2025
Stitching Light
Emergency Exit Arts
A textile and light installation uncovering the hidden stories of Bangladeshi women's migration to the UK, shown at Canary Wharf.
30+years in outdoor arts
500projects overseen
£3m+raised for the arts
14 yearsleading a national arts charity
What I do
Interim leadership
Interim CEO or executive director cover for arts organisations in transition. I steady the finances, governance and team so the next leader inherits something solid.
Producing
Large-scale outdoor and participatory events, from first idea and fundraising through licensing and crowd safety to the day itself.
Consultancy
Strategy, business planning, partnerships and funding bids, from someone who has had to deliver them.
Evaluation
Independent evaluation of arts and participation programmes, for funders and organisations that want to know what actually worked.
Creative learning
Helping schools and education settings embed creative teaching and learning, drawing on six years with Creative Partnerships and on EXCITE, the training programme in creative teaching that I set up with Mathilda Joubert.
Mentoring
For producers, CEOs and emerging practitioners.
Selected work
2021–2024
Hi! Street Fest
Emergency Exit Arts · Executive Producer
A national partnership with Historic England and Arts Council England across six high streets: Lowestoft, Gloucester, Wigan, Gosport, Middlesbrough and Stalybridge, ending in a finale in Woolwich. I raised £600k, and the project drew over 47,000 people and 16,270 volunteer hours. Historic England called it a "real sea change project".
2013–now
Creating Routes
Emergency Exit Arts with Talawa Theatre Company
A free training programme for global majority artists who want to work in participatory and community settings. I oversaw its development and found the money to keep it running, year after year. It has trained over 100 young adults and is still going.
2004–2010
Arts Council England South East
Development Officer, part-time
Six years developing initiatives in diversity, education and participation, and assessing grants across all art forms.
2002–2004
Samba Encounters, Brighton
Founder and producer
Three annual national gatherings of Brazilian-inspired carnival troupes. Each year 30 troupes came from across the UK and performed to audiences in the tens of thousands. The UK Samba Association was founded at the first Encounter and still shapes the scene. In 2002 I wrote the Samba Groups Report for Arts Council England, still the only official Arts Council report on Brazilian-inspired carnival.
With Arts Council England and Brighton & Hove City Council.
1990–1998
The Body Shop International
International franchising
I recruited and set up head franchisees in Japan, Korea, Mexico and the Philippines, negotiating the agreements and launching the brand in each country. I also worked on markets in Israel, Canada, the USA and the Caribbean, including North American shop development that doubled sales.
What I'm working on now
StreetMeet
With Together Co, Brighton
A pilot testing whether small, volunteer-led gatherings on people's own streets can reduce loneliness and build lasting connections between neighbours.
Outdoor Arts Living Archive
With Outdoor Arts UK
Developing a national living archive of outdoor and street arts.
FOBICT
Federation of Brazilian-Inspired Carnival Troupes
Setting up a federation for the UK's Brazilian-inspired carnival troupes.
About
I'm based in Brighton and work across the UK and internationally. I started out in business at The Body Shop, then moved into the arts: Arts Council England, Creative Partnerships, and freelance producing and evaluation as TakePartArts.
From 2012 to 2026 I led Emergency Exit Arts, an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation, through a financial turnaround and some of its largest projects. I also founded the UK Samba Association and chaired the Brighton Carnival Association.
These days I choose my projects: ones where I can make something happen for a place and the people who live there.
