Wrexham Community & Culture Trust is a new independent charity based in Wrexham which has been established, with the support of Wrexham County Borough Council, to lead on the delivery of Wrexham’s bid to become UK City of Culture 2029.
As a cultural development trust, WCCT has been established to support and develop the cultural and creative infrastructure of Wrexham in the long-term, encouraging investment in creativity and culture that will benefit the people of Wrexham and build Wrexham’s profile on the national and international stage.
Cultural and community leaders drawn from the Wrexham area and across Wales sit on the WCCT Board of Trustees to lead the charities vision to nurture Wrexham’s creative potential and fulfil its mission to turbocharge Wrexham’s cultural ecosystem by collaborating, connecting, promoting and investing in Wrexham’s unique, diverse people.
Joanna Swash OBE
CHAIR
Business leader, parent governor and recent member of the PM’s Business Council, Joanna Swash is Group CEO of Moneypenny, which has grown and globally expanded, based on a unique award-winning culture, placing people and technology at the heart of everything. Moneypenny answer outsourced calls, live chats and bespoke comms for businesses of all shapes and sizes.
Richard Nicholls
VICE CHAIR
Richard is the first Chief Executive of Heneb – the Trust for Welsh Archaeology. Heneb is a national agency for archaeology and heritage project management services in Wales. He is the former Director of Operations for Arts Council Wales having led the Investment and Funding Services teams distributing £40m annually to arts projects across the country. Previous roles have included Director of Development for Amgueddfa Cymru National Museum Wales and Deputy Head of Development for the University of Liverpool. Richard was born and brought up in the Wrexham area.
Professor Uzo Iwobi
Professor Uzo Iwobi CBE is Founder & CEO of Race Council Cymru, former Specialist Policy Adviser to Welsh Government on Equalities and former Commissioner to the Commission for Racial Equality. Uzo is the founder of the Black Lives Matter Wales Policy Forum, ZeroRacismWales campaign, founder of National Black Asian and Minority Ethnic Youth Forum for Wales and one of the founders of Black History Wales. She heads up Black History Wales programming and has worked with Tŷ Pawb to establish the Multicultural Hub in Wrexham – the first of its kind.
Dawn Roberts-McCabe
As Chief Officer for AVOW, Wrexham’s County Voluntary Council, Dawn is a champion of community led initiatives throughout Wrexham. Originally from California, she brings extensive leadership knowledge and experience from her current role, as well as, from a career as a diplomat for the U.S Foreign service. Dawn has a big heart for Wrexham, her chosen home, and is committed to seeing the city go from strength to strength.
Mike Corcoran
Mike is a freelancer and passionate supporter of the arts in Wrexham. A co-production, involvement and engagement specialist, he holds positions as a Visiting Researcher at Wrexham University, as a consultant with Co-production Lab Wales, and as an advisor to the Public Services Boards of North Wales. Outside of work, Mike is a voluntary trustee of NEW Sinfonia – a multi-faceted arts organisation comprising a professional chamber orchestra, community vocal ensemble, and an education programme – operating across North Wales and beyond.
Neal Thompson
Neal is a fluent Welsh speaker and freelance consultant who has worked in the live music industry for the past twenty years. He is the artistic director of Llangollen Fringe Festival and co-founder of FOCUS Wales, an annual international showcase festival and conference, held in Wrexham, Wales. Now in its twelfth year, FOCUS Wales hosts over 250 live acts and 400+ music industry professionals from across the globe and welcomes 20,000 festival goers to the city centre, each year. Neal is an advocate for the arts and is also a founding member of the Events Industry Wales Advisory Group which was set up in 2020 to represent the interests of live music and cultural events, directly to the Welsh Government.
Graham Williams
Graham is a Director at Sport Wales, the national agency responsible for sport and physical activity in Wales. Current work responsibilities include developing strategies to support communities to be active through sport. He is also responsible for a wide range of service areas including digital and communications, research, policy, public affairs and community grants. Graham lives with his family within the Wrexham area.
Devinda De Silva
Devinda is the former Director of Collaboration at National Theatre Wales (NTW) and is a Council member of Arts Council Wales where he chairs the Equalities Committee. He is currently Co-Chair of the Welsh Government’s Overarching Steering Group to develop a new culture strategy for Wales. Devinda has worked extensively in Wrexham over the past ten years or so, culminating in A Proper Ordinary Miracle in November 2022, a large site located piece of co-created theatre.
Gwennan Mair Jones
Gwennan is a Welsh language community theatre facilitator and artist who pushes theatre boundaries and in her role as Community, Wellbeing and Education Director is part of an executive leadership team for Theatr Clwyd. Gwennan’s passion for community arts and engagement came at a young age growing up in Llan Ffestiniog. Community and accessibility is the heart of all of Gwennan’s work and how through the Arts we can provide opportunity for change within communities.