Cultural Tides Conference 2025

Co-founder of the NGO “Open Opera Ukraine” (2017). As General Producer, she oversaw in 2017-2020 cultural and educational projects focused on 17th-18th century Baroque music (two full-scale opera productions: Dido and Aeneas by H. Purcell, which won the All-Ukrainian GRA Award for Best Opera/Operetta/Musical Premiere in 2017, and Acis and Galatea by G.F. Handel in 2019).   

March 2020 – July 2022 Head of the State Agency of Ukraine on Arts and Artistic Education 

July 2022 – August 2023 Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, responsible for arts, arts education, and creative industries   

In May 2024, G.Grygorenko joined the “RES-POL” Cultural Policy Development Project (Rapid Expert Support for Culture and Media Policies in Ukraine) as a Policy Alignment Expert. This initiative, led by the PPV Economic Development Agency in partnership with the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, is supported by a European Commission grant.   

In 2024, as Executive Director of “Open Opera Ukraine”, she produced the projects King Arthur: Looking for a Hero and Berezovsky/Rachynsky: New Soundscapes. 

Since November 2024  First Deputy Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine 

Louise started her career as an actor and performing arts teacher with a passion for engaging young people in the Arts. She managed the region’s largest youth arts organisation, Creative Connexions Humber, before becoming Arts Development officer at Hull City Council. 

At Hull City Council Louise became involved in the UK City of Culture 2017 bid, her experience of engaging hard to reach communities leading to the role of Producer on the Back to Ours Festival and year-long Land of Green Ginger project. Throughout the delivery year Louise focused her work in communities, programming circus in school sports halls and atriums, famous indie bands in shopping centres and Secret Gigs into working men’s clubs.  

As CEO and Artistic Director of Back to Ours her vision coupled with her distinct invitation and ingredients have sparked a real connection with residents in Hull. Having developed a strong brand with a voice that’s warm and welcoming, Louise transitioned Back to Ours from being a project to an independent charity and an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation, that continues to delight new and existing audiences.  

Find out more about Back to Ours

Councillor Mike Ross came to Hull in September 2000 to study at the University of Hull. Like so many people he fell in love with the city and made his home here.   

Mike has been a City Councillor since 2002, leader of the Liberal Democrat group since 2015 and Leader of the City Council following the Liberal Democrat election victory in 2022. 

During Liberal Democrats’ previous administration (2006-2011), Mike held various portfolio responsibilities.  While in opposition Mike also chaired the scrutiny committee responsible for scrutinising the Council’s finances.   

Mike enjoys spending time with his family, watching sport and exploring the outdoors! 

Jude Kelly CBE is an internationally acclaimed creative leader who has founded and steered some of the world’s most prestigious cultural institutions, arts festivals, charities, and outreach programmes. In 2024 Kelly became Chair of the newly launched One Creative North, a bold new vision for the north of England’s creative industries. A pioneer for social progress, Kelly is renowned for championing inclusion, gender equity and diversity. She is former Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre, and the Founder and current Head of Global Advisory of WOW – Women of the World which runs festivals and programmes in 26 countries. Jude Kelly has directed over 200 theatre and opera productions and in 2025 Jude became Master of St Catherine’s College, Oxford. 

Cortina Butler is Interim Director Arts at the British Council – the United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. She leads the programme building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide through arts, culture and heritage.  Before joining British Council in 2013 as Director Literature she worked in the international publishing industry. She has been a Non-Executive Director of DACS and she is a Trustee of the Art360 Foundation which works to protect our heritage of contemporary British art.

Phil Hargreaves is an award-winning cultural leader, curating programmes that bring exception art into the public realm. Phil has worked with a range of organisations, local governments and artists to create impactful, relevant and high quality cultural and heritage experience. 

Phil is currently the Festival Director for Freedom Festival Arts Trust (FFAT). Established in 2007 FFAT transforms the City of Hull into a cultural playground, bring to the streets of Hull socially charged work tackling a range of topics and transforming public space with free arts and culture.  Alongside this, Phil is a board member for Outdoor Arts UK and First Art and Co-chair of the Light up the Night network. .  

