OUR TRUSTEES

Sharon Brown

… is a Trustee of Arts Derbyshire and also the Director of Arts Melbourne CIC  the not for profit company which for the past 18 years has organized the Melbourne Festival in South Derbyshire featuring artists from Derbyshire and the Midlands exhibiting in venues throughout Melbourne. She is also Managing Director of Creative Melbourne Gallery & Studios providing exhibition space, studios and Spaces to create – creative hot-desking for regional artists. They also deliver a number of creative projects working with the local community and other artists and creative organisations.

She is also the very committed to promoting Derbyshire’s unique Festival community as Chairman of Festivity the Derbyshire Festivals Association.

Debi Hedderwick

…is a dance artist specialising in contemporary and creative dance theatre with young people and those with additional and complex needs; she also directs small-scale dance theatre company The Secret Dance Club. Debi is Co-founder and Creative Director of Learning Through Arts which specialises in using the performing arts with young people, people with additional needs, young asylum seekers and in the community, and aims for enhanced health and well-being, learning and progression, connection, communication, self-expression and cultural celebration. In free time Debi loves reading, creative writing, playing music, swimming, sailing and walking in the beautiful Derbyshire countryside.

Alice Marshall (Vale)

…is a Performer, Choreographer, and Academic of Dance known in the region for her devise work in her subject area. Alice is Programme Lead for the Dance courses at the University of Derby and Artistic Director of Adaire to Dance.. This regularly ACE funded company is based at Déda and tours work across the county.

Emma Oaks

Specialising in brand, strategic marketing and audience development, Emma has a particular interest in making the arts accessible and has been working in the charity sector for 25 years, 11 of which have been in the arts.

Kalila Storey

…is a Trustee of Arts Derbyshire and Programmes Manager for  People Express, a participatory arts charity based in South Derbyshire. People Express works alongside community groups to co-produce arts projects that are ambitious, in order to create artworks meaningful to the communities that make them. People Express works across all artforms, engaging the skills and experience of freelance artists, who offer a high quality arts experience. Kalila also sits on the South Derbyshire CVS board as a Trustee.

Daniel Oakley

…is the Community Arts Development Officer for Bolsover District Council. His role is to grow and develop opportunities for all types of creative projects for and with the people of the district of Bolsover which includes the towns of Clowne, South Normanton, Shirebrook and Bolsover. A keen Musician and Visual Artist, Daniel has been involved in various creative arts and young people’s projects across the whole of Derbyshire in many roles from participant through to project co-ordinator over the last 25 years.

“Arts and the benefits of being involved in creative activity are important to the growth, vitality and confidence of a community. Arts is a language and everyone should have the opportunity to have their say within it.”

Sanjoy Sen

…was born and raised in Chesterfield. he has lived and worked in various locations in the UK and abroad during his career in engineering, most recently in the clean energy transition. He is keen to support Arts Derbyshire in memory of his mother, a local artist and participant in Derbyshire Open Arts. He brings his experience of working in a range of organisations and is interested in seeing art and its benefits being enjoyed by as many different types of people as possible, especially those with no previous connection to art.

Simon Hobbs

…is a retired lawyer who worked mostly in the public sector ending up as deputy director of legal services at the county council. He has a strong interest in a broad range of arts including ceramics, painting, opera  and music. He is also a keen reader and writer. He gave the 2012 Derby Lecture on the (neglected) Derbyshire poet John Gisborne and, since then,  has edited a book of family letters from the second world war and has just finished writing a novel based on  real events in Derbyshire in the 1860’s.

‘I am delighted to be joining the Arts Derbyshire team at such an exciting time and hope that, through my legal experience especially, I  can contribute to the work of trustees in supporting the exciting new initiatives that are planned’