Democratising the Arts: Imagining new inclusive and equitable practices

Ben Buratta is Artistic Director of Outbox Theatre and Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Performance Practices at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Ben’s background is in actor training, theatre-making and applied practice. Ben has directed and made work for many of the UK’s leading theatres including The Bush, NT, Royal Court, Birmingham REP, Contact, Leeds Playhouse, The Yard, and Southbank Centre. He has directed extensively within UK drama schools and has worked across a range of arts, education, and community. Ben’s practice research explores and creates new rehearsal strategies and dramaturgies in order to make theatre queerly.

Raidene Carter is the Executive Producer (Cultural Programme) at Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. She  is an experienced creative leader and theatre producer with eighteen years experience in the subsidised and charitable performing arts sector. She is skilled in producing Community Theatre, New Writing, Youth Arts Participation and Outdoor Arts, as well as Arts Project Management, Arts Education and Theatre & Venue Programming. She is a graduate of the B.A (Hons) Drama, Applied Theatre and Education degree from Central School of Speech and Drama, and is a Board Member for Mem Morrison Company and a trustee for The Paper Birds Theatre Company (since 2017) and National Theatre Wales (since May 2019). She is also an external examiner for BCU/Birmingham School of Acting Applied Theatre (Community & Education)  (Since 2018).

Matt Fenton is a theatre director with a specialism in engaging local communities as decision-makers, curators and programmers of cultural venues. He is currently Artistic Director/Chief Executive at Contact in Manchester, the leading UK arts venue to place young people at the decision-making heart of the organisation. Matt leads on Contact’s innovative public programme of contemporary theatre, dance, spoken word and music for young and diverse audiences.

Each year Contact delivers a wealth of young people’s creative and leadership activity, including flagship projects The Agency, ReCON Young Producers and Future Fires, and the annual Queer Contact Festival. Contact also produces and presents a radical programme of new shows exploring the issues and challenges faced by young people and diverse communities. Contact productions tour widely, with four recent shows going on to become BBCTV programmes. From 2018-2020, Matt oversaw the £7million refurbishment and expansion of the Contact building.

Richard Harries is Associate Director of the Institute for Community Studies. He was previously a senior civil servant and deputy director of the independent think tank Reform. He has extensive experience of research and policymaking in the public sector and third sector and has advised governments in Australia, Japan, Europe, Africa and the Middle East about various aspects of public service reform. He has published on a wide range of topics, including crime and criminal justice, deregulation, fiscal sustainability, philanthropy, social investment and impact evaluation. Richard is a trustee of the Forces in Mind Trust and Caritas Social Action Network, and sits on the Advisory Councils of Volunteering Matters, the National Council for Voluntary Organisations and Our Common Good. He is also a Senior Associate of the Power to Change Trust and a Visiting Senior Fellow at St Mary’s University, Twickenham.

Liz O’Neill is Chief Executive and Artistic Director of Z-arts, the UK’s only arts centre dedicated to children and families.   She is also chair of the Big Imaginations network of children’s theatre programmers in the North West and Co-Chair of the Working Group for MADE, the Manchester Cultural Education Partnership. She is a member of the Scrutiny group for Diversity & Access Governance for Counting What Counts Impacts & Insights Toolkit for Arts Council England. A previous recipient of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Breakthrough Award, to support her mission to increase diverse representation in theatre children and to increase relevance and reflection for diverse communities.

Hassan Mahamdallie is a playwright, writer, activist and specialist in diversity and art. He is the author of Arts Council’s Creative Case for Diversity. He is a former Director of the Muslim Institute and helps edit its journal Critical Muslim. Hassan is the founder of radical theatre company Dervish Productions, whose mission is ‘to amplify voices from the edge’. He has written extensively on culture, working class politics, Punk Rock, Black British History, and the Muslim world. He is the author of a political biography of William Morris. His educational pamphlet Black British Rebels: Figures From Working Class History that tells the stories of key leaders from Olaudah Equiano to Jayabeen Desai, was republished by Bookmarks in 2021.

Rasheeda Nalumoso is a Creative Producer with twelve years experience working across theatre, dance and the visual arts. Currently Programme Manager with the British Council East Africa Arts based in Kampala Uganda, Rasheeda was the Creative Producer for KLA ART’ 18 with visual arts organisation 32 Degrees East, Ugandan Arts Trust, a free public art festival that took place in August 2018 with and for the city of Kampala.

Born in Brazil, Rogério M. Pinto is a Professor and Associate Dean for Research and Innovation, School of Social Work, University of Michigan, United States.  Pinto conducts community-engaged research to investigate best practices for delivering sociomedical services to ethnic, racial, gender, and sexual minority groups; and to broadcast the voices of oppressed individuals. His art-based work includes the award-winning play Marília and The Realm of the Dead, an art installation – both examine Pinto’s gender non-confirming, mixed-race, Latinx immigrant identities. Marilia/Realm of the Dead will be part of the centennial celebration of the U-M School of Social Work in 2021.  

Ian Tabbron worked as an executive in professional theatre in England between 1978 and 1997 and was an officer in the arts funding system (Arts Board and Arts Council England) 1997-2018. In his role as a senior manager for ACE Ian monitored many capital investment programmes notably the Liverpool Everyman Theatre and the ground-breaking Storyhouse cultural centre in Chester. 

Since 2018, Ian has been the interim CEO of Shakespeare North, an extraordinary new theatre being constructed in Knowsley (the second poorest borough in England). He has helped to raise over £33million in funding for the project to March 2021 including £1.3m of private investment.

Kully Thiarai is Creative Director and CEO of Leeds 2023 – the city’s international year of culture. Having worked with prestigious arts organisations across the UK, Kully is renowned for her bold and ground-breaking work in the performing arts.

Kully’s extensive experience includes commissioning, producing and directing work nationally and internationally, developing and nurturing talent and creating opportunities for those who may have little or no access to the arts. She has created a diverse range of work that spans communities, cultures and performance styles; has directed large-scale epics, new plays and made work in non- theatre spaces.

Before taking up her position at Leeds 2023, Kully was Artistic Director and Chief Executive of National Theatre Wales. Her 30 year career also includes being the founding Director of Cast – _a £22 million performance venue in Doncaster and Artistic Director of Contact Theatre Manchester, the Leicester Haymarket Theatre, Theatre Writing Partnership and Red Ladder Theatre Company. She is a board member of the Manchester International Festival (MIF), The Art Foundation and Leeds based theatre company Slung Low. She is also an Honorary Fellow of Central School of Speech and Drama and a fellow of the RSA. She was also the winner of the 2020 Cultural Icon Award in The Inaugural Northern Asian powerlist.