Culture Company 2013
Martin Bradley, MBE – Chair of Culture Company 2013
Martin has extensive connections with the arts community in the city and wider region. He is currently Chair of the Millennium Forum and Head of Social Care Pension Services. He is also Chairman of Ormeau Baths Gallery and Craft Northern Ireland. He was awarded an MBE in December 2007 for services to the arts in Northern Ireland. He was also a member of Derry City Council from 1993 to 2001 and served as Mayor in 1997/ 1998. For details visit http://www.cityofculture2013.com/Our-2013-Bid/Articles/Martin-Bradley-MBE,-Chair-of-Derry-Theatre-Trust-a.aspx
Shona McCarthy – Chief Executive, Culture Company 2013
Shona has worked in a range of roles in the cultural and arts sector across Northern Ireland for over 20 years. In 2007 she was the NI recipient of a prestigious NESTA cultural leadership award. The premise of the award was to place people from science, technology and the arts sectors in the UK with outstanding leaders from around the world. Shona chose to be placed with Naveen Kishore at the Seagull Foundation for the Arts in Calcutta. She spent 6 months living and working in the cultural sector in India. For details visit http://www.cityofculture2013.com/Our-2013-Bid/Articles/Culture-Company-Chief-Appointed.aspx
Non-Executive Board Members
Michael Cooper
Michael has a long involvement with the city’s tourism and heritage offering, beginning with an eight year stint at the Derry Visitor and Convention Bureau. A triple graduate from the University of Ulster, he was Project Officer for the Step Back in Time heritage project (2007/08) which covered the history of the Creggan estate. Since August 2007 he has run his own northern wide tour company, DerryBluebadgeGuide.com; he is also the co-ordinator of Free Derry Tours, the Gasyard Trust tour guiding project which concentrates on Derry’s recent political history. Since the beginning of 2010 he has been project officer of the Columba to Conflict project, which covers the earlier history of the Bogside and Brandywell areas. Since March 2008 he has also served as Heritage and Tourism Co-Ordinator for the Gasyard Development Trust, focussing on securing infrastructure and funding streams to further develop tourism and heritage in the Bogside and wider Free Derry area.
Anna Cutler
Anna was appointed Head of Learning at Tate Modern, London, in October 2006 and became the first ever Director of Learning at Tate in January 2010. Over the last 20 years Anna has worked across education and cultural settings at a local, national and international level. Her purpose has been to explore and improve the impact of cultural interventions on a variety of different learning environments. Her work has ranged from Lecturer (University of North London) to International Festival Director (Young at Art, Northern Ireland) and she has worked across disciplines with several national organisations. In 2002 she became the director of Creative Partnerships Kent where she ran a successful creativity programme across the county and collaborated on the Exodus and Towards a Promised Land projects with Artangel in Margate.
Cllr Gerard Diver
Gerard is the Co-ordinator of the Strive 2 Work programme for the Cresco Trust in Derry. Strive 2 Work is an employability model which successfully matches supply and demand in the labour market by assisting the economically inactive to make the transition to work and to sustain employment. A History & Politics and Community Economic Development graduate of the University of Ulster, Gerard has almost two decades of experience in the Community & Voluntary sector in the North-West working in the areas of community development, community relations, participative youth work and employability and training. He has also been an SDLP member of Derry City Council since 2001 and was the city’s Mayor from 2008-2009. Among the issues that he worked upon during his mayoral year were, the initial stages of the Regeneration Plan for the city as developed by Derry City Council and Ilex, the establishment of a Homelessness Forum to which he allocated 12% of the Mayor’s annual budget, and the securing of funding for the City of Hope Collective which took forty-three young Performing Arts students from every post primary school in the City to the United States to perform for US leaders.
