Clare Fisher is an artist who works with textiles and photography, a curator, and a mother.  She leads on project management and on team coordination.

Clare has more than twelve years experience in the industry working in both rural and non-rural contexts.  Before joining Aune Head Arts in 2005 she was an Arts Activist at Beaford Arts and a Visual Arts Officer at The Plough (Torrington).  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, a Diploma in Photography from Plymouth College of Art & Design and numerous certifications as an educator/trainer.

Jennie Hayes is a photographer and arts consultant.  She leads on project management.  Jennie has worked for over 20 years in the arts, mainly in local and community arts development. 

Until 2009 she taught community practices at Dartington College of Arts.  She is on the editorial team of a new journal –– the Journal of Arts and Communities.   Jennie lives north of Dartmoor with her partner Nick and son, Euan.

Richard Povall is a composer and digital artist, and until 2006 was a co-director of half/angel.  He is one of the founding co-directors of AHA, and leads on funding and strategic oversight.  On behalf of AHA he is also the Award Leader for the MA Arts & Ecology at University College Falmouth (formerly Dartington College of Arts) through the end of Academic Year 2009/2010.

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 and soundart radio 102.5fm.  Until  December 2009 he was Chair of the Board of Dance in Devon and on the Board of Dance South West.

Nancy Sinclair is a photographer.  She is the other founding co-Director of AHA, and leads on external relations.  On behalf of AHA she is also the Award Leader for the MA Arts Management at University College Falmouth (formerly Dartington College of Arts) through the end of Academic Year 2009/2010.

Nancy has over fifteen years experience as an artist manager in the US where she led arts projects and arts organisations on both coasts.  Since relocating to the UK in 1998 she has focused on her work with Aune Head Arts and on lecturing in Arts Management at Dartington College of Arts, on both BA and MA programmes.  She was a board member for arts and environmental organisations in the US, and was on the Board of ArtsMatrix until February 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 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 led 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.  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.  Alex's website is www.ruralrecreation.org.uk

Hugh Nankivell, composer.  Hugh’s work as a freelance musician combines performance, composition, community and education work in a wide range of creative and performance situations. He has composed hundreds of pieces and songs for many different groups and contexts.  Hugh has toured with many different groups nationally and internationally, most recently with the puppet company Faulty Optic in France, November 2009.

Hugh's interest in site-specific work has been developed through working with Wils Wilson. He was composer on Mulgrave by Wilson:Wilson and also was award-winning composer for the National Theatre of Scotland's launch piece Home:Shetland Since moving to Devon, Hugh has been developing several local site-specific works through a relationship with Aune Head Arts as one of the Triparks Artists (in residence in Dartmoor National Park) and also on other projects searching for pianos and understanding the local geology. Hugh has also been developing a working relationship with poet Peter Oswald that has resulted in 'Catherine' a pilgrimage performance in Plymouth, a poem/song cycle Birdsongs and a new commission for solo voice and four instrumentalists called 'Solitary'.

He also works with dancers and choreographers and recently composed and performed the music for American choreographer Stephan Koplowitz's outdoor Liquid Landscapes in South Devon (summer 2009) and has developed a close working relationship with choreographers and directors at The Barbican Theatre in Plymouth.

Hugh has a long working relationship with Opera North in Leeds, including the community/professional piece Operaville and the experimental Wax Inspector as well as PRS composer-in-education projects, songwriting projects with teenagers at risk of exclusion and training for singers and players. In March 2010 Opera North are premiering a new song-cycle by Hugh Nankivell working with poet Ian McMillan to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the end of the miners strike.

During the last five years Hugh has been working closely with the Japanese composer Makoto Nomura which has resulted in Whaletone Opera a new score and approach to music-making developed with communities in Japan and England. There will be a UK premiere this autumn in the NE and SW of England. They have also been creating a dance and music project called Keyboard Choreography Collection, which is a collaboration between dancers and keyboard players aged 3-80 that has now produced three volumes of new techniques and approaches.

In March 2010 Hugh was appointed as Featured Composer at Dartington Arts for 2010/11.

Hugh lives in Torquay with three children, two guinea pigs and the lovely Caroline.

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Judith Robinson, Visual Art Curator, Plymouth City Museum & Art Gallery.  Judith was born in West Yorkshire and educated in Bradford.   She studied Art History and German at University College, London, before embarking on a career in museums and galleries in 1980.  She became an Associate Member of the Museums Association in 1994 and was a lecturer in museum studies at De Montfort University, in Lincoln, during the 1990s.

For over 20 years she was a curator of collections and exhibitions at the Usher Gallery in Lincoln, where she initiated innovative exhibition, education and outreach programmes. She also managed exhibitions and projects in a freelance capacity, including an artist led exchange between artists in Lincolnshire and Iceland.

In 1999 Judith became Visual Arts and Crafts Officer with South West Arts in Exeter and from 2003-06 was a Visual Arts Officer with Arts Council England, South West. She was responsible for the development of the visual arts in Cornwall and Bath and NE Somerset, including the capital project at Newlyn Art Gallery and the new Exchange in Penzance. In this role, she also developed partnerships between the arts and heritage sectors, an example being an artist-in-residence project at Tintagel Castle.  Judith was lead officer for the development of curatorial practice in the region and organised several curatorial research trips.

In 2002, she was seconded to project manage St Ives International’s Ceramica project – an international festival of clay in Cornwall, delivered through partnerships with public and private galleries and the HE sector, and including exhibitions, open studios and an audience engagement programme.

Since 2006 Judith has been Exhibitions Officer at Plymouth City Museum & Art Gallery where she is responsible for strategic partnerships and the planning and delivery of the temporary exhibitions programme. She is committed to creating opportunities for artists to engage with the museum environment and the exhibition Human Cargo (2007) is a recent example of her curatorial approach.

Jo Rumble, Senior Planning Officer (Community) 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 Millennium 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. 

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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.

Erica Steer, artist and Director of the Devon Guild of Craftsmen.  Erica moved to the Devon Guild of Craftsmen in March 2008.  She previously held the post of Crafts Officer at Arts Council England South West, where her main role was to shape and inform corporate planning for crafts.  The Devon Guild has the largest permanent contemporary craft exhibition space in the region and is committed to presenting a platform for innovative and critically engaged craft. It also has a thriving retail outlet for members work, a respected schools education programme and provides continuing professional development and lifelong learning opportunities. www.crafts.org.uk

She was responsible for researching the regional crafts strategy the real world/a prospectus for the crafts in the south west which was published in 2003.  At ACESW Erica worked closely with makers and arts organisations throughout the region, and with key stakeholders such as local authorities and national bodies, in order to ensure delivery of regional and national strategies.  Erica started out as a print buyer, employing a team of nine people to devise and present creative solutions for all printed marketing materials.  Her company also managed a design studio and a production facility for screen printing and picture framing.  She is an artist, working mainly with sculpted paper, and has run paper-making classes for adults and children.  As Exhibitions Officer for Paperweight, a national group of paper artists, she was responsible for developing exhibition ideas, finding venues and curating shows.  She has also worked at Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery where she assisted with all aspects of exhibition planning as well as having particular responsibility for the production of interpretative materials and the co-ordination of education events.  Erica has a BA(Hons) Business Studies and a MA in Heritage Management.

Gillian Taylor is an ex-officio advisor to the Board.  She will be sending an update Bio Statement soon.