Halifax-based company Northern Broadsides has announced the appointment of Debbie Richards as their new Chair. Having begun her career in marketing for touring theatre companies and specialising in producing site-specific theatre, Richards has over twenty-five years of cumulative experience in the not-for-profit creative industries and is proud to be the Chair of Northern Broadsides.
In 2003 Richards founded Baker Richards, providing consulting services and dedicated software for cultural organisations worldwide. Richards has an extensive experience in governance and oversight and has served on boards covering various art forms such as theatre, media and live cinema.
The Northern theatre company has also announced that current Trustees Patsy Gilbert and Lucinda Harvey will become Joint Vice-Chairs.
Prioritising their shared leadership model, the appointment of joint Vice-Chairs reflects Northern Broadsides’ forward-thinking style, making the most of the collective’s skills and strengths rather than putting emphasis on one leader.
Joint Vice-Chair Patsy Gilbert is currently Vice Principal at Leeds Conservatoire. Since joining in 2018, Gilbert has developed new undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Musical Theatre, Acting and Actor Musician. Gilbert is committed to making radical and sustainable changes in conservatoire training, leading projects in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. She speaks both nationally and internationally about the role of women in the arts and aims to remove barriers for Northern artists seeking training and opportunities in the arts.
Joint Vice-Chair Lucinda Harvey has worked in theatre production and human resources since 1993 and her work focuses on welcoming disabled people across the West End and the UK into both subsidised and commercial theatre companies. For many years Harvey has advised on working conditions in the theatre industry and set up the Relaxed Performance Project. In 2015 Lucinda Harvey moved to Manchester to open her HR consultancy, working with all sizes of dance, opera and theatre companies.
Alongside these appointments, Northern Broadsides has also announced Andy Pyke, Nelli Mooney and Kate Mroczkowski as their new Trustees. Andy Pyke is a financial professional, having trained as a chartered accountant within local accountancy practice in East Yorkshire. In 2015 Pyke joined the Hull Truck Theatre as Financial Controller, playing a key role in Hull’s turn as the 2017 UK City of Culture. In late 2018, Pyke took up his current appointment as Finance Director of Hull Churches Housing Association.
