Meet the Team

Michelle Bowen

A highly experienced cultural and creative sector leader and manager with a career including senior positions in the strategic cultural agencies and funding system at both the Arts Council England and Craft Council. Leading and managing major organisational and programme development projects, as well offering as host of client services to both organisations and creative individuals. Thoroughly committed to artistic excellence and driving high quality practice particularly across the contemporary visual arts. She builds trustful influential relationships with colleagues and partners bringing local, national and international contacts and networks to any role. As Director, Michelle develops and delivers new partnerships and programmes for UKNA and ensures that UKNA is the leading organisation for cross disciplinary working, intercultural dialogue and supporting new creative talent from across the UK.

Olwen Davies

Olwen Davies is a programmer, producer, lecturer and artist specialising in live performance and practice. Over the past decade Olwen has toured across the UK with her theatre company LaPelle’s Factory and collaborated with multiple creatives and venues as a solo practitioner. She is a founding member of The Party Somewhere Else collective and has worked in multiple Higher Education Institutions including the Universities of Lincoln and Worcester, facilitating students to develop their performance practice and actualise their work. Olwen was the Producer for Live work at UKNA's Leicester city take over 2022.

Olwen strongly believes in the creation and sharing of art and in supporting and growing creative talent. She is passionate about building a thriving arts and cultural ecology, providing opportunities to all, showcasing excellence and facilitating growth.

Vikki Jones

Vikki is a youth and community engagement specialist and is responsible for UKNA’s wider engagement programme, connecting young people with the work of our new artists and encouraging more people to consider the arts as a potential career path. She works closely with our cultural and education partners to deliver collaborative projects that give communities fun and unique opportunities to engage with different artistic ideas and disciplines.

Previously she has worked with theatre venues, dance houses, exam boards, national arts festivals and community programmes, all with the focus of getting more young people involved in practical arts and cultural activity. She strongly believes that creative and cultural opportunities make communities happier, healthier and safer and is passionately committed to getting as many people as possible to explore their creative selves.

Madara Vimba

Madara Vimba is a Lincoln-based artist and data-driven marketer with a developing curational practice. As the Marketing Manager at UKNA, Madara leads on promotional strategies, creating engaging content, managing social media, and enhancing the visibility of the organisation’s mission and programmes.

Madara has worked in marketing for various organisations and festivals within Lincolnshire, such as The Lincoln Museum & Usher Gallery, Threshold Studios & Frequency Festival and SO Festival. Madara is also the co-director of The MashUP, which is a creative platform for artists led by artists with a mission to amplify the creative voices of Lincoln and Lincolnshire.

As a practising artist, predominantly working in live art and performance, Madara is particularly passionate about cross-disciplinary collaboration and thrives from bringing people of various disciplines together to network and collaborate. Madara has co-produced several multidisciplinary performances, one of which was with the Lincoln Company and took place at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2019.

Thomas Cansdale

CREATIVE PRODUCER

Thomas Cansdale (he/they) is a creative producer, scenographer-artist and academic based in Lincoln/Lincolnshire. At UKNA they work with the team on creating and delivering unique programmes of work that support and engage emerging artists.

Tom has worked across the country supporting artists and delivering arts events to the public, through organisations such as UK New Artists, Lincoln Arts Centre, Different Light Collective, Threshold Studios, TYA Creative and Frequency Festival. Additionally, Tom is the co-director for The MashUP; an artist-led grassroots organisation that supports artists in Lincoln and the wider county. 

As a practising academic, Tom’s interests lay in the emancipatory potential of scenography. He has presented research at the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space 23 as part of the FlashTalks programme. As an artist, he is interested in exploring participatory performance and installations. Overall, Tom is passionate about supporting and innovating the creative ecology in Lincoln, and the wider East Midlands region.

