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Author: Guy Armitage

  • Zoya Bhatti

    Zoya Bhatti

    Engagement & Participation In-Situ

    Zoya Bhatti is a socially engaged practitioner and producer based in Nelson, Lancashire, where she leads on Engagement and Participation at In-Situ. Her work spans young people’s programmes, community-led projects with artists, and finding ways to make access to art and culture more equitable in the town she calls home.

    She is also co-founder of Hillo Hub, a centre for women in Lancashire that promotes health and wellbeing through nature, outdoor activity, faith and mindfulness. Drawing on a decade of experience across the public, private and third sectors — and a youth and community development background — Zoya is committed to making a positive difference to the lives of those she works with, and to the strength of collective voices in challenging systemic issues.

    In her practice, Zoya works with art and artists in collaborative and participatory ways, where people, conversations, relationships and new experiences become the medium. She believes that everyone has the ability to be creative — they just need to find their tools.

  • Natalie Melton

    Natalie Melton

    Executive Director Crafts Council

    Natalie Melton is Executive Director of the Crafts Council, where she leads the organisation’s strategic direction, partnerships and advocacy to strengthen the UK craft sector. She is guiding the organisation towards a clearer, more connected national role, supporting makers at every stage of their careers while widening public access to craft and its impact across society.

    She oversees a wide portfolio of activity that connects audiences, makers and industry. The Crafts Council reaches a digital audience of more than 500,000 each year and supports a growing membership of over 2,500 across CC, CC+ and Young Craft Citizens. Thousands more benefit from opportunities, listings and digital resources. Natalie has also played a central role in shaping platforms such as Collect Art Fair, which attracts more than 12,000 visitors over five days and brings together international galleries, collectors and artists, creating significant opportunities for visibility, sales and global exchange.

    Natalie contributes to the wider creative industries landscape through a number of national and civic roles. She is a member of the Creative Industries Council and the Creative Industries Trade and Investment Board, a trustee of People United, and a member of the Lady Mayor of London’s Craft Taskforce. She also supports talent development through advisory and judging roles, including the Rabih Hage Craft Bursary and the House & Gardens Craft Prize.

    Before joining the Crafts Council, Natalie co-founded The New Craftsmen, where she developed collaborations that brought contemporary craft into dialogue with global brands and audiences. Projects included Burberry Makers House, which combined live making, storytelling and retail to create an immersive public experience.

    In her occasional spare time, Natalie can be found on a dance floor, obsessively making playlists, cooking for friends and family and cheering on her adoptive football club, Grimsby Town.

    Photo credit Alun Callender

  • Sally Shaw MBE

    Sally Shaw MBE

    Director Firstsite

    Sally Shaw MBE has been Director of Firstsite since 2016, where she led the gallery’s remarkable transformation from an institution that had lost its Arts Council England funding to winning the Art Fund Museum of the Year 2021. Under her leadership, Firstsite has become nationally and internationally recognized for combining exceptional contemporary art programming with deep community engagement, proving that artistic excellence and social purpose are inseparable.

    Shaw has curated major exhibitions with groundbreaking artists including Sarah Lucas, Grayson Perry, Lubaina Himid, Gillian Wearing, and Antony Gormley, alongside championing emerging and regional talent such as Elsa James, Emily Mulenga, and Gee Vaucher. Her approach centres on showing world-class artists from around the globe alongside those working in East Anglia, creating a program that is both internationally significant and locally rooted. She was awarded an MBE in 2020 for her services to the arts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Prior to Firstsite, Shaw held significant curatorial and leadership positions including Head of Programme at Modern Art Oxford, Deputy Head of Culture for the Mayor of London where she oversaw the Fourth Plinth programme, and Chief Curator for Art on the Underground. She is currently South East Area Chair for Arts Council England and holds an MA in Curating Contemporary Art from Goldsmiths. Her commitment to equity, artist development, and the transformative power of contemporary art makes her an exceptional judge for work that demonstrates both creative ambition and meaningful engagement.

  • Julie Lomax

    Julie Lomax

    CEO a-n

    Julie is the CEO for a-n, and drives the organisation’s vision. With more than 20 years’ director-level experience in arts organisations and national funding bodies, she’s a dedicated champion of artists and their role in the world.

    Julie has previously held positions at Liverpool Biennial, where she was the Director of Development, Arts Council England where she was the Director of Visual Arts and was also the Director of Visual Arts at Creative Australia. She regularly lectures at universities across the UK.

  • Sook-Kyung Lee

    Sook-Kyung Lee

    Director The Whitworth

    Sook-Kyung Lee is Director of The Whitworth and Professor of Curatorial Practices at the University of Manchester. She was previously Senior Curator, International Art at Tate Modern (2012–2023) and Curator at Tate Liverpool (2007–2012). Her major curatorial roles include Curator of the Japan Pavilion (2024) and Commissioner & Curator of the Korean Pavilion (2015) at the Venice Art Biennale, and Artistic Director of the 14th Gwangju Biennale (2023). Selected exhibitions and publications include Santiago Yahuarcani: The Beginning of Knowledge (2025), Yuko Mohri: Compose (2024), and Nam June Paik (2019).

