London Area Council
With expertise amassed from London borough councillors to the Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries, investment in London is in the best possible hands with our London team.
London Area Council
Angie Bual
Angie is a Clore Fellow (Theatre), and has produced for organisations including Fuel, National Theatre of Scotland, Edinburgh Art Festival and the Science Museum.
She is also on the board for Mayk in Bristol.
Angie won the Creative Producer Arts Foundation Award.
Shawab Iqbal
Shawab is also the co-founder of the #AllofUs campaign, designed to support Black, Asian and ethnically diverse arts workers who have been made redundant due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He is also a former independent governor at Newham Sixth Form College, where he sat on the Audit and Scrutiny Committee and was the lead for equality and diversity. Shawab is also a qualified teacher and former ChildLine counsellor.
He graduated with a first-class honours degree in Sociology from the University of Kent, holds a PGCE in Social Science from the UCL Institute of Education and a MA in Culture, Diaspora and Ethnicity from Birkbeck.
Stella Kanu
Prior to LIFT, Stella was Executive Producer at Ovalhouse (now Brixton House) leading the artistic, community and organisational transition to the new £20 million venue; at Soundwave Cumbria where she was CEO. She has held various senior and executive roles at well-loved organisations such as Theatre Royal Margate, Harlem Stage (New York), Cardboard Citizens, as well as roles at Africa Centre, Bernie Grant Arts Centre, Clean Break Theatre. She also held interim roles at arts, culture, and community organisations in civic directorates across London and the Southeast.
Over the past 6 years, she has sat on several strategic and governing bodies including All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Theatre, and in 2020 was appointed London Mayoral representative to Arts Council London Area. She sits on the Advisory Board at the drama school Rose Bruford , has been Trustee at New Writing South, member/Interim Chair at Creative Margate Taskforce, Co-Chair of Arts Council England’s Race Advisory Group (RAG) and Chair at Eclipse Theatre (Leeds).
An alumna of University of Wales, Aberystwyth; Middlesex University Writing Centre and Oxford Brookes University Business School. She is a sought- after panellist, speaker, and writer, having contributed to TV, radio, national publications, podcasts and online exploring topics such as inspirational leadership, diversity and inclusion, women and power, and the future of theatre.
At The Globe, Stella has spoken at the Women and Power: Women and Leadership Symposium (2019) and led the iconic photoshoot in 2019 for ‘Black Women in Theatre’ gathering more than 250 black women and non-binary people working in theatre together on the Globe stage to celebrate their contribution to the industry. Stella spearheaded the #AllofUs Redundancy Care Campaign - an immediate response to support Black, Asian, ethnically diverse, and migrant arts workers facing redundancy.
Stella is a Cultural Leadership International Powerbrokers Fellow (2008), an Honorary Fellow at Rose Bruford College (2021), was named one of the Alfred Fagon Award 25 Black Theatre Champions (2022) and was recently named one of the 100 Black Women to Have Make a Mark (2023).
Lucy Kennedy
Formally Managing Director at cultural consultancy Futurecity, Lucy headed the organisation’s international offices in London, Boston and Sydney in the development of cultural placemaking and multidisciplinary public art projects. From 2017 to 2018 Lucy was Executive Director of Research Centres at the Royal College of Art, leading the establishment of the Intelligent Mobility Research Centre and the Material Science Research Centre.
Lucy is Chair of the Board of Trustees at Chisenhale Art Place, an arts education charity in London’s East End. She sits on the Advisory Groups for the APPG for Arts, Craft and Design in Education, the Cultural Learning Alliance, the Digital Poverty Alliance and STEM Learning. She is an FRSA.
Lucy studied Anthropology at University College London specialising in Visual and Material Culture and subsequently completed a master’s degree in History of Art at Birkbeck University of London. She lives in North London with her husband, son and step-children.
Paulette Long , OBE
Her interests and skillset includes PR and communications, an in-depth understanding of the commercial music industry, and the promotion of diversity in arts and culture.
Since 2004 Paulette has been a board director of the MPA (Music Publishers Association) and from 2008 until 2017 was a board director of the PRS for Music (Performing Rights Society for Mu
In January 2011 Paulette was elected by the PRS for Music board of directors to serve as their Deputy Chair (Publisher), the first female and the first black candidate to occupy that position.
Paulette has almost 14 years of board level experience, and in 2016 was awarded an OBE for her services to the music industry.
She was added to Music Week’s Women in Music Roll Of Honour in the same year, and in 2017 received a Gold Badge Award from BASCA (British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors).
