underrepresented talent through their professional mentoring schemes.
She is now Head of Creative Development, heading up their commissions, mentoring schemes and film productions.
Founder and Managing Director at Legend Times Group
Tom Chalmers is the Managing Director of Legend Times, a group of publishing companies he has founded. He started his first company in 2005 when aged 25, Legend Press, a fiction book publisher. He subsequently acquired Paperbooks Publishing, and later launched Legend Business, a business book publisher, followed by self-publishing and writer workshops companies, New Generation Publishing and Write-Connections, respectively. He also founded IPR License in 2012, a global rights licensing platform, which after two rounds of funding he sold in 2016. In 2019, Legend Times acquired University of Buckingham Press.
He was the 2018 winner of the Global Outstanding Young Person Award in the Big Ben Awards at Westminster and has previously been shortlisted for UK Young Entrepreneur of the Year, UK Young Publisher of the Year, UK Young Publishing Entrepreneur of the Year, and longlisted for the Enterprising Young Brit Award. He also speaks regularly on publishing and business and is a Business Mentor for the Prince’s Trust.
Founder of YourStudio and Special Lecturer at Central Saint Martins, UAL
Tom is a Special Lecturer on the Central Saint Martins MBA and the founder and CEO of YourStudio, a leading retail creative agency. With studios in New York, London, Melbourne, and Amsterdam, YourStudio collaborates with major brands like Nike, Google, and Netflix to deliver innovative retail experiences and promote inclusivity in design through its platform, Inclusive Spaces.
Tom is passionate about empowering creative businesses to thrive. His teaching empowers students with the knowledge and skills they need to navigate working in and running creative businesses. His expertise covers areas like brand strategy for creative businesses, building and managing teams, and developing innovative business models.
In addition to his entrepreneurial and teaching career, he also founded Vital Hardware, a charity that supports future working-class creatives. He is a frequent speaker on topics such as inclusivity in design and the power of creativity in various educational and industry settings.
Founder and CEO of Concurrency
Ve Dewey is a globally networked design leader whose career has been at the intersection of technology, design, and innovation. She has succeeded across industry, the third sector, and academia for globally iconic creative brands and organisations, such as Mattel Inc. and Adobe. She is a polymath and a connector whose natural thinking is on the bleeding edge, allowing her to see opportunities others do not and to collaborate with diverse leaders and organisations that positively impact the collective. Over a 15+ year career, Ve has championed inclusive approaches to design leadership, organisational change, and AI. This is evident with her experience of curating and executing the inaugural design HR role at Mattel, supporting 400+ creatives during the company’s cultural and digital transformation, leading multi-million dollar global rebrands at Mattel, product marketing at Adobe, where she established a new creative marketing programme in Europe to support key customers (e.g., WPP and TfL) to meet business imperatives creatively; curating and producing disruptive events from the AIGA (US) to London Design Festival (UK); and more recently as the Head of Strategy for the neurodesign based AI start-up, NeuroCreate to support its evolution and funding, at the Royal College of Art, where she collaborated on evolving a neuroscience-based inclusive leadership model to address equity, diversity, and inclusivity; and as the founder of the creative consultancy, Concurrency.
Ve’s influence extends beyond her professional roles. She is the founder of the RSA’s Global Decolonising Design Coalition, a partner and collaborator on the forthcoming pan-commonwealth ’Indiginising Design’ series in partnership with The British Council office for Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific, University of Exeter, and IDIA; a board member and co-creator of the Australian-founded creative organisation Never Not Creative, a visiting Fellow at ZincVC, and a Design Council Expert. Ve holds an MBA (distinction) from Central Saint Martins with a research focus on design and systems-based leadership. She founded and hosts the ‘Concurrency of Leadership’ podcast. Ve specialises in leadership in relation to design, systems, and non-western philosophies. She has a secondary research interest at the intersection of AI and inclusivity.
Founder and Director of GemArts
Vikas Kumar is Founder and Director of GemArts, and since 2001 he has been leading this visionary arts organisation. Vikas’ passion for creativity, diversity and equality of opportunity has built GemArts into an internationally recognised arts organisation, which continues to grow from strength to strength.
Vikas’ expertise in the South Asian and Diversity Arts sector, from a national and international perspective, has enabled him to develop an excellent network of artists and creative producers worldwide. Working in collaboration with the voluntary, public and private sector, Vikas has made a significant contribution in increasing arts engagement amongst under represented communities particularly those from a Black Asian and Minority Ethnic and wider backgrounds across the North East.
Through GemArts award winning, ambitious and inspiring artistic programme, including performances, festivals, commissions and workshops, collaborating with flagship venues, community spaces and regional, national and international partners, Vikas has been instrumental in supporting artists at every stage of their career, ensuring that talent and artistic excellence is diverse, thriving and celebrated.
Vikas was awarded an MBE in the 2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours list for services to Arts and Culture. In 2009 Vikas received the Gateshead Award by the Mayor for outstanding service to Gateshead. He was awarded Asian Business Connexions Art and Culture award in 2016, and then again in 2019.
Vikas currently holds various non-exec and voluntary roles including Chair of Baltic Centre for Contemporary Arts’ Equality and Diversity Committee, Vice Chair/Trustee of Bensham Grove Community Centre, and is Trustee of Northern Stage amongst others.
Will Saunders is an independent media consultant, and executive producer. He is Creative Industries Lead for the AHRC funded Storyfutures Cluster and Storyfutures Academy, industrial strategy consortia projects led by Royal Holloway, University of London that will explore the future of the UK screen based industries and that include; Pinewood Studios, Sony Interactive Entertainment & The National Film and Television School as partners. In 2018 he co-authored the DCMS ‘Culture Is Digital’ report. As Creative Director, Digital, BBC Studios he ran Digital Development and Production for the UK’s leading media company. His recent focus has been working with organisations & companies including; BBC World Service, Discovery Network and Coventry City of Culture who want to explore the storytelling and commercial potential of emerging technologies.
