Trustees

Find out more about each of our Trustees below.

Chair: Jill Miller

Jill has extensive public and voluntary sector experience, primarily in the arts and with the aim of engaging, exploring, learning and celebrating. She is passionate about work that promotes inclusion and wellbeing.

After graduating from the Scottish College of Textiles, Jill worked as a freelance Community Artist, Facilitator and Trainer before joining Fife Council, initially as an Arts and Disability Officer in 1990 and then moving to work in Glasgow in1999. In July 2021 Jill retired from the role of Director of Cultural Services at Glasgow Life where she was responsible for strategic leadership and management of Art and Music, Museums and Collections, Libraries, Learning and Community Services. This included major capital developments, events and festivals, and community engagement programmes.

In addition to her role as Chair of Trustees for the Dewar Arts Awards, Jill is currently the Convenor of Creative Lives Scotland, a trustee of the National Trust for Scotland and Largo Communities Together, and the Vice-Chair of Fife Coast and Countryside Trust.

Lesley Thomson

Vice Chair: Lesley Thomson

Lesley is a founding director of the Spreng Thomson consultancy. She has extensive experience of the arts and creative industries having served on the Boards of the Glasgow School of Art (Vice Chair); The Arches Theatre (Chair); Scottish Ballet (Vice Chair); Birmingham Royal Ballet; Horsecross (Perth Theatre & Concert Hall); Scottish Opera and the Scottish Arts Council. Lesley is a passionate advocate for the arts and creative industries and has advised many arts organisations and individuals over the past 20 years.

 Nicola Catterall

Nicola Catterall

Nicola is a trustee of a number of Arts and educational charities having retired from the National Galleries of Scotland in 2018, where she was Chief Operating Officer for 12 years. A Chartered Accountant, Nicola spent over 20 years in financial services, working for J.P. Morgan and Standard Life . Currently studying part time for a Masters in Literature & Arts at Oxford, Nicola has a long-standing interest in the visual arts with a particular passion for sculpture, sculpture parks and land art. An occasional amateur dabbler, she is a keen collector of prints and sculpture.

Roy McEwan-Brown

Roy McEwan-Brown

Roy has received an OBE and a Finnish knighthood for services to music. With more than 40 years experience in arts management, he has acted as Chief Executive of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Director of Arts Development at North West Arts Board and Director of the MacRobert Arts Centre. He has worked in theatre and at Whitechapel Art Gallery, been a member of the Scottish Arts Council, Chair of the Federation of Scottish Theatre and the Glasgow Audience Development Agency, Board Member of the Association of British Orchestras, Traverse Theatre Edinburgh, and Sage Gateshead, and a member of the UK City of Culture 2021 Advisory Panel. In 2017 he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Music (DMus) by the University of Glasgow.

Jean Sangster

Jean Sangster

Jean is Head of Voice and the Centre for Voice in Performance in the School of Drama, Dance, Production and Film at the Royal Conservative of Scotland (RCS). Jean is responsible for the vocal studies on all Acting, Musical Theatre and Contemporary Performance Programmes. A music graduate of the RCS, for many years Jean taught Music at Douglas Academy, singing on the Musical Theatre Course at the Dance School of Scotland and piano in the Junior School of Music at the RCS. Jean is an Artistic Associate in Voice at Dundee Rep Theatre and has worked as a voice coach with many of the main Scottish theatre and performance companies. Jean is one of only18 fully accredited teachers of Nadine George Voice Work and is a keen advocate of Scots Language.

Roberta Doyle

Roberta Doyle

Roberta is a graduate in Business Administration and has held senior director-level roles in marketing, communications, digital, learning and fundraising within Scotland’s largest cultural organisations, including the National Theatre of Scotland, the National Galleries of Scotland, Scottish Opera and Scottish Ballet. She is Chair of the Tron Theatre in Glasgow, a board director of Scottish Opera and a trustee of the William Syson Foundation. Roberta lectures and gives papers widely in the UK and abroad on strategic issues relating to performing and visual arts audiences, marketing, communications, audience development and cultural industry management. She has acted as a consultant on strategic marketing and public affairs to other major European arts organisations, including the Romaeuropa Festival, the National Concert Hall in Ireland and the Rome Opera. Roberta is also a Justice of the Peace in the Sheriffdom of Glasgow and Strathkelvin.

