Author: Guy Armitage

Oliver is the Director of acta, a large community theatre and Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation based in Bristol. He has previously worked for organisations including Cambridge Junction, Trestle, Theatre Royal Plymouth, and the National Youth Theatre. He was also previously the Director of Creativity Works, an arts and health creative organisation based in Somerset. He has worked extensively both in the UK and abroad as a Director, theatre practitioner, and actor. He lives in Somerset with his family and various pets.

Almir Koldzic is Director and Co-Founder of Counterpoints Arts, a leading UK-based organisation working at the intersection of arts, migration, and social change. His work focuses on developing innovative creative strategies and building national networks to support artists from refugee and migrant backgrounds.

Over the past decade, Almir has led the development of long-term collaborations with leading UK and international arts, cultural, advocacy, and philanthropic organisations. He has curated and produced a wide range of programmes and commissions exploring themes of displacement, diversity, and social justice, helping to shape a more inclusive cultural landscape.

Almir is also Creative Director of Counterpoint Productions — a new film production studio dedicated to championing stories of migration and displacement; and a co-founder of the Footnote x Counterpoints Prize — an initiative supporting and amplifying writers from refugee and migrant backgrounds.

Philip Northcott is a Curator and Arts Producer who has over 20 years experience working with national and international artists.

He coordinated the first UK re-staging of Daniel Buren’s Voile Toile / Toile Voile in the Lake District and a significant exhibition for Cumbria of US Abstract Expressionism, Guston in Grasmere.

Since 2018 he has curated and programmed projects for the award winning arts organisation Signal; including Felicity Hammond’s Lumen Prize winning In Defence of Industry, West Coast Photo Festival, Stine Deja’s Troubled Waters, and Askam in Furness: Chris Killip.

Working with Signal, Philip has mentored and developed emerging artists through the organization’s popular and innovative annual Artist Lab.

Siân Addicott is an arts professional and educator with extensive experience in the cultural sector and wider creative industries.

She is currently Director of Ffotogallery in Cardiff, Wales and has a background in higher education, photographic practice, and visual culture.

Her work focuses on supporting emerging and underrepresented artists, with a particular interest in feminist practice and strengthening the visibility of marginalised voices in the arts.

Jan De Schynkel is CEO of Rosetta Arts, a long-standing community visual arts charity based in Newham, that focuses on making art accessible, supporting local emerging artists, and fostering community engagement.

Jan is an active advocate for the intersection of arts and well-being and is passionate about Cultural Democracy. At Rosetta, he has implemented a significant organisational development programme and spearheaded programmes that link grassroots creativity with local regeneration and inclusive opportunities for East Londoners.

Before joining Rosetta Arts, he was Arts and Culture Manager at Ealing Council, where he launched their cultural manifesto, set up the Ealing Cultural Education Partnership, and secured significant funding.

Prior to his work in local government, he worked as a Relationship Manager for Arts Council England; building on a multi-decade career as an artist.

Sarah Boulter is an experienced Curator currently leading Venture Arts’ international and collaborative programmes, delivering ambitious contemporary visual art. Her work is underpinned by social justice and focuses on connecting with others, building relationships and developing creativity and artistic practice through care. Her contemporary curatorial practice is cross discipline and has brought together visual artists with dancers, poets, painters, animators, performers, musicians and footballers from all over the world. “I love to mix so called high and low cultures and know that creative inspiration comes from the unlikeliest of places.”

Sarah works with values of openness, access and culture for all. “I feel a responsibility in my curatorial practice to build self-assuredness, self-reliance, ambition and practical knowledge in artists and to advocate with and on behalf of artists, encouraging creatively innovative, meaningful and adventurous cultural activity while building and sharing the tools to do it.” Sarah builds peer to peer collaboration within the art world, focusing on inclusivity and co-production of meaningful, accessible projects with longevity. She is committed to the impact of the arts on cultural relations and believes in genuine engagement with communities. She has also advised institutions about access and best practice in working with learning disabled and neurodiverse people. Sarah has a background in Chinese and Law.

Most recently, Sarah has developed collaborative art projects between Venture Arts artists and British Council for Venice Biennale, Pinchuk Centre for Contemporary Art Kyiv, Pas-E Venice, Begehungen Festival, Chemnitz City of Culture 2025, Salford Quays, Tate Liverpool, The Lowry, Bonington Gallery, Castlefield Gallery, Whitworth Art Gallery, Roberts Institute of Art Collection.

Bridget Banton is a creative and strategic leader with more than twenty years’ experience across media, culture, education and social impact. Her career has spanned senior roles at Channel 4, BBC Children’s, Paramount/Channel 5, Penguin Random House and Girl Effect, where she has led work across commissioning, content strategy, IP development and audience growth for both broadcast and digital platforms.

Bridget is the founder of Dear Creative Gurl, a platform focused on widening access to creative careers and supporting people to navigate education, creativity and the changing world of work. Her work brings together cultural strategy, storytelling, youth engagement and public participation, with a particular interest in how institutions can remain relevant, accessible and connected to emerging audiences.

Alongside her executive career, Bridget is a qualified teacher, writer and public speaker whose work explores creativity, identity and careers. She serves on the board of the London Museum, is a BAFTA member and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA).

Roger Hartley is the founder and Artistic Director of the Bureau of Silly Ideas (BOSI), the Brixton-based not-for-profit arts organisation he established in 2002. An artist, performer, producer and maker, Roger has built a body of work that brings art, humour and surprise into public spaces from remote-controlled wheelie bins to large-scale conceptual artworks he calls ‘SuperFictions’.

His practice is rooted in the belief that access to art is a route out of urban poverty, and that play and silliness are serious tools for connecting fractured communities. Before founding BOSI, Roger created Lost Vagueness, the pioneering pop-up casino and cabaret that became a fixture of Glastonbury Festival. He later became the first artist in residence at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

A guest lecturer, masterclass leader and TEDx speaker, Roger has been a Leverhulme Scholar and is an active campaigner for people’s right to affordable space to live, work and experience culture. He works across the UK and internationally, collaborating with partners spanning heritage, the arts, local government and community organisations.

Angie leads on all of Trigger’s work and concepts. She directed PoliNations (Unboxed/ Birmingham 2022/ Glastonbury); Each Tiny Drop, MIF’s 2023 opening ceremony; TEABREAK (Without Walls Commission); Ground (Brighton International Festival) and was the Creative Director for The Hatchling (Plymouth/ Wakefield/ Queens Platinum Jubilee). Angie is the lead artist for The Big One Hundred (Ashdown Forest, Wealden District Council) and Treekin (Norfolk & Norwich Festival Commission).

Fi Furness is Studios Director at SPACE, London’s oldest and largest artist studios provider, where she has worked since 1995. Over her three decades at SPACE, the organisation has grown from supporting around 400 artists to over 900 across 22 studio buildings, and Fi has been at the heart of that expansion – meeting many thousands of artists and developing a deep, first-hand understanding of how artistic practices have changed, and how artists have adapted and progressed.

Trained as an artist herself – Foundation at Cheltenham, BA(Hons) Fine Art at WSCAD Farnham, and PGCE at Goldsmiths – Fi began her career as Education Assistant to Jenni Lomax at the Whitechapel Gallery, where she spent six years before joining SPACE. Her work has placed her at the core of London’s artist support ecosystem, advocating for affordable studio provision and championing the city’s working artists.