Brian Dougherty MBE
Brian has wide experience in the community and voluntary sectors and comes from a successful stint as Director of St Columb’s Park House Centre for Reconciliation (2006 to present), where he was responsible for developing good relations and overseeing community development, training and capital build programmes. He also spent ten years as a Co-ordinator for Tullyally and District Development Group, initiating and managing a development strategy aimed at the area’s physical and social regeneration. He was the youngest member of the 19-person inaugural Northern Ireland Policing Board overseeing the Patten recommendations, between 2001 and 2006. He is Chair of the Waterside Area Partnership and a board member of several local community groups.
Alderman Mary Hamilton
Mary is the Ulster Unionist Party Leader (UUP) for Derry City Council, Londonderry. She has been a member of the Foyle UUP for over 35 years and has served on Derry City Council since 2001, during which time she has served two terms as Deputy Mayor. Alderman Hamilton is a member of the following Standing Committees of Derry City Council – Planning, Regional Services, Environmental Services, Development and City of Derry Airport Committee. She also represents Derry City Council on a variety of committees, area boards and other bodies including – Northern Ireland Housing Council, Western Group Environmental Health, North West Region Cross Border Group, the National Association of Councillors and the NW Interim Peace and Reconciliation partnership.
Brett Hannam
Brett is the Chief Operating Officer and Interim CEO of the Strategic Investment Board. He joined SIB as Chief Operating Officer in January 2006. Previously he worked for the Northern Ireland Office where he was Head of Information Systems, Director of the Causeway Programme and Chief Executive of Northern Ireland’s Forensic Science Agency. Brett holds degrees from Oxford University, the Open University and Queen’s University, Belfast. Brett sits on the Management Board of the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium.
Charles Lamberton
Charles has been involved in the community and voluntary sector for over twenty years. Since 2008 Charles has been Strategy Manager at Triax Neighbourhood Partnership Board which covers the Bogside, Brandywell, Creggan, Fountain and Bishop St areas. Charles oversees the ongoing review, strategic planning and the implementation of the Neighbourhood Action Plan. For nearly a decade before that he served as Manager of Dove House Community Trust, one of the best known and well respected community organisation in this city, Dove House has been a catalyst for many important creative and innovative projects in the city, such as Divert, the Nerve Centre and the Gasyard Wall Feile, on whose board Charles was a member for ten years. Charles was chairperson of the Bogside Residents Group and played a central role in the negotiations with the Apprentice Boys of Derry.
Ana Leddy
The Head of RTÉ Radio 1 in Dublin from 2006 to 2011, Ana brings invaluable experience from the communications industry. She was also a member of the RTÉ Radio Board, which is responsible for running all RTÉ Radio business. At Radio 1 she oversaw the reversal of a long-term decline in audience share and her responsibilities included editorial output, scheduling and financial management of the station. She was Managing Editor of BBC Radio Foyle between 1998 and 2006 when she was also a member of the BBC Northern Ireland Senior Management Board. Ana also plays in a country band.
Alderman Gary Middleton
Gary is a Democratic Unionist Party member for Derry City Council. He has served on Council since May 2011.
Alderman Middleton serves on the following Standing Committees of Derry City Council – Planning, Regional Services, Environmental Services and Staff Committees.
He also represents Derry City Council on the following committees, area Boards and other bodies – Derry District Sports Council, Foyle & District Road Safety Committee, Home Safety Committee, Somme Advisory Committee, Reserve Forces & Cadets Association for NI, Arc NW LAG & Joint Committee (2011 – 2015) Rural Development Programme and the Board of Directors of Culture Company 2013.
Claire McColgan MBE
Claire’s role as Director of Culture for Liverpool City Council from 2009 to 2011 saw her manage the legacy of Liverpool’s European Capital of Culture year in 2008. It was a role for which she was well qualified. As Executive Producer for the Liverpool Culture Company between 2007 and 2009 she had been responsible for the participation and events programme for the European Capital of Culture year. Prior to this she had been Head of Creative Communities, responsible for the £11 million Creative Communities Programme for the Liverpool Culture Company (2004 – 2007) and, for the same company, Regeneration and Community Bid manager (2001 to 2004) for Liverpool’s successful bid.
