THE GARAGE TRUST LIMITED - Key Persons
Chinasa Vivian Ezugha is a Nigerian-born artist living and working in Hampshire. Her work looks at the transition of black women and their identity within culture from colonised subjects to emancipated figures. Vivian works predominantly in performance, using the medium to decontextualise and reconstruct what it means to be alive in this present time and to protest for a world where we are all allowed to dream. She is the founder of Live Art in Wymondham, a one-day site-specific series of events that aim to bring emerging artists working in live art to rural Norfolk. Her work has been presented in venues across Europe, America and the UK, including In Between Time Festival (Bristol, 2017), SPILL Festival (Ipswich, 2018) and Rapid Pulse International Performance Art Festival (Chicago, 2015). She is the winner of the New Art Exchange Open Main Prize (2019), and a recipient of the Santander Universities Post Covid-19 Performance Making Enterprise Award (2020), supported by Santander Universities and ICCE, Goldsmiths, University of London. Ezugha is also a PhD candidate at the University of Exeter and a Research Associate at the Centre for Contemporary Art Derry Londonderry.
Jeremy is the youngest of five children and has lived most of his life in and around Norwich. Having qualified as an accountant working in the profession he has spent the majority of his subsequent career in commercial roles as finance or commercial director for companies ranging from starts ups to £400 million turnover subsidiaries of FTSE100 companies. He has a broad range of experience in the food, consumer goods, logistics, professional services and IT sectors. He also has a strong IT skillset and is a self-confessed IT geek. Jeremy joined the board of trustees in 2017 and Chairs the finance committee acting as a bridge between the finance operations and the board.
Outside work he and his wife Sally have a busy life with their four children and grandson. He is also a keen sportsman though he says his rugby and basketball days are now sadly over. Instead he spends his time cycling.
Job Titles:
- VICE CHAIR
- Head of Development at Norfolk Museums Service
Jo Warr is Head of Development at Norfolk Museums Service, one of the largest regional museum services in the UK, operating 10 museums across the county including Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, Gressenhall Farm & Workhouse and Time and Tide Museum in Great Yarmouth. Jo has been with the Service since 2003 and in her current post since 2014. Her previous roles include working for Arts Council England and the Architecture Foundation. Jo is also the Chair of Governors of Notre Dame High School and joined the board of The Garage Trust in 2017.
John moved with his family as a teenager from Liverpool to Norwich and quickly fell in love with the city and its football club. Following moves around Norfolk with Midland Bank (HSBC) he commissioned videos for the bank before spending the next 30 years running video, event and brand communication agencies, including a subsidiary of WPP and World Productions (Line of Duty, This Life, Cardiac Arrest, The Bodyguard) and an incentive and conference travel business with offices in Leicester, LA and Brussels. He moved back to Norwich as CEO of Open Youth Trust and has been a big admirer of The Garage for many years, working as a brand marketing consultant before becoming Executive Director of the History of Advertising Trust, the largest advertising archive in the world. He is Chair of Norwich Film Festiva l, a board member of Norwich BID/VistNorwich, a member of the Brandland steering group and is keen to promote Norwich and Norfolk as destinations for work, leisure and the arts, whenever he can.
Michael Launchbury is a senior cultural sector professional with a career spanning significant management roles in both the performing arts and the heritage sector. He is a former Chief Executive of The Globe, Southwark and Director of South Hill Park & The Wilde Theatre, Bracknell, where he presented the first WOMAD Festivals in Berkshire. Between 1990 and 2000 he was Director of Public Services and Estates for the Museum of London, where he was responsible for capital planning and development, visitor services, exhibitions, education, security and building management. In that role he project managed the creation of the London Archaeological Archive & Research Centre, a landmark project in providing public access to original materials. Michael is Acting Chair of The Garage Trust and Vice Chair of Norfolk Historic Buildings Trust.
Sarah is a freelance Theatre Producer who produces work in the UK and across Europe. Currently based in the East of England, she's working as Senior Producer at award-winning international theatre company New International Encounter, where she's responsible for touring as well as being the Project Manager for their latest Creative Europe large scale co-operation agreement. In September 2018 as the Executive Director of Other Ways Productions, she produced a weekend of outdoor, site responsive, international work in Cambridge called In Your Way, working alongside the Artistic Director, Daniel Pitt.
Sarah has chosen to carve a path as a freelance Producer as she's passionate about working with smaller companies and individual artists. In this current challenging climate it feels even more valuable to be able to work with as many artists as possible and support them to remain and develop within the industry. She is part of a Producer Steering Committee, managed by the Marlborough Theatre (Brighton) and a board member of The Garage Trust.
Sarah joined the board in 2014. She is currently Director of External Relations at Norwich University of the Arts, overseeing all the university's marketing, communications, student recruitment, events, development and work with schools. With a background in TV production she first came to Norwich in 1992 to work on Unnatural Causes, one of the PD James dramas made by Anglia TV, and continued to work between London and Norfolk until joining NUA in 2009.