Camille Ben Soussan (Co-Chair)

Camille is Executive Director of Upswing, a leading contemporary circus company, working both indoors and outdoors. Upswing uses the human body as an expressive tool to entertain, inspire curiosity and ignite a desire to build connection.

Camille was studying digital imaging when she got into the world of theatre. After taking an internship at LIFT, she went on to earn an MA in Enterprise Management for the Creative Arts from the University of the Arts, London. Camille then managed a talent agency for Continental Drifts and worked with ISAN (now OutdoorArtsUK) producing the conference Brilliance and Resilience in 2011 with Julian Rudd. After a freelance career, producing various other outdoor festivals and music events, Camille joined Upswing in 2012 as Executive Director, where she has innovatively progressed organisational development and produces their strategic projects and touring shows.

Sarah Bird

Sarah is the Creative Director of Outside, a new Creative People and Places Project in Staffordshire Moorlands. She is a founder of Wild Rumpus, producing large-scale outdoor arts events, most often in wild natural landscapes including the Just So Festival and Timber.

Sarah is a founder and former Director of Wild Rumpus, a community interest company based at a woodland creation centre near Stoke-on-Trent. They deliver a range of festivals and events that aim to take audiences on creative adventures that help inspire a passion for nature conservation. Their events include Just So Festival, the weekend camping family arts event, Timber Festival in partnership with the National Forest which celebrates the significance of trees and woodlands, and the Lanterns at Chester Zoo. Wild Rumpus also hosts a local cultural forum for artists, producers and programmers across Cheshire. Sarah is on the board of the Association of Festival Organisers, her local secondary school and Weave the Cheshire digital and creative industries network. She recently undertook a Clore Leadership Fellowship and lives in Macclesfield with her 3 daughters, husband and dog Calamity. 

Graham Callister

Graham is Head of Festivals, Events and Cultural Policy at Leicester City Council. Previously he was Director of Festivals at Birmingham Hippodrome, which engaged over 850,000 people each year with world-class performances on two stages, at spectacular outdoor events and popular festivals and through transformational participation projects.

Graham is Head of Festivals, Events and Cultural Policy at Leicester City Council. He was Director of Festivals at Birmingham Hippodrome for many years, which is a unique not-for-profit UK charity that receives no regular public funding however fundraises and reinvests profits into free and low-cost arts activities for the benefit of the city’s communities. Graham led in-house festivals that include B-Side Hip Hop Festival, Summer in Southside, Birmingham Weekender and Chinese New Year, and was Creative Producer for the 2018 Commonwealth Games Handover Ceremony. Prior to that, he worked in Local Government and management consultancy settings, and is a Board Member for Sense, a national charity for people with complex disabilities, and Culture Central, the collective voice of the cultural sector in the West Midlands.      

Phil Hargreaves

Phil is on the culture team of Bradford City Council and is a Freelance Producer working on exciting things in dance, theatre, circus and outdoor arts with a track record of producing for some of the UK’s leading dance and theatre companies.

Phil is a Freelance Producer with a specialism in dance, circus and outdoor arts; he currently works with Bradford City Council and with a variety of artists under his company ProducingPhil, including Joss Arnott Dance, Highly Sprung, Dan Daw Creative Projects and Southpaw Dance Company. Over his career, Phil has worked in a variety of roles involving UK & international touring, strategic development, fundraising, artists development and programming/curation and was Creative Producer at Déda Derby, where he worked on Derby Festé. Phil is passionate about placing audiences at the core of all the work he undertakes to create relevant and punchy cultural experiences. He is a keen supporter of emerging artists and takes pride in being able to create environments that allow artists to develop and build sustainable business models.

Fee Hudson Francis

Fee is a freelance producer currently working as Project Manager for Hat Fair – the UK’s longest running street arts festival and assistant producer & access coordinator for Galatea – an outdoor theatre show with Emma Frankland, Wildworks and Marlborough Productions.

Fee’s focus is on access led work and she is on a personal development journey to become a more inclusive Outdoor Arts Producer. Her previous work includes mass participation sports events management, corporate venue management and community-based arts projects. Her degree was in Drama and Event Management and her dissertation focused on the social benefits of annual outdoor festivals.

Lou Lomas

Lou is a Freelance Creative Producer who is passionate about the development of outdoor work, working with Talking Birds, Imagineer, The Fabularium and Ascension Dance.

Lou is a Freelance Creative Producer currently working with: Talking Birds Theatre Company, Imagineer Productions (Festival of Imagineers, Bridge), The Fabularium, and Ascension Dance, Steph Ridings (Tappin ‘In). She is also the Associate programmer for the Festival of Imagineers, and former senior producer (Advanced programme) for Coventry City of Culture Trust 2021 Bid. In 2018 Lou was the producer of the First ever Shopfront Festival in Coventry with Theatre Absolute and Orit Azaz working with local BID Teams, Coventry City of Culture Trust and the Great Places Partnership. More recently (2017- 2020) Lou is working on the Bridge project as an Associate Producer with Imagineer Productions. Lou is passionate about the development of Outdoor work, which she has supported since 2010. 

Lorna Rees (Co-Chair)

Lorna is an artist, activist, director and performer. She is Artistic Director of Gobbledegook Theatre and creates activist projects under the banner of ‘Disruption and Joy’.

Lorna is an artist, director and performer. She is the Artistic Director of Gobbledegook Theatre who create innovative, cross art form outdoor work. Her work is often inspired by Earth Sciences and Landscapes. Ear Trumpet was commissioned by Inside Out Dorset and Without Walls in 2015 and Cloudscapes has been touring nationally since 2016. Lorna is also an activist, creating projects under the banner of ‘Disruption and Joy’. Lorna trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and moved back to Dorset in 2006 with her partner and company co-founder Adam Coshan. 

Tracey Sage

Tracey is a Freelance Senior Associate with EEA, whom she has known for 20 years,  where she provides strategic support to the Board and Management Team. She loves this work; renewing her connection to the sector and supporting artists from all backgrounds to realise their dreams.

Tracey first discovered Outdoor Arts when she arrived in London as a teenager. In the loneliest of times it gave her hope, a real sense of belonging, and a deeper understanding of place and community. She headed up R.B.Greenwich’s Culture, Tourism and Heritage Department (20 years) and is now an independent creative producer. Working with outdoor artists has always been key to this work.

Gurvinder Sandher

Gurvinder has over 30 years’ experience in the arts sector as both a performer and event producer and is Artistic Director of Cohesion Plus. The focus of Cohesion Plus’ work across Kent is to use the arts, sports and community engagement to bring people together.

Cohesion Plus festivals include: Eid Community Mela, Maidstone Windrush Celebrations, Ebbsfleet Fusion Festival, Gravesham Pride Celebrations, & Wrotham Festival of Light. Gurvinder is passionate about culturally diverse arts and events, providing much needed platforms for diverse artists and art forms. Extensive networks and links to local authorities, schools, public / charity sector organisations, local diverse communities, faith organisations and grass roots community led organisations.