Midlands Area Council

Emily is most inspired by collaborative, interdisciplinary and participatory work created by with and for children and young people and has spent a large part of her career developing programmes of work in collaboration with children and young people to support their cultural and personal development.

Her career has focused on working with young people on youth-led participatory projects to help develop young people as decision makers and future leaders. She is extremely passionate about empowering young people and is keen to see young people supported to have their voices heard and help shape strategic decision making.

Pawlet is the Founder and Artistic Director of Serendipity, a diversity led organisation that initiated and produces LDIF (Let’s Dance International Frontiers), an annual festival in Leicester since 2011, and also delivers each year a Black History Month programme for Leicester, as well as a number of other projects.

She has edited and published “Serious About Dance – Let’s Talk” in 2005, “Hidden Movement: Contemporary Voices of Black British Dance” in 2013, “Creolizing Dance in a Global Age” in 2015, “Blurring Boundaries: Urban Street meets Contemporary Dance” in 2016, “Black Women in Dance: Stepping Out of the Barriers” and “Lost Legends – 30 Years, 30 Voices” in 2017 and “Identity and Choreographic Practice” in 2018.

Her consultancy work includes leadership training, partnership building, artistic assessment, business planning, fund-raising (private and public sectors and charitable trusts), marketing, audience development and cultural diversity, events management and international programming. She was a finalist for the 2009 National Regeneration and Renewals Award for Cultural Leadership and has been a speaker at a number of international conferences in Sweden, Surinam, USA and Spain.

Julie conceptualises new museums (M Shed, Boola Bardip) and leads ambitious cultural change programmes (National Football Museum, Salford Heritage Services). Her expertise has been gained in the Museums and Galleries sector over the last 23 years, contributing to a strong sense of place, strengthening and modernising venues, engaging with audiences and partners and contemporising interpretation and visitor experiences.

A former member of National Council, Arts Council England, Committee Member National Lottery Heritage Fund in the Southwest, Julie is a qualified executive coach and mentor and is committed to enabling the sector to grow to meet the needs of 21st century audiences.

She has a great deal of experience as a facilitator, producer, fundraiser, project developer and cultural leader.

Emily is most inspired by collaborative, interdisciplinary and participatory work created by with and for children and young people and has spent a large part of her career developing programmes of work in collaboration with children and young people to support their cultural and personal development.

Her career has focused on working with young people on youth-led participatory projects to help develop young people as decision makers and future leaders. She is extremely passionate about empowering young people and is keen to see young people supported to have their voices heard and help shape strategic decision making.


Pawlet
Brookes
MBE
Pawlet Brookes MBE
Pawlet is an accomplished and experienced senior manager and producer who has been at the heart of the development of Black arts centres, from Marketing Manager at the Nia Centre (Manchester) in the 90s to the Artistic Director of Peepul Centre (Leicester) and Chief Executive of Rich Mix (London). She has been the Arts Council assessor for a number of Black arts capital projects, such as Bernie Grant Arts Centre (London) and National Centre for Carnival Arts (Luton). Pawlet is the Founder and Artistic Director of Serendipity, a diversity led organisation that initiated and produces LDIF (Let’s Dance International Frontiers), an annual festival in Leicester since 2011, and also delivers each year a Black History Month programme for Leicester, as well as a number of other projects.

She has edited and published “Serious About Dance – Let’s Talk” in 2005, “Hidden Movement: Contemporary Voices of Black British Dance” in 2013, “Creolizing Dance in a Global Age” in 2015, “Blurring Boundaries: Urban Street meets Contemporary Dance” in 2016, “Black Women in Dance: Stepping Out of the Barriers” and “Lost Legends – 30 Years, 30 Voices” in 2017 and “Identity and Choreographic Practice” in 2018.

Her consultancy work includes leadership training, partnership building, artistic assessment, business planning, fund-raising (private and public sectors and charitable trusts), marketing, audience development and cultural diversity, events management and international programming. She was a finalist for the 2009 National Regeneration and Renewals Award for Cultural Leadership and has been a speaker at a number of international conferences in Sweden, Surinam, USA and Spain.

Cllr
Abi
Brown
Cllr Abi Brown
Abi Brown was first elected to Stoke-on-Trent City Council in 2010, and is Leader of the Conservative Group. In 2015, Abi was Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Partnerships.

