Upadhyaya, Geetha
My involvement in arts began with my training in classical Indian dance & music
with the legendary teacher K N Dandauthapani Pillai leading to a post graduate
degree in classical Indian dance and music (Vidvat) and specialism in mime
(abhinaya) with Mrs Gowri Ammal with the support of a government of India
scholarship. I continued to teach and perform alongside my commitments to my
medical career in India and in Malaysia where I taught at the famous Temple of
Fine arts and also studied Malaysian dance and music. I was keen to use my
medical and performing art skills in addressing physical and mental health issues
and co-founded Kala Sangam in 1993. Later, I resigned my job as a NHS
consultant to become the Artistic Director of Kala Sangam. I travelled to teach and
perform and received many awards and titles such as the Doctorate of Letters
conferred by the Bradford University for my work in cultural diversity. In Kala
Sangam, I have enjoyed creating and directing many intercultural and cross
collaborations which received national accolade e.g. the Millennium festival
project. Global Echoes and Indika. I also teach, choreograph and am a mentor,
visiting Professor and examiner in dance for many universities and dance schools
in India, Europe and America. I enjoy creating new work of spoken word – music
and dance and pursuing my other interests in piano, copper tooling, singing, poetry
and mindfulness
Vasey, George
George Vasey is a curator and writer based in Newcastle. He has written reviews
and articles for Art Monthly, Kaleidoscope and Art Review. He has been invited by
galleries and artists to contribute to numerous catalogue essays and in 2013 was a
writer in residence at the Jerwood Space. As a curator he has worked
independently organising exhibitions and screenings for artist-led, public and
commercial galleries nationally. He is currently curator at the Northern Gallery for
Contemporary Art in Sunderland. He gained an MFA in curating from Goldsmiths
in 2013 and has worked in a wide range of roles for the ICA, University of Arts
London, SPACE and Studio Voltaire over the last 5 years.
Walker, Debra
Debra has worked for local authority museums, regional agencies and a national
museum. Her career has centered on developing access to and active
engagement with cultural venues. She has initiated, developed, managed and
evaluated many collaborative projects and programmes, working with a diverse
range of partners, including local authorities, learning and skills institutions, cultural
organisations and community based agencies. A year before the museum opened
she joined the Imperial War Museum North and was responsible for establishing
its award winning Learning & Access Department and Volunteer Programme. In
October 2007 she became a freelance consultant specialising in learning,
community engagement and audience development. She works with and for
organisations to develop creative and cooperative ways of working by brokering
new partnerships, bringing organisations and people together for the first time to
develop and fund raise for projects with joint goals and outcomes. These projects
have developed peoples’ skills, self-confidence and of course creativity, and have
been used as models/effective practice to demonstrate on how creative high
quality projects can leave a positive impact and become self-sustaining.
Walmsley, Ben
Ben is Senior Lecturer in Arts & Entertainment Management at Leeds Metropolitan
University, and has a professional background in theatre producing. In 1997, he
produced and directed Ionesco’s La Cantatrice Chauve as part of the Edinburgh
Fringe Festival, before moving to Paris, where he taught at the Sorbonne and
managed One World Actors Productions for two years. He then moved back to the
UK to manage the Scottish touring company Benchtours, before taking up a
managerial post at the new National Theatre of Scotland. Ben is a modern
languages graduate from Nottingham University and holds an MBA from the
University of Surrey’s School of Management. In 2000, he completed a PhD in
French Theatre and Philosophy at the University of Glasgow, comparing the plays
of Jean-Paul Sartre and Eugène Ionesco. His current research interests are
related to the qualitative value and impact of theatre from the audience
perspective.
Walters, Clare
Clare Walters is an author and journalist who began her career as an infant
teacher before moving into magazine publishing. In the 1980s she edited fiction at
Woman, and in the 1990s she joined Practical Parenting as books and education
editor. In 1999 she was on the judging panel of Booktrust’s first Baby Book
Awards. Together with Jane Kemp, she has written more than 30 books, including
24 picturebooks for pre-school children and seven play / activity guides. Clare has
also co-written scripts for the BBC TV series Balamory and Me Too!, as well as
contributing to the original parenting section of the BBC website. She has a
master’s degree in children’s literature from the University of Roehampton, where
her dissertation subject was ‘wordless picturebooks’. She reviews books,
exhibitions and events for Eye magazine, and participates regularly in children’s
literature events, including the annual IBBY conference, a CILIP Carnegie Medal
shadowing group, and the Nosy Crow reading forum.
