In partnership with De Montfort University and with support from Arts Council England, Curve conceived the Cultural Leaders Programme to strengthen future cultural leadership in Leicester and Leicestershire and consequently the range, quality and ambition of the work originating from the region.

Seven Black, Asian and Minority Ethnicity cultural managers, artists and early career leaders receive sessions on leadership from prestigious figures in the arts, are provided with funding to undertake independent projects and receive a bespoke professional development plan to enable them to develop the necessary skills and competencies required to the 21 Century cultural leader.

During the programme’s second year, classroom based study is replaced by secondments at arts organisations across the UK and each participant is provided with a mentor most suited to supporting their ambitions.

Participant feedback plays a key role in shaping the programme, ensuring Curve provides a course that is of the most possible benefit to them. After participants expressed a desire to experience and understand the operation of cultural events outside of the region, the course was adapted to include educational trips across the UK and in Europe.

Liz Blyth is an independent consultant and arts practitioner.  Her company, Watson Blyth Limited, provides management consultancy for arts and culture and the wider public sector. Recent clients include De Montfort University, the Local Government Association and Great Central Railway plc.

For 5 years up until March 2016, Liz was Leicester City Council’s Director of Culture and Neighbourhood Services and her responsibilities included arts, museums, library, sports and community services, as well as partnership development and cultural strategy.  During this time she collaborated with partners to successfully raise the national and international profile of the city, including leading Leicester’s bid for UK City of Culture in 2013. She developed the City Council’s response to the discovery of King Richard III, including the award-winning visitor centre and the reinterment of his remains. She also led various museum redevelopment programmes, Leicester’s Olympic and Rugby World Cup programmes, and the Council’s partnership to build a community sports arena.

From 2002 to 2010, Liz was Leicester City Council’s Cultural Strategy Manager and from 1997 she was seconded part time as the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland champion for the Cultural Improvement Partnership East Midlands (CIPEM). In 2009 Liz became CIPEM’s Director on a part-time basis, leading the regional local government improvement programme until it was completed in 2011.

Liz also has experience in health and social care, international development and neighbourhood renewal. She is a qualified youth and community worker, has an MA in Management, Organisation and Change, and an ILM Executive Diploma in Management.  She has authored chapters for two Open University books on inter-professional working in health and social care.

Liz has held Board positions at Curve theatre, the National Space Centre and Leicester City Football Club Community Trust. She is a trustee of the King Richard III Visitor Centre Trust.

Liz enjoys living in Leicester and is a passionate advocate for arts and culture, both locally and beyond. In her free time she enjoys travel, theatre, music, literature and cooking for friends.

Barbara Matthews was Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Arts, Design and Humanities at De Montfort  University from 2013 until December 2016.  She will be taking up the post of Pro Vice-Chancellor Culture at Nottingham Trent University in January 2017.

She studied Chemistry at Durham University and, after a Damascene conversion from the sciences to the arts, studied Arts Administration at City University, London.

Barbara was Director, Theatre for Arts Council England for six years, where she had the responsibility for developing policy and maintaining an overview of the English theatre industry. For six months she became Interim Executive Director, Arts, with responsibility for policy and strategy development across all art forms.

Honoured with an MBE for services to the arts, Barbara has wide, practical experience of the artistic and business aspects of the performing arts and has worked in opera, musical theatre, live literature, orchestral music and dance. Before joining Arts Council England she spent time in consultancy with clients across the arts and voluntary sectors. She ran training courses for the Theatrical Management Association, Arts & Business and Arts Council England, and has also worked with several organisations for NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts).

She was Executive Director of Royal Court Theatre immediately after its lottery funded refurbishment, leading its return to financial health. Earlier in her career, she produced the work of Cheek by Jowl on tour worldwide and in the West End. She also has experience of commercial theatre producing in the West End and festival programming. She has been an advisor for the Leverhulme Trust and the British Council, President of the Theatrical Management Association, a Director of the Society of London Theatre, Chair of the National Student Drama Festival and a Director of Hampstead Theatre, the Brighton Festival, Ardingly College and All Ways Learning.

Born in Pakistan, Farooq Chaudhry enjoyed an international professional dance career in the eighties and nineties, and was awarded an Asian Achievement Award for his work as a dancer in 1988.

After retiring from dancing in 1999, he completed an MA in Arts Management from City University. A year later he teamed up with Akram Khan and co-founded Akram Khan Company. As the Company Producer, Chaudhry puts creativity at the heart of his leadership style, forming innovative business models to support Khan’s artistic ambitions. Their partnership has made the company one of the world’s most foremost and successful dance companies.

In addition to his work for Akram Khan Company, Chaudhry became the Producer for English National Ballet in October 2013. He is also International Executive Director for China’s national dance icon Yang Liping since January 2016.

Chaudhry is a witness of the School for Social Entrepreneurs and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs acknowledged him in a list of the world’s top 100 cultural actors and entrepreneurs. Chaudhry is also a regular guest speaker in cultural entrepreneurship for the Advanced Cultural Leadership Programme at Hong Kong University and the London Business School. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from De Montfort University for his services to dance in 2014.

