Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Joe Docherty
Joe is CEO of national education and skills charity NCG. The charity works with over 100,000 learners each year and employs nearly 3,000 colleagues. Prior to NCG, Joe was Deputy Chief Executive for Home Group, one of the United Kingdoms biggest social enterprises, and Chief Executive of the award winning Tees Valley Regeneration, where he oversaw the signing of more than 1 billion of private sector investment in the North East of England.
Between 1999 and 2007 Joe was a Trustee of The Baltic - a major international centre for contemporary art - where he was also Chairman of the Finance and General Purpose Committee. Joe began his career in banking, where he was a Director in the corporate banking division within Barclays Bank.
Joe is currently a Trustee and Member of Council of the University of Durham and Chair of its Finance and General Purpose Committee. He is also a Trustee of the Esme Fairbairn Foundation, one of the UKs largest charitable foundations. He is an owner and Director of Crosbys, a supplier of services and equipment to the catering industry.
Joe Docherty is Chair of Arts Council England North.
Peter Phillips
Peter has been active in music, the performing arts, and arts festivals in the West Midlands and Wales. He joined the board of the then City of Birmingham Touring Opera in 1994. In 1999 he became Chair of the successor organisation Birmingham Opera Company, supporting the founder and artistic director Graham Vick in establishing the ground-breaking programme of award-winning, site-specific opera productions. He has recently retired from this role.
Peter was previously a long-serving board member of Welsh National Opera and also chaired their commercial subsidiary Cardiff Theatrical Services, which produces sets for the major UK and international opera houses as well as for commercial theatre. He is a member of the British Film Institute. Peter is also active in a non-executive capacity with community health (NED of Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust) and with social housing (non-executive committee member of Southern Housing Group).
Peter Phillips is Chairman of Arts Council England Midlands.
Sheila Healy
Sheila Healy has a distinguished career in both local and central government, serving as Chief Executive in Cornwall and Shropshire Councils. She led significant change programmes, public/private partnerships and secured investment for the cultural sector and creative industries including the Walsall Art Gallery, Tate St Ives and the Combined Universities of Cornwall. She now works as an independent advisor.
Sheila is Chair of The Audience Agency, a trustee of Kneehigh Theatre, public art producers Situations and a member of the Tate St Ives Advisory Group. She was vice-chair of the Birmingham Ikon Gallery board and Chair of its Finance and General Purposes Committee. She has also served on the MLA Modernising Museums Forum and a National Review of Libraries.
Sheila Healy is Chair of Arts Council England South West.
Jon Cook
Jon is a Professor of Literature and Director of the Centre of Creative and Performing Arts at the University of East Anglia, where he was also Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities between 2004-2010. His publications include Poetry in Theory (2004), a biographical study, Hazlitt in Love (2007), and After Sebald (2014). He has been a judge on the Caine Prize for African Writing and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.
Jon is a member of the international academy for the Folio Prize and a Fellow of the RSA. He has played an active role in the foundation and development of Writers Centre Norwich and is a course director on the UEA/Guardian Masterclasses project.
Jon Cook is Chair of Arts Council England South East.
Alistair Spalding
Alistair Spalding, CBE is Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Sadlers Wells. Under Spalding, Sadlers Wells has become a world-leading dance house, committed to producing and presenting new work and to bringing the very best UK and international dance to its audiences. The theatre welcomes audiences of over 500,000 annually in London, while its productions attract audiences of over 120,000 each year by touring in the UK and overseas.
In 2005, Spalding announced his vision for Sadlers Wells to become a producing house. He has since driven the commissioning, producing and co-producing of more than 100 shows, including acclaimed collaborations Sutra and mlonga. Spalding also created the position of Associate Artist to the theatre. Sadlers Wells currently supports 16 Associate Artists, three Resident Companies and one Associate Company.
Before joining Sadlers Wells, Spalding was the Head of Dance and Performance at the Southbank Centre, London, between 1994 and 2000 and, previously, a programmer at the Hawth Theatre, Crawley, from 1988 to 1994.
In 2005, Spalding was awarded the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. He was appointed as a national member of the Arts Council England Council in 2009. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Queens Birthday Honours in 2012, for services to dance.