Stephen Lightbown will become Chair of Candoco Dance Company in March 2021, taking over from Fern Potter who has been Chair since 2018. Dan Daw is the company’s first Associate Artistic Director. Kez Margrie has joined the Board as a Trustee. All identify as disabled.
Lightbown has worked at senior level Communications and PR roles across the NHS and is a former trustee of the spinal injuries charity The Back Up Trust and a published poet who writes about his experiences of being a wheelchair user.
Daw will work alongside Artistic Director Charlotte Darbyshire and Executive Director Jo Royce, to shape and develop future artistic and organisational strategy and thinking. He has previously performed with Candoco and has been working as a member of the company’s Disability Advisory Group.
Margie is a 2019/20 Clore Fellow and Commissioning Editor for ages 7–12 in the BBC’s Children’s department.
Lightbown said, “I am delighted to have been given the chance to support Candoco as it enters its 30th anniversary year. I look forward to working with all the staff and dancers at Candoco to make sure we remain a vital voice in the dance community and the arts more widely."
Outgoing Chair Fern Potter said, “as a ground-breaking, inclusive dance company, the appointment of Stephen and Kez to the Board and the announcement of Dan as our first Associate Artistic Director means that we begin this next chapter of Candoco’s history with lived-experience of disability at the heart of our leadership. Candoco must continue to offer an equitable and accessible space for a new generation of artists, participants, audiences and leaders.”