Providing a seat at the boardroom table for 11 culturally diverse artists and leaders at five leading theatres in the north.
We are proud to have launched our revolutionary Board Shadowing Programme in Yorkshire, in partnership with Hull Truck Theatre, Leeds Playhouse, Sheffield Theatres, Stephen Joseph Theatre and York Theatre Royal.
We are delighted to announce the 11 selected ADF Members who participated in the first ADF Board Shadowing: Yorkshire Edition programme: Anthony Almeida, Robert Awosusi, Ebenezer Bamgboye, Anni Domingo, Samantha Girdham, Sandeep Malhi, Ella Phoebe Marchment, Sarudzayi Marufu, Naomi Sumner, Sabrina Richmond and Shelley Williams.
The ADF Board Shadowing Programme: Yorkshire Edition catapulted eleven extraordinary ADF members, from a wide range of culturally diverse backgrounds and disciplines, into the boardrooms of five iconic theatres to demystify boards to create a new pathway to governance.
The selected candidates had the opportunity to shadow the board members at all five theatres as well as gain the opportunity to engage with each organisation outside of the boardroom, including one-to-one meetings, attending press nights, subcommittee meetings, open rehearsals and group tours around the building and surrounding areas to understand the ecology of each organisation.
To support the board shadowing programme, ADF designed a series of training sessions to enable facilitated training and peer learning. The programme began with a pre-board shadowing training session facilitated by ADF Trustee Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh and Co-Artistic Director at Hidden Gems Production, ADF Member, Amanda Huxtable.
The preliminary session provided the eleven shadowees with the necessary insight and strategic thinking to assist them to get the best out of the board shadowing programme. The programme concluded with a group session called ‘THE BOARDROOM’ whereby all eleven shadowers became the trustees of a fantasy board to tackle real case scenarios in order to put their learning into practice. Throughout the programme, our evaluator Dr. Samina Zahir (FRSA) will assess the learning and development of each participate as well as the partner organisations.
Artistic Directors of the Future was thrilled to be working in partnership with the Yorkshire five theatres for the first iteration of the ADF Board Shadowing Programme and are currently looking for other partner organisations to join forces for future iterations across the UK and internationally.
Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway, Founder & CEO, Artistic Directors of the Future commented:
“We are thrilled to be working with the Yorkshire theatres for the first iteration of the ADF Board Shadowing Programme. It was important to us to create a leadership initiative which begins to bridge the gap between London and the north. This initiative has already proven successful, after conducting two days of interviews of which we expected to appoint 10 ADF members for the programme, however, due to the high demand and calibre of candidates we recruited 11 ADF Members located across the UK. Our new cohort all work creatively in the arts in various capacities, as well as holding positions as magistrates, crisis managers, company managers, marketing managers, training business development consultants and journalists. I have no doubt that this initiative will force the arts sector to examine the skill-set and expertise of artists and leaders from culturally diverse communities and thus rethink its recruitment process at governance level.”
Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh, ADF Trustee commented:
“It’s humbling to state on behalf of the ADF Board how thrilled we all are about the Yorkshire Edition: the outstanding talent of the board shadowers meeting with the excellence of the consortium boards. This deep dive into critical thinking and creativity is a particular area of leadership that I’m personally passionate about in terms of future proofing the diversity of our boards today and towards the horizon.”
Ruth Puckering, Interim Executive Director at Hull Truck Theatre commented:
“We are delighted to be working with Artistic Directors of the Future and our partner theatres in the Yorkshire region on the Board Shadowing Programme. The programme speaks directly to Hull Truck Theatre’s core values of inclusion, innovation and integrity by opening up access to governance roles within the industry and helping to ensure that our Boards are representative of a modern Britain, as well as creating an opportunity to share learning and experience.”
Robin Hawkes, Executive Director at Leeds Playhouse commented:
“This is fantastic opportunity and we are thrilled to be one of the Yorkshire organisations helping to give an insight into working with a board and reflecting the community in which our organisation sits. Here at Leeds Playhouse we aim to have a company, an artistic programme and an audience that reflect the diversity of the society in which we live and we look forward to sharing those opportunities with the successful candidate and hopefully inspiring them for future careers.”
Dan Bates, Executive Director at Sheffield Theatres commented:
“This is a tremendously exciting initiative offering a wonderful opportunity to the artists who have come forward, and to us as an organisation that has diversity at its heart. We’re looking forward to connecting with these emerging leaders. This programme will provide great insight for participants and trustees as well as providing a catalyst for lasting change in the governance of our organisations.”
Stephen Freeman, Chief Executive at Stephen Joseph Theatre commented:
“It’s time to stop talking and start doing. This project brings five of us into action together, to make a change to our organisations and the wider sector. We’re really pleased to be involved in an initiative with such potential and one that helps us deliver our core aims”
Tom Bird, Executive Director at York Theatre Royal commented:
“York Theatre Royal are delighted and proud to be taking part in the Board Shadowing Programme with Artistic Directors of the Future, alongside Hull Truck Theatre, Leeds Playhouse, Sheffield Theatres and the Stephen Joseph Theatre. We look forward to working with ADF to enable our own trustees to work alongside potential future trustees, with a view to ensuring access to theatre boards for everyone.”
