About us

• Rose Fenton, Director

  Rose Fenton founded LIFT (London International Festival of Theatre) in 1980 and was its Co-Director until 2005. Since then Rose has continued to work with artists and organisations internationally, developing and facilitating projects across Europe and the Middle East, including FIT (Festivals in Transition). She has worked as an arts policy advisor, co-authoring the Arts, Culture and Creativity Strategy for the London Olympic Park post-2012; and was part of a team developing the shortlisted bid for Lublin, Poland to become European Capital of Culture 2016. Rose is on the Advisory Board and develops projects with Tipping Point, an organisation that brings together scientists and artists in response to the challenge of climate change. She is a Mentor for the Clore Leadership Programme and sits on the boards of Dance Umbrella and Aerowaves. She is a graduate of the civic leadership programme Common Purpose, and has received an Honorary Doctorate from De Montford University and an Honorary Fellowship from Dartington College of Arts. With Lucy Neal she co-wrote The Turning World: Stories from the London International Festival of Theatre (The Gulbenkian Foundation, 2005). In 2005 Rose was awarded an OBE for Services to Drama.

• Sharon Ayre, Duty Manager

  Sharon moved down to London from the North East in 2008. Having worked for five years in live music events, she turned her back on the rock and roll lifestyle in early 2011 to join Free Word as Duty Manager. She loves Russian literature, Nineteenth Century Gothic and contemporary writers such as Chuck Palahniuk, Irvine Welsh and Ian McEwan.

• Bern Roche Farrelly, Administrative Assistant

  Bern was born in Dublin in 1979. He moved to London in 2002 to study Fine Art at the Chelsea College of Art and Design. Most weekday mornings he can be found at the reception desk in Free Word in his capacity as an Assistant Administrator. His favourite thing about the job is explaining what the centre is to people who walk in off the street just looking for directions. Outside of work he continues to produce drawings, sculptures and performances as a contemporary artist. He enjoys reading footnotes, wearing bowties, drinking coffee and, most of all, talking.

  www.bernrochefarrelly.com
  

• Eleanor Lang, Executive Director

  Eleanor has spent six years working for a number of arts organisations including the Donmar Warehouse, Y Touring Theatre Company and BAC, as well as working as a freelance producer. Mostly recently she spent a year at the Bush Theatre as their General Manager. Eleanor is on the advisory board of Non Zero One, Tonic Theatre and Y Touring. She is a board member of Kandinsky Theatre and Rose Bruford College.

• Siobhan McGrath, PA to the Director and Administrator

  Siobhan graduated from Middlesex University with a Theatre Arts degree in 2008. She started her career in the arts touring internationally as a founding member of a theatre company formed at university. She has since worked for various arts organisations including Frantic Assembly, Ministry of Stories and LIFT. She joined the Free Word team in November 2011. She is passionate about inclusion and diversity in the arts, and loves reading, talking and hunting for vintage treasure in charity shops.

• Sam Sedgman, Digital Producer and Editor

  Sam graduated from the University of Warwick in 2009 with a degree in English and Creative Writing, and moved promptly to London to pursue a career in the theatre. After completing a master’s degree in Text and Performance at RADA and King’s, he started working in the digital media team at the National Theatre. After leaving the NT to become a freelance content producer, he joined the Free Word team in 2012, looking after the website and all things digital. He remains a writer and performer in his spare time, and enjoys board games, TED talks and obscure London trivia.

  @samuelsedgman