Meet the Team

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR / CEO

Joe is November Club’s Artistic Director & CEO and took up position in January 2021. Joe has spent his career making site-specific and immersive theatre of all shapes and sizes. As well as directing theatre, Joe has led development and consultancy projects in the heritage and commercial sector based around site-specific story telling.

BUSINESS AND OPERATIONS DIRECTOR

As soon as she performed as a piece of seaweed to Fingal’s Cave, Andrea knew she wanted to work in the theatre. Her wide ranging skills and experience eventually brought her to November Club where she is responsible for funding, finance and human resource management. Keep her sweet, she pays the bills!

MARKETING AND AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

A chartered marketer and native to the North East, Kathryn has worked on a number of campaigns regionally and nationally and has experience in broadcast media and PR, digital engagement and audience development.

PARTICIPATION & GROW PRODUCER

As an experienced project manager and producer Louise has worked with a range North East arts and cultural organisations. She passionately believes in the ability of the arts to inspire and nurture individuals and communities, and thrives on enabling this to happen.

FREELANCE PRODUCER

Lizzie Vogler is a Producer and Executive Consultant with over 10 years’ experience in the theatre industry. Alongside working with November Club, Lizzie freelances with other organisations such as Folio Theatre, BitterSuite and A New Direction.

Before establishing herself as a freelancer, Lizzie was Executive Producer (maternity cover) at English Touring Theatre, whom she joined after 4 years as Executive Producer at Futures Theatre. As someone who started out in the industry without any existing connections or networks, Lizzie is committed to developing new work, from underrepresented communities, that can reach diverse audiences and support those looking to engage with an unfamiliar industry, just as she did in 2010.

YOUNG ASSOCIATE

Khalil pictured playing a tambur, holding a flashlight at Woodhorn at night and holding back a gate in a field.

Khalil lives in Blyth and is from the Kurdish community in the North East. He came to Northumberland with his family in December 2017 and since 2019 has been involved in many November Club productions. He has been part of Fairy tales, Lost, Found and Told, Repeat Signal and Walk in your Shoes.

Khalil has been instrumental in helping promote November Club’s work to the Kurdish and Arabic communities, providing films in Arabic to explain the projects.

He is currently studying for an access course to University and is November Club’s first Young Associate.

FREELANCE ASSOCIATE PRODUCER

Fran is an Artist and Creative Producer living in Northumberland. As a Producer, she specialises in co-production with artists and communities to realise large-scale projects that enable more people to take part and make decisions about arts and culture.

Fran brings 9 years experience as a Creative Producer in the Creative People and Places programme in South East Northumberland and South Tees. She has initiated various artist-led projects in the North East of England and Europe, received Creative UK funding to research temporary rural studio hire, and her screenprints have featured in UK print fairs & galleries including BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Northern Print and Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair. She has recently been awarded Arts Council England’s Developing Your Creative Practice grant to explore rurality, collaboration and sustainability in visual arts practice.

CHAIR
Jill is a communications professional with over 18 years’ experience of working in the creative industries, who believes art and culture can transform the lives of individuals and lead to better connected societies. Most recently she was Head of Marketing and Communications at the Crafts Council, the national charity for craft. Prior to that she held communications and administrative roles at architectural practice Foster + Partners and auction house Sotheby’s.

John is Head of Digital & Operational Transformation for the Employee Ownership Association (https://employeeownership.co.uk/). He has a background in marketing, innovation, business development, and learning across the education, arts and culture sectors. John is a dedicated advocate for social justice and an ardent believer in the importance of inter-generational and lifelong learning. His extensive experience of developing and managing projects and programmes for children, young people, families and schools includes work exploring literacy, storytelling, museum collections, STEM, gender, socio-economic backgrounds, wellbeing, and grief and loss.

Jo is the Founder of Voice in the Room, a public speaking and communication training company. Prior to establishing Voice in the Room Jo spent ten years practicing as a family and employment law barrister at Trinity Chambers in Newcastle. It was during this time that she directed her first ever production at Live Theatre, Newcastle, went on to gain a Masters in Theatre and then develop an initial career directing for national and international companies, from Bristol Old Vic, to ATYP Sydney, Australia.

When not delivering for Voice in the Room Jo runs Communicate with Confidence workshops for the Girls Network, who inspire and empower girls from the least advantaged communities by connecting them to a mentor and a network of professional contacts.

Chris Foxon is an Olivier Award-winning theatre producer. Currently Executive Director of Papatango, he has developed and produced new plays which have gone on to win The Times Breakthrough, Alfred Fagon, Critics' Circle, OffWestEnd and Olivier awards, transfer to the West End, premiere on Sky Arts and BBC radio, and be remounted worldwide. He has also pioneered free and accessible arts education programmes, supporting grassroots artists in every region of the UK. Chris co-authored the bestselling book Being A Playwright: A Career Guide For Writers and has lectured at universities including Oxford, York, Plymouth, Northampton and Gloucestershire. Having grown up in Newcastle, he now lives in North Tyneside.

Helen is a freelance arts & culture PR with a background in broadcast media and more than 15 years’ experience of working with arts organisations. She works with a number of North East theatre companies, and loves to champion regional projects and theatre makers as well as delivering national PR campaigns that help to put our region on the map. Helen grew up in a rural working class town in Cumbria, and having seen firsthand the positive impact arts and culture can have in similar communities in Northumberland, she is particularly interested in the way November Club collaborates with local people and places.

Mark is a solicitor and a Partner at Sintons who are based in Newcastle upon Tyne. Mark is the Head of Personal Injury at the firm and acts for those who have sustained significant, life-changing injuries such as brain injury, spinal cord injury and amputations due to trauma. Mark has a wealth of management and leadership experience as both Departmental Head and previously as the firm’s Managing Partner.

Outside of work, Mark does his best thinking whilst walking, experiences more live music than is probably wise for a man of his age and enjoys all forms of theatre. He also takes great pleasure in the fact that there are more positives to supporting NUFC nowadays than being able to park opposite the ground on match days.

Lauren is the founder and creative director of MOLE, a creative communications consultancy based in Northumberland. After starting her career in the arts and culture sector, Lauren believes that the best ideas don't come from the biggest budgets. A passionate advocate for increasing opportunities for young people in the North East, Lauren works with clients who are raising the aspirations of the region and showcasing the best that the North East has to offer.

Lauren has over 15 years' experience as part of in-house marketing teams in the non-profit and travel sectors and as a senior leader at an award-winning creative agency. A believer in the power of big ideas, Lauren has crafted award-winning campaigns for household names and has worked with teams in a variety of sectors, including homes and gardens, property, family attractions, food and drink and non-profit, both in the UK and the USA.

Fiona is a Senior Lecturer and Director of (Research) Impact at Newcastle University Business School. The vast majority of her research, from PhD onwards, has been within the North East of England, engaging with a wide range of stakeholders from large engineering firms to micro-business owners. From 2014 she has been involved with a variety of research projects, including Creative Fuse North East and Creative Spark that have engaged with creative practitioners in the region through a variety of participatory activities. Fiona’s teaching experience is largely with the students on Newcastle University’s MA in Arts, Business and Creativity and MSc Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship programmes. They are often creative practitioners and come from very diverse cultural backgrounds.

Fiona has always loved theatre and story-telling and, having relocated to Newcastle in 1991, is passionate about ensuring the region’s history and development is accurately portrayed and celebrated.