Darren Henley CBE is chief executive of Arts Council England. Previously managing director of Classic FM, he authored two independent government reviews into music education and cultural education in England. A certified coach, he holds a doctorate exploring the role of the outsider as an agent for change, and degrees in positive psychology, history of art, management and politics. His book ‘The Arts Dividend: How Investment in Culture Creates Happier Lives’ champions happiness as a public policy goal, showing how people and places across England can thrive thanks to the positive impact of public investment in artists, arts organisations, museums and libraries. 

Eilish has worked in heritage all her professional life and has extensive experience across the sector and the breadth of the UK’s heritage.

She joined the Heritage Fund in 1996 and has held a variety of roles – both operational and strategic – including Regional Manager North East, Head of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Major Grants and Special Programmes.

Prior to joining the Heritage Fund, Eilish worked with Historic Scotland, Historic Monuments & Buildings Branch, Northern Ireland and in the heritage sector in Ireland.

She has a degree in History of Art and Archaeology from University College Dublin, and an MA from Queen’s University Belfast, where she was a junior research fellow in the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen’s University Belfast.

Janthi Mills-Ward has been the Executive Director/Co-CEO of Hull Truck Theatre since August 2013. During this time, she has dramatically improved the theatre’s resilience through developing the organisation’s business model – balancing the theatre’s producing work alongside a programme of visiting and community productions. Janthi is on the board of UK Theatre and 509 Arts and is the Vice Chair of HEY Creative. She has previously worked in several other regional producing theatres, including The Belgrade Theatre, Coventry and Derby Playhouse.

Find out more about Hull Truck Theatre

Paul is an award-winning theatre director, who has worked as the artistic director of Middle Child since 2011. Paul has overseen the company’s growth from its foundation, to joining the Arts Council’s National Portfolio in 2018, and becoming an established force in Britain’s new writing scene. Paul is a two-time winner of the Olwen Wymark Award for ‘exceptional encouragement of British playwriting’. Stage work directed and developed by Paul has won more than 10 awards, including the prestigious George Devine and multiple Off West End Awards. This year Paul has been nominated as Inspirational Individual of the Year in the Yorkshire Choice Awards. He is the current chair of Cultural Collisions – a support and advocacy group bringing together cultural organisations and local authorities across Hull, the East Riding, North and North East Lincolnshire. Paul is a Hull University graduate who, after achieving a First Class Degree in Drama, continued his training at LAMDA and the National Theatre, before becoming a CLORE Leader. He is a proud member of the Advisory Board at the Junction Goole, and is represented by Giles Smart of United Agents. 

Find out more about MiddleChild Theatre

Arnfríður Sólrún Valdimarsdóttir, also known as Adda Rúna, has been active in Iceland’s cultural scene since 2008. She is the head of Reykjavík’s Cultural Office.

Before joining the city of Reykjavík, Adda Rúna worked for 11 years as a senior adviser for the Government of Iceland—first at the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science, and later at the Ministry of Culture and Business Affairs.

She has extensive experience in cultural affairs, cultural diplomacy, and public administration, having managed various cultural projects both domestically and internationally, particularly in broader Nordic cultural collaborations.

Adda Rúna was one of the Project Directors for the European Film Awards held in Reykjavík in 2022 and led the implementation of Björk Guðmundsdóttir’s Biophilia educational program across all Nordic countries 2014 – 2016.

Born 1977, lives and works in Aarhus. MA Art History and Culture Studies. Head of the Cultural Secretariat for the City of Aarhus, where she is heading the Cultural Strategy, international partnerships, and a range of development projects. Former Regional Manager for the European Capital of Culture Aarhus 2017 and special advisor for culture with the Central Denmark Region.  

Ms Wall was part of the regional and national cultural and creative industries development (2017-2023) and swedish media as a culture and entertainment reporter, critic and editor (1999-2017). A background working with digital marketing for regional theatre productions and local filmfestivals – and attending the universities of Stockholm and Linköping focused on cultural studies. 

