New Ashgate Gallery champions the best of contemporary art and craft providing an unparalleled resource in Farnham, Surrey and beyond

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Board of trustees


Chair Norma Corkish with Town Mayor, Cllr Paddy Blagden, Digital Futures, 2013
Chair Norma Corkish with Town Mayor, Cllr Paddy Blagden, Digital Futures, 2013

 

Norma Corkish, Chair

Norma has more than 30 years experience in the voluntary sector, over 15 years as Chief Executive and 5 years as NGO consultant adviser.  She also has wide experience of being a trustee and Chair.  Her specialist areas include strategic and business planning and organisational development.  She is an experienced trainer and facilitator and experience of working at home and abroad.

Amanda Butler, Vice Chair

Amanda is former Managing Partner, now Consultant at a local law firm Bakerlaw, having been a Partner at a top 30 UK firm before starting her Farnham practise. With her desire to support growth in the local business community and beyond, Amanda brings strategic, business planning, organisational and legal skills to the Board and has a passion for the Arts in all the various forms. Amanda is the former President of the Farnham Chamber of Commerce.

Margaret Benton

Margaret joined the Board in 2013. Margaret is a highly experienced arts manager with a career ranging from contemporary craft to national museums and broadcasting. Margaret managed for nine years the innovative craft education charity, The Making, based in Hampshire. She was previously Director of the V&A’s Theatre Museum where she initiated the National Video Archive of Performance, pioneering the regular video recording of major theatrical performances. She has also worked as Deputy Director of the National Media Museum in Bradford and, for ten years, as a BBC Television producer/director in Bristol. Margaret currently works as a freelance arts consultant advising artists and organisations on strategy and development.

Simon Bird

Simon is the Director and founder of the Innovation & Creativity Lab Ltd, a consultancy that helps organisations develop and pursue ideas for profitable growth. He began his association with New Ashgate in 2019 as a volunteer and consequently helped with marketing and Covid recovery strategies. His expertise is based on 30+ years of working in multinational consumer focused businesses as a marketing, e-commerce and sales leader across international markets. He combines this with a passion for art and alongside his consultancy business is a practicing abstract artist.

Anne Good, Honorary Treasurer 

Anne is Chartered Accountant and Partner in Good Accountancy, Farnham. She acquired the practice of Rutton & Co Chartered Accounts of Bentley, Hampshire in 2017 and merged it with her own practice based in Farnham, Surrey forming Good Accountancy. 

Dan Goode

Dan Goode of Making Goode is a speaker, curator, writer and coach and was the chief talent scout for two online galleries. Dan has given talks for Crafts Council, The Design Trust, Arts Thread, Design Nation, Craft Northern Ireland, Top Drawer, Derry Council and Design Factory (amongst many others). 

He is the Artistic Director at Handmade in Britain. Since August 2018 he has been the curator for Canopy Market in King's Cross, adding the Battersea River Walk Market in the spring of 2019, Boulevard Market at Islington Square in the summer of 2020 and Greenwich Peninsula Market in 2022. 

Caroline Jackman

As a business consultant, coach and trainer for the creative industries, Caroline has over 20 years’ working with national charities, government agencies, academic institutions, galleries and practitioners.   She has founded Creative Business Growth to help arts organisations and creative individuals to reach their full potential.

Caroline has led UK and international projects. As Head of Craft Business Skills for Crafts Council for seven years, Caroline led business training programmes for craft businesses, championing the growth of the market for craft on the Creative Industries Trade and Investment Board. Caroline is a Trustee for New Ashgate Gallery, Mentor for Arts Emergency and an Advisor for Radcliffe Trust.

Jim Miles

Jim worked for 38 years in arts and leisure management in the local authority sector. He acted as an Adviser to the Local Government Association on cultural issues for many years and chaired the Arts, Museums & Libraries Panel of the Institute of Leisure & Amenities Management. He ran major arts and music festivals in Greenwich and Camden and set up a Cultural Service in Barnsley in 1986 and a Directorate of Leisure Services in Guildford in 1996. Since retiring he serves on the Boards of three local arts organisations in a voluntary capacity.

Ann Smith, Company Secretary 

Ann has extensive experience in the NHS, most recently at the Royal Marsden as a Consultant Clinical Scientist with responsibility for the operational and strategic management and development of bone marrow and stem cell transplantation. She spent 5 years in academia as a Senior Lecturer in Haematology and Immunology. She has developed an extensive research portfolio throughout her working career and has been actively involved in raising £2 million in research funds. Although her background is scientific, Ann is passionate about art and hopes to bring her experience in strategic planning and fund raising to the Gallery.

Advisers: 

Anita Coppock

Anita specialises in the planning, development and day to day management of technical resources that support creative arts and education. A former Technical Services Manager at the Royal College of Art, Anita developed technical staff and workshops that created a platform for international research and enabled artists and designers to master their own practice.  Anita now works as Technical Resource Manager at the University for the Creative Arts. Managing high risk workshops has given Anita extensive experience in managing health and safety and this extends to the installation of events and exhibitions.

Cara Flowers, Managing and Artistic Director of DAiSY

Cara leads DAiSY, a collective of Artists and Organisations that champion Disability Arts in Surrey. Alongside her personal practice as an artist Cara is a project manager, curator and producer for public art projects and events across London. Cara has worked with public and private sector clients, to oversee, design or commission nearly 100 artworks within the public realm. As a trained art teacher she has also been heavily involved in devising and delivering meaningful community engagement activities.

Observer:

Councillor Sally Dickson 

New Ashgate Gallery
Waggon Yard, Farnham GU9 7PS

gallery@newashgate.org.uk

Telephone: 01252 713208
Charity: 274326
Company: 1324906
VAT registration: 413979331

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