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 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.
Jack Burton
Artistic Director & Sustainability Officer
Jack is the creative lead for the organisation, taking responsibility for company strategy, fundraising, leading on our commitment to becoming carbon neutral and overseeing artistic delivery across our projects. Jack has over 15 years of experience in the creative industries as a performer, composer, and producer for a wide range of companies and creative practitioners including Theatre Sans Frontieres, World Beaters Music, and Georgian Theatre Royal Richmond, and brings a deep-rooted understanding of the creative sector and its unique value to our society, cultivated through many years of leading, participating, learning, and sharing. Jack’s lifelong association with Jack Drum Arts has embedded within him a strong passion for community collaboration. In his spare time, he can be found in his music studio in Newcastle Upon Tyne producing electronic music on his analogue synths. He has released music with independent record labels in the UK, USA, Canada and New Zealand, his greatest hit being ‘Who Gets The Cows?’
Staff Team
James Shepherd
Project Co-ordinator / Youth Arts Facilitator & Green Champion
James co-ordinates our Feel Good Fridays group for adults; our annual BFI Network Film Academy for young people; as well as running our weekly Crook Games Club for young people.. James also supports the wider Jack Drum events programme puppeteering for carnival parades . He has a degree in filmmaking, completed a production traineeship with Artichoke working on Lumiere 2019, is a trained Arts Award facilitator and has a passion for large-scale visual art and collaborative performance work.
James Edwin Lane
Project Co-ordinator / Music Facilitator & Time to Change Champion
James primarily leads across our Youth Music programme inclusive of our Get Set Samba and Youth Music Rock Band Collective sessions. They support young people through mentoring, skills development, and The Key UK Social Action initiative, whilst also providing technological support across the organisation. James also advocates for more open discussion and destigmatisation of poor mental health in their role, as well as for the importance of creating safe spaces for LGBTQIA+ youth. Outside of Jack Drum Arts, James is a member of KCL’s Lived Experience Advisory Board, and an avid composer of music for moving image.
Brendan Swinney
Music Leader / Youth Arts Worker
Brendan supports and leads our regular workshop sessions including Runaway Samba, Baque De Ogum, Jack Drum Ukulele Ensemble, Jackass Youth Theatre and our Youth Music Rock Band Collective. He is a Level 2 trained youth worker and a trained Key facilitator supporting young people to deliver social action projects in the local community. As a proficient musician Brendan is a core member of our gigging bands Runaway Samba, Nordestinos, Baque de Ogum, Jack Drum Ukulele Ensemble, AG/ED and Backbeat Samba.
In his spare time Brendan is a volunteer scout leader, enjoys Gaming and 3D printing, playing Dungeons and Dragons and riding his motorbike.
Jill Chambers
Operations Co-ordinator / Lead Health Advocate
Jill supports the senior management in the administration, coordination and marketing across much of the programme at Jack Drum Arts. She is leading on the company’s Better Health at Work Silver Award, coordinates the Friday creative wellbeing group for women entitled Artful Connections and works on the BFI Film Academy Short Course.
Jill has worked in the cultural sector in North East England for over 25 years, as a project manager, facilitator, maker, marketer, programmer and an 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 up to 800 people at Plessey Woods Country Park in Northumberland.
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.
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
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
Emma Rose
Secretary
Emma is currently Regional Programme Manager for Career Ready. She has decades of experience working in the third sector delivering high impact programmes within the education landscape prioritising working with young people to improve their social mobility, opportunities and attainment whilst building confidence and resilience.
Emma brings to our board a range of skills including marketing, working with businesses to deliver their corporate social responsibility strategy and deliver their ESG objectives and experience of working with schools and colleges to enhance their career offer and increase their ability to achieve the Gatsby benchmarks. Emma is passionate about the North East, community engagement and when she has free time you will find her drumming with Runaway Samba and Baque de Ogum.
Sally Marlow
Associate Artists
Henry Dawson
Youth Theatre Facilitator
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.
Resound Theatre
Youth Theatre Directors
Resound Theatre was founded by Matt Wilks and Elliot Mann in 2022 after they met during a physical theatre project in Czechia and quickly connected over their shared experiences of growing up in the North at a time when access to alternative theatre was very limited. They are passionate about making high quality, home-grown physical theatre in the North of England with young people. Work on Resound’s debut show began in April during a two-week residency at The Plum Yard, (Czechia) under the guidance of mentor company Divadlo Continuo and is ongoing at Resound’s creative space in Sheffield, Abstra Studio.
Sam Ward-Hardy
Baque De Ogum & Runaway Samba Creative Director
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.