Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you got started in the arts?

A peripatetic brass teacher visited my primary school and introduced the trumpet to my class. He played something for us and then handed around the mouthpiece to see if anyone could make a buzzing sound out of it. Spreading germs was clearly not a problem back then! Having been the only child in the class to succeed, my mother was told that I would be receiving a five-minute trumpet lesson each week. Parallel to this somewhat random opportunity that led to trumpet being my first study at university, I was lucky to have a mother who loved ballet. She had taken me to lessons since I could walk…

Music and dance have been the strongest threads throughout my life – across my studies, career and ultimately woven into my purpose. I studied music at Goldsmiths College and Yale University before embarking on my early career at IMG Artists, an international artist management group, working in New York, London and Paris. And then came Artis…

What initially drew you to Artis, and how did you become a part of this organisation?

I have always felt incredibly fortunate to come from a family that encouraged and supported my passion for the performing arts. Recognising that there are many children missing out on the opportunity to recognise and develop their creativity, I was keen to create something for primary schools that was relevant, engaging and scalable. Artis was established by a small and mighty team in 2004, and we began working with only a handful of schools in Essex and Manchester. We soon grew from working with 100s of children to 1,000s then 10,000s each week.

What does a normal work day look like for you?

These days my diary defies too much structure, so I embrace more of a blended approach. Some might call my multiple roles fractional, but my world is more of an elaborate jumble of enabling creativity. I do that for my husband who is a sculptor, for our two creative children, and with Artis we are creating space for creativity for many other children! As Co-Founder and Chief Executive at Artis my focus is to place our mission to nurture creativity in every child everywhere at the centre of what we do.

With an extraordinary operational and delivery team in place at Artis, from management and mentors to creative specialists, my main priorities are innovation and development. With my own school-aged children, the morning starts early with music practice, polishing off any homework and a brisk walk to the school gates. With Artis working virtually, I take the bus to my husband’s studio where I’m also a Director. After catchups with the team there, it’s onto Zoom calls with the Artis team, meetings and school visits.

At Artis my most frequent collaborators are Sam (Oompah) our Director and Michaela (Ticktock) our Project Manager. Sam and I tend to focus on strategy, problem-solving and fundraising. We’re also starting a new innovative digital phase for Artis, alongside our in-person delivery, so Michaela and I are talking mostly about content creation, platform development and school engagement. As part of our wider online team, we’re constantly liaising with Stu (Chime) our Creative Lead and Matthew (Whirr) our pro bono fractional CPTO (Chief Product and Technology Officer). Then there are our platform developers (HdK), studio team (Prelight) as well as an animator, sound designer and our skilled advisory board. It’s a blast!

What do you love most about your job at Artis?

I love how Artis teaches me new things every day and stretches my emotional range. The experience of going into a partner school can make me want to laugh and cry in equal measure. And the tears are sometimes not out of joy when I hear how difficult some children’s lives are in the schools we work with. The poverty, homelessness, neglect and sometimes domestic abuse are hard to fathom, but it is these children in particular who find refuge in what Artis gives them each week. Together with their school, we create space for their creativity, a time when they can be seen, they can be expressive, they can be themselves. I love to see that, to hear from schools about that and to see that difference strongly reflected in our impact data – which ultimately helps unlock funding opportunities so we can do more.

What are you looking forward to?

We have the most exciting time ahead of us as we embark on testing the Artis online experience with beacon classes. The prospect of reaching remote schools and many more children together with their class teachers is really awesome. Continuing to work alongside philanthropist Paul Donovan to scale what Artis is all about feels like an opportunity of a lifetime!