Creative Kernow is a charitable company limited by guarantee with a board of unpaid trustees.
Paul Brookes – Chair
Paul Brookes is an arts management consultant, living in Cornwall since 2012.
Paul has had a long career working for arts, heritage, media and place marketing initiatives, in a number of high-profile senior management posts. Paul was previously the CEO of The Box in Plymouth, where he championed the transformation of a number of historic buildings and organisations into a new museum, contemporary art gallery and archive, which opened to great reviews in September 2020. He was the Chief Executive of Photo 98 which was responsible for delivering the 1998 UK Year of Photography and Digital Imaging, and led Bradford’s bid to be designated the 2008 European Capital of Culture. He has worked closely with artists and communities on a number of projects, such as the 2012 Cultural Olympiad, as Executive Producer for the Milton Keynes International Festival in 2014 and for The Grand Tour, delivering three major exhibitions across various venues in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Paul has been a trustee for a number of organisations including The Culture Company and the Yorkshire Film Archive and is currently also Chair of Plymouth Arts Cinema.
Tammy Bedford – Vice-Chair
Tammy is an independent Arts Producer and works on a range of projects and commissions with community engagement at their heart.
Now based in Cornwall, Tammy has had a varied career as an arts development specialist. She spent many years as a senior local authority arts manager, and for the past 10 years has worked on a freelance basis on major visual arts and music projects around the UK. Tammy is currently working on the Isles of Scilly Creative Islands initiative and is involved in a major project to develop a new Museum and cultural centre for Scilly. She has had a long association with the WOMAD UK festival and runs their World of Art initiative, commissioning visual and sound artists as part of the festival programme. She is also a grants advisor for the PRS for Music Foundation. She is vice-chair on the Creative Kernow board.
Ajay Chhabra
Ajay is co-founder of Nutkhut, an ideas-led, art-focused performance company, creating work that mixes performance, dance, film, participation and a distinctly British comedic sensibility and eccentricity.
Ajay Chhabra is an actor and producer. A proud son of a partition survivor and the great-grandson of an indentured labourer. Born and raised in London, his curiosity with life and death has unearthed hidden histories, by bringing people together, under single, universal experiences, resulting in the creation of festivals, digital artworks and theatrical moments. Ajay is the co-founder of award-winning outdoor arts company Nutkhut. He founded Europe’s largest South Asian outdoor festival, London Mela, the Best Live Event 2019 at the Asian Media Awards. Ajay is an ambassador of the Mayor of London’s Cultural Leadership Board, Civil Society Governor of the Commonwealth Foundation representing the Europe Region and Chair for the National Mela Partnership. In all of his roles, he encourages entrepreneurialism, innovation and talent, through access, inclusion and equality.
Mandy Berry
Mandy is an independent creative and cultural industries advisor working with companies, organisations and individuals on areas including strategy, leadership, change, partnerships and public and private finance.
Mandy’s early career was in East London, ranging from drama workshops and street theatre to running community-based projects across multiple arts forms. She co-founded a major charity supporting economic growth, diversity and inclusion, helping marginalised young people gain opportunities in London’s creative and digital industries. She has worked closely with senior business leaders, public bodies and government at ministerial level and forged strong cross-sectoral partnerships. She developed a centre in London’s digital heart, Soho, a space for collaboration between the converging audio-visual and interactive digital media sectors and helped set up the London Games Fringe Festival. She was co-founder and CEO of a digital filmed media distribution service for which she raised both public and private equity finance.
Mandy lives in Cornwall. She leads the delivery of the Cultivator Creative and Cultural Leadership Programme for Cornwall. She is Chair of Miracle Theatre and a member of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership’s Creative Industries Task Force.
Jonathan Bray
Jonathan is a proud Cornish person. He was formerly one of the senior management team at Trebah Garden, an internationally renowned garden with a Cornish cultural focus and leading tourist attraction in the UK.
Jonathan is also a director of and designer for Cousin Jack’s, a theatre company focused on high quality family performance and deeply rooted in Cornwall. The Mousehole Cat is their best known show, which is performed annually in Mousehole at Christmas time, it has also been performed nationally and had a mini tour of America in 2019. Alongside this he has co-produced and lead the design teams on several landscape performances such as ‘Tempest’ at Trebah, a production centered on diversity and inclusivity with celebration at its heart. As a graduate of Falmouth Art School, Jonathan has a creative perspective on everything he does.
Hannah Irwin
Hannah Irwin is Strategic Projects Manager in The Arts Institute, University of Plymouth, and has experience in the arts, heritage and cultural sectors.
Hannah’s role involves building connections beyond the University. She is based in The Bridge, a team which drives Knowledge Exchange, Impact and Placemaking initiatives for the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business. Recent projects include Engaging Students in Knowledge Exchange (Office for Students and Research England) and iMayflower (DCMS Cultural Development Fund administered by Arts Council England).
With a background in project management, communications, marketing and events, this has included roles with Livewest, Larmer Tree Festival, and prior to the University at Bodmin & Wenford Railway a heritage tourism attraction.
Having moved to Bodmin, Cornwall to raise her family six years ago, Hannah was keen to engage with the community. She is Chair of community and heritage festival Bodmin Riding, and on the board of KBSK Performing Arts CIC, which provides transformational support to young people through access to dance.
James Sculthorp-Wright
James Sculthorp-Wright is a Chartered Financial Planner and Fellow of the Personal Finance Society. A lifelong volunteer, James has worked with a number of charities and not-for-profits.
James has spent almost a decade advising private individuals, businesses and charities with financial planning matters. On a personal basis he has regularly volunteered for St John Ambulance, the South Western Ambulance Service, and Rotary International. James now brings his financial knowledge and enthusiasm to the Creative Kernow board.
James is a keen amateur potter and studio ceramics collector, with a passion for theatre and the wider arts. Proud to have lived in Cornwall for most of his life, James has a passion for creating opportunities for those living in the county. As such he is delighted to help Creative Kernow support the development of the creative and cultural sector in Cornwall.
Professor Paul Springer – Trustee
Paul Springer is a writer and educator on creativity in the digital age.
Paul is Dean of Strategy at the University of the Arts London (Chelsea, Camberwell and Wimbledon) and author of Books including Pioneers of Digital (Kogan Page press). He is particularly keen on supporting Cornwall’s emerging artists and creative practitioners in making a living from their talent. He worked on initiatives including Young & Talented Cornwall and the Falmouth Book Festival. Paul was President, Edcom (the education arm of the European Association of Communications Agencies) between Paul has written extensively on pioneering media practices and was lead consultant for the Middle East’s first specialist college of communications.
