Erica Steer - Deputy Chair

Until recently Erica was Executive Director of the Devon Guild of Craftsmen. Prior to this she held the post of Crafts Officer at Arts Council England South West. Erica is a South West representative on CraftNet, an independent national network that promotes leadership and strategic development for contemporary craft. Locally, she is a Director of Nourish Festival in Bovey Tracey, Devon and Chair of the Bovey Information Trust.

Before Erica moved to the south west, she ran her own graphic design and print buying business and has worked as a paper maker and sculptor based at a studio in a rural craft centre. Erica has a Masters degree in Heritage Management from Nottingham Trent University.

Julia DeFabo

Julia is the social media manager at Art UK. She holds a BA from Bard College and an MA from SOAS University of London, where her research focused on West African art and on contemporary art in Reunion Island. She has worked with galleries in the US and the UK and has contributed to projects, publications and exhibitions with organisations such as the Smithsonian Institution, the Dak’Art Biennale and the Rencontres d’Arles. She is interested in what the arts can teach us about cross-cultural exchanges and believes in the importance of bringing these stories to more people.

Sheila Stuart

Sheila has had a life-long interest in craft (mainly textiles - knitting and spinning) and has collected studio pottery for 25 years.  Her career has been varied; most of it spent in Cambridge where she worked as a finance manager for several companies for the past 30 years.  Sheila served on Cambridge City Council as an elected member for 10 years, including two terms as Mayor, and was very involved with her community in a variety of roles during that time.  Sheila and her husband moved to Cornwall in March 2021.

Sue Pope

Sue has been involved in the field of heritage education for over 20 years and most recently, as a freelance consultant. She is also a musician and performs as part of her historic music group A Merrie Noyse and work with groups such as the Orchestra of the Swan and the Academy of Ancient Music on education strategy and projects. She has previously been a convenor and trustee for The Group for Education in Museums (GEM)

Rhiannon Ewing-James 

Rhiannon is the Creative Producer with British Ceramics Biennial working on the exhibitions programme as part of the British Ceramics Biennial festival in a curatorial capacity helping to create connections between exhibitions and visitors. Rhiannon also enjoys working with and supporting artists through the exhibitions, commissions, residencies and talent development programmes.
She is a self-described, ‘epic clay nerd’ and a passionate collector of craft.

Chris Balch

Chris Balch is a potter and American lawyer specializing in representing local governments and their elected and appointed officials. Often called on to decipher, respond, and remedy the most challenging conditions and events, Chris has spent his career advising and defending elected and public officials in the performance of their duties and responsibilities to the public. He is regularly called upon to speak around the country on issues confronting public officials. A veteran of the United States Marine Corps, Chris has tried over 100 cases to verdict, most in defense of public officials.

Vidya Thirunarayan

Over the last 25 years, as an Indian Classical Dance, Vidya has been privileged to work within the various facets of the performing arts with the artist’s and artistic director’s perspective largely informing her work. From this core, Vidya has reached out to the cultural sector and organisations in diverse roles such as founder, choreographer, tutor, board member, entrepreneur and advisor.
In 2010, Vidya completed an MA in Cultural Policy and Management and dove-tailed it with working for the Arts Council England. In 2015, she returned to her dual creative practices in dance and pottery and has been combining these in her performance work in a quest to create a new cohesive performance language. This has also taken the form of a Practice-as-Research PhD study. 
Above all, Vidya says that her work is underpinned by her passion for the arts and crafts, and its fundamental value for humanity and civil society.