Sarah Shead

Background

About Sarah Shead

Sarah has 16 years experience working in artists development and artistic productions. She's developed projects on a variety of scales, from conception through to touring internationally. Sarah found her passion for dance at the age of 8 and went on to complete a BA (Hons) Dance International at Bretton Hall (UK) and York University (Toronto). She spent the first part of her career working her way up the ranks in organisations such as; Creative Partnerships, Dance4, Yorkshire Dance and CidaCo. During maternity leave in 2010, Sarah founded an independent producing company, Spin Arts. She’s been working as Director and Creative Producer ever since and has produced award winning and critically acclaimed international touring shows. In 2018, Spin Arts was shortlisted for a One Dance UK award for devotion to cultivating brilliant dance makers. In 2021 Spin Arts was nominated for One Dance UK's Best Dance Programme Award, as well as Outstanding Contribution to Arts & Culture at the T&A awards, and was made an RFO organisation through Bradford Council (22-25). Based at The Thornbury Centre (BD3), Spin Arts prioritises artists & communities that are considered under-represented/overlooked and works with them to create unique productions that can be found in theatres, libraries, galleries, community centres, and outdoor festivals. Sarah’s dynamic, down to earth and proactive approach has resulted in investment from Arts Council England, The Heritage Lottery, Wellcome Trust, Big Lottery, Sportivate, The Elmley Foundation, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, PRS Music Foundation, Guys and St Thomas Charity, Design Council, Peoples Postcode Lottery, Peoples Health Trust, Sheffield Bluecoat, Sheffield Town Trust, Church Burgess and The Ingle Foundation, to name a few. Committed to talent development, Sarah has designed and delivered initiatives such as; Catapult (NSCD), Northern Connection (NSCD) and Civic Artist Residency Programme (The Civic Barnsley). She’s also been a consultant and advisor for Arts Council England and DCMS. More recently, Sarah has been an independent consultant for Arts Council England & Jerwood Arts. Sarah set up Artistic Mutiny - an online network of arts & cultural workers seeking to find more equitable ways of working. She also runs Bradford Cultural Voice Forum, a network made up of 300+ volunteers, freelancers and organisations working in Bradford's Cultural sector. spin-arts.com facebook.com/groups/artisticmutinyuk