Robyn Stapleton

Robyn is an award-winning singer and song leader who shares her talent and passion for traditional music with audiences and communities throughout Scotland and internationally. Robyn performs in English, Scots and Gaelic. She studied music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and in 2014 won the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician award. She has been nominated as a Scots Singer of the Year at the Scots Trad Music Awards and in 2021 performed at BBC Scotland’s Burns Night celebrations.

Jemma Neville

Jemma is passionate about nurturing confidence and opportunity for all to realise creative expression. She has a background in human rights law and journalism and has worked in a range of roles connecting the global and the local including as Scotland Director, Creative Lives, at The Scottish Human Rights Commission and as a Trustee at the Citadel Youth Centre. Her debut book, Constitution Street, finding hope in an age of anxiety (published by 404 Ink), won The Creative Edinburgh Award 2019. She lives in rural East Lothian.

Eve Nicol

Eve is a Glaswegian playwright and director who has staged award-winning experiences across the UK. Eve was the first Digital Associate of the National Theatre of Scotland from 2011 – 2017 and has since created shows for fields, forests, pubs, clubs, swimming pools, and stages across the UK. Eve has directed world premieres for the National Theatre of Scotland and Traverse Theatre, adapted an iconic Belle and Sebastian album for the stage in collaboration with BBC Arts and Avalon, and wrote and directed her acclaimed production, ‘Svengali’. A dedicated mentor, she has supported young people entering the theatre industry through her roles with the National Theatre’s Connections programme, the Traverse Theatre’s long-running Class Act, and the Citizens Theatre Young Co. Serving as a Council Member of the Scottish Society of Playwrights from 2018 – 2022, Eve has been a steadfast advocate for the rights and recognition of playwrights.

Alison Lefroy-Brooks

Alison qualified as chartered accountant with KPMG prior to qualification as a corporate treasurer. She held a number of senior executive roles in treasury and financial risk management at a variety of listed companies in the UK as well as in the Netherlands for more than 25 years. She has always had a personal interest in the arts and has served on the Boards of the Glasgow School of Art (Vice Chair and Chair of Audit & Risk Committee) and National Theatre of Scotland (Senior Independent Director and Chair of Audit & Risk Committee). She is currently a Trustee of Wasps, a charity that provides affordable studio space to artists and the creative industries.

Jack Fawcett

Jack is a professional percussionist from Scotland and a former Awardee of the Dewar Awards which enabled him to carry out his studies at the Royal College of Music in London where he won the Wolfson Instrument Foundation Award.

Jack has since worked with a wide range of artists and productions including, Disney’s the Lion King Musical, Self Esteem, Deep Purple, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Pete Tong, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, The Philharmonia Orchestra, London Contemporary Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra & Royal Northern Sinfonia. As a session musician Jack has worked on recordings at Abbey Road Studios with Alice Cooper, The Australian Pink Floyd, Rick Wakeman & most recently Scottish singer-song writer Kathryn Joseph. Jack’s TV appearances include the 2011 Lexus TV commercial with Kylie Minogue, 2015 Rugby World Cup Final & Netflix Original film The Outlaw King.

Jack has a passion for teaching and has given masterclasses for the Royal Northern College of Music, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Royal Scottish Conservatoire Junior Department and the National Youth Percussion Orchestra of Great Britain. Jack is the founder of Disney’s Musical Education Playdays which gives children from across the UK free access to musical theatre regardless of age or ability. He has also held teaching positions with Sistema Scotland, Glasgow Clyde College & Glasgow City Council where he coached the Percussion ensemble, Symphony Orchestra and Concert Band.

Simon Sharkey

Simon was one of the founding directors of the National Theatre of Scotland, where he pioneered the “Theatre Without Walls” approach across Scotland and the rest of the world. Over 15 years with NTS, he created a programme of genre-defying participatory and professional arts projects as well as three international festivals. Since leaving NTS in 2018, he has formed “The Necessary Space” which he calls a “Theatre of Opportunity” and he has continued making “acts of wanton wonder” with communities, as well as curating festivals across the world. He is currently engaged in several projects in Brazil, India, Jamaica, Trinidad, Canada and of course Scotland. He was one of the first people in the UK to receive a National Endowment of Science, Technology and Arts (NESTA) International Cultural Leadership Award.” Simon is a director, writer, coach, mentor, speaker and most recently, a documentary film-maker and immersive game designer. He works on epic and intimate scales with site-specific theatre and theatre for social change and is delighted to be a Trustee of the Dewar Awards.

Awardees

We have supported more than 1200 talented young artists.

Are You Eligible?

Any artist who is under the age of 30 and living or working in Scotland can be nominated.