Who we are

Tony Wadsworth was Chairman and CEO of EMI Music UK & Ireland from 1998 to 2008. In a 26 year career with the UK based company, he held many roles including Managing Director of the Parlophone label, a label which he relaunched in the 1990's achieving sustained hits with artists such as Blur, Radiohead, Crowded House, Pet Shop Boys, Tina Turner and Queen.

His subsequent move to running all of EMI's UK labels saw a period of global success with artists such as Robbie Williams, Coldplay, Kylie Minogue,the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. Having overseen the combination of the Virgin label with the UK company, recent worldwide chart profile and multi million sales have been achieved with brand new signings such as Lily Allen, KT Tunstall and Corinne Bailey Rae.

Prior to joining EMI, Tony gained a degree in Economics from Newcastle and spent the following 3 years playing in a band with his college friends. He later worked for various record labels before joining EMI.

He is currently Chairman of the BPI and Chairman of Brit Awards Ltd and on the board of the Brit Trust charity. He is a trustee of the Music Sound Foundation, a charity devoted to improving young peoples' access to music education, and a trustee of the EMI Archive Trust.

Tony holds the post of Visiting Professor in the music and business schools of the University of Newcastle-on-Tyne. In March 2008 , he was awarded the prestigious `Music Week' Strat award for outstanding contribution to the UK music industry and in 2009 was awarded the Scott Piering Award by the Radio Academy to recognise outstanding contribution to music radio .

Tony lives in London with his wife and 2 children.

Wren brings more than 10 years of experience in marketing and sustainability strategy and communications, working on behalf of sustainability leaders and some of the world’s most successful bands and brands. She’s helped members of the entertainment industry in her native US and across the world reduce their impact and mobilize millions of fans to join their efforts.

Melvin Benn had a ten year background of producing political and campaigning festivals throughout the UK before establishing The Festival Office Ltd in 1989 to create and produce festivals for the Mean Fiddler.

This was the same year that the Mean Fiddler took over the Reading Festival, which has sold out ever since. In 1999, Benn took the event to Leeds. In 1996 Benn took ‘The Festival Office’ to be part of the Mean Fiddler Music Group and became Managing Director. In 1999 he became Group CEO taking Mean Fiddler and its associated companies into a plc structure. This made Mean Fiddler the first publicly quoted music company on to the UK Stock Exchange.

Benn is also the licensee for all Finsbury Park outdoor shows and sits as a representative on the Concert Promoters Association (CPA). He was influential in re-writing the Guide to Health and Safety at Outdoor Events (‘the Pop Code’), and regularly makes presentations to the Emergency Planning College, the police and other bodies.

In August 2007 Benn sold the majority of the Mean Fiddler Music Group venues as well as the Mean Fiddler Music Group name to concentrate on the full festival portfolio ; Carling Weekend Reading & Leeds, Latitude, Rise, St Patrick’s Day, Fleadh and the involvement with Glastonbury Festival under the new name of Festival Republic.

Chris Cotton RIBA is a Chartered Architect with over 40 years expertise in conservation, restoration and design of commercial buildings. In 2005, having had a lifelong interest in the building, Chris became Building and Operations Director of the Royal Albert Hall, a charity and Grade I listed building of national importance. He became Chief Executive in 2010.

As well as being a Director of Julie’s Bicycle, he is also a Trustee of the Exhibition Road Cultural Group (ERCG), which represents and champions the collective view of the 16 national and international cultural and educational organisations and two local councils within the Exhibition Road area, and a non-executive Director of Saia Group, a design, planning and project Management Company.

Originally from Edinburgh, Chris enjoys all forms of live performance and is a keen sailor particularly on the west coast of Scotland.

Neil Johnston has worked in creative industries in the UK, US and Europe all his life. Now Chief Executive of Paddington Development Trust he works in creative regeneration in some of the poorest neighbourhoods in London.

He is also Director of London Westside, an agency supporting new business and is involved in a number of other charitable and business initiatives in the UK. He operates an organic smallholding from his home in Northamptonshire and grows thirteen varieties of English apple, as well as plums, pears, quince and French walnuts.

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Neil Johnston has worked in creative industries in the UK, US and Europe all his life. Now Chief Executive of Paddington Development Trust he works in creative regeneration in some of the poorest neighbourhoods in London.

He is also Director of London Westside, an agency supporting new business and is involved in a number of other charitable and business initiatives in the UK. He operates an organic smallholding from his home in Northamptonshire and grows thirteen varieties of English apple, as well as plums, pears, quince and French walnuts.

