Operations & Finance
Fiona Curran, Chief Executive
Fiona manages the charity’s work. She loves the mix of emotion & humour in Koestler artworks & seeing the response of curators, families & visitors to unique pieces.
Samuel Ijaopo, Finance Manager (p/t)
Samuel looks after our finances, making sure everything runs smoothly.
Mark Rogers, Database Manager
Mark oversees our database and the processing of the Awards entry forms. As a former actor, he is particularly interested in the script submissions.
Jozephine Crimp, Operations & Administration Assistant
Jozephine provides administrative support across the charity.
Arts & Awards
Phoebe Dunn, Director of Arts
Phoebe leads the Arts Team in managing the Awards and Exhibitions that take place every year. She enjoys being reminded every day that there is no limit to the imagination.
Emma Le Pouesard, Arts Coordinator
Emma leads on the planning and coordination of the Koestler Awards judging process, and liaising with thousands of entrants and establishments.
Isobel Rahman, Arts Assistant
Izzy joined Koestler as a volunteer and now works as part of the Arts Team. She enjoys artworks which tell stories and deepen our understanding of the artists’ experiences.
Jessica, Arts Assistant (p/t)
Jessica joined the arts team in 2019. She enjoys working with the visual pieces and spending time reading the stories of how and why each piece came to be.
Beth Aydon, Arts Team Assistant
Beth has been part of the Arts Team since 2018. She enjoys being part of an organisation that encourages people to make art using whatever material is available.
Edie Goodban, Temporary Arts Assistant
Edie is working with our Arts Team to help log in and process entries to the Koestler Awards, and prepare our space for curation and judging.
Fundraising & Communications
Stephanie Weber, Development Director
Stephanie joined Koestler in 2023, and leads on all fundraising and development projects.
Tilly Buckroyd, Development & Communications Officer
Tilly enjoys spreading the word about our exhibitions & events online, and working with supporters to amplify the voices of our entrants.
Outreach & Mentoring
Sarah Matheve, Director of Outreach (p/t)
Sarah joined Koestler Arts to set up our mentoring scheme. Since 2009 she’s led on the development of our outreach work, including managing evaluations into the impact of our work.
Charis Dishman, Arts and Outreach Officer (p/t)
Charis helps organise outreach projects around our Awards programme to engage new entrants & audiences. She particularly enjoys working on events for families of exhibited artists.
Lena Koessner, Mentoring Coordinator
Lena is responsible for managing the Arts Mentoring Scheme. Being able to follow mentees journeys & successes throughout their time on the project is the best part of the job.
Board of Trustees
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Sir Richard Heaton (Chair)
Sir Richard Heaton has been a Trustee of Koestler Arts since 2020, and became our Chair of Trustees in December 2022. He is Warden of Robinson College in the University of Cambridge, a collector of modern and contemporary art, and a former civil servant, serving as Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Justice from 2015 to 2020.
Andrea Rose (Vice Chair)
Andrea Rose is Former Director of Visual Arts at The British Council. Her first involvement with Koestler Arts came through working with Jeremy Deller at the Venice Biennale in 2013 to exhibit the work of prisoners who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Andrea said, “It was eye-opening to see what this meant – for the artists, for their families, and for the art world in general. I am proud to have joined Koestler as a Trustee since then, and to support their extraordinary work.” Andrea is also Chair of our Arts Steering Group and has been a Trustee since 2014.
Jasmin Booth (Treasurer)
Jasmin is a business transformation consultant at Capgemini. She works in large-scale technology-enabled change – including with the Ministry of Justice. Jasmin is a lifelong art lover, she is especially passionate about using art to improve mental health. She is a textile artist, working with embroidery and crochet.
Sally Bacon OBE
Sally has spent her career championing the transformative power of art and is now a writer and consultant working mainly in the voluntary sector across the arts, education, philanthropy and strategy. She was Director of the Clore Duffield Foundation for more than 20 years where she oversaw donations totalling more than £150 million and led the working groups that created the Clore Leadership and Clore Social Leadership programmes. She founded the Cultural Learning Alliance and is now its Co-Chair, and is a board director of FrameWorks UK.
Gary Badley
Gary is Executive Director of Prison Supply and HM Prison and Probation Service. He is responsible for projects that are delivering 20,000 new additional prison places during the 2020s. Gary has an interest in the arts and the positive rehabilitative impact it can have on the lives of those who are in custody. Gary was appointed a Trustee in 2023.
Tom Campbell
Tom is Director of Visitor Experience and Operations at London Transport Museum, and Lead Lecturer in Venue Management at BIMM Institute London, a music and creative education college. Prior to that he spent 8 years as Director of Operations and Visitor Services at the Institute of Contemporary Arts and has a 15 year background managing cultural venues and heritage buildings. Tom was appointed a Trustee in 2022.
Carl Hardwick
Carl Hardwick is Governor of HM Prison and Young Offender Institution Drake Hall in Staffordshire. As a keen advocate of the power of art in custodial settings, Carl is passionate about the work of Koestler Arts and the positive impact it has on both the women he looks after and the UK’s wider prison population. Carl is particularly interested in studio pottery and the art of Middle Eastern textile weaving. He has been a Trustee since 2018.
Nora Laraki
Nora Laraki is a London-based curator, creative producer and researcher. She has successfully delivered culture, community and art projects for public bodies such as the Goethe-Institut, the European Commission and the German Historical Institute London. She is currently working in Culture Development as part of Medway Council’s Culture team and holds a PhD in Art History from the University of Kent. Nora has been on the Board of Trustees since December 2021 and sits on the arts sub-committee.
Gary Mansfield
Gary Mansfield was a long-term prisoner when he discovered art. From his cell, he corresponded with some of the biggest names in British contemporary art, who guided him towards a Fine Art degree. Gary is now an artist, curator and host of the ‘Ministry of Arts’ podcast, and has collaborated with many of the artists that once supported him. Gary was appointed as a Trustee in 2019.
Page Nyame-Satterthwaite
Page Nyame-Satterthwaite is a barrister at 2 Harcourt Buildings, practising in criminal law and public inquiries. Page has served as a trustee of the National Children’s Bureau – for which she was awarded the Dame Helen Alexander ‘Non-Executive Director to Watch’ Award and as a Director of Vocalise, a mentoring programme run by Gray’s Inn for people in prison to learn debating skills mentored by law students.
Carrie Peters
Carrie is the Director of Justice Services for Ingeus UK. She has worked in and around probation services for 30 years, holding senior leadership roles in Leicestershire and Rutland Probation Trust and across two Community Rehabilitation Companies before joining Ingeus UK in June 2021. Carrie is passionate about developing and leading transformational services that are informed by lived experience. In her spare time she is a Trustee and actor with a Community Theatre Company in the Midlands and is a strong advocate for the transformative power of the arts. She believes in creating as many opportunities as possible for people to turn their lives around, whilst making our communities safer, better and more inclusive.
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Ariane Bankes
Ariane Bankes is the niece of Arthur Koestler, one of the founders of the Koestler Trust (now Koestler Arts). After a career in publishing, she became an independent writer, art critic and curator, and is a passionate advocate for the role of the arts in rehabilitation. She was involved in launching the Koestler Arts mentoring programme and was until recently Vice Chair of the charity.