Wellesley Wesley, Flora
Flora Wellesley Wesley is a dance artist and actor who has worked with a variety
of choreographers, directors and visual artists besides independently and
collaboratively producing her own work. She specialised in contemporary dance,
studying at undergraduate and postgraduate level at London Contemporary Dance
School, while a multidisciplinary exchange experience at CalArts (USA) stoked her
appetite in site-specific work and experimentation across art practices and forms.
Alongside being part of the editorial team of BELLYFLOP, an online performing
arts magazine, Flora co-founded Hiru Dance, an organisation interested in bringing
high quality dance to non-art spaces and un-expecting audiences and participants
of all ages. From 2008-12 Flora also directed and performed with Trumpet
Creepers improvisation ensemble. Flora is currently collaborating with Eleanor
Sikorski on Nora, a dancer-led commissioning project that invites Liz Aggiss (UK),
Simon Tanguy (FR), and Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion (UK) to make new
works for stage for them to perform.
Wells, Jane
Jane Wells studied musical composition and has a catalogue of over 40 concert
compositions. Live performances include In These Places, a saxophone concerto,
and Here’s What I Saw, a music-theatre work for the 1997 Year of Opera and
Music Theatre. In the 1980s she collaborated with several choreographers and
dance pieces with her music were toured extensively. Broadcasts have included
two collaborative pieces and a clarinet quintet. Jane has directed On The Edge
Ensemble in chamber music tours, currently directs Hoofbeat Street Band, and is
musical director of two community choirs. She has been involved in educational
music activity over many years, frequently with instrumentalists from chamber
orchestras such as Britten Sinfonia, London Mozart Players and City of London
Sinfonia. Jane has been a committee member for Women in Music, a
representative for Eastern Orchestral Board and a Director/Trustee for Orchestras
Live, and has been a juror on several occasions for BASCA’s British Composer
Awards.
Wheeler, Jo
Jo Wheeler has 20 years’ experience of devising, delivering, evaluating and
managing participatory arts projects. She works in a range of contexts with the
public and voluntary sector, supporting people’s wellbeing through engagement
with creativity and culture. Her areas of expertise include youth arts, arts and
health and gallery education; she has worked with key national agencies,
universities, funders and policy makers in these areas. Jo’s interested in
investigating and challenging barriers to inclusion through creative peer-led working
and genuine partnerships – developing programmes with addiction agencies,
Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services and older people’s care settings.
From 2004-7 Jo worked for Engage, the National Association of Gallery Education,
supporting venues across England to develop youth-friendly policy, practice and
spaces. Learning was shared through Envision - A Handbook : Supporting Young
People’s Participation in Galleries and the Arts, 2008 which she produced and cowrote. More recently Jo’s been exploring new models of engagement with two
Creative Peoples and Places programmes in the Midlands, as both artist and
commissioner.
White, Nick
Nick is a freelance producer, writer and actor working across the South West of
England. He has extensive experience of creating and delivering formal and
informal participatory theatre opportunities across the region at Theatre Royal
Bath, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Peter Quince Theatre Company and Travelling
Light Theatre Company as well as other regional and national venues &
companies. This in turn has given Nick a unique insight into, and passion for,
theatre for young audiences as well as work by young people. Recent freelance
associations include working with Diverse City & Cirque Bijou; Bristol Old Vic;
Take Art; Wassail Theatre; Pins and Needles Productions and a number of
independent theatre makers. Nick’s work as a theatre maker is inspired by myths,
legends, folklore and contemporary popular culture all rooted in his native
Somerset. His dream is to open an outdoor community arts and performance
venue in an orchard.
Whyte, Bridget
Bridget Whyte is a freelance consultant working primarily in music education.