David Joseph recalls that given the amount of time his father, an artist manager who handled acts like Billy Ocean, spent away from home, he decided “the music industry was not the life I was going to choose for myself”. But try as he might, including successful stints in advertising and games company Sega, Joseph was destined to follow in his father’s footsteps. He started out as RCA’s chief of press relations. David joined Universal Music in August 1998 as general manager of Polydor UK before moving up in February 2002 to become managing director and later co-President of Polydor alongside Colin Barlow. In April 2006, Joseph was promoted to President, Universal Music Operations, overseeing Universal Classics & Jazz, UMTV and the launch of TV production division Globe alongside his Polydor responsibilities. In March 2008 he was appointed to the role of Chairman and CEO, Universal Music UK, overseeing all divisions of the UK’s leading record company. David became a member of the BPI Council in 2005 following two years on the Brits Committee.

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David Joseph recalls that given the amount of time his father, an artist manager who handled acts like Billy Ocean, spent away from home, he decided “the music industry was not the life I was going to choose for myself”. But try as he might, including successful stints in advertising and games company Sega, Joseph was destined to follow in his father’s footsteps. He started out as RCA’s chief of press relations.

David joined Universal Music in August 1998 as general manager of Polydor UK before moving up in February 2002 to become managing director and later co-President of Polydor alongside Colin Barlow. In April 2006, Joseph was promoted to President, Universal Music Operations, overseeing Universal Classics & Jazz, UMTV and the launch of TV production division Globe alongside his Polydor responsibilities.

In March 2008 he was appointed to the role of Chairman and CEO, Universal Music UK, overseeing all divisions of the UK’s leading record company. David became a member of the BPI Council in 2005 following two years on the Brits Committee.

Diana Liverman is Director of Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute and holds a university Chair in Environmental Science in the School of Geography. As director of ECI, Dr. Liverman co-ordinates the work of 80+ interdisciplinary contract researchers and doctoral students who work primarily in the areas of climate, energy and ecosystems with a strong applied and policy focus. ECI hosts or co-hosts national and international projects that include the UK Climate Impacts Program, the Oxford node of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, the U.K. Energy Research Centre and the ICSU/ESSP Global Environmental Change and Food Systems (GECAFS) programme.

Her research focuses on the human dimensions of global environmental change including climate change policy and impacts, the social causes and consequences of land use change, and environmental management in the Americas. She has made substantial contributions to our understanding of vulnerability to climate change and to developing larger research agendas on the social science of global change.

Dr. Liverman’s leadership roles include chairing the U.S. National Academy of Sciences Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change and the science committee and the Inter-American Institute for Global Change (IAI). She has been a member of committees that include the UK Human Dimensions Committee, US National Academy of Sciences committee on the U.S. Climate Change Science Plan, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Social Science Advisory Board, and advisory boards for NASA, the NOAA Global Change Program, and the U.S. National Centre for Atmospheric Research.

She is a member of editorial boards of the Annual Review of Environment and Resources, Global Environmental Change, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, and Climatic Change and was a contributing author and reviewer for three intergovernmental panels on Climate Change assessments.

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Diana Liverman is the co-director of the Institute of the Environment at The University of Arizona and a Regents Professor in the School of Geography and Development.  She is also affiliated with Oxford University as a visiting professor of Environmental Policy and Development and senior research fellow in the Environmental Change Institute. 

Her research focuses on the human and social dimensions of environmental issues including vulnerability and adaptation to climate change, environmental change and food security, climate policy and governance, climate and the arts, and environment and development.  She is known for her work on the climate vulnerability and on environmental issues in Latin America. Her recent publications include edited books on environment and food security and on climate change, articles on the governance of adaptation, carbon offsets, earth system governance, and planetary boundaries, and an award winning textbook on world regions. 

Her awards include the Founders Gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society and distinguished scholarship honors from the Association of American Geographers for her pioneering work on the human dimensions of global environmental change.   She has been an active member of national and international advisory committees on global environmental change including the US National Academy committees on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change and Informing America’s Climate Choices and international committees for Future Earth, IPCC, the Global Environmental Change and Food Systems (GECAFS) program, the Inter American Institute for Global Change, and the Earth Systems Governance project.  

In 1986 Jazz Summers established the record label Big Life Management with Tim Parry which he runs to this day. He has shaped the careers of a multitude of successful artists as diverse as Lisa Stansfield, The Verve, Coldcut, La Roux and Snow Patrol.