Following local elections in 2019, Abi became the Leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Cabinet Member for Corporate Resources, Strategy and Partnerships.

She enjoys big projects, and has been instrumental in delivering for her city, amongst other things, Ceramic Valley Enterprise Zone, the shortlisted bid to be UK City of Culture in 2021, and the Poppies: Weeping Window in 2018.

Abi’s interests include all aspects of regeneration, and she balances being a councillor with looking after her two school age children and naughty pet dog.

Julie
Finch
Julie Finch
Julie is currently CEO-Director of Compton Verney, a cause led charity that connects people to art, nature and creativity, situated in the Midlands. As a cultural leader, her career spans charity, private and public sectors, having successfully set up a cultural trust in Cheltenham, developed the concept for the new museum for Western Australia and reframed Bristol Museums Galleries and Archives around audiences.

Julie conceptualises new museums (M Shed, Boola Bardip) and leads ambitious cultural change programmes (National Football Museum, Salford Heritage Services). Her expertise has been gained in the Museums and Galleries sector over the last 23 years, contributing to a strong sense of place, strengthening and modernising venues, engaging with audiences and partners and contemporising interpretation and visitor experiences.

A former member of National Council, Arts Council England, Committee Member National Lottery Heritage Fund in the Southwest, Julie is a qualified executive coach and mentor and is committed to enabling the sector to grow to meet the needs of 21st century audiences.

Pippa
Frith
Pippa Frith
Pippa is an award-winning Independent Producer. She works with artists and organisations to create art that aims to surprise and delight audiences nationally and internationally. She is passionate about working in the regions to create new work of high quality, showcase new voices and grow new audiences.

In 2014 she won The Mark Marvin / Peter Brook Award for her work with Birmingham Repertory Theatre. She is Festival Producer at the internationally renowned Fierce Festival, a co-director of well-loved regional work-in-progress platform PILOT Nights and a visiting lecturer at The University of Birmingham and Birmingham Conservatoire. She has a vested interest and track record in telling diverse stories, and creating space for marginalised artists and voices.

She is the long-term producer for celebrated solo artist Francesca Millican-Slater and has an ongoing relationship with Stephanie Ridings. She is Producer of Horizontal, a project Exploring invisible disabilities, our bodies and how we relate to the world led by Suriya Aisha. In the past she has produced projects for a wide range of artists including Benji Reid, Mohammed Ali and Babakas.

Before developing her producing portfolio Pippa worked for Women & Theatre, as a Programmer at the Drum Arts Centre; and was Project Manager of The Decibel Performing Arts Showcase 2007 and for Fierce Earth. She is a board member of Geese Theatre.

He has breadth of knowledge across the cultural sector, affording him a grounded, holistic and strategic understanding of today’s dynamic and challenging environment.

He has a depth of experience in local government across the full spectrum of cultural services and economic development, having developed both cultural and economic strategies and plans. He is adept at applying his skills, forging strategic relationships across different sectors, and his enterprising mind-set enables him to effect real change as well reframe ambition. He has extensive experience with founding partnerships, organisations, policy and generating substantive funds from investors.

As CEO, of Culture East Midlands, the region’s Cultural Consortium, Sukhy supported the development of the sector and established large scale transformative projects like ‘Igniting Ambition’ the Region’s Cultural Olympiad programme and devising Regional Policy.

He is currently the Director of The Centre for Culture and Creativity at the University of Lincoln, and therefore recognises the growing importance of culture across the Higher Education sector; in terms of research and innovation, as well as their increasingly visible civic leadership role coupled with their primary function in developing the next generation of cultural and creative talent.

Sukhy started his career as a volunteer with Apna Arts at the age of 16, and steered the organisations transformation in becoming the New Art Exchange. He continues to advocate and champion the social and catalytic power of culture, with a particular interest in supporting cultural diversity and social enterprise.

Term of appointment: 1 December 2017 – 30 November 2025

A Fellow and former Trustee of CILIP, he is a member of the Library Buildings Committee of the International Federation of Library Associations, and a former member of the UNESCO Culture Committee. He is on the British Library’s Public Lending Right Committee, and the editorial board of New Library World. He is a peer reviewer of library and cultural services for the Local Government Association, and a Council-member of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

Ayub has written articles and publications on library design and theory, and chaired the CILIP working group on national guidelines for locally-elected politicians. He recently led on the national procurement of digital online content for public libraries in England - which yielded savings of over £1.5 million for the sector.

