About Us
Our Board
Plymouth Culture’s board is made up from representatives of arts, cultural, civic and educational establishments across Plymouth.
We have a continual process of board membership renewal to ensure we are representative of all sectors, ages and diversity in our city.
Lindsey Hall
CHAIR OF TRUSTEES
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Lindsey Hall is Plymouth Culture’s Chair of Trustees and CEO and co-founder of RIO.
Lindsey’s track record in the public and private sectors as a social entrepreneur, thinker and leader has seen her set up and develop products and services across the creative, learning and education sectors.
From building award-winning programmes in the UK to driving groundbreaking initiatives internationally, Lindsey has the experience and skills at management, board and executive level to steer social business ideas towards success; making money and make a difference at the same time. Lindsey is a NESTA Cultural Leadership fellow, an INSEAD graduate, a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a trustee of Fifteen Cornwall and a board member of RISE.
Samantha Smith
managing director of Ocean City Media
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Samantha Smith is the managing director of Ocean City Media, a Plymouth-based content production, training and digital strategy company. Before co-founding OCM, Sam worked as a senior executive in the BBC for more than 10 years. She was responsible for leading teams of news and current affairs journalists, delivering digital strategy for the BBC in the South West and creating network TV programmes. Sam is a founder of the Collings Park Trust, a charity which works to preserve urban green spaces, and is part of the Inspiration for All programme which links business and school leaders in mentoring partnerships.
Sam is also Vice Chair of the Royal Television Society Devon and Cornwall branch .
Professor Chris Bennewith
Executive Dean for the Faculty of Arts
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Professor Chris Bennewith is the Executive Dean for the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business at the University of Plymouth. Before undertaking his current role Chris was the Head of the School of Art, Design and Architecture at the University for a little over 4 years. Prior to joining the University of Plymouth, he was Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor for Enterprise at the Toi Rauwharangi College of Creative Arts, part of Massey University in New Zealand.
Chris is also member of the Squidsoup collective, an international group of artists, researchers and designers working with digital and interactive media experiences. Squidsoup creates dazzling installations for events and performances. The group have exhibited and performed all over the world in venues such as the Tate Modern, Sydney Opera House and the V&A. More recently the group have worked with electronic music artist Four Tet on a series of sold-out gigs in New York, LA and London’s Alexandra Palace.
An interactive media artist and designer with a track record organising large public art events, Chris was a leading member of the team that founded LUX Light Festival in Wellington, NZ. He was one of the driving forces behind the evolution of Plymouth’s Illuminate festival into one of the city’s largest annual events, moving it into the Royal William Yard and positioning it as a key element of the city’s Mayflower 400 commemorations. Chris was also one of the principle investigators on the ACE/DCMS multi-million pound iMayflower project which has been running in the city for the past 3 years, designed to build Plymouth’s creative industries and nurture creative people power across Plymouth.
Arielle Etheridge
artist
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Arielle Etheridge is an artist of African descent with a practice surrounding identity and highlighting the importance of collective cultural memory amongst the black community.
She often participates in local community-based projects focused on inclusion, opening cross-cultural dialogues, and network building. She currently works at The Box Museum and hopes to help Plymouth continue to become a cultural destination that celebrates inclusion and champions diversity.
Victoria Pomery
CEO of The Box
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Victoria Pomery took up the role of CEO of The Box in October 2021. The Box, Plymouth’s new museum, gallery and archive, opened in autumn 2020. The Box is building a significant reputation for the city and is supported by Plymouth City Council and Arts Council England.
Victoria started her career at the Mead Gallery at the University of Warwick. During her time there, she was seconded to Tate St Ives and to the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery at the University of Western Australia. She subsequently ran Angel Row Gallery in Nottingham before moving to Tate Liverpool as Senior Curator. In 2002, she was appointed as the founding Director of Turner Contemporary in Margate. Victoria worked alongside David Chipperfield Architects on the design of the building and was instrumental in raising the funds for the capital project. Victoria ran Turner Contemporary for ten highly successful years following it’s opening in April 2011.
Victoria was awarded an OBE for services to the arts in 2012, an Honorary MA from the University of the Creative Arts in 2013 and an Honorary Doctorate from Canterbury Christ Church University in 2020. Victoria relocated to Plymouth in 2021 and lives in the city.
Jenny Evans
entrepreneur and artist
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Jenny is an award winning entrepreneur and artist. Passionate about business, entrepreneurship and marketing, Jenny has been selling her work for over a decade. While at university, she won Santander’s University Entrepreneur's national competition, winning a grand prize of £25k. She graduated with first class honours and went on to set up a high growth, investor backed business in 2018 after raising a seed round of £350k. She managed a team of ten people across two offices, manufacturing luxury homeware and fashion accessory goods here in the UK.
Less than a year after graduating and while running her business, she was also the UK Policy Chair for Young Entrepreneurs for the FSB, lobbying central government for changes in the law to support other young entrepreneurs.
From there, Jenny went on to work with hundreds of Plymouth businesses at Outset, helping other startups and entrepreneurs succeed and follow their passions. She also worked in several marketing roles, including Digital Content & Social Media officer at Arts University Plymouth.
Now a lecturer in the same organisation, Jenny focuses on teaching students innovative marketing and business strategies, helping them get ready for industry through lived experiences and enthusiastic lectures & workshops.
Dan Baker
arts producer and programmer
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Dan Baker is arts producer and programmer born and raised in Plymouth, with over 20 years of experience working locally, nationally and internationally across theatre, festivals and live performance.
He has worked locally Theatre Royal Plymouth. Barbican Theatre and Exeter Northcott, as well producing work performed at venues including the Old Vic, Bush Theatre and Wales Millennium Centre. Dan was founder and director of Plymouth Fringe Festival, which launched in 2015 showcasing work in venues across the city, and trained at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama; he is also Clore Leadership and ISPA Fellowship alumni.
Dan also works in the fields of outreach, talent development and creative engagement, supporting young and emerging creatives in accessing training and developing their practice