Alison set up Julie’s Bicycle in April 2007. Before that she led the music consultation for the National Skills Academy, was the Music Director at Creative and Cultural Skills (which she helped set up) and prior to this had spent fifteen years developing the community music sector at Community Music.

Alison trained as a musician and teacher. Her advisory roles have included the Live Music Forum, Music Manifesto Steering Group, and the Music Business Forum. She is on the Board of Sound Connections.

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Alison set up Julie’s Bicycle in April 2007. Before that she led the music consultation for the National Skills Academy, was the Music Director at Creative and Cultural Skills (which she helped set up) and prior to this had spent fifteen years developing the community music sector at Community Music.

Alison is Associate Professor at Buckinghamshire New University, a member of the Events Supplement Working Group for the Global Reporting Initiative, and a founder participant on the United Nations Music & Environment Programme, 2010.

Alison trained as a musician and teacher. Her advisory roles have included the Live Music Forum, Music Manifesto Steering Group, and the Music Business Forum. She is on the Board of Sound Connections.

Sian is an independent consultant in the arts sector.  She was Head of Theatre for Arts Council England, London for ten years until February 2010.

Prior to joining the Arts Council Sian worked for a range of performing arts companies, producing and touring theatre and contemporary dance throughout the UK and overseas. She was Executive Director of Siobhan Davies Dance Company; Manager for Michael Clark Company, Aletta Collins Dance Company and Laurie Booth; and Assistant Manager of the Bush Theatre.

Sian is a Clore Fellow. During her fellowship (2006 – 2008) she was seconded to Tate to develop a Climate Change Strategy and undertook a research project ‘Cultural Leadership in a Changing Climate.’

Sian is a CLP/PCT accredited coach and action learning facilitator. She is Chair of Governors at Grove Park Primary School, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a graduate of Balliol College, Oxford where she studied Modern History.

Catherine is an energy researcher focusing on the capacity of businesses and individuals to reduce carbon emissions. Her recent research has included examining the viability of personal carbon allowances to incentivise energy efficient behaviour. Catherine is lead inventor with Dr. Russell Layberry of two online energy management tools, i-measure and SMEasure, designed for individuals and businesses to measure, benchmark and target their energy use and carbon emissions.

Catherine has been the lead researcher from Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute to indicatively estimate the greenhouse gas emissions of the UK music industry. The research has identified some of the main blockages and opportunities for the industry to collectively reduce emissions. Catherine is taking forward this work in her doctorate studies with the Resolve Group at Surrey University. Her doctorate research will be studying the response of the music industry to climate change action and its ability as a creative, cultural and lifestyles industry to encourage a transition to low carbon lifestyles.

Catherine has a Masters in Environmental Management from Yale University (USA). She has done environmental research in the UK, USA, India and Pakistan. She is passionate about the development of climate change solutions that are visionary, equitable, and affordable.

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Catherine is an energy researcher focusing on the capacity of businesses and individuals to reduce carbon emissions. Her recent research has included examining the viability of personal carbon allowances to incentivise energy efficient behaviour. Catherine is lead inventor with Dr. Russell Layberry of two online energy management tools, i-measure and SMEasure, designed for individuals and businesses to measure, benchmark and target their energy use and carbon emissions.

Catherine has been the lead researcher from Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute to indicatively estimate the greenhouse gas emissions of the UK music industry. The research has identified some of the main blockages and opportunities for the industry to collectively reduce emissions. Catherine is taking forward this work in her doctorate studies with the Resolve Group at Surrey University. Her doctorate research will be studying the response of the music industry to climate change action and its ability as a creative, cultural and lifestyles industry to encourage a transition to low carbon lifestyles.

Catherine has a Masters in Environmental Management from Yale University (USA). She has done environmental research in the UK, USA, India and Pakistan. She is passionate about the development of climate change solutions that are visionary, equitable, and affordable.

Claire is an environmental management expert with 16 years’ experience helping organisations - public and private, large and small, in the EU and the UK - to understand and improve their environmental performance. She is also experienced in developing environmental guidance and tools and EU environmental funding programmes.

Over the years Claire has worked as project manager for an environmental NGO, an environmental consultant, an in-house environmental manager and as a freelance expert. Her work has included: developing guidance and training under a regional environmental business programme; providing environmental management systems support and training to organisations including the European Commission, the Belgian Ministry for Transport and Vivendi; planning, improving and reporting on environmental and energy performance as  in-house Environmental Manager; and developing environmental best practice guidance for SME members of Intellect, the UK’s technology trade association.