    Lee serves on Turner Prize 2026 juries and several advisory boards internationally, and her curatorial and directorial practice focuses on exhibition and collection policy, community-led and audience-oriented museum practices, and global art histories.

    Image: courtesy of Gwangju Biennale Foundation.

  • Tabish Khan

    Tabish Khan

    Art Critic

    Tabish Khan is an art critic, writer, speaker, podcaster, and curator who passionately believes in making art accessible to everyone. He visits and writes about hundreds of exhibitions a year, covering everything from the major blockbusters to the emerging art scene in London and beyond. He writes regularly for Londonist and FAD and has written for Artsy, Elephant, and the New York Observer.

    He is co-host of the podcast The Good, The Bad and The Arty and has judged many prizes, including one at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.

    Tabish is a trustee of the prestigious City & Guilds of London Art School and Discerning Eye, which hosts an annual exhibition featuring hundreds of works. He is an honorary trustee of ArtCan, a non-profit arts organisation supporting artists through profile-raising activities and exhibitions. He is also a critical friend of UP Projects that brings contemporary art to public spaces.

  • Joe Hill

    Joe Hill

    Director Yorkshire Sculpture Park

    Joe Hill is Director and CEO of Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP). Previously, he served as Director and CEO of Towner Eastbourne from 2018 to 2026, where he led a major transformation of the gallery, growing audiences to over 200k annually. During his tenure, Towner was named Art Fund Museum of the Year in 2020 and hosted the Turner Prize 2023, generating an additional £16 million in economic benefit for Eastbourne. He also led the development of a major Levelling Up-funded arts and environment project at Black Robin Farm in the South Downs. Joe is a member of the Turner Prize 2026 jury and contributes to national conversations around culture, placemaking and regeneration.

    Prior to Towner, Joe was Director of Focal Point Gallery, where he led the acclaimed Radical ESSEX research and place-making initiative. Originally trained as an artist, he has held curatorial roles at Camden Art Centre, Firstsite and as part of the Venice Biennale.

  • Jeremy Deller

    Jeremy Deller

    Turner Prize-winning artist (2004)

    Jeremy Deller (b.1966, London; lives and works in London). Deller has been producing projects over the past three decades which have influenced the conventional map of contemporary art. He won the Turner Prize in 2004 and represented Britain in the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013.

    In 2025, Jeremy presented ‘The Triumph of Art‘ as part of the National Gallery‘s Bicentenary celebrations – a major nationwide project which culminated in a procession and a party outside the National Gallery. Films include: Our Hobby is Depeche Mode (with Nicholas Abrahams) (2006), Everybody in the Place (2018) and Putins Happy (2019).

  • Katrina Brown

    Katrina Brown

    Founding Director (2007-2026) The Common Guild

    Dr. Katrina M. Brown is a highly respected curator and until recently founding Director of The Common Guild, the leading not-for-profit visual arts organisation based in Glasgow which has presented an internationally respected programme of artists’ projects, events and exhibitions since 2007. Under her direction, The Common Guild has worked with leading international artists including Roni Horn, Wolfgang Tillmans, Roman Ondak, Thomas Demand, Carol Bove, Katinka Bock and Nicole Wermers, and commissioned ambitious live and site-specific projects across Glasgow – from synchronised swimming performances and outdoor plays to a 2023 programme placing new work by five artists across eleven of the city’s public libraries.

    Alongside her work with The Common Guild, Katrina has led major partnership projects across Scotland:

    In 2011, Katrina was awarded an Honorary Degree (D.Litt.) by the University of Glasgow in conjunction with The Glasgow School of Art for her contribution to the arts in Scotland. She has served as a judge of the Turner Prize, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Awards for Artists, and the Art Fund’s Museum of the Year, and is currently a trustee of Art Fund.

    Before founding The Common Guild, Katrina was Curator and Deputy Director at Dundee Contemporary Arts and Exhibitions Curator at Tate Liverpool. She began her career on the committee of artist-run Transmission Gallery, Glasgow.

  • Louisa Buck

    Louisa Buck

    Art writer and broadcaster

    Louisa Buck is a writer and broadcaster on contemporary art. She is a Contributing Editor and London Contemporary Art Correspondent for The Art Newspaper and a regular reviewer and commentator on BBC radio and TV.

    Her articles have appeared in publications ranging from the Guardian and Vogue to Frieze and Artforum.

    She is the author of a number of catalogue essays for institutions including Tate, Whitechapel Gallery, ICA London, MCA Australia and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.

    Her books include Moving Targets 2: A User’s Guide to British Art Now (Tate 2000); Market Matters: The Dynamics of the Contemporary Art Market (Arts Council England 2004) and Owning Art: The Contemporary Art Collector’s Handbook (co-authored with Judith Greer) (Cultureshock Media 2006). Commissioning Contemporary Art: A Handbook for Curators, Collectors and Artists was published by Thames & Hudson in October 2012 and in 2016 she authored ‘The Going Public Report’ commissioned by Museums Sheffield.

    Louisa was a judge for the 2005 Turner Prize and is a founding member of The Gallery Climate Coalition.