Oli Raud
Chair
Oli is a driven innovation professional with a demonstrated history of working in Programme and Project Management roles for over 10 years across a number of fields spanning the water sector, creative and cultural industries, research and academia, innovation and business start-up.
Through this he has developed significant experience and a real passion for working with communities, practitioners, academics and technical experts to deliver and facilitate innovation and support partnerships to bring forward solutions to some of the pressing environmental and societal challenges we face. He most recently held the role of Programme Manager at the Centre for Resilience in Environment, Water and Waste, enabling the development of research-led innovation, implementing new ideas to improve processes, products, and services in water, wastewater, and their related fields.
He is currently Principal Consultant at Isle Utilities, a global innovation consultancy, specialising in water and clean tech sectors, and, in heading up, a team of external funding and development experts at the Arts University Plymouth and himself Alumnus of the National Arts Fundraising School, he has notable experience in international/European partnerships.
Dom Jinks
Exeter Culture Director
Creative Places Lead - Exeter Innovation
Dom is an arts professional and place-shaping specialist with more than 20 years’ experience, a fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and a member of The National Institute of Fundraisers. He has founded his own theatre company, held a range of roles at Arts Council England and chaired Exeter Cultural Partnership (Exeter Culture’s former name). He is currently a Fellow of the BMW Foundation RISE Cities programme, an international network that shares and supports innovative and scalable solutions for resilient, intelligent, sustainable and equitable cities.
Belinda Dillon
Partnership & Development - Exeter Innovation
As an experienced editor and arts journalist, Belinda has worked on regional, national, international and digital titles - including as South-West theatre and performance reviewer for Exeunt magazine - and has a broad network of contacts in the culture sector. She has worked with theatre groups, heritage organisations and visual arts collectives as a producer and consultant, collaborating on strategic touring, engagement projects and cultural strategies. As a place-shaping specialist, she is currently leading on the Exeter Heritage Volunteers pilot project, and is Programme Manager for Creative Arc. She is an alumna of the National Arts Fundraising School, and is a trained Design Thinking Facilitator.
Alice Foulkes
Impact and Partnership Development Officer for Creative Industries - Exeter Innovation
Alice has worked across the University of Exeter in various teams, including in Education Student Support, Faculty Operations, and most recently within the development of the new Centre for Resilience in Environment, Water and Waste (CREWW) in partnership with South West Water.
The projects she supports include the Exeter Culture and Creative Arc programmes, in partnership with Exeter City Council and various organisations across the South West, and provides additional support for the Creative Economy, Cultures & Secure Communities team in Exeter Innovation.
The Advisory Group includes:
Richard Cohen
Richard has lived in Exeter for the last 10 years. He has 30+ years’ experience in national, regional and local government as a strategist in place-shaping, a project director, government advisor and organisational leader nationally and in London, Bristol and the South West involving city-wide and inner-urban areas as well as market and coastal towns and rural environments. As a local authority Deputy CEO in Devon, Richard was responsible for partnerships, regeneration and development. Previously, he was Head of Strategic Planning for the London Development Agency, ran Bristol City Council’s economic development function and, in Plymouth, led a government funded regeneration team in Devonport. Before that, in London, he was a part of local regeneration teams in Tower Hamlets and then Hackney. Richard is an associate expert to the Design Council, and has an MA in cities: design and regeneration.
Patricia Dixon
Patricia is a creative Practitioner with extensive experience of arts education and the cultural sector with a keen focus on inclusion and widening opportunities for engagement. As a senior lecturer at Birmingham Universities, Arts and Young Peoples Manager, and CEO of the Gallery 37 Foundation she created initiatives including a national roll out of the Birmingham-based young people’s arts summer school and led the development of Children and Young Peoples in the Arts Entitlement Framework and Strategy and professional development for artists. Since relocating to Devon she is Co-Director of an arts consultancy delivering community-engagement projects that explore heritage and place-making to produce cultural festivals, events and strategic plans. She continues to support a number of Midlands-based arts organisations as chair and trustee, and returned to her own creative practice of interior design, textiles and stained glass.
Emma Dunn
Emma is Director and CEO of the Devon and Exeter Institution, a thriving independent library and educational charity in the heart of Exeter. She began her career at the Holburne Museum of Art in Bath and prior to moving to Devon, was the Programme Lead for Learning and Engagement at the Geffrye Museum in London. Emma’s specialisms are public engagement with a focus on social inclusion, contemporary interpretation of Enlightenment collections and the strategic development of cultural heritage sites. Emma is an Associate of the Museums Association and an Affiliate of the Chartered Institute of Teaching.
Alix Harris
Alix is the founder and Artistic Director of Beyond Face CIC. Beyond Face's mission is to raise the profile and visibility of artists, young people and communities who are from African and Caribbean diasporas, people who are South Asian, East Asian or South-East Asian, North African, Middle Eastern or from ethnically mixed heritages. Outside of Beyond Face, Alix has directed for Contact Theatre, Manchester, & assistant directed for the Barbican Theatre Plymouth; her most recent Directing credit was The Honeyman for Exeter Northcott. Alix is a Director of Indra Congress, through which role she has worked in South Africa and Palestine. Alix is also a part-time Drama lecturer at the University of Exeter.
Paul Batterham
Paul is the Head of Innovation at a global FTSE 250 software development company, where he focuses on harnessing technology to drive cultural engagement and positive societal change. Previously, Paul founded a creative agency that specialised in helping the third sector innovate and think differently. His current work centres on responsible innovation, exploring how emerging technologies like AI and quantum computing can shape the future of public services. In his spare time, Paul hosts two podcasts and has been nurturing ideas for novels that he hopes to develop further.
Nikki Sved
Nikki is the Creative Advisor to Theatre Alibi and a part-time Lecturer in Drama at Exeter University. She is also the Chair of ASSITEJ UK (ASSITEJ is an international network dedicated to the belief that every child deserves access to the arts). Nikki was the Artistic Director of Theatre Alibi for over 25 years, during which time the company performed annually to over 12,000 children in South West primary schools. The company also created work for all ages and co-produced with theatres including Exeter Northcott, Plymouth Theatre Royal, Bristol Old Vic, Oxford Playhouse, The Lowry and Polka. Nikki directed over 35 productions for Theatre Alibi including: Falling, Cobbo, Spies, The Crowstarver, I Believe in Unicorns, The Parcel and Why the Whales Came, which had a West End run. Theatre Alibi is now creating a Centre For The Imagination for children and young people at their Exeter base, Emmanuel Hall.
VACANCY
Previously
Pippa Warin
Pippa trained as a drama teacher and started work in community arts in the inner city of Birmingham and then ran family education for Westminster Women’s Aid. She was general manager of Exvos and then Head of Region for The Community Fund (now BIG Lottery). She then moved to The Government Office SW as Head of Culture and Executive Director of Culture SW, which she job-shared. She then moved to the Arts Council, where she leads (until autumn 2018) on strategic partnerships in the south-west area, and has a track record in helping to set up place-based cultural sector partnerships. She has been involved with various boards, including Exeter Northcott Theatre, and was founder chair of DAISI. She is an accredited coach and mentor. Pippa has lived in Exeter for a long time, and her current interests include literature development.