New Chair of the Board and Board Members

New Board member Eliab Million Tuffese, is currently studying Law and Human Rights at De Montfort University. Eliab is also a member of the Journeys Festival International Roots group in Leicester and has experienced many sides of our festival and event offerings as both participant and audience member.

Joining Eliab on the Board is Professor Shushma Patel, a Pro-vice Chancellor and Dean (Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Media) at De Montfort University who has worked in higher education for nearly 30 years as a researcher, lecturer and academic leader. Professor Patel is actively engaged in trans-national education and has worked on many EU funded projects to modernise the computing curriculum, as well as developing technologies to support student journeys within universities in the Balkan region.

Emma Hooper-Smith, Risk Management Director at PwC has 30 year’s of experience as a Chartered Accountant advising in a broad range of sectors. Emma joined the Board of Trustees in the summer. Emma explains “It’s wonderful to be able to support the great work that Art Reach does. I have been impressed by the dedication and commitment of Art Reach to achieving its goals and the festival and events programme for the charity is really exciting. I am also very passionate about governance and I’m looking forward to sharing my experiences and expertise with the team here.”

David Hill, current Chair of the Art Reach Board of Trustees added:

“We are incredibly pleased to expand the board with such a diverse range of new members. Each of the new board members has a unique set of skills, experiences and insights to offer the organisation. I’m sure that the new board members will bring great benefit to Art Reach over the coming years.”

Lorna Fulton, Creative Director continued, “We are very pleased to announce Chris Stafford CEO of Curve Theatre in Leicester will take over from David Hill as Chair of the Board from September. Chris has spent the last eight years in Leicester and alongside Nikolai Foster, he has established Curve as one of the UK’s leading producing theatres and brings with him extensive business acumen and significant experience of community engagement. The Board and staff team at Art Reach would like to thank Chair and Founding Director David Hill for his immense contribution to the organisation over the last 20 years.’