Roisin McDonough
As Chief Executive of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, a post she has held since 2000, Roisin is a leading influence on the cultural scene. The government body charged with supporting artists and arts organisations, the Arts Council distributes public subsidy to artists and arts organisations and is the main agency in Northern Ireland for the arts. Since taking up her post Roisin has earned a reputation for helping build a wider audience for the arts here. In recent time she has campaigned strongly against cuts to the arts budget.
Before joining the Arts Council she worked in central and local government as well as in the community and voluntary sectors. She is also a member of the UK Creative and Cultural Skills Board, Chair of Common Purpose NI and Chair of the NI Women Chief Executives’ Forum. She is also a Chartered Director.
Aideen McGinley
Aideen has been Chief Executive of Ilex since September 2009, having previously held Permanent Secretary positions with the Department for Employment and Learning and the Department for Culture, Arts and Leisure. In this role she was instrumental in the creation of the first Arts and Cultural Strategy for NI. She was formerly Chief Executive of Fermanagh District Council. She has worked in Community Services and Economic Development in Strabane and Fermanagh and as a Planner in Donegal. She is a member of the NI Committee of the British Council, the NI Chief Executives’ Forum, the Fermanagh Trust, the RSUA and the Urban Academy. She led the cross government Unlocking Creativity initiative, was a member of the Belfast bid for European City of Culture 2008 and chaired the New Millennium Committee.
She has been involved in a range of National, Regional and Local bodies, including the University for Industry, the National Lotteries Charities Board, the Rural Development Council, Business in the Community, Northern Ireland Voluntary Trust, Bank of Ireland, Verbal Arts Centre, BBC Appeals Committee, the Omagh Fund, ICBAN, and the 2010 Steering Group amongst others. She was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1998 and an OBE in 2000. She has been involved in a wide range of community, economic, cultural and urban and rural development initiatives and has published papers and spoken widely on her experience.
Declan McGonagle
One of the most influential figures to emerge from the Derry arts scene, Declan McGonagle was behind the extraordinary international success of the city’s first professionally run art gallery, the Orchard. The template for the city’s diverse, groundbreaking arts centres of today, the Orchard was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 1987, with Declan himself becoming one of only two curators to be shortlisted for the award. After leaving the Orchard he became the first director of the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin when it opened in 1991. He is currently Director of the National College of Art and Design in Dublin. Declan was born and raised in the city and was involved in drafting a cultural strategy for the city in the 1990s. He continues to curate exhibitions, writes and speaks regularly on issues of art and context and serves on a number of Boards of arts organisations in Ireland, the UK and the U.S.
Councillor Maeve McLaughlin
Maeve McLaughlin is the Sinn Féin Party Leader for Derry City Council. She was elected to Derry City Council in 2001. She is currently a member of the following Standing Committees of Derry City Council – Planning, Regional Services and Development Committee. She also represents Derry City Council on the following committees, area boards and other bodies – Rosemount Resource Centre (management committee), Strategic Review Group, North West Region Cross Border Group, North West Region Cross Border Group INTERREG 111A Partnership, District Policing Partnership and the Decentralisation of Public Service Jobs (working group).
Sharon O'Connor
Sharon is the Town Clerk and Chief Executive of Derry City Council. A Chartered Director with over twenty five years experience, her non-executive experience includes Arts Council NI and the BBC Broadcasting Council in Northern Ireland. Prior to working in local government, she ran her own successful business and also has an extensive background in the community and voluntary sectors. A graduate of the University of Ulster, Sharon also holds a range of professional qualifications including Marketing and Personnel. She was the first local government person in the UK to achieve Chartered Director status and was named the Institute of Directors NI Public Sector Director of the Year 09/10. Previously Director of Development with Down District Council, she was the Project Director for a range of capital programmes including the awarding winning regeneration of Newcastle, Co. Down.