Clare Fisher is an artist who works with textiles and photography, a curator, and a mother and leads on a number of projects and on team co-ordination.

Clare has more than ten years experience in the industry working in both rural and non-rural contexts.  She was an Arts Activist at Beaford Arts and a Visual Arts Officer at The Plough (Torrington) before joining Aune Head Arts as Company Manager in 2005.  Her expertise includes curating and exhibition management, leading workshops for all ages, project management and artist liaison.  She is a photographic artist who works with objects of personal significance and with stitching and textiles to introduce new narratives to image-based work, which has been shown in solo and group exhibitions across the region and elsewhere. She has an MA in Photography from Nottingham Trent University , and a Diploma in Photography from Plymouth College of Art & Design, and numerous certifications as an educator/trainer.

Jennie Hayes is a photographer, arts project manager and lecturer who has worked for over 20 years in the arts, mainly in local and community arts development.  She currently teaches community practices at Dartington College of Arts and is on the editorial team of a new journal – the Journal of Arts and Communities. 

She has had several roles at AHA, first working with the team as a researcher and editor for Focus on Farmers and more recently as a lead artist on Women in Farming, and is currently part of the project management team, covering for Cat who is on maternity leave.  Jennie lives north of Dartmoor with her partner Nick and son, Euan.

Richard Povall is a founding co-director of AHA, and is responsible for Development. He is a composer and digital artist, and was until 2006 a co-director of half/angel.

Richard is a Dartmoor-based digital artist, composer and researcher who has been working new technologies for the past three decades. His work, which includes computer music, interactive screen based work, video and installation as well as music for dance and theatre has been shown internationally.   Recent major work includes two commissions for Cork 2005: European Capital of Culture.  He has held senior research fellowships at Dartington College of Arts and Middlesex University, and was Director of Contemporary Music at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio in the 1990s.  He holds a PhD from the University of Plymouth. He is Chair of the Board of Dance in Devon, the Dance Development Agency for Devon, and sits on the Boards of Dance South West and soundart radio 102.5fm

Cat Radford acts as Projects Manager and Researcher. Cat is also a member of Blind Ditch.  Cat is on Maternity Leave at present.

Cat is a performer and workshop facilitator with the artists collective Blind Ditch Performance, who practice across the fields of devised theatre, video and visual art, sonic composition and new media.  Cat’s recent projects with Blind Ditch include performed installation Who Wants to Be A Hero Now? a theatre work of the same title, and the video and filmmaking projects Vanland and Visionswitch for young people residing in rural Teignbridge.  Cat is also a Research Assistant at Dartington Creative Enterprise, where she has been involved in projects that evaluate arts activity in the South West.  Cat holds posts with the South West Participatory Arts Network and Aune Head Arts and has recently assisted in the delivery of South West Sound 2006.  Cat graduated with a BA Hons and MA in Devised Theatre from Dartington College of Arts.

Nancy Sinclair is the other founding co-Director and is responsible for external relations and project management.

Nancy is a photographer and cultural manager and has lived in England since 1994.  In her native US she lived on both coasts where she was an artist, arts manager and college lecturer –– work she has continued in Devon.  Nancy was a Lecturer at Dartington College of Arts from Autumn 1998 through Summer 2000 in Arts Management, and now leads the MA in Arts Management on behalf of Aune Head Arts.  She has worked as Executive Director of a number of agencies, including artist-led ProArts, and Oakland Festival of the Arts, both in the San Francisco Bay Area, and a three-county regional arts grants programme in the New York state.  She was also instrumental in a nationally-acclaimed art in public places project with Cambridge Arts Centre.  She served on the Board of numerous arts and environmental organisations in the US, and was on the board of ArtsMatrix, the regional arts development agency from 2005 to 2009. She has a BFA from the Corcoran School of Art, Washington, D.C., and an MFA from Mills College, Oakland, California.  She has a Master of Landscape Design from the Conway School of Landscape Design, Conway, Massachusetts.

Alex Murdin, freelance artist.

Alex Murdin has been working in the field of visual arts as curator, researcher and artist for over 15 years. Key areas of interest include working with ecologically and rurally lead practices in the public realm.

Curatorial projects include a national touring exhibition with the Met Office on art and meteorology working with both international and regional artists. Audience development projects have included smaller shows, particularly targeting rural audiences. Alex has also devised and delivered diverse projects as an arts administrator, addressing professional development, education and marketing for artists and makers. He is currently Creative Director for the leading arts and health consultants Willis Newson.

Alex is undertaking a practice based Phd at Dartington College of Arts on the subject of “Art in the public realm and the politics of rural leisure” which will create socially engaged works in a countryside context. Stemming from this research Alex was awarded a Bright Sparks research grant in 2007 to collaborate with the Marine Institute in Plymouth on framing art and ecology projects for the waterscapes of Britain.

www.ruralrecreation.org.uk

Jo Rumble, Senior Planning Officer (Communuty) at Dartmoor National Park.

My family moved to Dartmoor from Hampshire in 1979, when I was eleven.  We lived on the west side at Grenofen and I soon learnt to enjoy the freedom, space and quality environment that the Moor and its valleys had to offer.  I moved away to London and then Birmingham before moving back in 1992 when I started working for the Dartmoor National Park Authority.

Originally employed as a Development Control Officer, I now work within the Forward Planning Section undertaking much of the community development and partnership work.  The scope of job is wide and varied and has included setting up the Dartmoor Sustainable Development Fund grant scheme, the Devon Celebration of Food and board member and mentor for the Tarka Millenium Awards. Currently, I am involved with the 3 district Local Strategic Partnerships, sitting on the steering group/boards for both Teignbridge and West Devon and the Princetown Partnership. 

I work with community groups and development trusts around the moor, offering financial and other support to help secure a sustainable future for Dartmoor. During my time at DNPA I have also undertaken consultancy work including community research work up in the Peak District for University of Plymouth and was seconded to MAFF during FMD in 2001.

Outside of work, I enjoy riding, walking and following the Dart Vale and South Pool Harriers.  On occasion I do volunteer work for the Cinnamon Trust and have also been known to go to the pub! I have an inbuilt love of Dartmoor and all that goes to make it such a special place.  I firmly believe that art can help all people to see it in a different light, to understand it, to appreciate it and encourage them to want to look after it for the future, not just for the opportunities it offers as a playground but because of what it is and what it makes them feel. 

picture coming!

Mary Schwarz, cultural manager and consultant.

Mary is a freelance arts consultant with a particular interest in continuing professional development for cultural practitioners, participatory arts and evaluation.  She was previously founding Director of the Centre for Creative Enterprise & Participation at Dartington College of Arts, and has held the posts of Community Officer at the then Yorkshire Arts and Arts Development Officer at East Devon District Council.  Prior to her career in arts and cultural management, Mary was first a community worker and then a secondary school teacher, and during the 1980s and early 1990s toured nationally and recorded as an improvising viola player in a variety of groups.

Vacancy

Vacancy