IdeasTap simply wouldn't be possible without an army of supporters. From the mentors who work with our fund winners to our partner organisations, the judges who sit on our panels to our Editorial Board members - these people have shared their considerable expertise to help our members, and we're very grateful. The lists below offer just a very small sample of those who have helped us along the way.
Partners: We work with some pretty awesome arts organisations to bring our members exclusive new briefs and opportunites.
Fiona Rogers - Cultural & Education Manager, Magnum Photos London
Fiona Rogers studied Arts & Media at Surrey Institution of Art & Design, beginning her career in photography in 2004 at a populist photography gallery in central London. She moved to Magnum Photos in 2005 and in 2006 developed Magnum’s Educational activities, including the creation of university partnerships and managing an international program of workshops, portfolio reviews and masterclass events. In addition, Fiona also manages the coordination and originating of Magnum’s touring exhibitions and works alongside Magnum’s Cultural Director representing photographers in commercial print sales. In 2011 Fiona developed Firecracker, an online platform supporting European women in photography.
Fiona began working with IdeasTap in 2010, co-creating the inaugural IdeasTap Photographic Award in association with Magnum Photos. Since then the partnership has been extended to working with Magnum’s Professional Practice events; a series of seminars which provide young photographers with the opportunity to meet with key industry specialists and receive the best impartial advice on a range of photographic sectors.
Michael Brazier - Director, National Student Drama Festival
Michael trained as an actor at The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and worked for Bristol Old Vic, Almeida Theatre, Birmingham Rep, Leicester Haymarket, Old Vic and toured to Europe, Scandinavia, Australia, Japan and Taiwan. He appeared on television for BBC, Central and HTV and directed for the National Youth Theatre.
Michael worked for Pola Jones Associates prior to becoming Associate Producer at Glynis Henderson Productions, producing and managing shows in the United States, Canada, China, Australia, Europe, Scandinavia and UK including Dublin Theatre Festival, World Stage Festival Toronto, Bergen Festival, Aarhus Festival, Spoleto Festival, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Macau Festival, 45 Bleeker New York, Barbican, Southbank Centre and Lyric Hammersmith.
Chris Wootton - Administrator, National Student Drama Festival
Chris joined NSDF in June 2008. In October 2010 he produced the first NSDF Workshop Weekend in partnership with West Yorkshire Playhouse and Slung Low. Prior to NSDF, he worked at Caird Company, Sound Theatre and The North Wall. In 2008, he produced a reading of The Condor at the London International Arts Theatre and a tour of Romeo & Juliet to the Tokyo Metropolitan Arts Space. In July 2006, he produced The Constant Prince at the Oxford Playhouse, following its creation in Egypt and a run at the Arcola Theatre, London.
Paul Roseby - Artistic Director, National Youth Theatre
Paul Roseby was appointed sole Artistic Director of National Youth Theatre in 2007, having worked as Joint-Artistic Director since 2004. During his leadership of NYT Paul has developed an extensive ambitious international programme leading to major new partnerships. He has also pioneered a new strand of mass-participation work in stadiums and unusual spaces and has programmed and directed numerous productions to critical acclaim. Paul is also an established TV and radio broadcaster. He has written and presented a number of shows on Radio 4 and can regularly be heard on BBC London. He was last seen on screen in summer 2010 on BBC 2’s When Romeo Met Juliet. Recent theatre directing credits include: Our Days of Rage at The Old Vic Tunnels in 2011, a six-week Chinese tour of Drive My Car, Relish by James Graham, Silence by Moiria Buffini and a version of William Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice adapted by Tom Stoppard performed at the National Centre for Performing Arts in Beijing. He is currently programming NYT’s 2012 season, during which he will act as Creative Director on the team welcome ceremonies at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Pauline Tambling - Joint CEO of Creative & Cultural Skills and MD of the National Skills Academy for Creative & Cultural
Until April 2009, Pauline was Chief Operating Officer of Creative & Cultural Skills. She previously worked at Arts Council England in five senior roles with a wide range of responsibilities and led several major initiatives involving education and training, including setting up Creative Partnerships.
Pauline was Head of Education at the Royal Opera House. With La Monnaie, Brussels and the Paris Opera, she co-founded Reseo, a European network of opera house education departments. She is Chair of Shape Arts, a member of the Clore Leadership Programme Strategy Group and a governor of the University of the Creative Arts (UCA). Previous non-executive roles include as board member of Shakespeare Schools Festival, the arts committee at St George’s Hospital, Tooting and an editorial board member of Cultural Trends.