Bridget started her career working for Arts Council England in the South East. In
1992 she moved to London to take up the post of Secretary for the Orchestra of
the Age of Enlightenment before becoming the Administrator for the Early Music
Faculty at the Royal Academy of Music. In 1995 Bridget began working as a
freelance consultant with early clients including the Handel House Trust and Grove
Dictionary of Music and Musicians. She has now worked with over 40
organisations including the Department of Education, Sing Up, Youth Music and
various local authorities and music services. Her skills include organisational
development, facilitation, project management, evaluation and research. Currently
Bridget is managing World Voice – a global singing in education programme – for
the British Council as well as being an Associate Lecturer at the Universities of
Surrey and Winchester.
Wigmore, Heidi
Heidi Wigmore is a practising artist and art educator. She gained a Fine Art MA at
University of East London in 2001 and was associate lecturer for the BA Fine Art
programme for Essex University until 2010, acting as Course Leader in 2009/10.
Heidi has led artist workshops in schools, at Bullwood Hall women’s prison, and for
Focal Point Gallery and Metal. She has led courses at Firstsite, is a visiting
lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University and leads live drawing events for English
National Ballet across the country. In 2011 she was commissioned to customize a
beach hut for the Festival of Britain at the Southbank Centre and a contemporary
'shell grotto' installation. She has project managed a one-day arts festival for Metal
Culture which encouraged imaginative play for all ages through participatory art
works and artist-led events. In 2012 she launched a billboard project 'Independent
Free State' that toured around prime London locations.
Wilcox, Emma
Emma Wilcox works as an independent producer and project manager with a
particular interest in site responsive and publicly accessible work. She worked in
the public sector for 8 years after a career in the commercial design sector. She
project managed Alex Hartley’s new commission for the 2014 Folkestone Triennial
and programmed a four month festival in Margate for Turner Contemporary.
Previously a Senior Manager at the Arts Council she worked with local government
and other key partners to ensure a coherent and strategic approach to investment
and the successful delivery of projects. Emma has worked with grant funded
organisations at a variety of scales from small artist-led projects like OVADA to
organisations such as Milton Keynes Gallery, Fabrica and Aspex. Whilst at Kent
County Council she developed Artlands, a programme of large scale commissions
in the public realm across North Kent. Emma teaches Engaging Audiences at
Trinity Laban, working to ensure that undergraduates gain a good understanding
of marketing and audience development as part of their learning. Emma is a
qualified Action Learning facilitator and alumni of the Clore programme.
Williams, Frankie
Frankie Williams is a consultant in education, music and culture. She has been a
teacher and adviser, and until 2011 was General Inspector (Music and Culture) for
Cambridgeshire. Frankie has a BMus (Hons) from University of Nottingham,
studied education at the University of Birmingham and business at Cass Business
School. Her Master’s and Doctoral research at the Institute of Education in London
centred around partnerships between professional music organisations and
schools. She was Vice-Chairman of the National Association of Youth Orchestras
and has been on several national and European boards. Frankie founded and ran
an amateur symphony orchestra and a professional chamber orchestra, and has
acted as a consultant for organisations including the BBC Proms, The Sage
Gateshead, Orchestras Live (EOB) and the Specialist Schools and Academies
Trust. She has worked on education projects with the Royal Opera House, London
Sinfonietta, Glyndebourne, Aldeburgh Young Musicians, and many orchestras.
Wills, Jackie
Jackie Wills is a poet, non-fiction writer, critic and editor. She has been Royal
Literary Fund Fellow at Sussex and Surrey universities, is an Associate Lecturer in
creative writing for the Open University and teaches on the Creative Writing
Programme in Brighton. Jackie has published five collections of poetry - her most
recent is Woman's Head As Jug (Arc 2013). She was shortlisted for the 1995 TS
Eliot prize, was one of Mslexia magazine’s top 10 new women poets in 2004, and
Aldeburgh Poetry Festival’s Poet in Residence. Jackie has written for national
papers and magazines, published books on retail design and globalisation, and
edited an English/Arabic collection of reminiscences by Sudanese refugees.
