Board profiles
Charlotte Cane
Charlotte Cane is a Chartered Accountant, working as the Finance Director for the Forestry Commission England. Charlotte was a District Councillor for six years, for three of which she was Council Leader. She was Finance Officer for Eastern Arts Board for two years during which time she gave financial training, advice and support to a range of individual artists and arts organisations.
Gary De'Ath
Gary De’Ath is a lawyer with over 25 years' experience. He is a long standing member of both STEP and CLA and is an acknowledged national expert in Charity Law having handled numerous projects ranging from a multi-million regeneration project in the South West of England to the Relief of Poverty in Africa. He is an Honorary Legal Advisor to the Institute of Charity Fundraisers and visiting speaker to a number of national bodies on Charity Law issues.
Brenda Ferris
Brenda Ferris, who was a Norwich City Councillor since 1979 to 2008, has a broad experience of arts policy at a national, regional and local level, including chairing the region's Local Government Arts Forum, serving as Executive Member for Culture. She's also been very much involved with the Norfolk Contemporary Art Society, East Anglia Art Fund, and Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts, plus serving on Norfolk's Joint Museums Committee.
Chris Goldsmith
Chris Goldsmith is a chartered surveyor and the Managing Director of property developer, Turnstone Estates which specialises in commercial property in the eastern region. He has been involved with the commissioning of a number of public art projects related to Turnstone's developments as well as being instrumental in Turnstone's support of many arts events. Chris is also on the advisory board of Art & Business East.
Trisha Gupta
Trisha Gupta has worked as an architect and urban designer, both in private practices and with Essex County Council in the Built Environment Team at the Planning Department. In 1981, she joined Countryside Properties Plc, one of Britain ’s leading developers creating sustainable new communities and revitalising urban and rural areas, where she was a Director and Group Chief Architect until her retirement in 2007.
Since 2001, Trisha has been a member of the Board of Governors of Anglia Ruskin University. She is also a past Chairman of RIBA East and the Chelmsford Chapter of Architects, and was appointed to the RIBA Holdings Board in December 2006. Trisha is currently Eastern Region representative for the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE). She was awarded the MBE for services to architecture in 1997.
Brian Human
Brian Human has worked in urban and environmental planning in England for over 30 years. He has recently left Cambridge City Council, where he was Head of Policy and Projects leading a multidisciplinary team dealing with planning, conservation, transport, urban design and sustainability issues. He is now an independent consultant taking an interdisciplinary approach to urban planning issues. During his career Brian has built up a strong interest and knowledge in tourism planning and destination management. He was Chair of the Historic Towns Forum in 2006-2008 and is currently Vice Chair; he is a longstanding member and previous Chair of the Tourism Group of the Forum. The Forum promotes best practice in interdisciplinary working in historic towns and cities. Brian is a Fellow of the Tourism Society.
Mirko Junkovic
Mirko Junkovic is the Head of Visual Arts at Long Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge where for the past ten years he has taught sculpture and painting at one of the largest and most successful departments in the country. During his career he has taught at every level – from comprehensive schools to universities. Mirko is a member of the Curriculum Board for the National Society for Education in Art and Design.
Mirko is also a practising artist and has exhibited paintings, collages and ceramics in exhibitions in London and Cambridge. His first degree combined Fine Art and Education and he has since studied Architecture. He has also designed furniture and worked in the furniture making industry.
Gerry O'Keeffe (Chair)
Gerry O'Keeffe is the Director of Customer Support Division at Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations, a large national charity that forms part of the University of Cambridge. Before that he held directorate posts within other successful businesses and charities for a decade or more. He was in charge of marketing at Eastern Arts Board earlier still, where he worked closely with the visual and media arts community at local, regional and national level. He is a keen collector of contemporary art and has helped curate and present community cultural events.
Vicky Smith
Vicky Smith qualified as an architect from Cambridge University in 1980 and has worked in Bristol, Bath and London. Her interest is in the creative rather than the business side of architecture, particularly in contemporary art issues and Public Art. She believes in cross disciplinary working, seeing the boundaries between “art” and “architecture” (and indeed between different branches of art practice) as fluid and indistinct. She is a Director of Stride Design, a web design company that specialises in delivering information about buildings, cities and cultural heritage in a variety of media.