Rob Drummer - Literary Manager, HighTide Festival Theatre
Rob is Literary Manager at HighTide Festival Theatre and has a background in directing, devising and dramaturgy. Before joining HighTide, Rob worked as Assistant Director to Athol Fugard on his play The Train Driver at the Hampstead Theatre, which involved developing the play from its premiere at The Fugard Theatre, South Africa. Previously, Rob worked with The Other Way Works, on their production of Black Tonic in Manchester. Rob was Creative Director of the monthly Horseplay Arts Club at Proud Galleries, Camden and produced a diverse range of theatre, film, visual art and music.
Rob has directed People You May Know(York Theatre Royal) October 2010, Other Pieces
(Collisions Festival, London) October 2010, Whose Cloud is it Anyway? (People Show Theatre, London) July 2010, A Girl in a Car With a Man (Contact, Manchester) June 2009, A Question of Everything (Sackville Building, Manchester) March 2009,Top Girls(John Thaw Studio Theatre, Manchester) December 2009 In an Upside Down Style (Spare Parts, Deaf Institute, Manchester) November 2008, The Yellow Wallpaper (Manchester Museum) May 2008, Dans la Memoire de Mon Corps (John Thaw Studio Theatre) June 2007.
Rob trained as a director at Central School of Speech & Drama and holds an MA in Advanced Theatre Practice (Directing) as well as graduating from The University of Manchester, with a BA (Hons) in Drama.
Steve Winter - Director, Old Vic New Voices
An experienced teacher, director and producer he has created over 30 bespoke education programmes for some 45,000 people. He is the casting director and co-creator of The 24 Hour Plays: OVNV and the TS Eliot US/UK Exchange as well as Time Warner IGNITE and Coming Up, a multi-discipline arts festival. As a champion of new work he has commissioned and mentored numerous theatre productions. He is on the board of IdeasTap and a judge for the Royal Television Society. Currently he is the Director of Old Vic New Voices for The Old Vic theatre in London and the Programme Director for the Kevin Spacey Foundation.
"Through the support of the Peter De Haan Charitable Trust we have been able to create extraordinary projects for our Talent strand enabling them to take more ownership of their careers and make work by and for their age group. IdeasTap is a pioneer in web based creative arts projects and networking."
Steven Atkinson- Artistic Director, HighTide Festival Theatre
Steven joined the HighTide Festival in 2007 as Artistic Director, partnering with the Festival's founder Sam Hodges to create HighTide Festival Theatre - a year-round producing company, including the now annual HighTide Festival, tours and transfers, and artist development projects. Since March 2010 Steven has led the company alone as its Artistic Director and Chief Executive, during which time it has produced in London's West End, launched the Old Vic Tunnels, produced internationally in Australia and with the Public Theater, New York, and become a National Portfolio Organisation of Arts Council England.
He was Literary Manager of Hull Truck Theatre 2006-2007, and he graduated from Reading University in 2005 with a BA in Film & Theatre.
Will Hahn – Further Education Co-ordinator, National Skills Academy for Creative & Cultural
Will Hahn has been with the National Skills Academy since April 2011 and manages the industry engagement and delivery with their 20 "Founder" further education colleges. Previously he was at The Lyric Hammersmith in various roles as part of their Young People's Team, overseeing their Work-based Learning and Training programmes. Initially working in Marketing and Sales for the Producer Cameron Mackintosh after graduating with a Drama degree, Will gradually moved into audience engagement and facilitation before taking up dedicated education roles.
Will’s involvement with IdeasTap has been coordinating the Skills Academy’s work on the site, and as a judge on the Innovators Fund in October 2011.
Daniel Whitehouse - Next Generation Producer, mac birmingham
In his current role as Next Generation producer at mac birmingham Dan has had the responsibility to strategically shape and extend mac’s provision for young and emerging artists as producers, ambassadors and creative consumers, with a strong emphasis upon cross art form, individual progression, diversity and access. Part of his role has been to support the development of young people’s resilience, risk taking and leadership abilities; which has been achieved through working alongside professionals from the field, introducing young people to high quality art work, and creating and presenting original work to be shared with the wider community of young people in Birmingham, The West Midlands and nationally.
Alongside this, Dan has been developing and producing a range of contemporary performance, dance and digital media projects and initiatives for young / emerging artists, new companies and live art based practitioners / collectives, which include producer support for mac based commissions, performances and festivals.
Prior to his role at mac birmingham Dan has worked as a performance and media lecturer for years and has been involved in producing a range of festivals and community based projects across the country, as well as maintaining his own individual Live art practice through a number of commissions, festival performances and happenings. Dan has a BA in Contemporary art, post 16 PGCE and PGC in curatorial practice.
