Phill Wardhas spent two decades in management, programming and administration roles in the performing arts. Equally at home working in theatre and music, in positions for large institutions – Royal Festival Hall, Theatre Museum and at the other end of the scale, running London’s oldest pub theatre The King’s Head.
When in charge of cultural affairs for the English Speaking Union, Phill ran a programme of scholarships, international cultural seminars and fundraising events, including interviews with celebrity actors, writers, musicians and politicians.
With the Arts Council, England, as opera and music–theatre funding specialist, there was a chance to regularly assess the work of all the UK’s opera companies. Outside London, Phill worked on the bid for Liverpool’s successful European Capital of Culture 2008. As an opera critic, Phill contributes to various music publications and writes occasional travel features on festivals and cultural hotspots throughout Europe and America.
Patrick Knoxstudied Law and English Literature at Cambridge University but fell in with a bad crowd and became an actor. Apart from brief excursions into film and television his work has been in the theatre, in every area from fringe to West End. He has toured widely and as well as playing most theatres in this country he has performed in Germany, Sweden, Holland, Lebanon, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Iraq. His most exciting parts include Hamlet, Richard III, Macbeth and Puck. For several years now he has lectured and led workshops for the Education Department at Shakespeare's Globe.
Jane McIntoshis General Manager of London Arts Discovery. Previously she had spent six years as Director of Finance and Administration at Scottish Opera and prior to that had considerable experience running finance departments and managing projects within both the public and private sectors - including the Family Planning Association and The Civil and Public Services Association. She read for her M. A. in English and Drama at Glasgow University and is an enthusiastic cook, swimmer and theatregoer.
Richard Barran was an arts administrator with the English Bach Festival before establishing London Arts Discovery with Howard Lichterman in 1981. He was the founding director of the Sevenoaks Summer Festival which he ran for seven years and is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts. He taught French in a boys public school and has a great affection for France. During his travels in the US he met his wife Lynn Cadwallader, who works in public television and film. Richard is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
