WHAT’S BEHIND THE FESTIVAL

Kerry Baldry
75 Second Films

Kerry Baldry works in a range of media including film and video, painting and sculpture. She studied BA Hons Fine Art at Middlesex University and also Film and Video (Post Graduate Diploma) at Central St. Martins College of Art and Design.

Many of her ideas lean towards the medium of film and video. Films have been shot on 16mm with a Bolex and have used facilities such as superimposition and stop frame often edited in camera.  Aspects of the human condition are recurrent themes in her work.

Her films have been screened at various international film festivals and galleries, including BBC2s The Late Show (awarded an arts council grant), screenings at the I.C.A., The Lux, The Rotterdam Film Festival. Her film ‘Body’ was shown continuously on large outdoor screens in 11 cities in Russia, part of OUTVIDEO.

Glynis Charlton
Living Amy and Amy’s Scrapbook

Glynis is a freelance writer and arts facilitator, who was also a busy member of the ‘Toads Team’ in 2010. She is an Event Manager at Ilkley Literature Festival, the Evaluator for Holmfirth Arts Festival, and in between runs creative writing workshops across Yorkshire, including the Bronte Parsonage Museum. She has worked on arts projects everywhere from residential homes to tattoo studios.

Michele Davy
Outdoor Arts

Michele Davy is an Environmental Artist, working in the visual arts sector in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire. An artist with a passion for community arts and wildlife, her experience of arts and events is gained from working in a range of organisations including festivals, venues, local authorities, funding bodies, schools, community and public arts.  Her areas of expertise include programming, event management, creative producing and community engagement.

Previously she fundraised and produced the ArtSesh, an outdoor Arts festival alongside the Humber St Sesh in Hull, 2013 & 2014.

Nicky Ellam
Administrator

Nicky originally moved to Hull in 2010 to study English, but loved the city so much she decided to stay. She did secretarial work for an air-conditioning business called Smart Cool and now works full-time for the Amy Johnson Festival. She has also done front-of-house for ‘Head in a Book’, the ‘Humber Mouth Literature Festival’ and ‘Heads Up’. In her spare time she enjoys reading, doing arts and crafts, as well as writing.

Lara Goodband
Da Vinci Engineered Curator

Lara Goodband works as a visual arts curator developing exhibitions for museums and galleries across Yorkshire. In 2014 she co-curated York Curiouser a city-wide project working with contemporary artists to explore York’s history. She has a particular interest in participatory art practices and is Artistic Director of Sea Swim, an organisation established to explore the effects of water on creativity. ‘Head Above Water’, a national touring exhibition produced by Sea Swim and curated by Lara, will tour venues throughout the UK in 2016/17.

Clare Huby
A Moth for Amy

Clare is an experienced arts project producer and manager with a passion for making things happen. She’s worked across the country on projects from war memorials and moths, to guerrilla street performance.  She was responsible for making sure the Larkin Toads arrived in the streets of Hull and East Yorkshire, as well as coordinating Big Dance Yorkshire in 2012. She first came to work in Hull in 2010 as Larkin with Toads Project Manager and has never quite left, working on Swerving East, Roots and Wings, Freedom Festival and now Amy Johnson Festival.

As well as background in direct project delivery, Clare has a background in business and financial management, and uses these skills to strengthen her approach to all the projects she is involved with. She is also a great fan of sharing skills and knowledge as there’s always something new to learn and another way of doing things. There’s always a way to make something happen!

Christina Lewis
Marketing Lead

Christina is a freelance writer and arts practitioner, working on a number of writing projects and festivals over the past 10 years. She has lectured in Creative Writing for the University of Hull since 2008, was writer in residence at HMP Hull from 2009 – 2013, Poet in Residence for Pannett Park, Whitby for WW1 commemorations in 2014 and project coordinator for Beverley Literature Festival and Bridlington Poetry Festival over 2014 and 2015.

Alex Nicholson
Operations Manager

Alex is a freelance project administrator and has just moved to the area from Darlington. Alex is coordinating the operations, paperwork and licensing requirements for the Amy Johnson Festival to ensure the site is ready and working for July, to celebrate the life of Amy Johnson. She also works on the award-winning Festival of Thrift coordinating the festival, sourcing and managing stalls and catering, mapping and layouts, timetabling and booking workshops, setting up online ticketing systems, managing the festival tweets and social media training for their users.

Pauline Taylor
International Kite Weekend

Pauline Taylor is a kite maker with an international reputation. She started kite making in 1995 when she realised that she could combine visual arts skills with designing, sewing and painting and could learn about kites along the way.

Many of her kites are based on an architectural theme with Greek temples, Roman columns and Italianate churches. She also runs workshops for adults and young people, focusing particularly on developing a creative approach and making kites from recycled and everyday materials.

Having trained as sculptor in Sunderland University for several years Pauline subsequently worked with Sunderland Council as an arts officer where her responsibilities included coordinating the Sunderland International Kite Festival for several years.

Saffron Waghorn
Moth Warehouse

Saffron has twenty years of experience working on community based public art, private commissions, memorials and architectural restoration, specialising in large site specific artworks, trail art and sculptural seating.

With a solid background in working stone, Saffron has a flexible and versatile attitude to materials and creating art.  Using many different processes, from casting and welding, to joinery and construction.  Text and letter forms feature heavily in her work. She is currently working on new sculptural concepts, which will soon be available for exhibition as well as being the designer and sculptor of the Amy Johnson Festival moth – in flight from July 1st 2016.

Rick Welton
Festival Director

Rick was born in Hull and returned in 2000, after 30 years working in arts and cultural management across the UK. Rick has worked on various arts projects in Hull, notably 2010’s renowned Larkin with Toads, and is currently Festival Director of our very own Amy Johnson Festival.

Dave Windass
Performing Arts Programme Lead

Dave Windass is a writer, playwright, producer and promoter. He is a director of theatre company Ensemble 52, regional producer for Battersea Arts Centre, and one of the co-producers of Heads Up Festival, part of BAC’s Collaborative Touring Network. For Hull Truck he has written Ballroom Blitz (2012), On A Shout (2008), Sully (2006) and Kicked Into Touch (2005). He has also worked regularly with Middle Child theatre company. He frequently works as a dramaturg and new writing mentor. He has provided communications services to the private, public and voluntary sectors, is a former journalist and also an award-winning blogger. He was a lecturer at Hull School of Art & Design from 2009-2014.

Jerome Whittingham
Photographer

Jerome is a photographer, interviewer, and digital media producer. He specialises in supporting the voluntary sector, both locally in Hull and regionally. With a wide interest in social issues, culture, and the arts, Jerome regularly reports on topics including: homelessness, dementia, young people, social enterprise, community development, theatre, performing arts, visual arts.

Human Design
Website and Graphic Design

Mercury Group
PR and Social Media