Wimhurst, Karen
Karen Wimhurst is a freelance composer, performer, educator working for
organizations throughout the UK. Versatile and eclectic, her work includes many
cross-disciplinary collaborations; recent examples include the chamber opera
piece ‘Miriam’ in association with entomologist Peter Smithers and Electric Voice
Theatre; ‘Fruit of Paradise’ commissioned by the environmental company
Common Ground; ‘Darwin and the Barnacle’ with artist Keith McIntyre and the
University of Plymouth. She is an experienced theatre composer with the
theatrework ‘Get Up and Tie Your Fingers’ touring in 2014 (‘innovative, choral
theatre’ the Stage). Experienced in many different community settings, large scale
works include ‘City Songs’ for orchestra, children’s choir, soloists WNO MAX;
‘Alive and Kicking’ for improvising youth string orchestra and Manchester
Camerata. Founder of ‘ Cauld Blast Orchestra’, (twice winner of the Scottish Jazz
Awards) and performer with the free-improvisation group Zaum, (‘ the most
exciting group in Europe today’ Penguin Guide to Jazz ‘06), she is currently touring
with Pagoda, PLF and Misbehavin’.
Wide, Kim
Kim Wide is a curator and arts professional interested in communications,
engagement, access to the arts and impacts of social practice. She has worked
both nationally and internationally to engage communities and the public in
contemporary arts and culture and has worked with many galleries, museums,
local government, health and other public service providers, schools and further
and higher education organisations to programme off-site and community
embedded work which feeds into larger strategies for local areas. Kim came from
a museum and heritage background, working as a museum professional in
Canada for the City of Toronto and as Assistant Curator at the Government of
Ontario Art Collection. In 2003, Kim came to the UK and has worked here for as
Audience Development Officer at ArtSway and Acting Director of Kaleido Arts.
Since 2009, Kim has been Executive Director of Take A Part CIC, where she has
established an innovative co-commissioning curatorial process developed and
managed by communities themselves and engages hard to reach areas of
Plymouth in multiple, high quality art experiences.
Winterson, Julia
Julia Winterson combines music lecturing at the University of Huddersfield with
freelance writing and research. She has worked as the music Qualification Leader
for Edexcel and as Head of New Music for Peters Edition. Publications include
seven anthologies of music for schools, Pop Music: The Text Book and numerous
articles for music magazines and academic journals. She has recently completed
two books of music theory - one for classical musicians and the other for rock and
pop students and is now editing two publications about the composer John Cage.
She has a good deal of experience of participatory work as a researcher, evaluator
and course writer and has completed commissioned projects for Opera North,
London Sinfonietta, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, and the
CBSO. For several years she was a member of the MPA (Music Publishers
Association) Education and Training Committee and the British Section of ISCM
(International Society of Contemporary Music).
Wise, Philip
Philip Wise read archaeology and anthropology at Downing College, Cambridge
and subsequently studied curatorship at the Department of Museum Studies,
University of Leicester and heritage management at the Institute of Archaeology,
University College London. He has worked in a variety of local authority museums
since 1983, initially as an archaeological curator and more recently as a manager.
For the last sixteen years he has been responsible for the heritage management of
Colchester’s archaeological sites and monuments. Most recently he led on the
heritage aspects of the successful bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the project
to redevelop Colchester Castle and increase access to the town’s wider heritage.
Since October 2012 he has been Collections and Curatorial Manager with
Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service. Philip is an Associate Member of the
Museums Association, a Member of the Institute for Archaeologists and was
Chairman of the Society of Museum Archaeologists from 2006-2009 and of the UK
Archaeological Archives Forum from 2007-2011. In December 2012 Philip was
appointed to the Accreditation Committee of Arts Council England. He is currently
a trustee of Museums Essex and is the Museum Mentor for Orford Museum Trust.
For many years he has been interested in archaeological reconstruction, including
most recently the use of virtual reality, and in the curatorial aspects of collections
management.
Wolfe, Lisa
Lisa Wolfe is an arts manager and producer. For the past ten years she has been
Administrative Producer for the writer and actor Tim Crouch. She also works with
Liz Aggiss, whose body of work encompasses choreography, performance and
dance-film, and Sue MacLaine, writer and performer. Lisa is Marketing Manager
for the disability arts company Carousel and has a background in marketing, most
notably with Brighton Festival and Dome, for whom she was Head of Marketing
before leaving in 2001 to diversify her career. Lisa has worked in recent years for
the comedy theatre company Spymonkey, Chichester Festival Theatre, South East
Dance and Arts Council England South East. She is on the advisory boards of
Spymonkey and HOUSE visual arts festival, performs occasionally and writes on
theatre and live art for Total Theatre Magazine.