In May 2012, Claire joined Julie's Bicycle as Environmental and Energy Director, on a maternity cover basis. Since then she has been working with arts and cultural organisations on understanding and improving energy and environmental performance and on sustainability management systems  for events.

Claire has a European Masters in Environmental Management and is an Associate Member of the UK Institute for Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA).

Catherine supported Julie’s Bicycle while working in the Government and Industry Affairs Department at EMI Group, before becoming Julie’s Bicycle’s Operations Manager in November 2007.

Prior to moving to the UK, Catherine worked in the music industry in New Zealand, as Communications and Events Coordinator for the collecting society APRA, as well as a period with the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra, and tutoring English at the University of Auckland.

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Catherine has worked across a wide range of music and arts organisations, and been involved with Julie’s Bicycle since it launched in July 2007. 

Prior to Julie’s Bicycle, Catherine most recently worked with EMI’s Government and Industry Affairs team and produced events and communications for the Australasian Performing Rights Association.

Lucy joined Julie’s Bicycle in October 2012 as our communications and marketing manager. With her experience of strategic sustainability communications, campaigning, and behaviour change, Lucy is exploring how Julie’s Bicycle can continue to progress towards our mission of making sustainability intrinsic to the creative industries.

Lucy spent two years at Futerra where she worked as a PR consultant for clients including global NGO’s, businesses, and government bodies. She became a leading voice in communicating sustainability through social media and was responsible for the development of Futerra’s Swishing campaign.

Before joining Julies Bicycle, Lucy worked freelance in both the UK and Canada with notable clients including Bristol’s Big Green Week, Good Energy, and the Whistler Centre for Sustainability.

Christina Tsiarta completed her master’s in Environmental Science and Management at the Bren School of Environmental Science at Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara, before joining Julie's Bicycle in October 2009 to work on the touring project as a greenhouse gas data analyst. She is now working full-time for Julie’s Bicycle managing the Industry Green certification and the IG tools - the Julie's Bicycle online carbon calculators - and collaborating on research projects as a project manager.

Her background is in GHG accounting, carbon auditing and sustainability through her work in the financial services industry and in the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment in her home country, Cyprus, as well as through her placements in UK sustainability consultancies.

Luke joined the Energy and Environment team in May 2012 to co-ordinate the implementation of Julie's Bicycle's partnership with Arts Council England, providing Arts Council England clients with environmental support to meet new funding requirements for sustainability and carbon accounting.

Previously Luke worked at an accountancy pioneering carbon auditing and energy reduction solutions for SME’s. 

His educational background is in physical geography and has also worked within economic development as well as academic research.

Sholeh coordinates the Julie's Bicycle Performing Arts Programme, working mainly with the theatre and dance sectors to share knowledge, facilitate events and workshops, provide networking opportunities and develop practical resources for the creative sector to embed sustainable best practice.

She joined Julie's Bicycle in September 2010 following a background in producing professional development programmes and knowledge-sharing workshops on intercultual communication and collaborative practice for theatre artists in the UK and Middle East. Sholeh studied Creative Writing (BA) and Creative and Media Enertprise (MA) at Warwick University.

Chiara joined Julie's Bicycle in October 2012 to get the manifold stakeholders in the UK music industry on the same page when it comes to embedding environmental sustainability and best practice in their activities. Working on initiatives including the Green Riders campaign, she is reaching out to help harness the sector's collective power in effecting change.

Chiara holds a degree in Natural Sciences/History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Cambridge and has various former lives in cultural PR and development, live music promotions, and festivals.

Chris Johnson is a committed and active advocate of sustainability in the UK events industry, with regular speaking engagements, contributions to industry initiatives, and is both a co-founder and the project coordinator for the the Green Festival Alliance (UK) initiative with Julies Bicycle.

Chris Johnson is co-founder and a Director of Shambala Festival, and a Director of Kambe Events Ltd, a sustainable events management consultancy.

Chris has managed over 50 festivals over the past decade, ranging from participatory community arts events to free public events of 80,000 attendance. Shambala has been running for 12 years and is one of a handful of pioneering sustainable events in the UK, winning the A Greener Festival Award (2011), Most Sustainable Event in the UK Award (NOEA), and having the highest Industry Green assessment with 3 stars in all areas.

With three years experience in Arts Administration and a degree in the History of Art, Tiah holds the team together with highly organised administrative support. She joined Julie's Bicycle in September 2012.

