Speaker Biographies

PGR and ECR Forum: Welcome to the Cities of Culture Research Network: 23rd June, 1pm

Kim McAleese

Kim McAleese - The black and white image shows a woman with long hair smiling broadly at the camera

Kim McAleese (she/her) is a curator originally from Belfast, now based in Birmingham, She is currently working as Programme Director of Grand Union, a gallery space and artists’ studios bringing the public closer to art and artists by hosting, sharing, listening, supporting, caring, conversing and exchanging.

She is an alumnus of Curatorlab in Konstfack (Stockholm), and of the Independent Curators International Curatorial Intensive programme. She is co-founder of Household, a collective of curators who organise projects in Northern Ireland and a previous co-director of Catalyst Arts.

She is an Associate Lecturer at University of Birmingham and sits on the board of New Art West Midlands and is Vice-Chair of Outburst Queer Arts Festival.

Edie Jo Murray

Edie Jo Murray - This image shows Edie, who has long pink hair, glasses, and a yellow patterned jumper, against a green background.

Edie Jo Murray is a UK-based artist with a desire to disrupt what you understand as reality. She invites audiences into imagined worlds where the rules are different and weird is welcome. Edie’s work is both eclectic and anachronistic: references to ancient myth and folklore sit alongside 90s TV nostalgia and futuristic digitally rendered environments. Edie’s focus on digital tools and immersive technologies is enriched through vibrant, sensory-driven exploration of physical media.

Edie is an Artist Fellow at Birmingham Open Media, and an alum of Vivid Project‘s Black Hole Club. Recent work includes commissions from the Open Data Institute, Coventry City of Culture 2021 and Warwick Arts Centre. In 2020 Edie was a recipient of an Arts Council England Developing Your Creative Practice grant, and completed a Masters degree in Digital Media and Culture from the University of Warwick.

Laura Nyahuye

Laura Nyahuye, a Creative Visionary.

Laura is a Zimbabwean-born artist, mother, storyteller, performer, wordsmith, founder of MAOKWO, an arts organisation.

 Laura designs and makes unique handcrafted wearable body adornments. Her work addresses social issues: representation, in the arts sector for minoritized artists, women, young people, and migrant communities. 

Upon Reflection: Responses to the Coventry Cultural Policy & Evaluation Summit: 30th June, 9am

Wayne Steven Jackson

Wayne Steven Jackson - picture shows a man with short hair and a beard smiling broadly at the camera.

Wayne Steven Jackson is a performance maker, writer, collaborator, and educator. His work explores autobiographical experiences and the vulnerability of memory to map, challenge, and document social change. His practice has been supported by hÅb, Word of Warning, Method Lab, Works Ahead, and Arts Council England. As Head of Theatre and Performance at the Arden School of Theatre, he trains creative performers to make postmodern, innovative, and evocative new work. His doctoral thesis explored the performance of memory in connection to placemaking, specifically located in his home city of Hull during its year as City of Culture in 2017, and resulted in the critically acclaimed Now|Then. His latest performance, From Me To Us, documenting the 2019 change in surrogacy law to acknowledge and allow single parenthood, is currently on a nationwide digital tour.

Imogen Robertson

Imogen Robertson - The image shows Imogen, who has long light brown hair, smiling at the camera.

Imogen is Bid Director for Medway’s 2025 UK City of Culture bid. She hails from Medway and has worked in theatre and the arts as a producer and general manager. Imogen’s career has spanned international, large-scale immersive productions including Olivier Award-nominated smash-hit ‘Alice’s Adventures Underground’ as well as UK touring and outdoor shows and corporate collaborations for innovative theatre company Les Enfants Terribles and sister company Les Petits. She has produced work in partnership with the National Trust, Madame Tussauds, Pussy Riot, Toyota and Stella Artois. Imogen joined Medway’s 2025 UK City of Culture bid from her role as Executive Producer (Public Engagement and Learning) for Imperial War Museums (IWM London, IWM North, IWM Duxford, HMS Belfast and Churchill War Rooms).

Janet Vaughan

Janet Vaughan - a black and white image of a woman with short dark hair

Janet Vaughan is a designer and the Co-Artistic Director of Talking Birds, a Coventry-based company with a 30 year reputation for making gently provocative projects which explore, and seek to illuminate, the profound and complex relationships between people and place. Talking Birds is known for its creative use of empty spaces; for its submersible mini-theatre The Whale; for championing accessibility - particularly through the development of its in-pocket captioning system The Difference Engine; and for its smaller sociable events which bring people together for unexpected conversations in unusual places. Janet has been a strong advocate for Coventry's independent arts community for over 20 years, actively bringing artists together to converse and collaborate across artforms through initiatives such as Red Teapot, Pecha Kucha and F13. In 2021, these two strands of work converge in the development of The Nest - a home base and shared workspace for Talking Birds - somewhere to expand its Nest Residency programme, support the independent sector and build its climate-conscious creative community, The Flock. (Opens August 2021).