Garth Gratrix

Garth Gratrix is an internationally exhibiting artist, curator and director based in the North West. With over 8 years experience as a freelance professional, he has worked in favour of the artist as part of wider strategic developments that consider and impact on culture, people and place. From Gallery installations, site specific interventions, residencies, research and engagement programmes to large scale festival production, Garth has an open and progressive way of producing collaborative platforms for art.
For the past 4 years he has acted as Places for Art Manager for LeftCoast- Blackpool's Creative People & Places programme supported by Arts Council England; leading to the development of the first contemporary arts studios on the NW Lancashire coastline- Abingdon Studios Ltd.
Alongside establishing new spaces for artistic experimentation, Garth has also acted as Art Commissioning Lead for Art B&B CIC- a capital works project in Blackpool reimagining the role art plays within hospitality and tourism.
Garth was the recipient of A-N Coaching Bursary and recently shortlisted for Clore Visual Artist Fellowship.

Garth has worked with UKNA on a number of projects, including as Curator for the Robert Walters Group UK New Artist of the Year at the Saatchi Gallery, and GRAFT at The Harris, Preston. Garth ran UKNA’s first ‘Weekender’ residency in Blackpool and collaborated on UKNA City Takeover Nottingham 2019.

Nick Lawford

Nick is a freelance fundraiser and project manager based in Nottingham, UK. He has more than 15 years’ experience working in charities and arts organisations, raising money from corporate sponsorship, trusts and foundations, grant funding, individual giving, events, crowd funding and community fundraising. Nick was previously Fundraising Manager at Nottingham Hospitals Charity and Fundraising & Development Manager at Nottingham Playhouse. Until 2019, he also ran a small DIY record label, Hello Thor Records.

Hongwei Bao

Hongwei Bao FRSA FRAS FHEA is Associate Professor in Media Studies at the University of Nottingham, UK, where he also directs the Centre for Contemporary East Asian Cultural Studies. Hongwei holds as PhD in Gender and Cultural Studies from the University of Sydney, Australia. He has worked internationally in Australia, China, Germany and the UK. He was a DAAD Scholar and British Academy Visiting Fellow; he is currently a Research Associate of the Centre for Chinese Visual Arts, Birmingham School of Art.

Hongwei is an educator and researcher of gender equality, sexual diversity, and racial justice. Working closely with LGBTQ+ and BAME communities, he advocates using arts and creative approaches to address issues of equality, diversity and inclusion. Hongwei organised the Nottingham Chinese Independent Film Festival. He also curated events for ESRC Festival of Social Sciences, ESEA Heritage Month, Nottingham LGBT+ History Month, and Nottingham Lakeside Arts Chinese New Year Celebration. He served on the juries of Shanghai Queer Film Festival, Beijing FOCUS film festival and Cambridge Watersprite Student Film Festival.

Hongwei’s published books include Queer Comrades, Queer China and Queer Media in China. He serves on the editorial boards of British Journal of Chinese Studies, Chinese Independent Cinema Observer and Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art. He also serves on the international advisory boards of Hong Kong University Press’s Queer Asia book series and Refeng Xueshu: A Journal of Contemporary Cultural Studies. He writes and edits a column titled Queer Lens for the Chinese Independent Film Archive. 

Norman Cherry

Norman Cherry was formerly Pro Vice Chancellor and Head of the College of Arts at the University of Lincoln. Currently he practices as an independent artist, curator, and consultant. An internationally recognised expert in the field of jewellery, prior to his appointment at Lincoln in 2008, he was Head of the renowned Birmingham School of Jewellery. His work has been exhibited extensively internationally and many of his pieces are held in private and public collections throughout the world. One of his medals is held by the British Museum in their Contemporary Collection. He is a regular speaker at national and international conferences and has undertaken consultancies in several countries, including Brazil, South Africa, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, and Jordan. He is also a Visiting Professor at Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Australia.

Ivy Lam

Ivy is a solicitor and holds a degree in economics and finance (BComm Joint Hons) from McGill University and a law degree (JD) from the University of Toronto. She began her career in London over 20 years ago with a magic circle firm and is presently a consultant. Her work experience includes advising corporate trustees and commercial parties on financing transactions, teaching and starting up a pro bono legal clinic to assist vulnerable communities and to promote personal financial literacy. Ivy is also a devoted fibre arts enthusiast and portrait painter with a regular drawing and painting practice. Her work has been featured in the Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize Exhibition (2017). Ivy believes that promoting art accessibility and education for underrepresented audiences is essential to ensure that everyone, regardless of cultural background or economic circumstances, can experience art and discover for themselves how art can inspire them and play a positive role in life. She is delighted to be a Trustee of UK New Artists and to play a part in supporting the creativity of new artists in the UK through collaboration and intercultural dialogue, ensuring a vibrant and diverse creative future for the UK.