Ayub’s interest extends to international library development, with a strong focus on diversity and inclusion. He has worked on library projects in several countries for the British Council and is currently advising on modernising public library services in Bangladesh, co-funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Government of Bangladesh.

In 2013, Ayub was awarded an MBE for his services to libraries. He is currently President of CILIP - the Library and Information Association in the UK.

delivering a successful programme for the University of Nottingham in Malaysia.

He also wrote a book on the deep history and archaeology of hunting in Britain from the Ice Age to the present, as well as a number of magazine and journal articles. He maintains an interest in the built heritage of the Midlands region and is a life member of the Derbyshire Historic Buildings Trust.

Barry is a local businessman, the owner and Managing Director of Amber Valley Wines, a Derbyshire vineyard, and the owner of Derwent Mills Cottages, a small but busy holiday letting business.

He is also a volunteer adviser and former Chief Executive of Wines of Great Britain, a high-profile national body dedicated to the growing of vines, production and marketing of UK wines.

Prior to this, she led the Hammersmith & Fulham Music Service for 6 years, working as an Advanced Skills Teacher and securing accreditation as a Professional Coach through RD1st in 2018.

In 2019, Jennifer was awarded a Clore Fellowship demonstrating enriched and transformative cultural practice and engagement.

In addition to music, Jennifer loves tennis and running (completing the London Marathon for Christies Cancer Hospital in 2014).

His artistic journey seeks to blend the Kathak form to compliment his contemporary dance background. His approach to Kathak integrates a curiosity in understanding the classical form’s unique nuances rooted in diaspora heritage and relationship to his own British-Indian and Queer identity; at the same time seeking to recontextualise and reimagine the South Asian Queer body in space. Jaivant’s work intersects across the boundaries of race, gender, sexuality, faith and spirituality.

Jaivant Patel Dance’s recent ground-breaking dance theatre production YAATRA was a first on the UK cultural landscape, amplifying the rich possibilities rooted in South Asian LGBTQ+ narratives. YAATRA was a finalist for Eastern Eye’s 2020 ACTA Award in Dance. Waltzing The Blue Gods will be Jaivant Patel Dance’s new upcoming Kathak production through a South Asian Queer Lens.

Jaivant was named on Akademi’s 2019 Powerlist of ’40 Under 40’ South Asian Dance Artists to look out for in the UK. Jaivant was also named on Indian Gazette London’s 2018 ‘High And Mighty’ Powerlist of individuals ‘you should know’ in the UK-India corridor.

Jaivant Patel Dance’s community dance programme, Jai Jashn Dance, was a recipient of The Queen’s Award For Voluntary Service in 2017.

Jaivant Patel is an associate artist at Arena Theatre and Midlands Arts Centre. He is a trustee of Dance4 in Nottingham and a member of Chisenhale Dance Space. Jaivant is a former Independent Artistic and Quality Assessor for Arts Council England.

 His responsibilities have variously included city development and economic growth, supporting city businesses, inward investment, sustainability, and the visitor economy, including Civic Halls, art galleries and museums, outdoor events, libraries, community hubs and community centres.  He has been the Chair of the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre Board and the Teenage Pregnancy Partnership Board, as well as Chair of several school governing bodies.  He is also Chair of the Finance Sub-Committee of the Trent Regional Flood and Coastal Committee.

John has experience of over 20 years in post compulsory education as Lecturer and Manager, in subjects including Leisure, Tourism, Sport and Recreation, teacher education, and housing management.   He is currently a Visiting Lecturer in Economics and Business at a West Midlands university.  He has a Qualification as Master of Business Administration.  His early career saw him working as a Festival and Events Organiser.

She has lived and worked in Birmingham for over 25 years.

Her work spans from digital production with the BBC, supporting the Cultural Olympiad with Arts Council England, and inclusive programming with several national portfolio organisations and independent creatives.

Now, Creative Director of one of Arts Council’s Creative People and Places programme, Parminder co–leads Creative Black Country. Her role focusses on co-design, placemaking and amplifying the assets in the region through creative process. Outside her role, Parminder is a Trustee with Black Country Living Museum and a Board Member of West Midlands Combined Authority Cultural Leadership Board.