VITA NOVA - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Arts Administrator and Marketing Officer
Alongside Dani, Amelia works as an Arts Administrator and Marketing Officer for Vita Nova.
Amelia is a spirited creative, interested in a plethora of artistic mediums, including singing, physical theatre, voice-over, and devised theatre.
‘I feel like Vita Nova filled a place in my heart that I didn't know needed filling. Being part of a community that provides a safe, creative space for those that society is often too quick to disregard, and abandon is the most heart-warming part of the job for me; I've connected with some incredible personalities and have seen some of the most vulnerable individuals flourish into beautiful souls after coming to Vita Nova. That's what it's all about really, giving everyone a chance to live the life they truly deserve'.
Job Titles:
- Artist
- Arts Administrator and Marketing Officer
Dani is the Arts Administrator and Marketing Officer for Vita Nova, responsible for providing administrative and marketing assistance to the Artistic Director.
Dani is also an artist, performer, and storyteller, creating work around themes of social justice, culture, and mythology.
Sharon founded the organisation along with a small group of recovering addicts in 1999. Originally a short project emerging from Bournemouth Theatre in Education (BTIE), Vita Nova has become over the years a well-established, nationally known community theatre group.
Job Titles:
- Director at the Jellicoe Theatre
Jon is a guest director at The Jellicoe Theatre and divides his time between theatre and community development work frequently combining the two.
Maike originally trained as a picture and sound editor within the BBC's film department in London. She was actively engaged in programme-making processes across the corporation's film and television output, working on dramas, documentaries, current affairs, community programmes as well as music & arts projects. After a decade at the BBC, she decided to re-locate to the south coast, joining the academic staff at the Media School within Bournemouth University. Maike was instrumental in setting up the highly innovative specialist post-graduate degree in sound design, the first of its kind at MA level. Her PhD thesis engaged with the narrative and emotive potential of sound design, within the context of a medium in transition. After over two decades as a Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader, Maike left the university in order to re-focus on her own creative practice and she is excited to be able to share her enthusiasm and experience in sound design within Vita Nova.
Mark David Lloyd is a British contemporary artist who exhibits internationally. He works predominantly in painting but also in other disciplines. His career began as a graffiti artist in the mid 1980s. He went on to study fine art at Falmouth School of Art, the Slade School of Fine Art, and Winchester School of Art. His work has been described as: meta-modernist, post post-modernist, and nascent. He is a lecturer in Research & Fine Art at Bournemouth University. He's had a connection with Vita Nova for many years, producing artwork and mentoring participants.
Martin is an award-winning artist, film maker and photographer. Having begun his practice learning mechanical and chemical based processes he went on to be an early adopter of digital technology. This breadth and depth of knowledge has led him to value the creation of virtual art works but also to have a deep respect for the talismanic nature of the singular, created object and the alchemical qualities of the ephemeral and performative. In his role as Senior Lecturer at Arts University Bournemouth he keeps students in formed on the evolutions within contemporary practice at both technical and conceptual levels. He sees his own work as a form of divination, using its processes to navigate inner and outer territories and encourages others to do the same.
Paul Allen is a visiting tutor at Arts University Bournemouth and University of the West of England. He was Course Leader Photography at University Centre Colchester having taught photographic theory and practice at AUB and been Director of Contextual Studies for the School of Visual Communication at Birmingham City University. He is also studying psychotherapy and working as a life coach and counsellor.
He studied documentary photography at Newport and visual sociology at Goldsmiths and has had his work published in a number of national publications and exhibited in solo and group shows. He also drums in an experimental music group.
Having recently become a Trustee, he is delighted to be working with everyone at Vita Nova and, having been an Art Centre Development Officer, back in community arts.