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Cultural Leads//

	Liz Blyth - Programme Director Liz.Blyth@leicester.gov.uk Liz Blyth is Cultural Strategy and Improvement Manager at Leicester City Council, and part of Cultural Services’ Divisional Management Team. A key area of Liz’s brief is partnership work and she works closely with Leicester Cultural Strategy Partnership and leads Leicester’s Beacon programme for Culture and Sport for Hard to Reach Groups. Liz has experience in the cultural sector, health and social care, neighbourhood renewal and international development, and is a Governor at Hazel Primary School. She has a diploma in Youth and Community Work, an ILM Introductory Executive Diploma in Management, and a Masters in Management, Organisation and Change.

	Clare Hudson - Leicestershire chudson@leics.gov.uk Clare Hudson set up the Creative Leicestershire programme in 2005 which supports small arts, media and design businesses in Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland. The programme is hosted by Leicestershire County Council. She is also Chair of the Board of Big Difference Company and a Fellow of the RSA. In previous lives she was Head of Resource Development at Arts Council England, West Midlands and Head of Arts for Warwickshire County Council. She has also worked for Classworks Theatre, Leicester International Music Festival, the Royal Opera House and the South Bank Centre.

	Mark Homer - Lincolnshire Mark.Homer@lincolnshire.gov.uk Mark Homer has been the Assistant Director for Culture and Adult Education at Lincolnshire County Council since March 2004 and is the link for local authorities in Lincolnshire. He is currently the Chair of the Lincolnshire Senior Cultural Officers Group and a member of the Executive for the National Association of Local Government Arts Officer.

	Sarah Dawes - Nottinghamshire sarah.dawes@nsdc.info Sarah has been Head of Leisure and Culture at Newark & Sherwood District Council since 2004 where she also the corporate lead for Equalities and also Children and Young people. She has experience in major regeneration projects, health initiatives and partnerships and a background in community arts, education and exhibition. Sarah has been responsible for developing the use of performance management frameworks to underpin and reposition the role of culture within wider partnerships addressing health, education, community safety, regeneration and environmental issues. More recently she led a regional pilot project for the TAES assessment programme.

	Andrew Beddow - Derbyshire Andrew.Beddow@derby.gov.uk Andrew took up his present position as Head of Sport and Leisure at Derby City Council four years ago, during this period he has helped to reposition the service within the Local Strategic Partnership, strengthened the development and enabling role of the service and has established a unique research partnership with Leeds Metropolitan University. The baseline has been the catalyst to embed physical activity within the LAA and the development of a physical activity entitlement within the Children and Young People's Plan. Over the past twelve months he has worked with Cultural Services across the east midlands and north west as a peer supporting the self improvement process.

	Ian Redfern - Northamtonshire iredfern@northampton.gov.uk Ian has worked in the Culture and Leisure environment for 30 years in both private and public organisations. The organisations that he has previously worked with include, Sheffield MDC, Kirklees MC, Bolton MBC as well as LivingWell Health and Fitness. During the 90's, Ian served as a National Council member for the Institute of Sport and Recreation Management (ISRM) and was Chair of the Management Information Forum for a period of 5 years. Ian was recently appointed as Head of Culture and Leisure Services with Northampton Borough Council and prior to this appointment was the Leisure and Sports Development Manager having worked for NBC for 6 years.
	Graham Callister - Northamptonshire County Council gcallister@northamptonshire.gov.uk