B-Side Arts Festival
internationally recognised and locally loved arts organisation
You can meet most of the team at our project space and registered office Outpost:
b-side CIC,
Outpost,
77 Fortuneswell,
Isle of Portland,
DT5 1LY
Telephone: 01305 568 044
email: info@b-side.org.uk
Meet The Team
ROCCA HOLLY-NAMBI
Hello! I am passionate about sparking connections and new conversations between people. I am an arts practitioner, curator, and researcher with a background in contemporary art, festivals, radio, and writing. Previously, I led arts programmes for the British Council across East and Sub-Saharan Africa and co-founded 32° East | Ugandan Arts Trust and KLA ART, Kampala’s biennial public art festival. I am currently undertaking a practice-based PhD at Goldsmiths, University of London, focused on queer abstraction in Kenya and Uganda.
Please reach out to me to discuss collaborations, partnerships, and business development.
SANDY KIRKBY
I originally trained as a sculptor and have spent more than 20 years working in Dorset’s cultural sector, across galleries, museums, and events. As a curator and producer, my work has been shaped by a deep interest in gallery education, communication, and meaningful public engagement.
Get in touch if you would like to talk about programming, community enagagement or artists development.
CATHERINE BENNETT
My route into arts and community work has been varied, from parliamentary research to teaching drawing and creative learning with children and adults. This background informs my role at b-side, where I focus on connection, confidence-building, and inclusive participation.
Got an idea for a community project or want to find out about volunteering at b-side? Get in touch.
CAT WIGHTMAN
I am the Manager for BnB-side, with over a decade of experience in the hospitality industry. Originally from Weymouth and Portland, I recently returned from Brighton and am excited to be welcoming visitors back to Portland.
Interested in staying at the BnB or finding out more about our creative retreats? Drop me an email bnb@b-side.org.uk
Emma Bradley
Hi, I’m Emma, the b-side FRINGE Co-ordinator and a kiln-forming glass sculptor specialising in cast and fused glass using hand-built moulds. I grew up on and now live on Portland, where my work is inspired by nature, mathematics, and the surrounding sea and stone.
Get in touch if you would like to be part of b-side FRINGE 2026.
Maddison Collymore
I am an artist and curator interested in place, imagination, and community collaboration. I trained in site-responsive curation through b-side’s New Curators programme and now help shape the That Other Place festival and a community archive sharing stories, voices, and places.
Poppy Hardwicke
I’m Poppy Hardwicke, the Marketing Assistant at b-side. I graduated from the University for the Creative Arts in 2022 with a first-class degree in Acting and Performance and am passionate about using the arts to connect people and communities.
Get in touch with me about anything marketing and promotion related.
b-side Board of Directors
AMANDA WALLWORK
NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
I originally trained in graphic design but have had a varied artistic career, from designing gig posters and indie record sleeves, to devising and illustrating children’s picture books. I now combine my own practice as a visual artist with curatorial work. My interests and influences lie in the areas of archaeology and geology and I specialise in heritage and environmental projects. I was artistic director for Sherborne House Arts developing the gallery programme and outreach projects before joining b-side. I enjoy working in a team and the challenge of working with outdoor and non-arts venues, rather than gallery spaces.
MANDY RATHBONE
Company Secretary
My working life started in theatre stage management but then I decided to swap city life for the countryside and took a year's course in farming, bookkeeping and secretarial skills.
I moved to Dorset in 1981 and was able to bring a lifetime of skills and my interests in the arts together, working in an administrative/accounting role for a number of Dorset-based arts organisations. I have worked for b-side since 2012 and have loved seeing it grow and flourish since its beginnings in 2010.
In my spare time I am also an Environmental Sound Artist, combining my loves of walking, photography and sound to create audio visual projects at my studio, Electric Backroom, in Symondsbury.
RAINA SUMMERSON
CHAIR
Raina is CEO of Agincare and Chair of The Portland Economic Vision Group. "Having been an interested observer, both through enjoying the impressive outcome of b-side work as a member of the public, and in collaborating with the team through my other local work it is a privilege to now take on this role of Chair.
Recognition of the impact of the arts on local communities in respect of belonging, engagement, well-being and critical financial investment is increasing, and this work links in with my professional and personal passion for Portland and its community, as well as my personal love of the arts."
STEPH BAILEY
NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Steph has worked as a PR consultant for some of the world's biggest companies, with experience in event management, media and stakeholder relations and crisis communications.
She was brought up in Dorset and that is where she feels most at home, whether it's swimming at Church Ope or walking around Pulpit rock with her dog Oreo.
REBECCA DE PELET
NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Rebecca de Pelet is an educator with over 25 years’ experience in both the state and independent sectors, a former department head, the founder and director of a festival of writing, a TEDx programme curator and a mentor. She is passionate about the importance of the Creative Arts and their power to impact young people's lives in particular: their sense of self; their optimism; and their ability to find fulfilling, worthwhile employment.
She owns a hut on Portland Bill and thanks to her neighbours now understands how to get into the sea more safely.
CELIA TURLEY
Non-executive Director
Celia is a creative producer and facilitator interested in how collaborative artistic practice can imagine new possibilities for social justice, collective care, transformation and repair. She organises public programmes and social-engaged creative commissions in Bristol and beyond.
Alongside her creative organising, Celia is a youth worker with young refugees and works as a conflict mediator. In her spare time she enjoys learning about plant medicine and sea swimming. She has long admired the programming of b-side festival and is excited to get to know Portland as she supports b-side as a Non-Executive Director.
ELLIE BECKETT
Non-executive Director
Having grown up in Dorset, I returned to Portland to write my master’s dissertation, ‘On keeping Portland (weird). Fiction, folklore and art; filling the holes of the Isle of Portland’, and felt this was only the beginning of what I hope to be a sustained relationship with the island – its people, places and cultural practices. With a background in critical theory and research, and a passion for contemporary visual culture, I believe the arts can open up spaces of encounter and connection under systems of division. I am deeply committed to social causes, and as a young, future-orientated voice, I am truly invested in supporting b-side with their essential and inspirational work on Portland.