Creative Alliance arts partners represent different sub-sectors within the Creative and Cultural Industries Sector. The partners' combined experience; knowledge and passion for the creative industries provide bespoke development opportunities for emerging artists.
directors
Annie Laughrin
Project Manager, Creative Alliance.
Annie Laughrin is an arts Project Manager with a media enterprise, music industry and photography background. As a former BIAD graduate in Communications Annie has developed a keen interest in artistic sustainability, social documentary and events management. Graduate of the Common Purpose Navigator programme for emerging leaders, Annie is always looking for opportunities to marry success and enterprise with social responsibility and community leadership. In her spare time she is a School Governor, treasurer of a community housing association and member of photography collective Ignite.
Sandra Hall
Co-Director, Friction Arts.
Sandra Hall is a practising artist, Director of ‘Friction Arts’ and -founding member of ‘Creative Alliance’. Her practise includes performance, installation, and making extraordinary art work in awkward spaces; exploring the reclamation of conversation through character and intervention in the public domain. She has worked in England, Europe, Java, Australia and US both as an artist, facilitator and consultant. With Friction Arts she is Artistic and Co-director with Lee Griffiths. Friction has been described by the Arts Council as ‘unsurpassed’ in creative, conceptual, socially engaged practise. Their partnerships include Youth Offending Services, Arts & Business, Creative Partnerships, Birmingham City Council, Groundwork UK, Clore Duffield Foundation, CBSO. Friction are known for ‘Making Art Where You Live’..and ‘humour resources’ ™ Sandra is also currently a ‘lead mentor’ on Creative Alliance programmes and thoroughly enjoys her all aspects of her work.
Lara Ratnaraja
Sector Manager for Creative and Knowledge Industries, Business Link West Midland.
Lara Ratnaraja is Sector Manager for Creative and Knowledge Industries for Business Link West Midlands. She has worked with a number of creative practitioners and arts organisations to enable them to grow their practice and business and access specific markets and audiences both nationally and internationally. A founding Director of Creative Alliance, she is currently also a Director of Audiences Central and Plus Design Expo. A long term supporter of the arts she has also been involved in the project management of a number of key visual arts events and personally supported a number of shows, residencies and artists talks.
Lee Griffiths
Co-Director, Friction Arts.
Lee Griffiths is an artist, producer and director of Friction Arts and Creative Alliance, as well as mentoring on CA’s ‘After Hours’ and ‘Morning After’ programmes. After a ‘life-changing’ meeting with Malcolm X at the age of six months, Lee embarked on a lifetime quest for something or other, working as a commercial scuba diver, refrigeration engineer, farm labourer, bookseller and nursery nurse. He then returned to his beloved Brum and emerged with a desire to make the world a better place through making art accessible to as many people as possible. To this end, he has produced multi-artform performances and site-specific work in allotments, car boot sales, in shopping malls, on the street and in pubs and clubs, with Friction Arts. He is currently working on a performance (as Dr David Ethics) attempting to discover the Shape of Time, whilst collaborating with artist Harry Palmer on creating a new live art venue in Birmingham, ‘The Edge’. Lee has made work in Britain, Europe, and the U.S. and is heading ‘down under’ in the Spring for a residency in Kellerberrin, WA.
Rhonda Wilson
Creative Director, Rhubarb-Rhubarb.net .
Training initially as a magazine journalist with experience in music, fiction, styling and choreographing covers, wilson moved on to become a graphic designer and photographer. In the late eighties she was one of those leading a new approach to issue based re presentation and had a retrospective at the museum of photography, film and television in 1989. Her two campaigns on women and low pay and women and homelessness travelled the world and were published in major international photo publications, such as ten.8, portfolio, creative camera, artists newsletter, katalog, perspektief. In 1993 she wrote 'seeing the light - the photographers guide to enterprise' - a handbook for image makers seeking to make their work more visible. In the same year she set up 'Seeing The Light', a professional development agency for photographers, which became a company in 1995 - creating portfolio reviews, weekend seminars on the business of the image and was the first photo organisation in the uk to use net based technologies. In 2006 Seeing the Light began to trade as Rhubarb-Rhubarb, previously solely the name for the uk's international festival of the image, hosted by STL. The festival is now known as europe's premier portfolio review, bringing together international experts from the fine art photography sector with image makers using traditional and new photographic technologies, to create opportunity for exhibition, publication, representation and sales. Wilson has given talks and seminars across the world in collaboration with major galleries and photography festivals. she writes regularly for international photo publications and is a director of the festival of light, a global organisation which links together 17 major cities through photographic activity. in 2006 she received an MBE for photography and international trade. She is a reiki master.
Noel Dunn
Strategic Advisor, Job Dunne.
Noel Dunne has worked in participatory arts for nearly twenty years with a variety of organisations and agencies. For the last four years he has been a self employed Producer. He makes creative programmes of work happen. Noel works across public sector agencies: learning, health, regeneration and the arts sectors as a Producer of programmes of work supporting communities, agencies, arts organisations and individual artists. He works across art forms and across themes and he is a specialist in education and creative learning. Creativity and learning is at the heart of all the strands of his business: • Developing programmes of creative work between the arts and learning sectors. • Organisational and Business development support for arts organisations. • Developing and delivering mentoring and learning programmes for artists and arts organisations. Through speaking a variety of funding languages, he has secured over £500 000 for creative programmes in the last three years. He provides a full range of bespoke advice and guidance from project conception to evaluation; strategic development to project management; fund raising to workshop delivery.
Anna Field
Project Coordinator, Creative Alliance.
Anna Field has been a member of the Creative Alliance team since April 2007. Anna first came into contact with the organisation as a participant on the After Hours and Morning After programmes, and was keen to take the role in project support when this opportunity arose. Since her time at Creative Alliance the organisation has grown in a very positive sense. As new directions continue to develop, Anna is looking forward to a bright future at Creative Alliance whilst continuing to develop her own photography work, giving her the additional perspective of a practising artist.
partners
Arts Council England
Arts Council England work towards developing and promoting art to a wider audience across England.
Business Link
Business Link is an official government service, providing advice and information for new and small businesses.
Friction Arts
Friction Arts are an organisation that work for cultural and social change through the use of art outside of the places it is usually found.
Learning and Skills Council
Learning Skills Council are responsible for planning and funding high quality education and training for everyone in England.
Media Content Lab
Media Content Lab is a creative multimedia team, which is part of UCE Birmingham, that offers a range of high quality web development, e:marketing, branding and print design services.
Rhubarb-Rhubarb
Rhubarb-Rhubarb is a West Midlands based photography training and development agency.