Working with UCCN made it a natural step to become an active part of the sustainable place development with creativity as a driver. Ms Wall is currently employed by the municipal company Visit Norrköping, focused on destination development/sustainable and digital host city. Hosted international Music Cities Forum in 2019, Unesco Music Cities 2023 and European Choir games 2023. Norrköping hosts around 10 music festivals every year, among them Future Echoes Showcasefestival.

Rob feels honoured to live in Hull and has had a varied career, from starting out working in retail, working as a nurse, bank clerk, chief officer of several voluntary and community organisations, and now a City Councillor. 

Rob believes everyone needs beauty in their lives and strives to make this reality, in 2016 he became a HEY volunteer to be part of Hull’s City of Culture year, which brought a renewed desire to be involved in the creative sector in Hull. 

Rob has a passion for his city and loves being involved in making it a better place to live. He loves the arts in all its forms and feels privileged to be the Portfolio Holder for Culture and Leisure, where he gets to meet amazing people from around the city and beyond.  

In March 2022, the NP11 worked with 5 arms-length bodies to launch the Place Strategy for the North. This strategy defined 6 areas of focus to define place, seeking pan-Northern work that catalyses opportunities, maximises impact and serves as the connective tissue/collective vision for Place across a changing and increasingly devolved North. With a Delivery Framework launched in December 2022, 2023/24 was the first year of delivery and collaborative action.   

Over the past year, the Northern Place and Culture Partnership (NP&CP) has made clear progress with Place Strategy for the North’s delivery planning, profile and potential has been raised significantly: securing pan-Northern focus on Place and Culture in both the Manifesto for the North and annual Convention of the North programme. We have also gained valuable feedback – through individual conversations and events, Better Places North roundtables, and Northern Creative Corridor workshops– about what is wanted and needed at a pan-Northern level.    

In this workshop, we will:   

·                share the Northern Place and Culture Partnership’s 2024 activity, research findings and current thinking about 2025-2030 sector support development, programmes and bidding    

·                interrogate the strengths, ambitions, and aims of Hull (and East Yorkshire’s?) leaders at both the creative/cultural organisations and the wider county   

·                Co-devise potential foci, RD&I activity and sector support, connecting Hull’s ambitions with wider, pan-Northern activity.   

Sarie Mairs Slee is the Executive Director of Here for Culture & Place and Strategic Lead for the Northern Place and Culture partnership,  a pan_Northern partnership leading on Northern England’s strategic collaboration for creativity, culture and placemaking. Sarie’s background spans academic teaching and research, creative practice and social entrepreneurship, engaging with the roles of culture/creativity in sustainable urban regeneration and physical performance practice in surprising and intermingling ways.  As a values-based leader, Sarie sees collaboration as the key component to risk-ready, meaningful, and impactful work across culture and place:  building mutually beneficial relationships, grounded in a parity of respect, with common desire to ‘do’ better. 

Sarah Barton is Head of Production at Hull Truck Theatre where she has been Production Manager for: Mary and the Hyenas, The Borrowers, Rapunzel, Guts, Little Shop of Horrors (with New Wolsey Theatre, Bolton Octagon, and Theatre by the Lake), Pinocchio, The Princess and the Frog, Pop Music and Ladies’ Unleashed.  

Prior to working at Hull Truck, Sarah was the Production Manager at the Young Vic Theatre in London (productions include: Further from the Furthest Thing, Mandela, Oklahoma). Other production management credits include: Cyrano de Bergerac (Jamie Lloyd Company), Constellations (Donmar Warehouse), Drip (Back to Ours/UK Tour). She has also worked as the Head of Production at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and is on the board of the National Student Drama Festival.  

Manufacturing contributes 17% of our employment in the Humber region and this number is set to grow thanks to continued investment in renewable energy, engineering and assembly, pharmaceuticals, and local decarbonisation projects.

How can culture and heritage effectively contribute to the development of these growing industries through engagement and collaboration?

