Trustees
Rob Dickins CBE Chairman
Rob Dickins spent four decades in the music industry, chairing both Warner Bros Music Publishing and Warner Records for most of them. More recently he started an independent music company, Instant Karma. He was Chairman of the UK Recording Industry trade body, the BPI from 1986 to 1988 and then again from 1997 to 2002. He also chaired The Brit Awards and The Classical Music Committee and conceived the Classical Brits TV programme. Between 2002 and 2007, he chaired the National Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green and steered it via HLF funding through planning, closure and refurbishment to a successful re-opening. His love of heritage and the arts led to him being appointed as a Trustee of the V&A Museum (2000 to 2007) and of the Watts Gallery (2004 to date). His business history brought him to the Board of VAE, the commercial wing of the V&A (2001 to 2009). He is a founding Trustee of the National Foundation of Youth Music. He is a Visiting Professor at both the University Of The Arts and London Metropolitan University. He was awarded a CBE for services to the music industry in 2002. Appointed Chairman of The Theatres Trust 1 February 2009.
Nick Allott
Managing Director of the Cameron Mackintosh Group of Companies, which includes an international theatrical production division and a group of seven West End theatres. He is also the Chair of the Soho Theatre, a Trustee of the Roundhouse, the Managing Trustee of the Mackintosh Foundation (a grant giving organisation), a Trustee of the Oxford School of Drama, and is on the Advisory Boards of Julie’s Bicycle and Tickets for Troops. He is a member of the Cultural Olympiad Board and has been a Trustee of the Foundation for Sport and the Arts for fifteen years. Appointed February 2011.
Dr Phil Clark
Dr Phil Clark is a freelance theatre director and writer specialising in theatre for young people and has worked extensively in the UK and Europe. He was a founder member of Theatr Powys, Wales and Bruvvers Theatre Newcastle Upon Tyne. He was a Director at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, and from 1990 to 2006 he was Artistic Director of the Sherman Theatre Cardiff, where he prioritised work for and with young people and commissioned over 100 new plays. He was a member of the BBC Broadcasting Council in Wales. His work has been presented in most of the theatres in Wales and he teaches regularly at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and for the National Association of Youth Theatres. Appointed as The Theatres Trust’s Welsh Trustee in 2008.
Ruth Eastwood
Freelance arts management specialist. She was previously Chief Executive of Leicester Theatre Trust where she was in charge of transferring the theatre’s business from the old Haymarket Theatre to the brand new, £62 million state-of-the-art venue, Curve. Before that she was Chief Executive at Poole Arts Centre, where she managed a £9 million capital development project, transforming the venue into Lighthouse, Poole’s Centre for the Arts, the largest arts centre outside London. Apart from a year in the oil industry, her career has been spent in the arts in touring, presenting and producing theatres and arts centres within the subsidised sector from Hull Truck to the Royal National Theatre. Appointed February 2011.
Tim Foster MA Dip Arch (Cantab) RIBA
Tim Foster is the senior partner in Foster Wilson Architects, the practice which he established in 1979. Over a period of 30 years he has been responsible for the design and remodelling of over forty different theatres, from low cost conversions to major refurbishments and new buildings. The practice works with a wide range of clients, including commercial theatre owners, professional theatre companies, local authorities and educational organisations. He is chairman of the ABTT Theatre Planning Committee, represents the UK on the OISTAT Architecture Commission and is a board member of the Tricycle Theatre Company. Appointed 2009.
Oliver Goodwin
Partner and Head of Planning at the London Office of Squire Sanders Hammonds LLP, a global law firm. A lawyer with over 25 years experience of planning law, he advises both the public and private sectors, with a particular focus on major urban regeneration schemes. He advised the London Development Agency on its planning application for the London Olympics.He has previously worked at Mishcon de Reya, Berwin Leighton Paisner and Eversheds.In his early career Oliver worked in the planning section of the Legal Department at the London Borough of Camden. Appointed February 2011
Jerry Katzman
Managing Director of the Nederlander International Limited where he is responsible for all aspects of the acquisition, financing and operation of its three London theatres, the Dominion, the Aldwych and the Adelphi. In addition he is an International Consultant to SNR Denton, and an Executive Director of the Wychwood Music Festival, and Chairman and Managing Director of MLC International. A qualified Attorney-at-Law and a Solicitor to the Supreme Court of England and Wales, he is also the Nederlander representative to the Society of London Theatre. Appointed February 2011.
