About Us

Sarah Smith

(Chair)

Sarah is a professional business manager, with over 30 years’ experience in both the private and public sectors. As a Director of Elev8Ltd she currently specialises in management consultancy, business development and project management working in the private and public sectors. Prior to this her roles included Development Manager, General Manager and, for three years, CEO of the Bristol Old Vic as well as being General Manager of the Hall for Cornwall Trust.
Sarah is project co-ordinator of the redevelopment of Bristol Theatre Royal complex.

Annie Menter

Annie is currently an Executive of the WOMAD Foundation. Her responsibilities include the strategic and artistic development of the Foundation, responsibility for artist residencies and outreach programmes, devising and implementing a broad education programme for each international WOMAD festival and the setting up and management of the WOMAD Summer School. 

Annie has been working in the field of arts and education for the past twenty-five years, including working on research projects in West Africa, India, Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and South Korea. She has developed teaching resources for Oxfam and, as a textile artist, in 1986 she co-founded Vizability, a group of artists working in the field of public art and community empowerment through the arts. 

David Fairclough

David has been involved in theatre finance and administration for over thirty years at RSC, Royal Exchange, Manchester, and a number of other regional subsidised theatres. Ten years ago he joined the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School as Finance Director and amongst other things set up the BOVTS Friends organisation and became involved and interested in the theatre life of Bristol. He now works part-time in education in Bristol and is involved in other freelance education work.

Michael Bothamley

Michael is a Partner at Beachcroft LLP, Regional Senior Partner in the Bristol office and National Head of Real Estate sector group. 

His voluntary posts include Vestryman at St Mary Redcliffe, Trustee of Clifton RFC, Trustee of Bristol Zoo and Governor at QEH School and he has particular interest in or links to; The Canynges Society, The Anchor Society, Emmaus, Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory, Bristol RFC, Quartet Community Foundation and The Merchants Academy.

Nicky Rylance

Nicky’s roles have included Deputy Chief Executive of the Bristol Initiative and the Bristol Chamber of Commerce, where she spent 17 years developing a range of strategic partnerships between the public and private sectors. With Bristol Cultural Development Partnership she headed up marketing, PR and fundraising for Bristol’s European Capital of Culture bid. She now operates as a freelance consultant. 

She is a former trustee of Arnolfini and has held a number of non executive positions including Governor of the University of the West England, and Director of Business West. She is a practising artist and keen supporter of the arts.

Jonathan Benn

Jonathan has worked in the recruitment and employment industry for over 30 years. He now runs a holding company which owns four small recruitment companies with offices around the country, and a small firm of financial advisors. One of the recruitment companies (The WorkBank) specialises in finding students employment to help fund their studies and helps set graduates going on their early careers, and Jonathan now works with a number of universities.

Arts Council South West, Bristol City Council and Theatre Bristol have observer invitations to Board meetings.

Kate Yedigaroff

Kate Yedigaroff is a creative producer, theatre programmer and practitioner with a specialism in devised and non-traditional theatre forms. She is currently Producer of Bristol Ferment, Bristol Old Vic’s artist development programme and is Co-Artistic Director of Mayfest, Bristol’s annual cross-city festival of contemporary theatre.

Kate was Theatre Bristol’s inaugural creative producer for Physical and Visual Theatre and is a member of Residence – an artist-led collective making space for artists to make live art and performance in Bristol. Kate was awarded Venue Magazine’s Top Banana for theatre in 2010 and is co-founder (with long-term collaborator Matthew Austin) of MAYK a new collaborative producing organisation with a vision to create and curate adventurous theatre for playful people.

Anna Southall

Currently Vice Chair of Big Lottery Fund, Anna enjoyed a long and varied career in the cultural sector, initially at Tate Gallery, then as Director of the National Museums of Wales, and ultimately Chief Executive of MLA, the Museums Libraries and Archives Council. 

Since 1975 she has served on the boards of a number of grant making bodies, both independent and in the public sector.  She chaired the Barrow Cadbury Trust from 1996 to 2006, and remains their Lead Trustee for the Young Adults and Criminal Justice programme. Aside from this and her role with Big Lottery Fund, Anna is a member of a number of trustee boards, including the Wales Millennium Centre, the Clore Social Leadership programme, Bristol Museums Development Trust and the Bridge Foundation for Psychotherapy and the Arts.