Donna Lynas Artistic Director (Chief Executive) 01954 717102 Donna has been Director of Wysing Arts Centre since 2005 and was instrumental in delivering the Centre’s £1.7million capital development project, which opened in January 2008. Previously she was Curator at the South London Gallery for six years, and Modern Art Oxford for four. Donna is an experienced producer and has toured major large scale exhibitions to venues all over the world; south America, the Far East and across Europe. She has worked with some of the world’s most well known artists including Barbara Kruger, Keith Tyson and Julian Schnabel and has delivered prominent artworks in the public realm including, notably, a durational performance work by Japanese artist On Kawara in Trafalgar Square; that involved 16 performers reading a text based work in a glass box continuously for seven days and nights.
Donna has developed Wysing into a research and development centre for the visual arts and heads up Arts Council England East’s talent development strategy for regional artists, Escalator. She is leading on ACE’s regional strategy for strengthening the visual arts Turning Point and is working with ACE on the development of the creative economy in Cambridgeshire. Donna also sits on Cambridge City’s Public Art Panel. Additionally, Donna sits on many national advisory panels including the recent DCMS initiative, the Creative Blueprint for the Arts, a workforce development programme for the arts developed by Creative and Cultural Skills. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and is curating a residency programme for the RSA’s Citizen Power Peterborough.
From 1995 – 1999 Donna was Touring Exhibitions Organiser and then Curator at the Museum of Modern Art in Oxford. Prior to that she studied at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee and then had her own studio based practice for five years, in Dundee and Reading. | Louise Thirlwall Operations Director 01954 717100 Louise joined Wysing in April 2009. She previously worked at London Print Studio as Operations Manager. Following a Lottery Funded Capital Development Project she was part of the team that developed LPS into a thriving artists’ resource recognised locally, nationally and internationally. Louise was responsible for managing the staff and building, and a busy programme of projects, exhibitions, events and courses. Prior to working in the voluntary sector Louise worked as Office Manager at Flowers East Gallery, London. Louise trained in Fine Art Printmaking at University of Sunderland and has more recently completed courses in Gallery Education and Arts Management. | Elinor Morgan Artists and Programmes Curator (Maternity Cover) 01954 717101 Ellie joined Wysing in July 2010. Before this she was Chair of OUTPOST Gallery, Norwich. OUTPOST is an artist-run space which supports a large community of artists and has an artist membership of around 350. In this role Ellie managed the activities of the gallery, which has a programme of 11 month-long shows per year, punctuated by regular events. During her time on the Committee she worked with a range of artists and developed various off-site projects. These include: Outhouse (a series of 21 residencies for artists and collectives from the UK and Europe); OUTPOST’s involvement in Zoo Art Fair (2009); Rotate, at the Contemporary Arts Society Offices, London; and A Skvader, an exhibition at Norwich Castle (2010/2011) organised as part of the CAS centenary celebrations, in collaboration with Kaavous-Bhoyroo. In February 2010 she opened OUTPOST Studios to 80 regional artists, as a further mechanism for supporting artists. Since its inception Ellie has been keenly involved in the progress of the Eastern region’s Turning Point network. Along-side this, she has worked in administrative roles / on the Front of House team at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts since 2007. Ellie studied History of Art, Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of East Anglia. | Lotte Juul Petersen Artists and Programmes Curator 01954 717 101 Lotte Juul Petersen has a background in art history and cultural studies with a focus on contemporary art and curating. Educated in France, England and Denmark, she took part in an international curatorial platform arranged by FRAME Finnish Fund for Art Exchange. From 2005-2006 she was part of CPH KUNSTHAL in collaboration with Jacob Fabricius and at the same time on the curatorial team at Malmö Konsthall, Sweden. From 2007-2008 she elaborated the residency and artistic programs at the Factory of Art and Design, Copenhagen. At the same time she was employed as curator at the Fynen Art Academy. Her curatorial interest lies in alternative institutional strategies for art production and supporting experimental and emerging artists and has worked with artists like Adrian Piper, Simon Starling, Ann Lislegaard, Pia Rönicke, Johanna Billing, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Asli Cavusoglu, Akassen, What is to be done?, Luca Frei, Pilvi Takkala and many more. She has published articles in N.Paradoxa, Revolver Press, SUM – Magazine for Contemporary Art and curated seminars such as ‘Populism talk series’ in collaboration with NIFCA. She has been awarded with residencies in Istanbul, Helsinki, Berlin and Cuba and recently curated Urban Pedestals in Copenhagen & Helsinki (2007-08). | Gareth Bell-Jones Escalator Curator Gareth Bell-Jones joined Wysing Arts Centre in April 2010 and has since been delivering all aspects of the Escalator Visual Arts programme. Gareth has a background in History of Art, with a focus on contemporary art and curating, graduating from UCL in 2005 and from the RCA Curating Contemporary Art MA in the summer of 2010. As a member of the exhibitions team Gareth played a key role in the planning and production of his cohort’s graduating exhibition John Smith: Solo Show which was widely considered to be one of the most successful produced by the graduating students in recent years. Prior to joining the MA programme Gareth was Curator at Tricycle Gallery, London, where he was responsible for curating and organising an ongoing programme of exhibitions and projects over three years. He has written articles for Artvehicle and Contemporary Magazine and chaired symposiums at Iniva and Café Oto. Current projects include an ongoing collaboration with Atopia Projects on a critical reader about Victor Vasarely’s Architectural Integrations with an exhibition planned for Galerie Iff in Marseilles. Gareth is also currently Assistant Curator at