Liz Aston is curator at Axis, the UK’s comprehensive online resource for contemporary art, where she manages the Open Frequency programme and co-ordinates the curated projects, liaising with artists, curators and writers from across the UK. Liz has a broad interest in contemporary art practice; she studied Fine Art at Sheffield Hallam University (1991-1994) and MA in Sculpture Studies at Leeds University (2000), focusing on post-1960s sculptural practices. For over six years Liz worked full time at the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, encompassing research, curatorial and editorial experience.

David Blakeburn has spent the last thirty two years in the Financial Services industry sector, currently with the Royal Bank of Scotland Group. He has worked with Business in the Arts on a voluntary basis for ten years. Originally from Sunderland, he has worked in London and Yorkshire, is married with two children and a first grandchild born in 2007. A director of ESA for many years, he is proud to be associated with work of Karen Watson, Jon Wakeman and the ESA team who, in his opinion, have made and continue to make such vital contributions to Visual Arts locally, nationally and internationally.

Joyce Connolly is a Public Relations Officer at Leeds Metropolitan University where she has responsibity for internal publications, media relations, and liaison with students, staff, photographers and partners. In this role she deals with the Faculty of Arts & Society, Innovation North and The Gallery Studio & Theatre, helping to promote the work of artists. Prior to her role at Leeds Met, Joyce worked in publishing for 20 years for companies such as Oxford University Press and Blackwell Scientific Publishing. She has also worked for Lonely Planet both as a book editor and travel writer researching many different countries and cultures.

Amelia Crouch is an artist and studio holder at ESA. Her work has been exhibited in group shows in the UK and in Helsinki. She works as Gallery Manager at PSL [Project Space Leeds] and as a Gallery Assistant at Leeds Metropolitan University Gallery. She writes articles to commission, including exhibition reviews for a-n magazine. As a committee member of the Leeds based artist led group ‘Monitor’ (2003-2007) she has been involved in organising exhibitions, film screenings and artistic events.

Stephen Feeke read History of Art at the University of Leeds. Since graduating he has worked at the Henry Moore Institute where he is involved in all aspects of exhibition making and project management. Through exhibitions such as ‘Second Skin: Historical Lifecasting and Contemporary Sculpture (2002), ‘Object Cultures’ (2003), 'Towards a New Laocoon' (2007) and ‘Against Nature: The Hybrid Forms of Modern Sculpture’ (2008), he has developed a particular interest in the conceptual intersection between contemporary and historical art. He has done much to expand the geographical reach of the Institute’s programming beyond Europe and North America by bringing the work of more than 20 Brazilian artists to Leeds for ‘Espaço Aberto/Espaço Fechado: Sites for Sculpture in Modern Brazil’ (2006) and curating 'Inverse Times' (2007) at the Musée Zadkine with Brazilian artists Detanico Lain as part of a Paris-wide project entitled ‘Hospitalités’. He was also co-organiser of an event at Tate Modern (2007) called ‘Why sculpture, why here?’ which brought together a number of sculptors from across the world to talk about their work, including Huang Yong Ping, Dilomprizulike, Mamiko Otsubo, Subodh Gupta, Maria Magdalena Campos Pons and Abel Barroso. He has also been involved in local initiatives such as ‘Situation Leeds’ and he curated ‘Cartograph’ with new works by Blair Cunningham for ‘Vitrine’ (2004-06). In 2006 he was also a curatorial advisor for ‘Open Frequency’.

Paul Glinkowski is a writer and researcher specialising in the contemporary visual arts. He joined the Visual Arts Department at Arts Council England (ACE) in 1996, where the main focus of his work was support for the professional development of visual artists. Paul left the Arts Council in January 2004 to work as a freelance arts writer and consultant for organisations such as ACE, a-n, The Artists' Information Company and the National Federation of Artists’ Studio Providers. In April 2005 he was appointed Rootstein Hopkins Research Fellow at Wimbledon College of Art. This fellowship culminated in the publication Good Foundations (Laurence King, London, 2007). In June 2007 Paul was awarded a further fellowship by the University of the Arts London, for Maximising the MA Show, a project that examines how successful Fine Art MA shows are in catering for their audience (see report at www.axisweb.org/maximise). In September 2007, he was appointed the Lead Researcher on the evaluation of the Wellcome Trust’s Sciart funding programme.

Claire Thacker (Chair) comes from a performance art background, and spent twenty years touring Britain and Europe under various guises before settling down in Leeds and gradually working her way through the contemporary arts scene, promoting the arts as an integral part of a nation’s identity. As a founder member of LVAF and the first Chair of the organisation, she is now Chair of East Street Arts. Given the choice I would always prefer Memphis Elvis to Vegas Elvis although I’d never say no to a bit of sparkle…

Arthur Stafford was born in Doncaster, educated in Australia and a boarding school in South Wales. He spent 18 years with international trading and engineering conglomerate Lonrho specialising in corporate law and turnkey project development and management spending most of the period between 1982 and 1989 living and working overseas. He resigned in December 1989 and established an arts development consultancy in june 1990. trading as 'Create', Arthur provided a range of arts development services to local authorities, performing arts organisations and became one of Arts Council England's most widely used capital assessors in the period 1997 - 2005. Arthur turned his back on independent consultancy when he joined the UK's leading New Media organisation, FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, Liverpool), on September 14th 2007 as Commercial and Operations Director. Arthur intends to maintain a high level of engagement with the Board of ESA and to particularly assist in the development of enhanced organisational development and strategic planning.

Andrea Stephenson. Andrea is a Management Consultant (but don’t hold that against her) with 15 years experience of organisational and management development. Prior to that she worked in Government departments on training and development initiatives for young people and adults. Born and brought up in Leeds, Andrea spent a couple of years in London before deciding it was not for her and high tailing it back home. She has a strong commitment to supporting learning and development and helping people realise their potential. Andrea has also been a director for many years and is proud to be associated with providing a supportive environment for local artists; which features in her personal life, as she is the mother of the lead singer in a local indie band.