Eight new people to join our South West Area Council
Today, we have announced that eight new people will join our South West Area Council.
Area Council members are drawn from the creative and cultural sector and local government and play a crucial role in influencing the Arts Council’s decision making and supporting the cultural and creative landscape of the region. They represent industry professionals, including creatives, arts administrators and creative practitioners; and elected local government members.
Joining the South West Area Council are four local authority members;
Cllr Steve Pitt (Lib Dem) is Leader of Portsmouth City Council and the Cabinet Member for Culture Leisure and Economic Development. Previously, he ran an independent music venue and worked as a manager in the music industry.
Cllr Jemima Laing (Labour) is Deputy Leader of Plymouth City Council and Cabinet Member for Children, Culture and Events. She is also a member of the LGA Culture, Tourism and Sport board, a trustee of homelessness charity Plymouth Access to Housing and the Ballard Youth trust, and Director of Exim Dance. On her appointment, Jemima adds:
I am thrilled to be joining the area council. Culture, and more importantly, access to it is something which I am absolutely passionate about. I’m looking forward to learning more about and supporting the growth of our region’s cultural sector.”
Cllr Julie Jones-Evans (Independent) is the portfolio holder for Economy, Culture and Leisure on Isle of Wight Council, and a member of the LGA Culture, Tourism and Sport Committee.
Cllr John Beesley (Conservative) is a councillor for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, and a Chair of the Audit and Governance Committee. He was formerly the Deputy Chair of Key Cities and Chair of the Dorset County Pension Fund and other bodies.
As well as four people in the creative and cultural sector:
Ajay Chhabra, an actor, director, and multidisciplinary outdoor arts specialist. He is the Co-founder of the leading arts organisation Nutkhut, based in a Priority Place, Rushmoor. He is also Chair of the Mela Partnership, and a trustee of Creative Kernow and Tara Theatre. Ajay adds on his appointment:
Joining the SW Area Council at this time is both timely and relevant. 60 years ago, three generations of my family arrived in the region by boat from Fiji to make the UK home. The region is a playground for celebration, the coming together of people and communities, with some of the most diverse practitioners, festivals and companies calling the region home.”
Julie Caplin-Grey, Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Operating Finance Officer of Hall for Cornwall, and Chair of Royal Cornwall Museum. Previously, Julie was Head of Culture at Cornwall Council and was commissioned to develop the Cornwall City of Culture Bid 2025 on behalf of the Local Enterprise Partnership. She said, on her appointment:
This was an opportunity I leapt at: the chance to support and promote our region’s brilliant creative engine. Arts Council England’s vision for inclusive community-driven activity fits perfectly with my own work in this field with Hall for Cornwall and back over the last 25 years. As we reflect on COVID, come to terms with cost-of-living and look to the future, I’m exciting to join the team who’ll shape and nurture that mission as we continue to invest in the UK’s thriving creative industries.”
Mark Wallace, Director of Beaford Arts, England’s longest-established rural arts initiative in northern Devon. He is based in North Devon, a Priority Place, and is Vice Chair of North Devon’s UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Partnership.
And, Riley Mathers who is a young freelance artist with a studio in Artsite in Swindon, an Arts Council Priority Place. They are a cross-form artist working traditionally and digitally. They graduated college in 2014 after completing a Games Design Course. They have also achieved Bronze, Silver and Gold Arts Awards. On their appointment, they said:
Being on the Area Council is really exciting. I’m really eager to learn how to best help shape the work that the Area Council does. I feel that the more variety in people on the council means that there is a better chance to reach more people.”
They will join Louise Mitchell CBE, CEO of Bristol Music Trust; Shahina Johnson MBE, Co-Director of Create Studios; and Bambo Soyinka, Professor of Story for Bath Spa University, who have all had their terms extended for a second time.
Area and National Councils help the us to ensure that public money is invested equitably and effectively across the country. They help promote the value of creativity and culture in the region, to deliver on our commitment in Let’s Create, whereby in 2023, the creativity of each of us valued and given the chance to flourish.
I am delighted to welcome eight brilliant new members to the South West council team. They join us from all corners of our region, from Cornwall to North Devon, Portsmouth, the Isle of Wight, Swindon, and Aldershot; this includes a number of Priority Places. They also bring terrific breadth and depth of expertise across art forms, including performance, Mela, community arts and museums. I am excited to get our new team together for our first meeting in September and to get started.”
- Helen Birchenough, South West Chair and National Council Member, Arts Council England
We would like to thank the five outgoing members – Roger Griffith MBE, Cllr Julian German, Charlotte Bond, Cllr Lawrence Williams, and Louise Coysh, for their support and dedication to culture and creativity over their terms on the council team, during some of the most complex of years.
Our South West Area Council members include; Helen Birchenough, Chair; Satvir Kaur, Leader of Southampton City Council; Natalie Adams, Creative Producer for Trigger; and Lloyd Coleman, Associate Music Director for Paraorchestra.