Meet the Artis team

Nigel Mainard, Artis Director and Co-Founder

Before joining Artis, Nigel was a professional musician and subsequently working in both the private and state education sectors, heading up music provision at a regional government level. He was part of the founding team at Artis, developing the curriculum, recruitment, training and quality assurance processes. He has been the course director for the Creative Teachers Masters Module course at the Royal Northern College of Music. Nigel has worked as an international consultant for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) and has travelled widely delivering professional development programmes for Artis and other establishments to teachers and arts educators.

Caroline Hotchkiss, Artis Performance and Learning Manager

Caroline trained at The Northern School of Contemporary Dance and the London Contemporary Dance School at The Place. She then went on to work with Richard Alston Dance Company in 2001. Later Caroline worked with Jan De Schynkel’s Bark Dance Productions and Silesian Dance Theatre before joining the Mark Bruce Company in 2007. Other choreographers worked with are Lea Anderson, Jeremy James, Fleur Darkin and Yolande Yorke-Edgell for the Yorke Dance Project. Caroline has worked with Artis for more than 14 years and  has extensive experience delivering creative education for primary schools and also working as Mentor Leader and Trainer in Uk and internationally.

Stuart Barter, Artis Mentor Leader

Stu is a theatre practitioner, educator and musician and  has worked with Artis for over 14 years both in UK and internationally, delivering into schools working with children directly, mentoring artists and a considerable profile of working with class teachers as part of their professional development. His extensive education work includes being a Director with New Wimbledon Theatre’s Young Actor’s Company, a practitioner and Director at The Unicorn Theatre, and an associate Director with Glyndebourne Youth Opera. He was has created and facilitated performances with young people at the V&A Museum, and the Science Museum in London. He is a workshop leader for Roehampton University Education Department, and a consultant practitioner for Westway Trust Learning. Stuart is a founder member of TOOT theatre company, with whom he has co-devised and performed. His credits in theatre include work as a composer, actor musician and musical director with theatre companies such as Pins & Needles, Tall Stories, Look Left Look Right, Victoria Melody, Dante or Die and Dead Centre. As a founding member and songwriter of folk-pop band Left With Pictures Stuart has released  albums via Organ Grinder Records, played extensively across the UK, received regular radio play via BBC6 Music, BBC Radio 2 and XFM and been published by Sony Music and EMI.