The Wiltshire Music Centre Trust Limited is a registered charity
and a company limited by guarantee. The directors of the
company are its Trustees (below) who provide overall strategic
direction for the organisation.
David Pratley has worked in the cultural sector
in the UK for over 40 years as a policy maker, manager and
commentator. Born in London and trained in early years as a
musician, he graduated in law from the University of Bristol in
1970.
In 1976 he began a decade in senior management in the English
arts funding system, first as Director of the Greater London Arts
Association and then as Regional Director of the Arts Council of
Great Britain where he was responsible for regional policy, the
funding and management of performing arts touring, arts centres,
festivals and community arts. Over the next ten years he
worked in general management being in succession Chief Executive of
the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society and Managing Director of
Trinity College of Music. During these years he was active in
the politics of the SDP, co-authoring its Green Paper on the Arts
and Media; in international research on the arts and urban
generation; and was, for five years, Chairman of the National
Campaign for the Arts. In 1991 he moved to Bath as the City
Council's director of leisure, tourism and economic
development.
For the last 15 years and based back in London, David Pratley
has run one of the country's leading arts management consultancies,
specialising in the management of change in cultural
organisations. As well as agencies of central Government and
local government, his clients include symphony orchestras, opera
companies, theatres, festivals, galleries and museums. For
five years he co-designed and managed the Arts Council's
Stabilisation Programme, setting up similar programmes in Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland.
In 2008 David began a process of change himself with relocation
to a home in the heart of the New Forest with his new wife, Linda
Fredericks. Whilst continuing to write and consult, he has
also taken up a number of non-executive appointments to arts
organisations in the region including - in addition to the
chairmanship of Wiltshire Music Centre - chairmanship of The
Lighthouse at Poole, and membership of the board of the Salisbury
International Arts Festival.
Harriet Feilding is presently Bursar of King's
School, Bruton and Hazlegrove Prep School, both independent schools
in Somerset. Previously she was in the fine art world,
latterly with Bonhams, and before that as a Director of Sotheby's
in charge of the Client Accounts department. Having read
Mathematics at Oxford, Harriet qualified as a Chartered Accountant
with Arthur Andersen & Co in London. She joined English
National Opera as Finance Director in 1991. Harriet has also been a
Board Member and Treasurer of the National Youth Dance Trust
(1994-2001) and a Board member of English Touring Opera
(1994-1998). She sings with the City of Bath Bach Choir.
Keith Bennett studied music at Oxford, where he
was organ scholar at Brasenose College, and subsequently at Trinity
College of Music. He was awarded a doctorate from Oxford in 1978
for his study of Luca Marenzio, the Italian madrigalist. From
1979-2004 he taught at Bath Spa University, where for eighteen
years he was a principal lecturer and Course Director of the BA
(Hons) Music degree. Whilst there he conducted the university
college choir and opera on many occasions.
Keith has for many years been conductor of the Paragon Singers
of Bath, one of the south-west's leading chamber choirs,
specialising particularly in early music and contemporary music. He
has also performed widely as an accompanist, continuo player and
singer.
Catherine Cooper trained as a teacher of
Physical Education and Dance at Bishop Otter College, Chichester
and Sussex University, gaining a B.Ed Hons in 1975 and NPQH in
2002. She has taught in Wiltshire for 35 years including 5 years as
a part time advisory teacher for primary P.E and
Dance. Catherine has worked at St Laurence School since its
opening in 1980 and was formerly a teacher at Trinity School in
Bradford on Avon. She has undertaken a variety of roles
including head of faculty, assistant head of sixth form and
assistant headteacher with responsibility for upper school,
inclusion, personnel and training. She has a very strong
belief in the power of the performing arts to enrich lives and has
been involved in many collaborative projects with music, dance and
drama throughout her career and as Director of the school's
specialism in Performing Arts. Catherine is a member of the
leadership team at St Laurence and currently has a strategic role
around the development of Extended Services and community
cohesion.
Since 2000, Rona Fineman has combined working
as a freelance arts consultant with running the Wickham Theatre in
the Drama Department at Bristol University. Her freelance
work currently involves running Theatre Bath. Previously she ran
Bristol & Bath Arts Marketing Agency which was funded by the
Touring Department of the Arts Council. Her career in the arts
began at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. She was educated at
Aberdeen University and City University, London where she did a
Postgraduate Diploma in Arts Administration. Rona is a member of
the Board of ArtsMatrix, a Director of Audiences South West and a
Trustee of Firebird Theatre Company. She was previously a Director
of the Arts Marketing Association and Chair of the Bristol Area
Dance Agency. Since November 2007 Rona has been Chair of the
Friends Advisory Group.
Lindsay Holdoway is managing director of HPH
Limited, a property company specialising in commercial property,
whose office is in Kingsmead Square, Bath. The Company develops and
invests in industrial, office and retail premises throughout
Wiltshire and has a particular expertise in working with period
buildings having restored both grade 1 & 2 listed properties in
Bath, Chippenham and, more recently, Swindon. The Company retains
an investment portfolio and property management is carried out by
an in house team.
Lindsay qualified as a Chartered Surveyor in London in 1984
having previously graduated from the University of Reading (MPhil;
Land Management) and the University of St Andrews(BSc (Hons);
Botany). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and was a
Trustee of Twerton Village Hall, a Millennium Commission project,
from 1998-2001 acting as project director.
Diana Johnson has a degree in music from the
University of Oxford and a background in professional arts
management in the UK and abroad including senior positions with the
British Council in Germany and Arts Council of
Australia. She runs a successful arts consultancy
business and works throughout the UK advising local government,
artists and arts organisations. Recent jobs include facilitating a
new strategic plan for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and
Chorus, and organisational development and fundraising with the
three Youth Music Action Zones in the West Midlands.
With a son recently in the National Youth Orchestra of Great
Britain, Diana has a particular commitment to the involvement of
children and young people in the arts. She has been a
validator for Arts Council England's Arts Mark arts in schools
scheme since its inception, and has recently been appointed a Youth
Music external assessor.
Formerly a governor of Dartington College of Arts and a parent
governor at Sandford Primary School, Diana Johnson's trusteeships
include Upstream a healthy living centre without walls for older
people in Devon funded by Big Lottery; the Elmley Foundation
supporting arts and culture in Herefordshire and Worcestershire;
and the Kinkizi Development Foundation through which she has worked
closely with women's and other community groups in South West
Uganda.
Diana is married to a Dane and makes frequent visits to Denmark
where the family owns a summer house. She continues as an
active musician. She sings with the Exeter Festival Chorus
under former Kings Singer Nigel Perrin, and has toured with the
choir to Russia, Germany and France. Last year she coached
children and performed in the Three Choirs Festival production of
Britten's Noye's Fludde. As a complete contrast, last spring
she rode on horseback through Transylvania.
Robert Keylock originally
hails from East Anglia, but came to Wiltshire in 2004 to train as a
solicitor with Wilsons Solicitors LLP in Salisbury. He was admitted
as a solicitor in 2006 and specialises in advising individuals and
trustees in relation to estate planning, trusts, taxation, wills
and mental capacity matters such as the granting and administration
of Lasting Powers of Attorney.
Robert was introduced to the Wiltshire Music Centre through a
scheme run by Arts & Business which aims to encourage young
professionals to become involved with arts boards. Outside
work, Robert enjoys pursuing his passion for music. He
currently plays violin in the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra and
Winterbourne Opera Orchestra, as well as a variety of other local
ensembles.