Staff
Free Word is run by a small, dedicated staff led by Director Rose Fenton.
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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.
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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.
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Rachel Buchanan, General Manager
Rachel studied American Literature at university before beginning her career in the arts. She has worked or volunteered for over 20 arts organisations, both in the UK and the USA, including working in the publications department of Wigmore Hall, and managing Screen on the Hill cinema in Belsize Park. In her spare time she is Vice Chair of the Camden Poets, and Treasurer of the Asian Women Lone Parents Association. She enjoys knitting, cooking, walking and reads voraciously, continuously and excessively.
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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.
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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.
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Regena Miah, Administrative Assistant
Regena studied Politics at Queen Mary, University of London, where she was awarded the Professor William J Fishman Prize for the best undergraduate work in the study of migration.
Her interests include working with charities focused on empowering women and the Black & Minority Ethnic communities. Previously, she worked on fundraising with the Women's Environmental Network, who help to empower women to make positive choices that benefit their families, communities and the planet.