The b-side Board of Directors
In 2017 we welcomed new members to our Board of Directors!
John Tizard (Chair)
“I delighted to Chair the b-side board. It is a privilege to be part of such a dynamic and creative team. We combine the power of art with the power of community. This is awesome and empowering.”
John Tizard is a strategic advisor and commentator on public policy, governance, leadership, public services and the power of communities. John regularly advises, writes, speaks and comments on these and other issues both nationally and internationally.
In addition to being Chair of b-side, he is also Chair of Action Space, which is an Arts Council England NPO in London. It supports artists with learning disabilities.
John brings range of experience to the board. He's been a county councillor for eighteen years and a joint council leader. He's also been a senior executive in both the corporate and voluntary sectors. He is an economic and mathematics graduate of the London School of Economics and a Fellow of the RSA.
“b-side brings international art and artists to South Dorset and takes Dorset to the world through the power of creativity. Our festivals and programmes are incredible, and I am confident that things will only get better! This is why I am delighted to be involved.”
Rowan Lear
Rowan Lear is an artist, writer and organiser. She is currently a doctoral student at the London School of Film, Media and Design, UWL, organises events and experiments as part of the collective Institute of Killing Time, and co-runs a feminist study group, Wrkwrkwrk.
From 2014-2017, Rowan was co-director of the artist-led Bristol Biennial, developing artist commissions and alternative modes of organising. She previously worked for a number of organisations in the South West, including Arnolfini, Situations and In Between Time, and produced projects with nomadic curators Hand in Glove.
Committed to collaborative working and experimental study, Rowan's practice is a tangle of thinking, making and writing about systems, ecologies, technology and embodiment.
Jane McGregor
Jane McGregor has been a b-side director since 2014 after engaging with the Festival in the summer of that year. She is a doctor in her day job (Barts and the London NHS Trust) and lives in London with her husband, two boys and her father in law’s art collection. She is an ardent advocate of b-side and the community of Portland, having fallen for the island’s wild and rugged charms.
Simon Lee Dicker
Simon Lee Dicker is a UK based artist whose work explores a discordant relationship with landscape and the natural world. From intimate drawings and transient installations to event based social activities, each work is the start of a conversation often evoking ritual activity and personal narratives that involve other people in the production and presentation of work.
In 2011 Simon co-founded OSR Projects an artist-run organisation that produce projects that connect people through contemporary art. The work made at the OSR Project Space in rural Somerset, and further afield, engages people through its processes of thinking and making, as well as seeking out new and unexpected ways to have impact.
"b-side has been on my radar since it got washed up on Chesil beach somewhere near the ferrybridge before the Olympics arrived. Since then I have had increasing levels of involvement, first as a punter, exploring Weymouth and Portland through the eyes of other artists, as participant and guest speaker in 2015, and then as a project partner and participating artist during the 2016 festival. The combination of beautiful and broken landscapes, great art and an engaged enthusiastic community that want to participate makes b-side festival one of the most exciting arts events taking place in the UK."
http://simonleedicker.co.uk | https://osrprojects.net
Paula Crutchlow
Paula Crutchlow is an independent artist and performance maker creating live events with writers, dancers, musicians, visual artists, and technologists for over twenty years. Alongside this, her work with artist collective Blind Ditch creates collaborative and unexpected happenings in everyday spaces; often using participatory approaches and digital media to engage publics as thinking citizens and active spectators.
As a scholar and educator Paula was an Associate Lecturer in Theatre at Dartington College of Arts, Devon 2001-10, and is an ESRC funded Doctoral Researcher in Cultural Geography at the University of Exeter. She is also currently Artistic Adviser for Adverse Camber storytelling production company devising and touring performances with some of the UK's top storytellers and international folk musicians.
Dr Martin Robertson
Dr Martin Robertson is a devotee of all events and festivals - as organiser, attendee and academic. Martin is Senior Academic and a Programme Leader in the Department of Events and Leisure at Bournemouth University.
In addition to twenty plus year in academia, Martin has a conjoining history in both voluntary and paid employment in event organisation, and in the evaluation and sustainability of sport events and festivals. He has published and presented on the subject in the UK and Australia.
His practical experience has been applied in both the UK and - between 2008 and 2015 - Victoria, Australia. He was committee member and logistics manager for a community arts festival in Yarraville, Maribyrnong (2008-2011) and was involved at an advisory level in the development of arts and culture in this region.
Jo Jackson
Jo Jackson is an artist, teacher and businesswoman. Since arriving at Hornsey in the summer of punk, she has morphed seamlessly from medical illustrator and graphic designer, to design teacher and food teacher to, gallery and cafe owner; Jo and her husband are now running a B&B and focusing on all things local on Portland.
With her roots now based firmly on Portland, she is committed to working with local groups to develop Portland as a world-class destination; she worked with Revive Portland and the Portland Community Partnership in the run up to the 2012 Games and developed a community garden with Chesil Community Trust. With her husband, she then opened The Jackson Gallery to provide a much-needed space for local artists to exhibit. It became a community hub and introduced Jo to the b-side team; the gallery is now the Outpost for b-side.
Amanda Wallwork
Amanda Wallwork is one of the founding Directors of b-side and currently works as part of the b-side team - working with artists and co-curating and coordinating the artistic programme. Previously she developed and managed the arts programme for Sherborne HouseArts and has a passion for promoting and creating opportunities for the visual arts and artists.
Specialising in heritage and environment she combines her curatorial role with her own artistic practice, which is concerned with archaeology, geology and a continuing enquiry into landscape. Her own work explores the underlying factors that determine how our land has been used and shaped, how we move through it, the impact we have and the traces we leave behind and aims to reveal what is not always immediately apparent, what can’t always be seen on the surface.
Alan Rogers
Alan was trained as a painter and printmaker at Exeter College of Art and Design and Glasgow School of Art, then as an arts educator at the University of Wales Institute Cardiff. Alan has worked nationally and internationally across 4 continents and 11 countries as an artist-in-residence, curator, public artist, lecturer, arts consultant, musician and DJ. Alan was the course leader in Art Education at the University of Wales Institute Cardiff, a recipient of the prestigious Pollock-Krasner Award and has over thirty one-person exhibitions to his name.
Moving to Weymouth and Portland from Venice in 2007 he worked firstly as the Arts Development Officer, then as the Cultural Coordinator for London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Events: developing, co-producing and project managing elements of the ‘Maritime Mix’ Cultural Olympiad programme. Alan is the founder (2007) and Executive Director of b-side (2012-date). His specialisms are within site-specific work, public art, festivals, outdoor work and community engagement.