Awarded an MBE for services to arts based businesses in 2012, Nick is passionate about generating culturally inspiring and socially engaging creative businesses both nationally and internationally.
Having completed a B.Sc. in Biochemistry at the University of Leeds in 1981, Nick then took the not-so-obvious step into the world of theatre and worked as business manager for Black Theatre Co-operative, Tara Arts Group and Talawa Theatre in London. He then established his own youth theatre back in Leeds, Bramley Stop Theatre, before moving to Liverpool to establish the Hope Street Project at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre in 1989.
In 1994 he was appointed Head of Community Arts at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA), during which time he gained his M.A. in Screenwriting. Eight years later he established the Aspire Trust, the Merseyside based international arts education business, during which time he completed his Ph.D. at the University of Hull, supported by a unique scholarship from Creative Partnerships. He was subsequently awarded Honorary Fellowships in Education at the University of Hull and University of Tasmania, Australia.
In recent years he has been especially focused on designing and delivering a range of business start up programmes within the creative and cultural sectors on behalf of Liverpool Vision and the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce.
He is currently Artist Project Manager with the Cumbria based arts and design company, Art Gene and has been leading on the Seldom Seen of Morecambe Bay, Fort Walney Uncovered and Sheds programmes. until June 2015.
Whilst based in the UK, he has developed a range of international partnerships with partners in Australia, Bulgaria, Germany, India, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Portugal, Serbia, South Africa and St. Lucia all of which have the interplay of creativity, enterprise and education at the heart of their work.