Sarah is a senior arts and cultural leader and entrepreneur with extensive experience in both strategy, management, planning and delivery in a variety of different organisations. Her career has included hairdressing, selling orange juice to tourists in Florida and teaching Scottish dancing. After a period of working as a Nanny, Sarah began working in the City at a Lloyds Insurance broking firm – after 15 years, she became their first female MD.

Sarah applied to Birkbeck University and studied Art History, after which her career in the arts began. Among other positions, Sarah has been deputy CEO of Arts and Business, Fundraising Director at The Royal Academy, Executive Director for Arts Council England and Executive Director at Almeida Theatre.

Sarah was heavily involved in the organisation, delivery and legacy of the 2012 Olympic Games, taking roles at LOCOG (London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games), the ODA (Olympic Delivery Authority) and the London Legacy Development Corporation, before becoming CEO of Legacy List in 2011.

Sarah is currently interim Executive Producer at the Roundhouse, overseeing a period of change. She is a trustee of The Alzheimer’s Society, has been a trustee of Stonewall, is a fellow of Birkbeck College and was awarded an OBE for services to the Arts in the December 2011 New Year Honours list.

Samir is currently Director of the London Handel Festival, and over his career, Samir has been a part of some of the most prestigious organisations across the arts and sciences, including Booktrust, The Royal College of Music, Shakespeare’s Globe, The Royal Institution of Great Britain, The Royal Academy of Arts and English National Opera.

Samir is a trustee of Shobana Jeyasingh Dance, a committee member of IoF Cultural Sector Network and a member of the National Convention Board.

Yolanda started teaching on the ‘acting Shakespeare’ course at Central in 2006. She has been a freelance Education Practitioner at Shakespeare’s Globe since 2003 and works with all age ranges including teachers, MA, undergraduate and drama school students as well as representing Globe Education on international outreach.

She is a successful film, television and theatre actress, appearing in The Air Up There and Children of Men, alongside appearing in various RSC productions.

Yolanda is a practitioner for Olivier Mythodrama, an organisation founded to develop authentic leaders capable of managing the unprecedented challenges of 21st century leadership.

Yolanda is a practitioner for Olivier Mythodrama, an organisation founded to develop authentic leaders capable of managing the unprecedented challenges of 21st century leadership.

Martin Popplewell joined the BBC as a graduate trainee. He has presented the news on the BBC News Channel, Sky News, BBC World News and Five News. He’s also worked as a reporter for BBC One’s flagship political programme On The Record and the religious show Heaven and Earth.

He’s reported for Radio 4’s PM, You & Yours and Radio Four News. Martin has also written for The Times and The Guardian newspapers. Before joining the BBC, Martin was a researcher for Sir Alan Duncan MP at the House of Commons.

He also worked for Congressman Richard Gephardt in Washington D.C. and as a volunteer on President Bill Clinton’s election campaign.

Martin’s work has led him to interview key political leaders and statesmen including the British Prime Ministers David Cameron, Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, and US Vice President Al Gore.

Sharon has worked extensively as a dancer with choreographers such as Michael Clarke, Donald Byrd, Bebe Miller, Darshan Singh Bhuller and Philip Taylor and as a freelance choreographer creating work for Never Still and Shaded Limits for Phoenix Dance Theatre Northern School of Contemporary Dance, National Youth Dance Company and Union Dance.

Sharon was appointed as the 7th Artistic Director of Phoenix Dance Theatre in May 2009 and in 2010 was named as one of the Cultural Leadership Programme’s Women to Watch, a list of 50 influential women working in arts and culture in the UK.

First awarded in 2010, Sharon is one of the distinguished panel of judges for the New Adventures Choreographer Award. In 2013 Sharon was nominated for the prestigious h.Club100 search for the UK’s most influential people working in the creative industries.

Sharon is a trustee of Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, The Place, West Yorkshire Playhouse, and an artistic advisor for Central School of Ballet and Leeds Inspired. She has most recently been appointed as independent chair of the steering committee, bidding for European Capital of Culture Leeds 2023

A member of the House of Lords since 2004, Baroness Young is an Independent Cross Bench peer. After an acting career in theatre and television, Lola Young became an arts administrator, later moving on to become professor of Cultural Studies at Middlesex University, a writer, cultural critic, public speaker and broadcaster.

After a period as project director leading a major initiative at the Black Cultural Archives, Lola subsequently became Head of Culture at the Greater London Authority.She advises arts and cultural agencies and organisations on policy, diversity, leadership and strategic planning and continues to write and produce creative events such as the highly acclaimed national programme of arts and cultural programme, Freedom and Culture.

Lola has sat on the Boards of several national cultural organisations including the South Bank Centre, the Royal National Theatre, the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, and The National Archives and is currently a trustee of Somerset House. She has been involved in a number of judging panels, including the Art Fund Prize and The Observer Ethical Awards and Chairing the Orange Prize for Literature and the Caine Prize for African Literature.

She is a Commissioner at English Heritage and a Freeman of the Tallow Chandlers Livery Company. As an ambassador for the Ethical Fashion Forum and MADE-BY, Baroness Young established and chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Ethics and Sustainability in Fashion.