EXECUTIVE TEAM
Helen Ward
Managing Director / Active Citizens Social Leader
Helen is strategic lead for the organisation, taking responsibility for the development of new projects, fundraising, managing key partnerships and leading on our flagship event Crook Winter Winter Light Parade, our Carnival Arts programme and international work. Helen has over 25 years’ experience working in the creative industries both as a practising lens based media artist and creative producer. She is a Churchill Fellow having travelled to Asia to research young people’s filmmaking projects and film festivals, a Clore Social Experienced Leader and a Digital City Fellow.
Helen is passionate about outdoor arts and supporting young people to have a voice using performing arts, music, film and media to develop intercultural skills and be the change makers of the future. Helen is a funding panel member with North Point for the EDF wind farm funds and a trained Active Citizens facilitator. In her spare time Helen enjoys all things Brazilian drumming, outdoor swimming (all year round!) and lots of travelling to remote places in the world.
Emma Rose
Interim Operations Manager
Emma is Interim operations Manager at Jack Drum Arts, and brings decades of experience in the third sector to the role where she has led high-impact programmes and supported volunteers across the education system, as well as applying her extensive expertise in partnership development- working with businesses to deliver meaningful corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives and achieve their environmental, social and governance (ESG) objectives.
A passionate advocate for the Arts, Music, and the North East, Emma is committed to improving opportunities for the community, helping to raise aspirations, increase social mobility, inspire creativity, and build the confidence and resilience needed to thrive.
EXECUTIVE TEAM
STAFF TEAM
Jill Chambers
Operations Co-ordinator / Lead Health Advocate
Jill supports senior management in administration, coordination and marketing. She leads on the company’s Better Health at Work Silver Award, coordinates Artful Connections, the creative wellbeing group for women, and supports the BFI Film Academy Short Course having delivered its accompanying NCFE Level 2 qualification for two years.
Jill has worked in the North East cultural sector in for over 25 years, as a project manager, facilitator, maker, marketer, programmer and educator. She has performed at the Sibiu International Theatre Festival in Romania, taken four shows to Edinburgh’s Festival Fringe and created immersive Halloween performances for audiences of 800 people at Plessey Woods Country Park in Northumberland.
James Lane
Youth Music Lead
James leads much of our Youth Music programme, including Get Set Samba, the Youth Rock Band Collective, our inter-generational community band Runaway Samba, and our Young Leaders Development Framework. They support young people through mentoring, skills development, mental health drop-ins, and help create opportunities for young people to facilitate, lead, and shape the projects they attend. James is also our PAT Tester and the office's technical support guru.
A passionate advocate for mental health awareness and wellbeing, James champions open conversations that help reduce stigma around mental health challenges. They are also committed to creating safe, inclusive spaces for LGBTQIA+ young people. James is a member of the Mental Health Supporting Practice and Research Innovation Group for REACH, and serves on the Lived Experience Advisory Board at King's College London.
Brendan Swinney
Music Leader / Youth Arts Worker
Brendan leads and supports a range of our regular workshop sessions, including Action Station Youth Night, Runaway Samba, the Jack Drum Ukulele Ensemble, Adult Rock Band, and the Youth Music Rock Band Collective.
He is a Level 2 qualified Youth Worker and a certified Youth Mental Health First Aider, providing support to young people experiencing mental health challenges and helping them build confidence, resilience, and positive connections within their communities.
An accomplished musician, Brendan is a key member of several of our performance groups, including Runaway Samba, Nordestinos, Baque de Ogum, the Jack Drum Ukulele Ensemble, AG/ED, and Backbeat Samba.
Outside of work, Brendan volunteers as a Scout Leader and enjoys gaming, 3D printing, playing Dungeons & Dragons, and exploring the open road on his motorbike.
Leah Laundy
Youth Arts Worker
Leah currently supports the delivery and development of our youth work activities, including Action Station Youth Night and our Youth Music projects Get Set Samba and our Youth Music Rock Band Collective. As a trainee Youth Worker, she supports young people through creative engagement, mentoring, and skills development, helping to create opportunities for young people to build confidence and develop their own voices.
An accomplished musician, Leah co-leads Get Set Samba and is a vocalist with Jazzy Dystopia. She has also contributed to the production of BOP Fest, supporting social media activity and samba composition, and continues to play an active role in the wider creative work of Jack Drum Arts.
Leah’s contribution to youth music and community work has been recognised through receiving the Durham County Council Young People's Award for Outstanding Young Person. She has also featured in a documentary for Youth Music’s Rescue the Roots campaign, which highlights the importance of supporting young musicians and creating opportunities for young people to perform, collaborate, and develop their musical creativity.
