Meet the Trustees

Anna is a public relations consultant with over 20 years’ experience of creating communications strategies and directing high profile PR campaigns for leading Arts organisations, global brands and business innovators, including the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, 14-18NOW, Nike and Ocado.  

Originating from Brighton she is a passionate advocate of the city and since 2006 has worked with Brighton Festival on campaigns that have helped establish it as a key event in the international arts calendar.

Christine is a professional marketer and is Managing Director of Cruz & Co, a consultancy focused on service transformation and digitisation. Christine plays an active role in the Brighton community and she is a Trustee at the Martlets Hospice where she Chairs Income Generation and is Chairman of Same Sky. 

She has held a range of roles including Founding Chair of the Basement Arts Productions, Governor at Cardinal Newman School, member of the Brighton and Hove Economic Partnership, member of the Economic Development and Enterprise Board.

Sunetta Kiarie is a writer, activist and event curator. She is a big believer in using art to help young people realise their full potential and develop the skills they need to be remarkable adults. To this end she also acts as Vice Chair Little Green Pig. 

Sunetta has been involved in a number of speaking opportunities in Brighton, including Spring Forward and The Belong Conference, as well as organised and hosted larger conferences of up to 100 people. 

She currently works as Brand Communications Manager & Copywriter for the global professional nail polish company, The GelBottle Inc. Sunetta deeply enjoys working on projects that allow people to explore their creativity in order to realise their own potential. She currently lives in Brighton and is working on her first novel.

Eva is a senior dance and performance curator, consultant and dramaturge from Spanish and French heritage, based in the UK for the last 20 years. 

She was most recently Artistic Programmer at Sadler’s Wells in London (2013-2020) where she increased visibility for new choreographic voices and dance practices. Before joining Sadler’s Wells, she held positions at Dance4 and the Southbank Centre. 

Eva supports dance artists and colleagues to flourish in different ways, including as a producer, curator and artistic mentor, as well as a certified Relational Dynamics coach. She is a Clore Leadership Programme Fellow and a trustee of Independent Dance in London. 

Gordon is a qualified life member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy and presently a member of its audit committee. 

He's enjoying early retirement after 40 years’ experience in public sector finance and audit working in higher education, new towns, local government, and latterly for 15 years in social housing.  

He is now a board/ finance committee member of various public sector organisations, and has extensive experience of finance and accountancy, risk management, and audit and assurance.

Isabel is a certified Personal and Executive Coach CPCC and a graduate of the prestigious Clore Leadership Programme. 

Isabel is the former Principal Dancer and Resident Director for Matthew Bourne's New Adventures Dance Company and enjoyed an extremely successful 22 year career as a professional dancer and choreographer. 

Isabel is an experienced executive coach supporting clients and specialising in leadership development, cultural change, and enabling positive team dynamics.

John has 30 years’ experience as a senior manager in the arts. After training in Speech and Drama at Aberdeen University, and qualifying as a teacher, he moved into theatre. His professional work includes performance and direction for the theatre and acting for television. 

John is the Founding Director of ICIA (Institute of Contemporary Interdisciplinary Arts) at the University of Bath. He took the lead in the delivery of The Edge, the £12 million centre for the arts at the University, which opened in 2015. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and has chaired Cultural Partnerships for both Swindon and Bath & North East Somerset (B&NES) and co-Chaired B&NES Cultural Forum. He is particularly interested in the arts and culture as a tool for regeneration.

Sian is the Deputy Director of Finance, University of Sussex and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. 

She has worked in a number of audit, financial management and financial control roles in the accountancy profession and in industry in the UK and mainland Europe including the BBC where she was Head of Finance in a commercial subsidiary and took a lead role in process improvement. 

A Sussex University graduate, Emma qualified as a solicitor with a well-known Brighton-based commercial firm in 2007 before moving on to a prominent Hastings practice. In 2008 Emma was employed to work for and advise a large public limited company with an extensive property portfolio, which also dealt with all other aspects of property management. 

Through this work, Emma was subsequently employed as an in house solicitor for a group of companies, dealing primarily with the management of their property portfolio and giving direct advice to its property management company. Emma moved back into private practice in April 2012, when she joined Thompson Allen.