Jazz Summers turned to management in the early 80s and publishing in the late 80s. 25 years on as CEO of Big Life Group Of Companies , Summers has been responsible for managing Wham!, Lisa Stansfield, Yazz, Soul ll Soul, The Verve, Badly Drawn Boy, Nigel Kennedy, Snow Patrol , Klaxons and the Futureheads.

Between them these artists have sold over 40 million albums and 47 million singles around the world, including 95 top 40 hits over the past 18 years.Big Life Music has grown to become one of the most respected independent publishers in the UK, recognized as the largest independent publishing company in the last two quarters of 2007.

In 2003, as a member of the Music Managers Forum, Summers was awarded the prestigious Peter Grant award and in December 2004 was elected chairman of this organization. At the 2007 Music Week Awards, he was honoured with the Strat Award.

Bryan Grant is Managing Director of Britannia Row Productions which for the past thirty five years has been providing audio for major tours and events around the world. 

Nick Levitt is Managing Director of Live Gallery Productions Ltd. Nick is a tour and event producer with over 30 years experience in global tour and event production, currently involved in helping produce the Sonisphere festivals through Europe , The Papal visit to London  and both Simply Red's and Simple minds world tours.

Steve Strange is one of the founding partners of X-ray Touring and looks after acts such as Eminem, Coldplay, Snow Patrol, Queens of the Stone Age and Scissor Sisters to name but a few. He has been an agent in the Live Music Industry for 20 years now since leaving his home country of Northern Ireland.

We are working with a small group of senior industry figures to inform and guide our UK-wide theatre programme which aims to support the theatre industry to improve its environmental sustainability and adapt to a low carbon economy.

Nick Starr has been Executive Director of the National Theatre since 2002, working alongside Nicholas Hytner, Director of the NT. Nick was previously Executive Director of the Almeida Theatre and responsible for its expansion in the late nineties into touring, West End seasons, the conversion of Gainsborough Studios and Kings Cross, and started the refurbishment of the Islington theatre.  Previous to that he ran his own production company, was Director of Warwick Arts Centre, and Head of Planning at the NT. 

Over the last five years the NT has played to record capacities and numbers of first-timer attenders, enabled particularly by the Travelex £10 season.  The company has extended its touring and commercial production activities, with seasons on Broadway and in the West End; and has refurbished the NT Studio where new work is developed for the National’s stages and beyond. 1.3 million people saw NT shows last year.  Future plans include NT Future, prompted by the NT’s 50^th birthday in 2013, which plans to open up the NT building, literally and metaphorically.

He is the Arts trustee of Nesta, is on the board of the Bush Theatre, the Young Vic and the Society of London Theatre, and has recently stepped down from BAC after seven years in the chair.  He runs the Step Change career development programme.

Paule Constable is a freelance lighting designer working in Opera and Theatre throughout the world. Paule studied English and Drama at Goldsmiths College and trained in lighting design while working in the music business. She is a Technical Associate at the National Theatre and an Associate at the Lyric Hammersmith and of Matthew Bourne’s company, New Adventures. 

Recent Design Credits include: Warhorse, St Joan, Women of Troy, Some Trace of Her, Waves, Paul, The House of Bernarda Alba and Coram Boy for the National Theatre.  Ivanov for the Donmar season at the Wyndhams as well as The Chalk Garden, Othello, The Man Who Had all the Luck, The Cut and Proof for the Donmar, The Good Soul of Szechuan and Vernon God Little at the Young Vic, Oliver in Drury Lane and Evita in the Adelphi, Play Without Words, Dorian Gray and Highland Fling for Matthew Bourne and Moon for the Misbegotten at the Old Vic, as well as many productions for The RSC, The Royal Court and for Theatre de Complicite. 

She has designed opera throughout the world; including Giulio Cesare, Cosi fan Tutti, Carmen and St Matthew Passion at Glyndebourne, Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute, Faust and Rigoletto at the Royal Opera House; Satyagraha and Rosenkavaliar at ENO; Tales of Hoffman for Salzburg and Peter Grimes for Opera North.  Recent dance credits include 7 Deadly Sins for the Royal Ballet and Naked for the Ballet Boys.

Awards include: Hospital Creative Award in Theatre 2006 for contribution to Theatre, 2006 Olivier Award for Best Lighting Design for Don Carlos; 2005 Olivier Award for Best Lighting for His Dark Materials; LA Critics’ Award for Amadeus 1999.  She has received a further 5 Olivier Award Nominations and a Tony Nomination for Coram Boy on Broadway in 2007. Paule is a Technical Associate of the National Theatre and a Fellow of Goldsmiths College.

