Board of Trustees
Gary Topp - Chair of Trustees
Gary Topp has led Arnolfini as Executive Director since February 2019 taking the organisation through a period significant change and progress to re-establish Arnolfini as a leading UK centre for contemporary arts in a partnership with University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol. He has been chief executive of a range of cultural organisations across the UK and in Australia over a 30- year career including Yorkshire Culture, Greening Australia and Culture Central. Gary began his career as a visual arts curator and museums manager in Dorset and Teesside. He has extensive leadership experience working within the context of social and economic change and placemaking. He is Chair of Trustees at the Leach Pottery, an FRSA and holds a number of other board and advisory roles.
Erica Steer - Deputy Chair
Until recently Erica was Executive Director of the Devon Guild of Craftsmen. Prior to this she held the post of Crafts Officer at Arts Council England South West. Erica is a South West representative on CraftNet, an independent national network that promotes leadership and strategic development for contemporary craft. Locally, she is a Director of Nourish Festival in Bovey Tracey, Devon and Chair of the Bovey Information Trust.
Before Erica moved to the south west, she ran her own graphic design and print buying business and has worked as a paper maker and sculptor based at a studio in a rural craft centre. Erica has a Masters degree in Heritage Management from Nottingham Trent University.
Julia DeFabo
Julia is the social media manager at Art UK. She holds a BA from Bard College and an MA from SOAS University of London, where her research focused on West African art and on contemporary art in Reunion Island. She has worked with galleries in the US and the UK and has contributed to projects, publications and exhibitions with organisations such as the Smithsonian Institution, the Dak’Art Biennale and the Rencontres d’Arles. She is interested in what the arts can teach us about cross-cultural exchanges and believes in the importance of bringing these stories to more people.
Sue Pope
Sue has been involved in the field of heritage education for over 20 years and most recently, as a freelance consultant. She is also a musician and performs as part of her historic music group A Merrie Noyse and work with groups such as the Orchestra of the Swan and the Academy of Ancient Music on education strategy and projects. She has previously been a convenor and trustee for The Group for Education in Museums (GEM)
Rhiannon Ewing-James
Rhiannon is the Creative Producer with British Ceramics Biennial working on the exhibitions programme as part of the British Ceramics Biennial festival in a curatorial capacity helping to create connections between exhibitions and visitors. Rhiannon also enjoys working with and supporting artists through the exhibitions, commissions, residencies and talent development programmes.
She is a self-described, ‘epic clay nerd’ and a passionate collector of craft.
Chris Balch
Chris Balch is a potter and American lawyer specializing in representing local governments and their elected and appointed officials. Often called on to decipher, respond, and remedy the most challenging conditions and events, Chris has spent his career advising and defending elected and public officials in the performance of their duties and responsibilities to the public. He is regularly called upon to speak around the country on issues confronting public officials. A veteran of the United States Marine Corps, Chris has tried over 100 cases to verdict, most in defense of public officials.
Introducing our new 2024 Trustees
Lara Goodband
Lara Goodband is a creative director and visual art curator at gallery spaces and city-wide outdoor projects with multiple partners with extensive commissioning and fundraising experience in partnership with museums, galleries, universities and community groups.
She is currently Contemporary Art Curator & Programmer at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum where she leads on contemporary art by curating, commissioning and initiating projects across all programmes. Previous roles include Director of Exeter Culture, project curator at York Art Gallery and co-artist director on a range of projects. She is Co-Artistic Director/ Lead Artist of Sea Swim and a visiting lecturer in contemporary art curating at the University of Exeter.
Simon Harrison
Simon Harrison has spent more than 20 years in fundraising and campaigning for a range of organisations including Cancer Research UK, He was head of international campaign development at Comic Relief and the director of Edinburgh International Television Festival.
He is currently Head of Product Development & Fundraising Campaigns Cancer Research UK and a part-time acupuncturist.
Callum Trudgeon
Callum Trudgeon was the first apprentice at Leach Pottery in 2014, graduating in 2017 following a BA Hons in Contemporary Creative Practice at Plymouth University. Following graduation from Leach Pottery, he continued working in the studio until 2022. In 2018-19. undertook a three-month residency in Bizen with potter Kazuya Ishida, exploring traditional Bizen pottery techniques and firing and as Young Wood Fired Artist in Residence at Guldagergaard International Ceramics Research Centre.
He set up a production pottery in Driving Creek, New Zealand where he is lead potter and is special advisor to Ceramics New Zealand 2024.
Matthew Whittell
Matthew has recently retired from a career in finance in order to spend more time as a potter. His experience lies in raising money for businesses to develop and grow, with a focus in recent years on delivering good, and environmental benefits in particular, for communities and society at the same time as financial returns.
Matthew is interested in the potential to improve the sustainability of pottery as an intrinsically energy-intensive process. Matthew has worked as Head of Finance at John Ellerman Foundation, an endowed grant maker with a particular interest in the Arts and the Environment. He also has a strong interest in education and its transformational power, having been a governor of schools in both the public and private sectors. Matthew learned to throw pots at school and then spent the following forty five years feeding his love of pots by collecting rather than making, an imbalance he is now looking to rectify. He has an MA in Physics from Oxford University and an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College, London.
Tamzyn Smith
Tamzyn has more than 20 years of collaborative leadership with the cultural, social enterprise, local authority and third sectors, locally, regionally, and nationally. She is passionate about delivering with integrity and compassion, and through the empowerment of others working creatively and generously, to bring about social change and positive futures.
Her previous roles include CEO of Cornwall Museums Partnership, overseeing the collective efforts of CMP’s team ensuring its mission of creating positive social change with museums. She was Principal Lead for Culture and Creative Economy at Cornwall Council, where she led the co-creation of Cornwall’s Creative Manifesto and the commissioning of the G7 UK 2021 Cultural Programme. She has also worked at Real Ideas, the Hall for Cornwall, Arts Council England, the Design Council, and the Architecture Foundation.
Tamzyn has a MA in Curating Contemporary Design from the Design Museum and Kingston University and a BA in Interior Architecture and Design from the University of Wales Institute Cardiff. She is a member of Creative UK Council, the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Creative Industries Sector Body and an Advisory Council Member for Tate St Ives.
Living in St Ives she’s incredibly proud of her local heritage - of its innovation and creativity and loves nothing more than an evening on Porthmeor watching the sunset with friends, family, and laughter.
Nik Ramsay-Trease
Until recently, Nik was the Director of Strategy and transformation for a multi-national IT company. She is an accomplished leader in the industry with over 25 years of leadership experience. Her strength lies in business transformation through strategic leadership and consultancy, where she has a track record of successfully delivering complex organizational programs and fostering cultural change. Her background is not only in IT, but she also has a passion for Neuroscience (where she holds a Master's degree) in order to apply insights from the human brain to enhance team dynamics and decision-making processes.