Ruby Taylor
Lead Youth Worker
Ruby leads our Action Station project- a weekly youth group including arts activities, games, cooking, and a relaxed space for young people to be with their friends and make new ones. Ruby also works on the social action aspects of Action Station, where she facilitates sessions that enable young people to create positive change in their communities.
Outside of Jack Drum Arts Ruby has her own artistic practise as a printmaker and writer, passionate about working with those artists whose voices are often less heard, particularly artists with learning disabilities and autistic artists. In her free time Ruby loves hiking, climbing, swimming in the sea, knitting, and watching the telly.
OUR DIRECTORS
Michele Armstrong
Chair
Michele is currently Head of Volunteering at The Auckland Project. She has a long and established career in the voluntary sector, was previously CEO of 2D Voluntary and Community Sector infrastructure organisation for 20 years where her role included supporting organisations in fulfilling their ambitions and providing information, advice and guidance on a range of third sector issues she was also a trustee of County Durham Community Foundation for 18 years.
Michele brings to our board a wealth of expertise in good governance, oversight and scrutiny. She is passionate about her local community and believes everyone should be able to access arts and culture at whatever level of interest or ability, in her free time you will find Michele at a museum or art gallery or out walking enjoying the beautiful Durham countryside.
Jay Conlon
LGBTQIA+ Advocate
Having recently graduated from University of East Anglia, Jay moved home to County Durham to launch their career in the creative industries sharing their love of community arts with the next generation of young people. Jay was a peer researcher for Kings College London supporting the development of a new LGBTQIA+ curriculum for schools and is a trained Key Facilitator.
As a teenager Jay was a member of Durham County Council’s Children & Young People's Overview & Scrutiny Panel and Public Representative Board Member of the 3 Towns Area Action Partnership. They bring to the board skills and experience in equality and diversity, LGBTQIA+ rights and youth advocacy. In their spare time Jay likes to write poetry and talk politics
Michael Dawson
Safeguarding Advisor
Michael retired after a long career in Education; his last position being Vice Principal following a tenure as Head of School and Director of Computing and IT. Over the last 15 years Michael has specialised in Pastoral work as Designated Safeguarding Lead- a position which gave him a wealth of practical experience solving and managing the many problems encountered by young adults today.
As a board member Michael brings not just his extensive safeguarding knowledge and expertise, but also his passion to encourage young adults to succeed in whatever task they set themselves. In his free time and whilst wearing another professional hat, Michael is also an accomplished sound engineer having worked in the industry professionally in his youth and latterly with his own small company that contributes resources to Jack Drum Arts ongoing events and provision.
Anne Reed
From 2017 to 2025, Anne served as an elected Durham County Councillor for the Crook Division and chaired the Children and Young People’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
Anne's diverse career includes 14 years in health and social care, where she assessed the needs of individuals with learning disabilities and developed care plans. Anne also lectured in further education for 11 years, helping students develop IT skills. For almost 10 years, Anne fostered children and young people, gaining a deeper understanding of community concerns and the importance of creating supportive environments.
Anne is excited about bringing her community engagement expertise and connections to the board. Passionate about her local community, she believes we can all make a positive difference in people’s lives. In her spare time Anne enjoys going on holiday , visiting places of interests but mostly she enjoys being with her family.
Sally Marlow
Sally Marlow is Professor of Practice in the Public Understanding of Mental Health Research at King’s College London where her research interests include health inequities and the role of the arts in mental health. She is also a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio 3, Radio 4 and the World Service, where her programmes include “Storm and Stress”, a BBC Radio 4 series on young people’s mental health, and Scoring Mental Health, a programme for BBC Radio 3 in which people with mental illness co-composed new music to convey their lived experience of mental illness.
Sally was born and raised in the north east and after two decades living and working in the commercial sector in London, New York and various countries in Africa, she made a career change to academia in 2006. She has recently put down roots in the north again, and brings commercial experience, communications expertise and academic rigour to the board
ASSOCIATE ARTISTS
Pete Allinson
BFI Film Academy Short Course Lead
Pete Allinson is a filmmaker with over 10 years of experience working across the camera and lighting departments in film and television. He began his career shooting music videos before moving into narrative-driven projects, with credits including the BAFTA-nominated feature 'Ali and Ava' and three series of BBC Two’s 'Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing'.
Alongside his creative work, Pete is Operations Manager at No Drama, a leading camera and lighting rental company, where he oversees equipment prep and custom solutions for productions such as 'Peaky Blinders', 'Boiling Point', and 'Adolescence'.
