Six new trustees appointed to the Theatres Trust board.
The Secretary of State has appointed Vicky Browning, Anna Collins, Liam Evans-Ford, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Saratha Rajeswaran and Michele Taylor as trustees of the Theatres Trust.
Vicky Browning
Appointed for a 3 year term commencing 01 April 2024. .
Vicky’s career spans both the commercial and charity sectors. Having spent nearly 15 years leading charities, she is currently enjoying a series of roles as an interim chief executive, most recently for national advocacy charity POhWER and cross-sector collaboration body WIG (the Whitehall & Industry Group).
Previously, she led ACEVO, the network of civil society leaders for over five years, joining from CharityComms, the membership network for communications professionals in UK charities, where she was director for seven years.
A former magazine journalist, editor and publisher, Vicky worked at Haymarket Publishing, the UK’s largest privately owned publishing company for 16 years during the nineties and noughties, including a stint launching a new title in New York. She then enjoyed six years as an independent publishing consultant, offering management consultancy, product development and marketing services to a range of clients, before moving to the charity sector.
Anna Collins
Appointed for a 3 year term commencing 29 April 2024.
Anna Collins spent her early career in Scotland managing front of house operations for ATG and Glasgow Life across their portfolio of cultural venues. Anna became freelance in 2012 when she managed a London 2012 Olympic venue, followed by leading the development and operation of a new build competition venue for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth games.
For the last ten years she has been providing strategic leadership for clients undertaking significant new build and refurbishment projects within the Arts. Previous clients include, The Guardian News and Media Group, The National Theatre, Cambridge Arts Theatre, Northamptonshire Council and The Factory International. More recently Anna acted as Project Director for the RIBA-award winning Mountview Academy of Performing Arts’ new home in Peckham, and for the last two years has been leading the Dunard Centre project, the UKs first Nagata / Chipperfield designed concert hall which will become a flagship venue for the Edinburgh International Festival.
Anna also sits on the committee of Edinburgh’s Royal High School project to develop Thomas Hamilton’s grade A listed building into a new performance space. Anna has a keen interest in architecture and is the co-founder of an award winning, sustainable accredited architecture practice alongside her husband.
Liam Evans-Ford
Appointed for a 3 year term commencing 01 April 2024.
Liam is Executive Director and CEO at Theatr Clwyd, taking up the post in 2016. Theatr Clwyd is the biggest producing theatre in Wales and the third biggest client of the Arts Council of Wales. During his time the organisation has increased its annual turnover from £5m to £7.2m, won UK Theatre, Olivier, and Stage awards for their work, and progressed an ambitious and essential £40m+ Capital redevelopment of the 1970’s building in Flintshire. The theatre has also been recognised for leading the way on social impact and has major partnerships and social prescription models in place with the NHS, Social Services and numerous housing associations, runs William Aston Hall, a 1000 seat concert venue in Wrexham, as well as Theatr Clwyd Music Trust which delivers music lessons to over 70 schools and 3000 young people each week.
Before joining Clwyd Liam was Associate Producer and Capital Development Associate at York Theatre Royal; General Manager and Producer at Sheffield Crucible Theatres.
Liam is Chair of Creu Cymru, the development agency for theatres, arts centres and theatre producers in Wales; sits on the Business Advisory Board for the North Wales Growth Deal, the Strategic Advisory Group for the North East Wales Investment Zone, and the Advisory Group for the UK wide Access Scheme, All In.
Tracy-Ann Oberman
Appointed for a 3 year term commencing 01 April 2024.
Tracy Ann Oberman is an actress , writer and theatre creator. She studied drama at Manchester University and is an alumni of Central School of Speech and Drama. Tracy Ann has had an extensive career both on stage and screen. She has been a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre and has worked extensively across the country’s regional theatres and in the West End. Tracy Ann recently made British UK theatre history playing the first female, Shylock in the hugely successful Merchant Of Venice 1936 which toured the country and transferred into the Criterion Theatre Piccadilly. She is passionate about theatre creativity and making the theatre experience exciting, enjoyable and accessible for all.
Saratha Rajeswaran
Appointed for a 3 year term commencing 01 April 2024.
Sara is Chief of Staff to the Group CEO at Aviva plc, a leading Insurance, Wealth and Retirement business in the UK, Ireland and Canada. Sara has almost twenty years’ experience in executive advice, corporate affairs and political consultancy. Previous roles include Director of External Affairs at the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, Associate Director and Edelman and Chief of Staff to the CEO and Strategy Adviser to the Chairman of Network Rail. Sara has also worked for the UK Government as Special Adviser to two consecutive Environment Secretaries.
Sara co-authored A Portrait of Modern Britain with Rishi Sunak at Policy Exchange in 2014 and was a researcher to Professor Alison Wolf for her book The XX Factor: How Working Women Are Creating a New Society. Sara is also a Trustee of the National Centre for Social Research.
Sara studied Modern History and Politics at The Queen’s College, Oxford, then went on to train in classical voice at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, performing across the UK at many of the country’s great regional theatres.
Michele Taylor
Appointed for a 3 year term commencing 01 April 2024.
Michèle Taylor is Director for Change at Ramps on the Moon, having run her own business as a Disability Equality strategist and trainer since 1992. She has been a key part of the Ramps on the Moon endeavour since its inception, supporting arts organisations to enrich the stories they tell and the ways they tell them by elevating the place of disabled people in the mainstream performing arts.
Michèle has been working with cultural and heritage organisations over more than 30 years to embed systemic and structural change to ensure that their practices, policies and premises are open to disabled people. She has been the access consultant on a number of award-winning buildings, and she contributed to the second edition of Theatre Buildings, A Design Guide (ed. Margaret Shewring, 2024)
She is an accredited coach, registered psychotherapist, and has an MA in fine art photography.
In January 2022 her work was recognised when she was awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours List for services to disabled people and theatre.
Remuneration and Governance Code
Trustees of the Theatres Trust are not remunerated. This appointment has been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments.
The appointments process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Under the Code, any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years must be declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation, or candidature for election. Vicky Browning, Anna Collins, Liam Evans-Ford, Tracy-Ann Oberman and Michele Taylor have declared no significant political activity. Saratha Rajeswaran was a Special Adviser at DEFRA from 2019-2021.