Woods, Gregory
Gregory Woods is a poet, cultural historian and teacher. His poetry collections, We
Have the Melon (1992), May I Say Nothing (1998), The District Commissioner’s
Dreams (2002), Quidnunc (2007) and An Ordinary Dog (2011), are published by
Carcanet Press. His main critical books, Articulate Flesh: Male Homo-eroticism
and Modern Poetry (1987) and A History of Gay Literature: The Male Tradition
(1998), is published by Yale University Press. He has published numerous essays
on queer verbal and visual cultures, including film, television, shopping catalogues,
travel brochures, cartoons, etc. In 1998, Gregory was appointed as the UK’s first
Professor of Gay and Lesbian Studies by Nottingham Trent University, where he
also ran the doctoral programme in creative writing. He retired in 2013. Gregory is
a member of the peer review colleges of the Arts and Humanities Research
Council and the European Science Foundation. He has served on the board of
directors of East Midlands Arts.
Wright, Fiona
Fiona Wright is an Independent artist and Feldenkrais Method practitioner. She
has been making performances since the late 1980s, working through
choreography, writing and installation. Her solo work includes a series of close-up
and ‘one-to-one’ performances, several performance lectures, a practice-based
PhD project (2005) and the solo, On Lying, which was seen at the National Review
of Live Art, Glasgow 2010. Ongoing collaborations include a duet with Caroline
Bowditch as girl jonah, and the History Dances projects with video artist Becky
Edmunds. Fiona has long experience teaching in Higher Education, now working
in a freelance capacity, including being invited as visiting artist in Performance at
the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and most recently at Brighton University.
She has also worked with Simone Aughterlony (Zurich/Berlin) as dramaturge and
performer and was a performer in Entitled, a theatre piece by the Manchesterbased company Quarantine. She is currently an Honorary Research Associate at
Birkbeck’s Centre for Contemporary Arts (School of Arts) and recent projects
include the small-scale video installation Distant Wars (2013) with Becky
Edmunds.
Wright, Tom
Tom Wright is Associate Director of Freedom Studios, a Bradford-based company
focusing on work challenging prejudice in its different forms, currently ageism in
the national tour of Home Sweet Home, and race through the founding of an interracial youth theatre. Tom trained as an assistant director at Bristol Old Vic, Young
Vic (on the Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme), West Yorkshire Playhouse
and RSC. As a freelancer, his work has gone from tai chi movement in The Soul of
Chi’en-Nu Leaves Her Body, film noir in David Mamet’s The Water Engine,
vaudeville in the Spanish classic Ay Carmela!, to site-specific in Fringe First winner
The Container. Tom has run workshops for emerging professionals, from actor
training at Drama schools (Guildhall, Mountview, Manchester Met, Rose Bruford,
GSA and BSA), to young directors with the Young Vic and Living Pictures, and has
run the Royal & Derngate Youth Theatre.
Yussuf, Aurella
Aurella Yussuf is an art historian and writer with a focus on Africa and the African
Diaspora. She has strong interests in visual arts, design and craft which explore
hidden histories, and in reinterpreting historic collections. She has recently played
an advisory role in the upcoming exhibition Fashion Cities Africa at Brighton
Museum and Art Gallery, and is working with the British Museum and the Somali
community in London on the project Object Journeys. In her writing, public
speaking and appearances on Colourful Radio and BBC Radio London, she works
to promote wider public engagement with art and visual culture from BAME artists
in the UK. She is also completing an MA in Global Arts at Goldsmiths College.
Zepherin, Wesley
Wesley Zepherin is an arts manager working in development, diversity, and
community engagement. He has extensive knowledge and experience of Jazz,
World and Contemporary music, Carnival Arts, and Theatre. As an officer for the
City of York Council and a Relationship Manager for Arts Council England
Yorkshire. He commissioned and produced a range of projects and initiatives, that
instilled the benefits of diverse working practice
and addressed underrepresentation in arts provision. His portfolio of work
includes innovative programmes of participation, leadership, networking,
professional and artform development; and projects such as The Creative Case
Yorkshire, BBC/York Music Live, Black British Perspectives, and the Northern
Carnival Initiative. He is a director of J-Night; the foremost jazz promoter in East
Yorkshire, SAA-uk; a leading South Asian music and dance organisation, and the
Creativity Centre Educational Trust; which provides training and education in
creativity and innovation.