We are the artists’ advocate. Guided by our members and advised by our Artists Council, we campaign on crucial issues, from fair pay to intellectual property, ensuring that artists’ voices are heard and shaping policy at the highest level.
Open to every artist, our inclusive, open-minded community connects members to the services and opportunities they need to thrive, empowering them to make change for the better.
Navigating Change: A Creative Leader's Role
In facing complex challenges within art, design, creative media and related disciplines in higher education, mid and senior level creative leaders must proactively create change and adapt to change directives coming from elsewhere. To effectively lead these efforts, leaders need to navigate change, build resilience and ensure change is sustainable and beneficial for their teams. This conference explores the challenges of balancing subject areas' interests with institutional goals.
This year’s conference will position teaching and research in the arts as central to leadership and transformation, particularly in relation to social justice, nature recovery, and democracy.
Discussions will span hyperlocal to international perspectives, demonstrating how arts education can foster inclusive change and fertile ground for dialogue, from grassroots innovation to structural change in higher education.
A former artistic director of Adelaide Festival, Holland Festival in Amsterdam and General Director of Manchester International Festival, Mackenzie was in charge of the official cultural programme for the 2012 London Olympics. She also worked as Dramaturg for the Vienna Festival and was Director of Scottish Opera, major theatres in Nottingham and Chichester and the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris. She was Special Advisor on Culture and Creative Industries for the UK Governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and is an Associate of the World Cultural Cities Forum. Ruth has also been consultant artistic director for the Mayor of London working on a large scale cultural program, Let’s Do London, and for Comme des Garçons in Paris to open a new arts centre aimed at audiences under 30 years old. She advised on the curation of a cultural program for the Louvre Abu Dhabi, for the C40 Conference of World Mayors in Paris and Amsterdam, for the University of Arts London’s new AKO Storytelling Institute and was lead Creative for the Art Fund’s The Wild Escape with the BBC, WWF and RSPB. She was Chair of the London Arts Council, sat on the National Arts Council of England, served as a Board Member of Musée D’Orsay, Paris, the Serpentine Gallery, London and UNESCO City of Music Adelaide She was also a judge in 2021 of the World Cultural Cities Leadership Prize, of the Pina Bausch Foundation Fellowship Prize and the Paris Urban Film Festival. She has been a Visiting Professor at Yale School of Architecture, a Guest Lecturer at Sciences Po, Paris, and a Lunch Director for UAL’s Storytelling Institute.
Professor Susan Orr is an Emeritus Professor at De Montfort University. Prior to this appointment she was the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education and Equalities. Susan has also held leadership roles at York St John University, Sheffield Hallam University and University of the Arts London. At DMU, Susan led Learning for Life pillar of the university’s Empowering University Strategy. She led the cross-university change programme which is delivering a distinctive block education system to DMU students. She was the DMU executive lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, as well as Arts, Design, and Humanities (ADH).
Susan was a panel member in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) 2 Panel and chaired the Arts Subject Review TEF Pilot Panel. She was also on the recent TEF panel in 2023. Read more.
Anne Boddington is Professor Emerita of Design Innovation with extensive leadership experience in Higher Education, having served as Dean of Arts & Humanities (Brighton), Pro Vice Chancellor for Research, Business & Innovation (Kingston), and Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange (Middlesex). She is Chair of the UK Research Excellence Framework 2029 Panel for Art & Design: History, Practice & Theory, a former Deputy Chair and Trustee of the UK Design Council, and a member of the Design Museum’s Research & Learning Committee. In Hong Kong, she serves on the InnoHK Scientific Committee and the Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications. As an independent consultant, she advises on governance, organisational design, and research strategy, and is committed to promoting equity, diversity, inclusion, career development, and integrity while reducing unnecessary bureaucracy and strengthening workplace culture.
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Day 1 welcomes you to Teesside and we begin by exploring what it means to be resilient during the many challenges faced for cultural and design endeavours.
Compare: Paul Stewart
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15.30 - 16.00
Arrival and registration
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16.00-16.20
Welcome and Introduction to Conference
Professor David McGravie, Chair, CHEAD
Dr Laura Sillars, MIMA
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16.30 17.00
Keynote
Ruth Mackenzie CBE
Director of Arts (Global) of the British Council
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Day 2 takes stock of the varying definitions of leadership and centres on the work we do with the student. Beginning with a keynote from Susan Orr and capped with a panel on emerging approaches to leadership and commoning through a strong panel of representatives across our sector. This sandwiches multiple parallel sessions extending the many areas that leadership emerges in the art school, through technical workshop leaders through to the spatial and geographical.
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9.00
Registration, gather, network, refresh
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9.20
Welcome to day 2 and scene setting
Professor David McGravie, Chair, CHEAD
Dean, SACI and SSSHL
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9:30
Launch: The Future of Design Industry and Higher Education: Creating a Shared Vision
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9:45 - 10:30
Keynote
Professor Susan Orr, Emeritus Professor at De Montfort University.
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10:30 - 11:00
Q&A
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11:00 - 12:00
Prof Kai Syng Tan in conversation with keynote speakers
Prof Kai Syng Tan will position the many important starting points, middle points and ongoing work to consider what leadership is and defined by which will lead to an in conversation with the two presentations from the first two keynotes. Followed by a Q&A.