Rachel Baynton

Rachel Baynton is an artist, producer, and academic working in cross-artform contexts, focussing on collaboration, co-creation, and contemporary arts practices.

A graduate of Dartington College of Arts, Rachel is a professional director, writer, and producer of collaborative and participatory arts projects with national, and international reach. She has worked with diverse public groups around the UK, and with major commissioning partners such as the NHS, the RAF, and the BBC on projects including 'Fallen', performed live to commemorate and coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme.

Her practice includes work with and for community groups, including the creation of a large-scale processional performance with women across the City of Lincoln as part of their Suffrage 100 Commemorations, and a new community show for Paines Plough’s Roundabout. She has worked on exhibitions and collections management at Lancaster University’s Institute of Contemporary Arts (LICA), and is a regular presenter for BBC Radio Lincolnshire.

As Co-artistic Director of Proto-type Theater – a company of multi-disciplinary artists making original performance work – she has created and performed in the socially-engaged 'Truth to Power Project'; digital animation 'A Dangerous Thing'; and touring theatre piece, 'A Machine they’re Secretly Building', which was part of the British Council Edinburgh Showcase, and long-listed for the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award. Other work with Proto-type includes site-specific digital installation for Chester's Roman Walls; 'Fortnight', a two-week long immersive performance project using pervasive digital technologies (Theatre Sandbox Award – NESTA/Watershed, Bristol Old Vic); and a multimedia concert-performance featuring a live laptop orchestra and animation. Proto-type have been making work and supporting young artists in the US, the Netherlands, Russia, China, Armenia, France, Zimbabwe and the UK since 1997. Critics have called their work ‘an intriguing brush with altered reality’ (New York Times), ‘smartly intelligent, coolly reasoned theatre’ (The Guardian) and ‘enthralling’ (Zambezi News).

Rachel is Associate Professor and Creative Engagement Producer for the School of Creative Arts at the University of Lincoln, where she has steered the student-led Lincoln Company to critical acclaim.

Martin Knox

Martin Knox works with design, with cultures, he delivers within the spirit of organisations. How they are conceived, trusted, packaged and presented, delivered and received. Sales and profit grow.

Martin has worked with: Next, Sainsbury’s, Boots, BHS, The Post Office, M&S, Schuh, Cancer Research UK, Dixons, Help the Aged, Early Learning Centre, Start-Rite, Poundland, Magnet, Converse, Kangol and many more.

Tanya Akrofi

Tanya Akrofi is a writer and oral storyteller who works primarily with myths and fairytales, uncovering their symbols and archetypes. She enjoys collaborating with creatives from other fields to produce immersive and challenging work, which aims to broaden conversation around topics like global migration, disability and mental health. As a workshop facilitator, she helps people to reconnect with the sacred power of oral traditions and their ability to strengthen our communities. She has worked on an audio trail of East Lindsey, created digital storytelling resources for schools and is one of the directors of Creative Rebel - an arts and innovation based social enterprise in Lincoln.

Natalie Brown is the Deputy Dean of the Nottingham School of Art & Design at Nottingham Trent University. With over 4,200 students, Natalie supports the Dean in leading the strategic direction of the School and has responsibility for the implementation of key initiatives which impact on the continuous improvement of the student’s academic experience and attainment across the School’s diverse range of art and design subject areas.

Natalie is passionate about the personalisation of the student experience and delivering innovations in educational pedagogy, which include collaborative models of learning and initiatives to close the awarding gap. Natalie is an advocate for designing curriculum that challenges social injustice and climate action and builds community both locally and internationally.

Natalie has a Masters degree in Digital Fashion and worked as a Printed Textile Designer in Germany, Paris and London selling her designs globally to both high street and designer brands. Prior to joining Nottingham Trent University in 2019, Natalie has worked at University of the Creative Arts (UCA) and at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London (UAL) as Associate Dean.

Natalie is Vice-Chair for the National Group for Learning in Art and Design in Higher Education (GLAD) and is an active advocate for sharing practice, taking action and further developing teaching and learning in art, design, media and communications in the UK.