Paule has two children and lives in Brighton. 

Vikki Heywood was appointed as Executive Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2003.  She is a Governor of the Company and a member of its Board.  The company has a turnover of £30 million per year, employs 700 staff and produces over 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford upon Avon.  The RSC regularly performs in London and tours the UK and abroad.  The company is also undertaking a £112.8 million building project to transform its theatres in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Prior to this, Vikki was Joint Chief Executive of the Royal Court Theatre, the country’s foremost theatre for the development of new writing. During that time she was responsible for overseeing the £20m redevelopment of that theatre and producing over 100 world premiere productions in London and on Broadway.

She is a board member of the Society of London Theatre, Warwick University, Cultural Leadership Programme Advisory Board and The London 2012 Cultural Olympiad and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.  She is also a member of the Chartered Management Institute.  In October 2007 she received the Vitalise Midlands Woman of Achievement Award.  She was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Birmingham and became a Doctor of Letters in December 2009.

During her career she has led a wide range of theatre companies, having trained as a Stage Manager before moving into theatre management. She has advised the Arts Council and other stakeholders and arts boards and has been Vice Chairman of both the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith and The Young Vic Theatre.

(Image credit: Stewart Hemley)

Kate Horton became the Executive Director of the Royal Court Theatre in January 2008 and is responsible for its business, financial and producing activities.  Before joining Dominic Cooke at the Royal Court, Kate was previously the Commercial Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, where she worked for a decade.  

Having started her career in advertising, Kate’s other arts roles include Marketing Director of Warwick Arts Centre, a multi-artform presenting venue and the Director of Sales and Marketing at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, producing large and small scale, new and classical drama.

Judith Knight is co-Director and founder of Artsadmin.  After working Hull Arts Centre, Glasgow Citizens’ Theatre and Oval House London, she developed a particular interest in new theatre and interdisciplinary performance, and set up Artsadmin in 1979 with Seonaid Stewart. 

Over the last thirty years, the organisation has developed into an internationally recognised company with a staff of 25, which has, initiated, produced and supported some of the most innovative arts projects in the UK and abroad, across the spectrum of theatre, visual arts, dance, live art and performance. At Toynbee Studios in East London, Artsadmin has developed a creative environment for artists and arts professionals, with a theatre, five rehearsal spaces, offices and studio spaces and the Arts Bar and Cafe. Artsadmin runs an education programme, a Summer School and offers support services for artists including a free advisory service, mentoring and development programmes and a bursary scheme.

Artsadmin is a partner in the Imagine 2020 Network of European collaborators producing artists’ projects on the subject of climate change, and investigating more sustainable ways of producing and touring work. Through commissioning and presenting projects in the Two Degrees festival that cross the line between art and activism, Artsadmin hopes to influence participants and a wide audience into engaging further with the subject.

John E McGrath is the first Artistic Director of the new National Theatre Wales, where he will be developing a wide range of work with a focus on location, engagement, innovation and internationalism. For the company’s launch year John is directing two plays - A Good Night Out in the Valleys by Alan Harris, and Love Steals Us From Loneliness by Gary Owen - as well as overseeing a launch programme of 13 shows, the Theatre Map of Wales. 

From 1999-2008 John was Artistic Director of Contact, Manchester's award-winning space bringing new theatre to diverse young audiences. As a director John has recently worked with hip hop theatre artist Benji Reid (b like water), with poet Lemn Sissay (Storm, Something Dark, Why I Don’t Hate White People), on a multi-media collaboration with writer Kaite O'Reilly and visual artist Paul Clay (Perfect) and with Contact Young Actors Company on the theatre installation Close Up. 

Prior to his time at Contact, John trained and worked in New York for several years, including a stint as Associate Director of leading experimental company Mabou Mines.  His book, "Loving Big Brother: Performance, Privacy and Surveillance Space" was published by Routledge in 2004.  He was the Co-Founder and Chair of PANDA, the Performing Arts Network and Development Agency.  In 2005 he was awarded the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts (NESTA) Cultural Leadership Award.  

André was appointed Chief Executive of the Really Useful Group in December 2005 after four years as Chief Executive of Really Useful Theatres. In that time he was responsible for employing over eight hundred people and programmed and managed twelve theatres in the West End. André recently retired after nine years on the Board of the National Theatre and is an ex-President of the Society of London Theatre. André is currently producing Love Never Dies, the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, for The Really Useful Group. He was also producer of the recent revival of Evitawhich was nominated for four Olivier Awards in 2007. He was executive producer on the ‘Bollywood’ musical Bombay Dreams and consultant producer of the Olivier Award winning Best Musical Our House. 

