The Theatres Trust has announced that the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport has appointed 6 new board members and reappointed 5 board members to The Theatres Trust. New appointments include Dara Ó Briain, Professor Gavin Henderson CBE, Peter Roberts, Simon Ruddick, Ann Skippers and Anna Stapleton.

The Trust is the National Advisory Public Body for theatres, in the United Kingdom, and was established by The Theatres Trust Act 1976, ‘to promote the better protection of theatres’. It is a statutory consultee on theatre buildings in the planning system, provides expert advice on the sustainable development of theatre buildings and helps promote awareness and solutions for theatres at risk. It champions all theatres, historic, contemporary and new in theatre use, in other uses or disused.

Comedian and television presenter Dara Ó Briain joins the Trustees having performed in many of the UK's largest venues, and his 2009 book Tickling the English documented some of his travels around them, and elucidated his love of Victorian playhouses. Presenter of satirical panel show Mock The Week and many other topical and science programmes, such as Stargazing Live, Dara is also an avid gamer and presents the BAFTA Video Games Awards.

Professor Gavin Henderson is currently Principal of The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, a college of the University of London. He was Artistic Director of the Dartington International Summer School from 1983-2010, Artistic Director of Brighton Festival 1984–94 and is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Brighton. He was Principal of Trinity College of Music from 1994 to 2005, creating the merger with Laban Centre for Dance.

Peter Roberts is a freelance theatre consultant, having spent a large part of his 50 year career in theatre as technical director and head of theatre development at Cameron Mackintosh, whilst Simon Ruddick is the CEO of Albourne Partners, the alternative  investment consultancy firm that he co-founded in 1994. Twice the winner of the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise, Simon has also been a Trustee of the Hedge Funds Standard Board since 2008 and won the International Leadership Award from the American Red Cross in 2012.

Ann Skippers is a chartered town planner with over twenty years experience in the planning sector in a career which has spanned the public, private and academic sectors. She is currently Director of Ann Skippers Planning and specialises in neighbourhood planning. Ann was President of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) in 2010 and was the Vice
President (Europe) of the Commonwealth Association of Planners from 2010-2012.

Finally, Anna Stapleton Anna Stapleton is a Freelance Arts Manager, with over forty years’ experience of working
in the arts. Previous posts include Administrative Director at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow; Drama & Dance Director at the Scottish Arts Council; Drama Director at the Arts Council of England and work with a range of producing theatres including the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh; the Liverpool Everyman Theatre; Perth Theatre and the Royal Exchange Theatre,  Manchester.

Trustees reappointed for a second term include Nicholas Allott OBE, Ruth Eastwood, Oliver Goodwin, Jerrold Katzman, and Judith Mellor OBE. All Trustees will be on the board of The Theatres Trust for a term of 3 years.

¦     www.theatrestrust.org.uk

Picture: Lisa Richards Agency

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