John Newbigin OBE, London

Chairman of Creative England, London Mayor’s Ambassador for Creative Industries. 

As Special Advisor to the Minister for Culture, Rt Hon Chris Smith MP, he was closely involved in developing the UK government's first policies for the creative industries.  He was Head of Corporate Relations for Channel 4 Television and executive assistant to Lord Puttnam as the Chairman of the film company Enigma Productions Ltd.  As a policy advisor to the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition, Rt Hon Neil Kinnock, MP, he had responsibility for environmental and cultural issues.

He is a member of the UK government's Creative Industries Council; Chairman of the British Council's Advisory Group for Arts and Creative Economy; member of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship at Goldsmiths, University of London; and of the Arts and Humanities Research Council's Knowledge Exchange Oversight Group.

Kate O'Connor, London

Kate O’Connor Consulting.

Kate is an independent consultant offering expertise in research and development, strategy and policy in the creative industries. Her clients span the private and public sectors in the UK and internationally and she has proven expertise in education, training and skills drawn from working in this field for over twenty years as executive director of Creative Skillset, the sector skills council for the creative industries. During that time she led on the partnerships between the industry and education and set up a careers service promoting the range of roles, jobs and opportunities in the screen industries. 

As part of her portfolio Kate is also now Executive Chair of Animation UK now part of the newly formed UK Screen Alliance, she chairs the BFI Research Funding Council, is a member of BAFTA and a representative on the BAFTA Learning and New Talent Committee and Board director and Trustee of You Make IT.

Laura Sillars, Sheffield

Artistic Director, Site Gallery Sheffield.

Laura has been Artistic Director at Site Gallery since 2010, she has worked in contemporary visual art for 15 years at Tate Liverpool, FACT and Artangel and as a member of the curatorial teams of the Liverpool Biennial, Abandon Normal Devices and Art Sheffield. She produced Artangel’s first US commission, a major new work with Mike Kelley and worked on major solo-shows with artists such as Pipilotti Rist, Nam June Paik and Eva and Franco Mattes. Founding Chair of Sheffield’s Culture Consortium which now guides the city’s cultural strategy, she has extensive fundraising and project management experience. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the AHRC.

Mark Crossey, London

British Council Uzbekistan.

Mark Crossey has been Country Director of British Council Uzbekistan since August 2014, prior to that he held senior positions in the British Council’s Indonesia (where he co-developed a new bilateral Creative Industries programme with the Indonesian government), Bahrain, Romania and Poland offices over 20 years, as well as working on a key business transformation role at British Council headquarters in London in 2010. Crossey also holds a child protection and  environmental strategic lead roles within the organisation and has a wide range of human resources, financial, media, business development and contract management experience (including direct management of large scale EU, World Bank and ADB education programmes).

Mark Crossey graduated with BA English Literature from the University of Ulster and holds MA degrees in the Teaching English as a Foreign Language and Applied Linguistics: Language Testing.

Peter Ride, London

Principal Research Fellow at University of Westminster.

Peter Ride is in charge of museums and gallery studies where he is Principal Research Fellow at University of Westminster. He is also Director of International for the Humanities faculty and is currently developing partnership projects in Uzbekistan with the Westminster International University of Tashkent (WIUT). He also works on expanding visitor engagement in museums and as an independent curator he also develops projects with photography and digital media.

Phil Foxwood, London

Founder and Co-Director Scalarama/Cinema Nation Community Interest Company.

After a BA in Film & Drama at Reading, Phil worked at independent production companies in Soho before producing several short films and a feature. Following a year’s training in the Communications team at LABAN Deptford, Phil co-founded the groundbreaking cinema venue Roxy Bar & Screen in London Bridge, which he ran for seven years before joining the BFI as Britain of Film project manager. In 2011, Phil and Michael founded the Scalarama seasons with Scala Forever, annual ‘celebration of cinema’ season with around 400 independent and community screenings across the UK each September, and in 2013 they co-founded Cinema Nation together.

A project manager and producer for over 20 years, Phil has successfully found or created paths and opportunities across public and private sectors, large organisations and small.

Susan Picken, Belfast

Director of Cathedral Quarter Trust.

Originating from Northern Ireland, Susan Picken worked in the cultural sector and film industry for over twenty years in London before returning to Northern Ireland. 

She is currently Director of the Cathedral Quarter Trust. The Trust is located in Belfast’s historic Cathedral Quarter and was established in 2012 with a number of key aims including supporting the area as a centre for the arts and creative industries, promoting local arts and culture to the public and advocating for cultural infrastructure. The Trust manages a number of cultural initiatives including Belfast’s hugely successful annual Culture Night, a free cultural one-day festival that welcomes over 100,000 audiences each year. 

Prior to joining the Cathedral Quarter Trust, Susan was Head of the Queen’s Film Theatre in Belfast, Northern Ireland’s only dedicated arthouse cinema.