Penelope Keith CBE DL
Her theatre career began in repertory prior to joining the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon and the Aldwych Theatre, London. She has toured extensively throughout the United Kingdom in theatrical productions as actor, director and producer. Her first appearance in the West End was in 1968. Her most recent appearance being in 2008. Penelope Keith served on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority for six years, and is President of the Actors’ Benevolent Fund. She served as High Sheriff of Surrey in 2002-2003 and is now a Deputy Lieutenant of the County. She was appointed CBE in 2007. Appointed 2008.
Dr Pauleen Lane CBE
Studied Civil Engineering at Manchester University where she now teaches on the geotechnics Masters for the Built Environment Group. Awarded the CBE for services to local government in 2005 she was previously an elected Member of Trafford MBC. As a councillor, she was lead member for the Waterside Arts Centre project and the Imperial War Museum North and served on the design panel for the Lowry Centre Bridge. At English Partnerships she was a Board Member from 2001-2005 and Deputy Chair from 2005-2008, and between 2001-2005 was a Board Member on North West Development Agency. Pauleen currently serves on the board of the Coal Authority as Chair of the Environment Group. Other activities have included being a NW Regional Charitable Trustee for Lloyds TSB Foundation for six years, helping to found the Trafford United Credit Union, and serving on the Institution of Civil Engineers: Future Framework Group and the Community Awards NW Panel. She enjoys promoting civil engineering locally, regionally and nationally. Appointed 2009.
Graham McPherson (Suggs)
Best known as the lead singer of the pop group Madness. In addition to his long and distinguished music career he is also an actor, DJ and TV presenter, winning a Royal Television Society award for his documentary series for ITV, Disappearing London. He also wrote a book, Suggs and the City to accompany the series. He is a patron of Children in Need and has also been involved with Cancer Research UK and their Busking Cancer campaign. Appointed February 2011.
Anne McReynolds
Chief Executive of the Metropolitan Arts Centre (MAC) in Belfast, where she is responsible for all aspects of detailed business planning, human resources, legal, licensing, information systems and governance issues and artistic development in partnership with Northern Ireland’s arts producers (2009 to date). Prior to this, she worked as Development Officer for Belfast Community Circus before joining the Old Museum Arts Centre as Director, where she was responsible for artistic visioning, financial control and building management (1991 to 2006). In 2006, she became Project Director responsible for delivering The MAC, Belfast’s new arts centre. This project involved her liaising with Northern Irelands’s performing and visual arts sector, the appointment, through an international open design competition, of the Integrated Design Team to design the building, and fundraising for the capital costs of The MAC. She is Trustee of Community Foundation for Northern Ireland (2008 to date). Appointed 2009.
Judith Mellor
Retired as chairman of Northampton Theatres Trust in 2007. During her eleven year tenure she oversaw the merging of the Royal and Derngate Theatres, and a £15 million refurbishment of the buildings funded primarily by the lottery, (ACE and Heritage.) She is currently a member of the boards of the Bush Theatre and Graeae Theatre Company. She is a Trustee of several other charities and was made an O.B.E. in 2008 for her contribution to the arts and voluntary sectors. Appointed February 2011.
Matthew Rooke
Co Founder and Director of Scottish Cultural Enterprise Ltd, an independent management consultancy, focusing on project management and implementation practice, working with a wide range of National, Regional and Local Government Agencies as well as NDPBs and other bodies involved in the Cultural sector (1998 to date). Prior to this, he was a professional bass player and composer before joining the Arts Council England as Music Officer (1987 to 1989). In 1991, he joined the Scottish Arts Council as Music and then Group Director with responsibility for the design and delivery of annual multi-million pound Government public funding programmes in Scotland in respect of the Performing Arts. He is a Director of Arthouse UK group which rescues and restores Category A listed buildings for use as cultural centres. Appointed 2009.
Chris Shepley CBE
Planning consultant. Previously the Government’s Chief Planning Inspector, and holder of senior planning posts in Manchester and Plymouth. Chairman of the Bath Festivals Trust until April 2006. Appointed 2003.
Ben Twist
Carbon consultant in the cultural sector and theatre director/producer. Previously a member of the Joint Board of the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen and Chair of the Scottish Arts Council National Lottery Committee. Previously Artistic Director of Contact Theatre, Manchester and before that Associate Director of the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh. Appointed as The Theatres Trust’s Scottish Trustee in 2007.