Having chaired a number of boards, board discussion groups and worked at a senior level within commercial entities and alongside public sector organisations, Paulette has strong experience across strategy creation and delivery, business growth, and engagement.
She is excited about the opportunity to use this experience to further the cause of the Arts Council and help to implement its new strategy.
Darren Rodwell
Darren was first elected to the Council in 2010 and became Leader in 2014.
Darren was chair of the Area Review process for the East sub-region and is keen to ensure that area develop a wider skills vision which helps residents into employment.
Tom Ryalls
Tom is also the Head of Development for the NPO Stockroom who run theatre’s only salaried writers’ room. As part of their fundraising work Tom was one of the Arts Fundraising and Philanthropy Fellows for 2020, and is currently part of the CIOF x RAISE mentoring programme for young fundraisers.
Tom had epileptic seizures for 10 years and now has ADHD and some associated neurological impairments. They are a trustee and the secretary of the disabled arts commissioning strand Unlimited and a passionate advocate for accessibility in the arts, speaking widely about seizure triggers in theatre. Tom is part of the Inclusive Cultures cohort with Clore Leadership working on dismantling ableism in cultural governance structures.
Tom graduated with a BA in English and Related Literature from the University of York and a Distinction in the MA Writing Musical Theatre programme at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.
Imran Sanuallah, MBE
Imran is also a Trustee for the Naz Legacy Foundation, which seeks to promote community cohesion and brings together young people, community, political and faith leaders to strengthen unity between diverse groups. Previously Imran has also been a Democracy Ambassador and Council Member for National Democracy Week for the Cabinet Office.
Imran has focused his career on civic participation and authentic community engagement, to ensure the full multicultural tapestry of modern Britain is reflected. He has received several prestigious awards, including; Social Leader of the Year (British Muslim Awards), Community Award (Balham and Tooting Community Association) and Young Person's Award for Excellence (Muslim News Awards). In 2019 he was also recognised in Her Majesty's Birthday Honours with an MBE for his services to young people.
Justine Simons, OBE
Justine has conceived and delivered the Mayor’s statutory culture strategy since the inception of the GLA.
Justine founded and is Chair of the World Cities Culture Forum and played a lead role in the cultural programme for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games – staging the capital’s biggest ever festival with over 5000 events. Prior to the Mayor’s Office, Justine spent over a decade in the field of contemporary dance, producing, commissioning and running festivals and venues.
Matt Steinberg
A graduate of the Clore Leadership short course, Matt was a New Generation Artist at Iford Arts, and was awarded Equity Charitable Trust’s John Fernald Award for Emerging Directors, the Tyrone Guthrie Award from the Stratford Festival and the Christopher Plummer Award from Shakespeare’s Globe Centre Canada. Directing credits include Soho Theatre, Shoreditch Town Hall, the VAULT Festival, Southwark Playhouse, Theatre503, Iford Arts, New Diorama and Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre. His work as an actor includes productions at the Finborough Theatre, the Stratford Festival of Canada, New York’s Ensemble Studio Theatre and Classic Stage Company.
Emma Will
She has been a trustee of the Kensington Aldridge Academy since it opened in 2014 and is also a trustee of the newly opened special school Kensington Queensmill.
Prior to becoming a Councillor, Emma worked in the City but after starting a family wanted a career change that would involve helping the community. She is particularly passionate about education and gardening.
David Bryan, CBE
David is Founder/Director of Xtend (UK) Ltd., an organisation development consultancy, working across the public sector for over 30 years.
He has a long history of work on organisational change, leadership development and diversity in the public, voluntary and arts sector as well as working with international organisations.
He has been a visiting lecturer and course organiser in academia with Kings College, Southbank University, Goldsmith College and City Lit delivering leadership programmes, management course, social studies practice, and literature. He has and MBA from Southbank University.
His early years were spent working with community organisations building capacity. This work led him to be co-opted onto the board of the National Council for Voluntary organisations. Throughout his engagement in community development, he has been a staunch advocate for independent voices, inclusion, social enterprise and civic responsibility.
He was appointed to the National Council under the leadership of Sir Peter Bazalgette and returned after a couple of years as the Chair for the London Area Council, sponsored by the Mayor of London Office.
Term of appointment: 1 January 2023 - 31 December 2026.
Victoria Dela Amedume, MBE
Ruth Dombey, Cllr
Ruth has considerable experience in making grant awards, having previously sat on the Grants Committee for London Councils and a previous board member of the London Marathon Charitable Trust.