Our small team work hard to achieve big things.
Visual artist Christina joined Arts for Dementia in 2023 having previously set up her own not-for-profit providing creative activities for people affected by dementia. She ensures the smooth running of the charity and our activities from workshops and training to events and Board meetings.
Literature lover and community choir singer, Penny joined Arts for Dementia in 2022 with more than 15 years’ experience in charity management across creative health, mental health and environmentalism. She now leads the charity, working with Trustees and the staff team to deliver our vision.
Sharon joined Arts for Dementia in 2023 following a career fundraising for charities in the conservation and arts sectors. She leads on our Trusts and Foundations fundraising, and supports our individual giving and events.
Viola player and classical music lover, Nigel has been involved with the charity since the very beginning, as Trustee and then as Chief Executive. He now supports our fundraising activities and brings a wealth of experience and contacts to help the charity and its work.
Former gallery owner and visual artist, Roberta joined Arts for Dementia in 2020 as Development Manager after 9 years running her own gallery in Australia. She leads on our work with artists, galleries and exhibitions as well as supporting our creative workshops and participants.
Collage and visual artist, Emily joined Arts for Dementia in 2021 from Tate. She leads on developing and delivering our creative programmes, working with artists, galleries, museums, community centres, volunteers and our participants. She also manages our social media and marketing work.
Our board of trustees guides, supports and advises the staff team.
Tim qualified and worked as a chartered accountant. He held a wide range of commercial and financial roles including advising on organisational transformation, governance and risk management. His passions include painting, opera, learning Italian and keeping fit.
Imran has over 25 years of experience in consulting, equity research and accounting. He runs a leading cement consultancy and is a non-executive director of housing group Capital Letters. Previously he worked in equity research in the construction sector, primarily at Deutsche Bank in London. He qualified as a chartered accountant with Deloitte and is a graduate of the London School of Economics.
Poet, musician and music producer, Ronald is the founder of Talk Dementia, a Dementia Champion with the Alzheimer’s Society, a Dementia Diarist with DEEP and an Ambassador for The Stroke Association, working to ensure there is better provision for the wider sections of our communities in dementia service and dementia research. His background as a music producer and musician has led him to be passionate about the role of creativity in improving the quality of life experience for all those living with dementia.
Award-winning actor and puppeteer Marie is director and Co-Founder of Foan & Fortune Theatre Company. She works primarily in theatre and film, both nationally and internationally. Marie also works as a consultant, facilitator and workshop leader leading numerous workshops on a whole range of topics, from puppetry to Shakespeare. She volunteers regularly at Whittington Hospital and Age UK and has worked closely with Dementia Pathfinders delivering drama workshops for YOYO (a young onset dementia group in Crouch End), as well as delivering the best practice drama workshop for Arts 4 Dementia at the Barbican Centre.
Alan was a partner in the solicitors firm of Edwin Coe, based in Lincoln’s Inn, in its litigation department. He retired from practice in 2015. He volunteers in conservation work on Hampstead Heath and Highgate Wood for Heath Hands, of which he was a trustee, and with the gardening team at the Horniman Museum. He has been assisting Ukrainian refugees with English conversation and tutoring for GCSE English exams.
Peter Millett is a retired British diplomat who served as British Ambassador to Libya from June 2015 to January 2018. During that time he played a role in supporting the UN’s efforts to negotiate and then implement the Libya Political Agreement. He met and built relationships with all the key political, security and economic players in Libya and in the international community. He also managed the return of the British Embassy from Tunis to Tripoli. Before Libya, he was British Ambassador to Jordan from 2011 to 2015 and High Commissioner to Cyprus from 2005 to 2010. Earlier in his career, he had diplomatic postings in Venezuela, Qatar, Brussels and Athens.
A visual artist and sometime choral singer, Kate has nearly 30 years’ experience in the voluntary sector, particularly in operational roles delivering support services for people affected by dementia. Before retiring in 2015, she was closely involved with the London Dementia Action Alliance and subsequently, has completed a BA in Fine Art.
Opera, theatre and art lover, Liz retired in 2015 after more than 25 years as a consultant physician in the NHS and has been involved in teaching, training and management, as well as patient care where she saw many people and families living with dementia. She has previously been a Trustee of a local hospice for several years.
Jina is a Neurologist and Neuroscientist with global expertise in drug development, encompassing Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, cognitive dysfunction, stroke, pain, delirium and MS. She is currently Chief Medical Officer of Exciva, a biotech developing treatments for neuropsychiatric symptoms in dementia and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. [New para] Jina is interested in the interface between science and arts, particularly in the context of therapeutic approaches, by using dance and movement to treat patients with complex Neurological conditions. She has a Diploma in Dance and Movement Therapy from the Laban Institute of Contemporary Dance in London. She also has a medical degree (MB BCh), a specialist Neurology degree (MSc Med (Neuro)) and a PhD from Cambridge University in molecular Neuroscience and neurodegeneration.
Katie Derham is a presenter on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune and since 2010 she has also been the face of BBC Proms. In 1998, she joined ITN as the Media and Arts Editor for ITV News and, at the age of 27, became the youngest newscaster on British national television. For five years she covered showbiz events around the world and hosted the Classical Brit Awards four times. She then presented all the main bulletins for ITV News and took a lead role in covering elections, royal weddings and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. She has regularly presented Arts and Music documentaries on radio and TV. She took up a baton for BBC’s Maestro in 2008, picked up her violin again in 2010 for Sky Arts’ First Love and in 2015 took to the dance floor, making the final of Strictly Come Dancing.
Dr Donatus, Prince of Hohenzollern is an author in the fields of epistemology and historical and systematic theology, with articles published under the nom de plume Markus Hänsel-Hohenhausen. Several have been translated into English, most recently an analysis was written for the Royal College of Music “The Formation of the Invisible – On the Secret of Music in Terms of Epistemology”.
Satinder is a King’s Counsel who also has sat as a Deputy High Court Judge (King’s Bench Division) and a Recorder. He is a member of Kings Chambers, which is a leading set of barristers chambers in the United Kingdom, and the Chairman of Vaishvik Law International an international law firm headquartered in Abu Dhabi. He is involved in some of the most serious and high value (multi-million pound) cases around the world. Outside work, he loves sport, art, travelling, exploring and experiencing diverse world cultures.
Veronica founded Arts 4 Dementia (as it was then known) in 2011 to help develop art programmes at cultural venues to re-energise and inspire people living with early-stage dementia. The Reawakening the Mind programme (2012-13) won the 2012 London Inspire Mark and Positive Breakthrough in Mental Health Dementia Award 2013. In 2014 she was a Sunday Times Changemaker finalist.
Her social prescribing campaign (2019-23) encourages professionals to empower people to access wide-ranging arts from the outset of symptoms. Her Global Social Prescribing: The Arts for Brain Health Debates involved speakers and delegates from over 40 countries. Veronica is a trustee of The Amber Trust, Vice-President of Decibels (Music for the Deaf) and is on the advisory board for the Global Arts in Medicine Fellowships and The British Society for Lifestyle Medicine.
From supporting workshops to helping our communications, volunteers are vital to delivering our work. If you would like to get involved, we’d love to hear from you.
Find out more