Sound Threshold, with whom he has worked on projects with Flat Time House, Resonance 104.4FM and Sound and Music. | Niki Braithwaite Development Manager (Weds-Fri) 01954 717106 Niki Braithwaite joined Wysing Arts Centre as Development Manager in August 2010. Niki began her career in the visual arts at the Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh after graduating from the University of Aberdeen in History of Art. She moved to the North East in 1991 to work as curator at the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland where she was also an advisor for Northern Arts and a member for the Arts Council’s Exhibition Panel. During her time in Sunderland she was involved in the delivery of a number of high profile projects, including new commissions by Sam Taylor-Wood, Dalziel & Scullion and David Ward which formed part of the Visual Arts UK programme in 1996. Her work with Northern Arts and the Arts Council led her to move to a more strategic role initially as Visual Arts Officer for Eastern Arts Board and subsequently Head of Visual Arts & Literature for Arts Council England, East. In this role she was a member of the regional management team and the national visual arts team charged with the delivery of ‘Turning Point’, Arts Council’s national strategy for strengthening the visual arts. Niki left Arts Council in the spring of 2010 and has subsequently worked on a number of projects in a freelance capacity including project managing the Norwich City of Culture 2013 bid and supporting organisations in their strategic planning. | Kirstin Bicknell Education Development Manager p/t Tuesdays 01954 717103 Kirstin works as the local Arts Development Manager for the Melbourn area of South Cambridgeshire as part of the stART partnership and at Wysing Arts Centre one day per week. She is a qualified teacher with over 2 years teaching experience at secondary and sixth form level. She also has a wealth of voluntary sector experience having served as a trustee for a local charity for over 5 years and through training to become an integrative psychotherapist. Her arts background includes 18 months as an Arts Development Manager working for Melbourn Village College and South Cambridgeshire District Council on a range of projects before recently starting at Wysing Arts Centre. She also spent over 2 and a half years as the Community Development Officer for the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds co-ordinating their community strategy. | Richard de Cordova Site and Technical Manager 01954 717107 Richard joined Wysing in April 2010. Prior to this he worked as Senior Technician at the ICA, London for 11 years where he managed the production of high profile exhibitions and events including a solo project with Steve McQueen, the Itunes and Future Rock & Roll music festivals. Prior to the ICA Richard was Senior Technician at Riverside Studios where he worked on TFI Friday and the Chanel 4 Sitcom Fest amongst other large-scale projects. Richard has also worked as a free-lance production manager, lighting design technician and sound technician at various music and theatre events. | Jenny Hinchliffe Receptionist and Marketing Assistant 01954 718881 Jenny joined Wysing in September 2011. She Graduated with a Masters in Art History from the University of Leeds in 2009.
Jenny has experience in Arts Administration, Marketing and Exhibition Co-ordination through previous employment at galleries including Kettle’s Yard and Cambridge Contemporary Art. She also instigated a series of monthly exhibitions by local artists at the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse and freelanced as the Art Editor for Local Secrets. As part of her role at Wysing Jenny also co-ordinates the Escalator programme alongside the Escalator Curator. | Sarah Wells Finance Manager 01954 717105 Sarah Wells has worked as a freelance Finance Manager within the cultural sector since 2003. Her clients have ranged from film production companies such as Zentropa, Denmark and Sigma Films to arts organisations such as NVA and the Hidden Gardens. During a period of ten years in Glasgow she was also specialist advisor to the Cultural Enterprise Office, Glasgow and ran workshops on financial and business planning. She also managed the early phase of the Film City Glasgow development - a major new film production and post-production facility and continues on the board of directors. From 1996 – 2002 she was Executive Director of the Arches, Glasgow, a large scale multi-arts venue and was instrumental in driving a £4m capital redevelopment which transformed the space and facilities. Prior to that she managed the arts facilities of Croydon Clocktower and was General Manager of the Ritzy Cinema London. Her project management experience was developed during three years at Weston Williamson Architects London and three years at Watford Council as a Strategy Officer. Sarah graduated from Manchester University in 1986. | Lucy Wilson Development Manager Individual Giving Lucy Wilson has worked with arts and cultural organisations at the highest level and with artists including Robert Crumb, Stella McCartney, Mario Testino and Dennis Hopper, but also avidly promotes artists at the beginning of their careers. She has worked as freelance press officer to London based gallaeries including Chisenhale, Gasworks, the ICA and the Press Association, and worked for Camden Arts Centre’s Programme department, focusing on the organisation of artists’ residencies and public events, courses and talks, and marketing the exhibition programme. Most recently, Lucy worked as Public Relations Manager for Taschen, creating publicity campaigns for 10-15 new titles a month across the major publisher’s portfolio in the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia, South Africa, Asia and Australasia. Her work at Taschen followed six years at Theresa Simon & Partners arts PR agency, first as an Account Manager and then as s Partner. She oversaw international communications campaigns for clients including HSBC Private Bank’s art programme, The Wallace Collection, Riflemaker, London Transport’s Art on the Underground, Hopkins Architects and London Festival of Architecture. She was involved in the running of the business, winning new work, managing staff and consultants and overseeing the development of the company’s website. | Kaavous Clayton Eastern Pavilions Curator | Jeremy Andrews Caretaker | Christina Green Curator and Community Coordinator Citizen Power Peterborough |
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