Before running Really Useful Theatres, André was an active producer for twenty years.  During that time he produced over 50 shows in London and on tour. This included winning Evening Standard or Olivier Best Musical Awards for five separate productions including Return to the Forbidden Planet,Spend Spend Spend and Tommy.

As a leading comedy promoter, André presented many comedians on tour and in London, from Rowan Atkinson and Dave Allen in the early 1980’s through to Eddie Izzard and The League of Gentlemen in the late 1990’s. 

Alongside his theatrical activity, André ran a television production company, which produced a number of specials for the BBC and Channel 4 and five sitcom series for the BBC including Joking Apart, which won the Bronze Rose at the Montreux International Television Festival in 1995.

Rosemary Squire is the co-owner of 23 West End and UK regional theatres and Joint CEO of ATG, also one of the most prolific and broad-based commercial theatre producers in the world. Rosemary and her husband/business partner, Howard Panter, have been dubbed “theatreland’s power couple”. As co-founder and Joint CEO of The Ambassador Theatre Group Ltd (ATG), Rosemary is responsible for the company’s core business and new projects team.

 Rosemary is also Chair of Great Ormond Street Hospital’s Theatres for Theatres Appeal and Vice Chairman of Dance Umbrella, the UK’s foremost international contemporary dance festival. She is also a Trustee of The Hall of Cornwall.

In June 2005, when Rosemary was elected President of the Society of London Theatre (the trade organisation of London’s theatre owners and managers), she became the second only female President in the organisation’s 100-year history. She completed her three year term in July 2008 and is now serving a further three years as Vice President. She was a member of The Arts Council of England Lottery Advisory Panel from 2000-2005 and is a member of the Theatrical Management Association.

In June 2006, Rosemary won the prestigious CBI Real Business First Women Award for Tourism and Leisure, and in December 2007 was awarded an OBE for services to Theatre.

In January 2009, Rosemary was appointed a National Member of the Arts Council England Board. Rosemary’s term of appointment runs until January 2013.

Rosemary has three children, aged from 23 to 7, the eldest has Down's Syndrome.

Ben Todd is Executive Director of Arcola Theatre. London's largest studio theatre, Arcola is critically acclaimed for the excellence and variety of it s programming, encompassing new and experimental works, classic drama, music and comedy, as well as community and youth programs. With the mission to become the world's first carbon neutral theatre, Arcola is also a global leader in environmentally responsible arts production and performance practice. While winning accolades for its productions, the theatre is also reaping awards for its sustainability initiatives through Arcola Energy. It won the 2008 CBI Growing Business 'Green Award' and was the Energy Globe UK winner in 2009.

Ben Todd holds a PhD in engineering from Cambridge University and has worked in R&D, technical and strategy consulting on both commercial and government projects, including at Cambridge Consultants, Rolls-Royce Fuel Cell Systems and Synnogy. As well as managing Arcola Theatre, he is Managing Director UK for Horizon Fuel Cell developing new markets and applications for fuel cell and renewable energy technologies.

Steve Tompkins is a director of Haworth Tompkins architects.  In the performing arts he led the design of the Royal Court, the Almeida @ Gainsborough Studios, the Almeida @ Kings Cross, the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, the Young Vic, the Egg children’s theatre and the Ustinov Studio in Bath, the North Wall in Oxford, the National Theatre Studio and the Snape Maltings music campus in Suffolk.  He is currently working on performance projects with the National Theatre, Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse theatres, BAC, the Bush and the Donmar.

Steve studied architecture at Bath University and travelled extensively in Asia before joining the multi-disciplinary practice of Arup Associates in London.  He was a founding member of Bennetts Associates in 1987 prior to forming Haworth Tompkins Architects with Graham Haworth in 1991.Haworth Tompkins is a creative team of 35 architects based in Clerkenwell.  Other projects include a new campus for the Royal College of Art, housing and community buildings for Coin St Community Builders and the Peabody Trust, and the major expansion of the London Library. The studio’s completed buildings have won design awards and have been published nationally and internationally; the practice was nominated for the Stirling Prize in 2007 and Steve was awarded an Evening Standard Special award in 2008 for his contribution to theatre architecture.

Haworth Tompkins has contributed to a number of publications on sustainable architecture and is developing methodologies for sustainable theatre design with clients, technical specialists and funders.