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12:00 - 12:30
Talk
Julie Lomax, CEO a-n The Artists Information Company
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12:30 - 14:15
Lunch and Fringe Activity
Fringe activity: CHEAD-Student project
Location: Constantine Gallery, Teesside University
An exhibition and screening of a project bringing together Art and Design students from across the North East to respond to key issues and challenges facing the region today from environmental sustainability to economic development, demonstrating how art and creativity can help shape the future.
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14:15 - 15:40
Parallel Sessions
Planet Forward, Breaking News led by Jim Entwistle
Teesside Students’ Union
Cap: 16
Live radio experience - CHEAD Radio. In small groups, participants will be introduced to radio broadcasting before being tasked with planning and rehearsing their own 2-minute live radio segment, linking two songs, before broadcasting it live to the world on TUXtra, Teesside University's student media platform.
Desire Lines Exhibition Tour and Green Corridor led by Sarah Perks and Dani Ash
MIMA
Explore the Desire Lines exhibition through a guided tour and interactive discussion, followed by a creative workshop focused on the Green Corridor project. Participants will engage with themes of urban ecology, sustainability, and community design, connecting art and environment to envision greener futures for Middlesbrough
Print workshop and Technical Leadership led by Janice Downs and Lesley Hicks
Cap. 10
These hands-on workshops celebrate the expertise of art school technicians and their leadership in creative practice. Guided by specialists in print and 3D, participants will collaborate to produce work inspired by conference themes, experiencing the technical and conceptual processes that shape art education. The session highlights how technicians foster innovation, problem-solving, and material understanding, offering a unique perspective on their integral role within the art school environment.
Regional Spaces Tour led by Chris Massey
Join Dr Chris Massey for a guided tour exploring Middlesbrough’s spatial history. This walk uncovers the city’s evolving urban landscape, regional spaces, and architectural narratives, offering insights into how geography, design, and social change have shaped Middlesbrough’s identity over time ending at the Transporter Bridge.
3D Workshop activity and Technical leadership led by Julian Bishop and Jackie Stevens
These hands-on workshops celebrate the expertise of art school technicians and their leadership in creative practice. Guided by specialists in print and 3D, participants will collaborate to produce work inspired by conference themes, experiencing the technical and conceptual processes that shape art education. The session highlights how technicians foster innovation, problem-solving, and material understanding, offering a unique perspective on their integral role within the art school environment.
Manifesto - Subject Alliance Association
Apprentice MBA Curating Leadership led by Professor Sarah Perks and graduates from Teesside's MBA and MA Curating creative leadership programmes.
A roundtable discussion on the teaching and learning needs of the creative sector to create more equitable pathways in our sector.
Studio Tours and Fringe Programme Activity
A short tour of the fringe programme and facilities tour.
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16:00 - 17:00
Panel: Graduates and Emerging Leadership – Resilience in the Landscape
The panel explores emerging forms of artistic leadership that centre collaboration and care, and asks how creative people can reshape institutional structures and imagine new models of working that reduce barriers to access and cultivate new forms of sustainability.
Chair: George Vasey
Panellists:
Meg Molly - working class artists
Debika Ray - journalist diasporic art contexts
Professor Sarah Perks - leadership change making
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17.00-18.00
CHEAD AGM & Elections
Including talk by MIMA team on activity and engagement programming
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18:30 - 20:00
Conference reception dinner at MIMA
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09:30 - 10:15
Welcome to day 3 and scene setting
Professor David McGravie, Chair, CHEAD
Teesside University DVC and Dean
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10.15-11.45
Keynote
Anne Boddington
Professor Emerita of Design Innovation
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11.45 - 12.15
Making change collaboration and practice presentations. Graduates and student presentation
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12.15 -13.15
Lunch
Digital Life Tour group 1
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13.15-14.00
CHEAD Alliances panel
Digital Life Tour group 2
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14.00-15.00
Closing roundtable session and conference close
Meg Molloy is the founder of Working Arts Club, a network dedicated to supporting arts professionals from working-class backgrounds. With over a decade of experience, she has led communications, artist and museum liaison in galleries and cultural destinations. Meg has worked on numerous landmark building projects and high-profile launches including those at Stephen Friedman Gallery, Dreamland Margate, Dulwich Picture Gallery and Studio Voltaire. She is also a writer and speaker. Originally from Margate in Kent, she is now based in South East London.
Kai Syng Tan PhD PFHEA (@kaisyngtan) is an award-winning artist-academic-author-agitator based in the UK known for their ‘eclectic style & cheeky attitude’ (Sydney Morning Herald). Hyper-active and tentacular, they have founded multiple initiatives and networks including the 480-member Neurodiversity In/& Creative Research Network. Their co-curation of a 4-day festival for Black History Month 2020 reached 18.4m people worldwide. A recent project Karama: Expressions of Resistance from Gaza with UK and Palestinian cultural leaders at the John Hansard Gallery have been praised as ‘moving’ and ‘fantastic’.
Debika Ray is a journalist and editor specialising in the arts, with a focus on the Global South, diasporic communities, cities and material culture. She has written for the Financial Times, Al Jazeera, the Guardian, Apollo, Wallpaper, Icon, Disegno and many others. Formerly editor of Crafts, head of editorial at the Crafts Council and programme director of the Global Design Forum, she founded the creative consultancy Clove Press and co-founded We Are Here, a collective exploring culture from migrant and diasporic perspectives.
Julie drives a-n’s vision. With more than 20 years’ director-level experience in arts organisations and national funding bodies, she’s a dedicated champion of artists and their role in the world.