Colliderfest is a new science festival delivered in partnership between University of Hull, Hull Maritime, Hull Museums and Gallery and Hull City Council. The festival aims to support science participation and inclusion with STEAM subjects, building ‘science capital’ and developing partnerships with industry across the Humber to support pathways to employment.

This session will delve into how Colliderfest exemplifies the enablers of the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy by fostering innovation, collaboration, and growth in Hull’s creative, science, and technology sectors.

Delegates will explore ideas for their own cross-sector collaborations with science and industry, helping to build ‘science capital’ across their audiences or communities.

Jane has worked in the culture and heritage sector for over 25 years, across several national, regional museums and historic houses.

With a background in cultural learning and engagement her current role as Head of Hull Museums and Gallery drives the strategic vision for Hull’s five city centre museums, the Ferens Art Gallery and two historic vessels, ensuring effective contribution to the city’s strategic priorities maximising the social, place & economic impacts of the service.

Her work involves the development of Hull as a sub-regional centre for culture through the Humber Museums Partnership, a collaboration of local authority museum services from East Riding, North Lincolnshire & North East Lincolnshire.

Jane is currently supporting the legacy of Hull Maritime a heritage-driven, transformational project to promote and protect Hull’s incredible maritime history, architecture and collection.

Alongside his academic duties, Mark spends his time communicating science to as wide an audience as possible. He founded the Hull Science festival which has now morphed into ColliderFest.and and leads on widening participation projects in the region. He still finds time to contribute to various media outlets, his prose regularly appears in the mainstream press, and he pops up on broadcast media. He has also provided science consultancy services to film, game production companies and he sits on the Science Advisory Council of the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

James Brown is Head of Festivals at the British Science Association, the Director of the British Science Festival, and chair of the UK Science Festivals Network. 

The British Science Festival celebrates the people, stories and ideas at the heart of science. Travelling to a different place in the United Kingdom each year, the Festival aims to connect people with scientists, engineers, technologists and social scientists. 

The UKSFN brings science festivals together to share knowledge, experience and contacts. The Network facilitates partnerships and collaboration through our meetings and projects. We believe that science festivals are an exciting and diverse form of interaction and we work to support large and small festivals to grow and diversify their audience. 

James has over 15 years of experience working in education and engagement, as a practitioner, project manager and creative director. James has worked across both formal and informal education, teaching from pre-school to undergraduate level, has designed and managed national-level science engagement programs, and developed public and community engagement projects on a local, regional and national level. 

Previously at the University of Warwick, James started the Resonate Festival, a year-long engagement Festival as part of the Coventry City of Culture project and he was also instrumental in setting up the Warwick Institute of Engagement. 

Karen has spent over 25 years devising new ways of communicating scientific and technological ideas and concepts to a wide range of audiences including schools, families; independent adults, using interactive exhibits; online resources and innovative programming.

A chemist by background and Secondary Science Teacher and the first School Teacher Fellow at the Royal Society of Chemistry, Karen’s current position plays a pivotal role in some of the Science Museum’s most exciting and innovative projects.

Karen leads on the ‘Science in your World’ programme, a national collaboration programme to build a community of good practice between the Science Museum Group (SMG) and other museums in the United Kingdom. Hull Museums and gallery joining the partnership in 2023.

The aim of the partnership is to support science participation and inclusion across the learning landscape taking a science capital informed approach. The programme aims to support and empower museums to unleash the science from their collections, to inspire and engage their local audiences to explore science and wider STEAM themes using evidence-based research, including the ‘Science Capital’ approach.

Session five: Hull City Centre Vision: Hull’s cultural offering over the next 20 years Led by Counter Context, Planit, Greengage and Deloitte. 

Hull City Centre Vision (www.hullvision.co.uk) will help guide investment and regeneration in the city centre for the next 20 years. The team working alongside Hull City Council to develop this vision are currently asking Hullensians for ideas and feedback on how the city centre could be improved: from flooding, to housing, green spaces, jobs and skills. As part of this public engagement to inform the Vision, come and help us explore what role culture can play in the city centre of the future.