Steve has taught and lectured extensively at a number of UK schools of architecture and is currently a visiting critic at Cambridge University and Visiting Professor of Architecture at the University of Greenwich.  He has exhibited architectural work at the RIBA and the RA, and paintings at various UK galleries.

Erica Whyman is a theatre director with 15 years experience, directing at the National, Sheffield Crucible, Oxford Playhouse, The Gate Theatre and Southwark Playhouse and numerous tours. Since 2005 she has been Chief Executive of Northern Stage with responsibility for the creative and strategic direction of the company.  Northern Stage is the North East’s premier producing theatre, with three flexible stages and a very diverse programme of performances and opportunities to make theatre. 

In her current role she has overseen the completion of their capital redevelopment, enacted major cultural change, a new repertoire and a new business model.  In 2007 Northern Stage played host to Robert Lepage and his company Ex Machina who rehearsed and premiered a new piece, Lipsynch in Newcastle. Erica has also directed seven productions for the company including Son Of Man by Dennis Potter, Ruby Moon by Australian Matt Cameron, the flagship Our Friends in the North in 2007, a Spring 2009 tour of Look Back in Anger, and Oh What A Lovely War which has just completed a national tour.

She was the first theatre fellow on the Clore Leadership Programme in 2004, seconded to Tate to work in the Directors' Office, looking at diversity across all the museums and collections. Her mentor was Richard Eyre.

Previous posts include Artistic Director/Chief Executive at the Gate Theatre in Notting Hill, where she was responsible for paying actors for the first time in the theatre's 25 year history and for inaugurating the UK’s only award for translation.  She was also artistic director of Southwark Playhouse, and Associate Producer at the Tricycle Theatre. Erica’s directing and producing work has been nominated for several awards including the Evening Standard Awards and twice for the Peter Brook Empty Space Award.  In 2008 she was nominated (by her team) for the TMA Manager of the Year Award.

Erica serves on the Boards of the Tyne Theatre & Opera House Preservation Trust, Entrust (Tyne & Wear Enterprise Trust), NE1 (The City Centre Partnership) and the steering group for the North East Cultural Leadership Programme.

Our 2010 report into theatre touring,  Moving Arts: Managing the carbon impacts of our touring, Volume 3: Theatre, and the legacy programmes resulting from it are guided by the touring steering group.

Prior to joining the Arts Council Sian worked for a range of performing arts companies, producing and touring theatre and contemporary dance throughout the UK and overseas. She was Executive Director of Siobhan Davies Dance Company; Manager for Michael Clark Company, Aletta Collins Dance Company and Laurie Booth; and Assistant Manager of the Bush Theatre.

Sian is a Clore Fellow. During her fellowship (2006 - 2008) she was seconded to Tate to develop a Climate Change Strategy and undertook a research project ‘Cultural Leadership in a Changing Climate.'

Sian is a CLP/PCT accredited coach and action learning facilitator. She is Chair of Governors at Grove Park Primary School, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a graduate of Balliol College, Oxford where she studied Modern History.

Phillip Brown is Group Head of Safety and Environmental Services at the Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG). The Group Head of Safety and Environmental Services provides professional advice and guidance on all matters relating to health, safety, environment, welfare and fire. Phil also has lead responsibility for the continuous development and implementation of safety and environmental management and training for ATG.  

Andrew Jones is Drama and Dance Advisor for South East Europe, Russia and North Europe, Central and Southern for the British Council. 

Bryan Raven is Managing Director of White Light and has been with the company for over 20 years. His career started with a brief spell at Theatre Projects after spending two years realising that lighting was a lot more fun than mechanical engineering at Imperial College. White Light now has a turnover of £13M and over 100 staff, and is one of the biggest suppliers of lighting equipment for live performance in the UK. Traditionally known for supplying theatre shows such as Miss Saigon, Lord of The Rings & Mary Poppins; the company has diversified and grown so much since moving to Wimbledon in 2001 that theatre only accounts for 25% of the turnover.

Rachel Tackley is Director of English Touring Theatre. Rachel has produced numerous shows in the UK, USA and all over the world. Since taking over as Director of ETT Rachel has produced: Uncle Vanya and Where There’s A Will (national tours, directed by Sir Peter Hall); Entertaining Mr Sloanewith Imelda Staunton and Mathew Horne (West End co-production with MJE); Hello and Goodbye (directed by Paul Robinson at the Trafalgar Studios); Far From the Madding Crowd (national tour, directed by Kate Saxon).