Rachel Stroud - Marketing Manager, Roundhouse
Rachel works on communications for the Roundhouse’s programme for 11-25 year-olds, marketing its projects and opportunities and working with emerging artists, broadcasters, producers and creatives, to help promote their work. She has worked in Arts Marketing and PR for five years, previously at the Unicorn Theatre, London and the Nuffield, Southampton. She has also worked as a journalist and editor. Rachel studied Journalism at the London College of Communications, and English and Theatre studies at the University of Warwick.
Sarah Cook - General Manager, One KX
Sarah Cook has over ten years of experience working in theatre management, sales and marketing and administration. She has worked in small fringe theatre and large professional theatre in both Edinburgh and London including The Old Vic. She is also a freelance creative events manager and works with a wide range of performers including opera, burlesque, cabaret and large-scale outdoor events. Her main creative passions are cabaret, gaming and unusual theatre. She writes for Bad Reputation, a feminist pop culture blog.
Noel Goodwin - Education Progrmamer for Young People, BFI
Noel Goodwin has worked with young people in a film and media setting for 10 years having run several successful projects for the Watershed in Bristol, Connexions West of England and Bristol City Council including: Electric December (an online advent calendar showcasing films made by young people), and a media work experience programme for young people on the verge of being excluded from school.
Since 2008 Noel has been the Education Programmer for Young People at the BFI, developing the Future Film strand and programming of events for 15-25 year olds including the annual Future Film Festival. Regular Future Film events aim to meet the aspirations of young people by exploring different areas of film and filmmaking, and often work in partnership with film festivals and other youth and film organisations. Recently he has also been helping to develop the new BFI Film Academies for 16-18 year olds who want to improve their filmmaking skills and understanding of film.
Over the last 3 years Noel has been taking Future Film activity across Europe through a successful partnership with the European Cultural Foundation called DocNext – a collection of documentaries and non-fiction films that young people, NGO’s and policy makers from all across Europe can access and engage with - www.docnextnetwork.org
Noel's work with BFI and Watershed has provided him with the opportunity to work with many hundreds of young people and dozens of organisations in the UK that work with young people in film.
Rachel Strange - Participant Services Manager, Brighton Fringe
Rachel Strange began her career working in the box office at Glyndebourne Opera House. After completing a season she went on to manage the Brighton Fringe box office whilst studying Media & Communications at Sussex University. After gaining a First Class honours degree and working in Edinburgh Fringe she began an internship at the Royal Albert Hall within the Marketing team. In 2011, Rachel went back to work with Brighton Fringe – England's largest arts festival. She currently manages Participant Services which includes producing the Brighton Fringe brochure and running workshops for all artists involved in the festival. On the side Rachel has performed at Glastonbury Festival on the dance stage and sings in a choir.
Rachel began working with Ideastap in 2012, helping to co-ordinate the Ideas Funds that were given out to 10 emerging talented companies/individuals. The partnership will also deliver workshops during Brighton Fringe for participants and creative beings interested in the arts!
Watershed has provided him with the opportunity to work with many hundreds of young people and dozens of organisations in the UK that work with young people in film.
Tim Wilson and Mat Burt - The Heritage Arts Company
The Heritage Arts Company began in 2007 and since then Tim and Mat have worked on nearly forty distinct and cross-platform presentations of almost every medium of art, which can be found at heritagearts.co.uk.
We create our own work and we also help other artists to realise their imaginings.
For six years the company has created moments that excite the public imagination. We've held Creative / Producer posts with Punchdrunk, Roundhouse, National Theatre, Future and Secret Cinema, Ideastap, Old Vic New Voices, Silent Opera, PW Productions and Genusius Promenade, among others.
We've also created unique experiences for Shunt, The Battersea Arts Centre, Harrods, Hammer Horror, Bestival, Ideastap, English Heritage, British Fashion Council, Standon Calling, Sky Atlantic, The Hospital Club and The Old Vic Tunnels.
Madani Younis - Artistic Director, Bush Theatre
Prior to his appointment as Artistic Director of the Bush, Madani Younis was the Artistic Director of Freedom Studios in Bradford, Yorkshire. His most recent work for the company was the site-specific work, The Mill – City of Dreams. He has also worked nationally and internationally as theatre director, writer and practitioner.
Appointed in 2002 as the Director of Red Ladder Theatre Company’s Asian Theatre School, Madani staged seven productions for the company - Streets of Rage (2002); Silent Cry (2003 - regional, 2004 - national tour); Freeworld (2004 - an international collaboration with the Studio Theatre Damascus, Syria); Caravan (2005 - West Yorkshire Playhouse); Freefalling (2005 - Red Ladder Theatre Company, national tour); A Waiting Room for Journeying Souls (2005 - Peepul Centre, Leicester), and Doors (2007- Red Ladder Theatre Company, national tour).
He originally trained in film, and his debut short film Ellabellapumpanella, commissioned by the UK Film Council, was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2007.