Henry Dawson
Peter Morris
Drama Facilitator / Link Worker for Man Made
Freelance workshop facilitator Henry has been part of the Jack Drum Arts story since he was 15 when he started as a participant at Jackass Youth Theatre. Now with a degree in Drama & Theatre from York St John under his belt, Henry has his own arts company Stoke the Flame C.I.C and is one of our most seasoned workshop leaders, having led Jackass, helped to deliver workshops for Runaway Samba, Maracatu and numerous youth sessions at Jack Drum Arts. Henry has previously lived in China, Quatar and Thailand, he spent 6 months as a volunteer at a New Zealand prep school and learned traditional Maracatu drumming at workshops in Brazil as part of a Jack Drum cultural trip in 2017.
Music Facilitator for Jack Drum Ukulele Ensemble
Peter has 18 years of qualified experience teaching Music in post-16 provision across the North East. He has co-written modules for Music Degrees and has an MLitt in Music from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne. More recently, Pete has used music performance, writing and recording to help enrich the lives of people from all walks of life; particularly deprived communities. An active professional musician specialising in electric and double bass, Peter has played in venues such as Theatre Royal Newcastle, The Glasshouse Gateshead and Darlington Hippodrome. In 2025, he played on the main-stage of Hardwick Live and Mouth of the Tyne Festivals with up and coming country music band North Riding.
Sam Ward-Hardy
Music Facilitator for Baque De Ogum & Runaway Samba
Sam is a freelance musician and facilitator currently based in Edinburgh. Sam specialises in Latin American percussion and drum kit with a particular focus on the rhythms of Brazil. A graduate of the Napier popular music course, Sam plays with various musicians, bands and community groups across Scotland and the north of England. Sam has played Brazilian samba with Jack Drum Arts since he was ten years old, progressing from participant to young volunteer, learning traditional Maracatu drumming at workshops in Brazil as part of a Jack Drum cultural trip in 2017. Sam is one of the creative leads of our Nordestinos Bloco and a founding member of BackBeat Samba.
Click these dropdown menus to view our wider circle of associates:
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· Nik Alevroyiannis - Musician
· Tommy Anderson – Graphic Artist
· Richard Broderick - Sculptor
· Hollie-Anne Coleman - Dancer
· Jane Crawford – Visual Artist
· Laura Degnan - Filmmaker
· Ziad Jabero - Musician
· Sheryl Jenkins - Animator
· Lizzie Klotz – Dancer
· Sinead Livingston – Choir Leader· Alys North - Dancer
· Resound Theatre – Theatre company founded by Matt Wilks and Elliot Mann
· Lucy Ridley - Creative Producer
· Alex Rowland - Dancer
· Lindsay Starborn – Ceramic Artist
· Louise Taylor - Photographer
· Hannah Thompson – Circus Performer -
· Morwenna Catt – Visual Artist
· John Paul Courtney - Musician
· Jon Hardeman - Musician
· Angeles Fiallo Montero - Dancer
· Cat Myers - Musician
OUR YOUTH BOARD
At Jack Drum Arts young people play an active and crucial role in our decision-making processes through our dedicated Youth Board.
Established in 2021, our Youth Board has grown to become an integral part of Jack Drum with over 30 young people aged 12 to 21 having taken part.
Currently, the Youth Board is comprised of 9 young people who represent each of our weekly sessions.
These young people have come together with the aim of identifying their goals and developing actionable steps to achieve them.
To date, the Youth Board has produced:
B.O.P Fest 2022, 2023, 2024 & 2025
Jack Drum Art’s Community Ceilidh Fundraiser – raising £2,000
In addition they are active in applying for funding to various grant funders, both local and national and consult with the senior management on large-scale funding applications which would benefit and involve young people.
The Youth Board operates based on five core values:
Collaboration: working together harmoniously to achieve common goals
Equity: ensuring fairness and justice for all young people in our programs
Creating a safe and stable environEmilyment: fostering an atmosphere where every member feels secure and supported
Having fun and enjoying yourself: recognizing the importance of enjoyment and fulfilment in all activities.
Social Action: Taking active steps to make a positive impact on the community and society.
At all levels of our work, young people take active roles reflecting the #iwill 6 principles of social action: YOUTH LED, CHALLENGING, SOCIAL IMPACT, PROGRESSION, EMBEDDED, REFLECTIVE.
Our current Youth Board members are: Belle, Emily, Emily, Jenson, Logan, Max, Nathan, Oliver and Ruby. They are supported by Board Member Jay Conlon.
If you would like more information about our Youth Board or have a project they could help you with please email info@jackdrum.co.uk