Team & Trustees

HOUSE Board of Trustees

The HOUSE board of trustees comprises of:

Nicola Coleby – Chair. Partnerships & Development Manager at the Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove.
Kerry Beattie – Lawyer and Partner in Construction and Real Estate at DMH Stallard.
Anne Boddington – Professor of Design Innovation, Architect, Cultural Geographer.
Geoffrey Bowden – Former city Councillor, Chair of the committee overseeing Brighton & Hove’s cultural offer. Journalist and former Chair of Kemptown Carnival, currently a radio and television broadcaster.
Bill Randall – Former Chair of the Board. Previously Leader of Brighton & Hove City Council and Mayor of Brighton & Hove.

HOUSE team:

Lucy Day is an independent curator, lecturer, arts consultant and Founder Director Curator of A Woman’s Place Project CIC, a contemporary arts organisation which takes equality as its starting point, exploring it creatively through exhibitions, projects and events. Day has 30 years’ experience of fundraising and developing exhibitions in private, public and artist led spaces. She worked at SPACE Studios for 5 years, leaving as a Director to develop the Day+Gluckman curating partnership in 2006, which subsequently developed into A Woman’s Place Project. Alongside her curating career Day continues to support artists and arts organisers through mentoring, workshops and organisational change. She is a lecturer, writer and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Alumnus of the Clore Leadership Programme (Clore50, 2017).

Claire Wearn has been Festival Manager with HOUSE since 2015. Claire is an experienced team leader with long experience of commissioning, programming, fundraising, project and event management. Claire’s previous work as a freelance creative producer includes working with Multistory, Magnum Photos, Martin Parr, Photoworks, CiRCA69 and Brighton Photo Fringe as well as various independent artist collectives and companies.

The HOUSE Biennial team also includes:

Nicola Jeffs PR Consultant and Sponsorship; Tim Jukes Website Designer; Claire Quigley Finance Officer.

Former Directors and Curator:   

Judy Stevens & Chris Lord

HOUSE was conceived in 2008, originally as HOUSE Festival, by Judy Stevens and Chris Lord. The first edition, produced in 2009, aimed to provide a visual arts element during the May Brighton Festival. In 2012 HOUSE was successful in achieving charitable status as HOUSE Festival Ltd. In 2017 HOUSE moved to October and became a Biennial.  Judy Stevens and Chris Lord stepped down as Directors in 2019 after 10 successful years.

Stevens and Lord are also the directors of Artists Open Houses (AOH) Ltd, which they formed in 2004 to coordinate and produce the Artists Open Houses festivals, annually in May and December.

Judy Stevens was Festival Director for HOUSE since its inception and remains so for the Artists Open Houses (AOH) Festivals.  She is a practising artist, illustrator and print maker and is represented by NB Illustration.

Chris Lord was Design and Development Director for both HOUSE and remains so for the Artists Open Houses (AOH) Festivals. Chris also has his own graphic design business, Graphic Detail.

Celia Davies

Celia was visual arts advisor and curator of HOUSE since 2009, commissioning more than 25 established and emerging artists across the editions.   She was Co-Director from 2017 to 2019 and oversaw the initial strategic review of HOUSE following the last Biennial in 2017.

Celia Davies is an accomplished arts professional with two decades experience as director, curator, producer and editor, leading exceptional contemporary art programmes across a range of contexts including gallery, development agency and festivals. Her expertise is in the visual arts, delivering artist centred cultural programmes and leading organisations with an expertise in commissioning and talent development.

Previous HOUSE Biennial commissioning panels:

Judy Stevens and Chris Lord, Directors HOUSE Biennial; Celia Davies Curator HOUSE Biennial; Mariama Attah, Photoworks; Marc Steene and Hannah Whitlock, Outside In; Joanna Lowry and Conall Gleeson, University of Brighton