ChalleNGe staff team

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Amy Bere is Director of Culture at Nottingham Trent University. NTU hosts ChalleNGe and as such, is the accountable body for funding and staffing. Amy’s background is in cultural strategy and leadership, and she has worked extensively in arts engagement for all ages, backgrounds and abilities. She is also a trustee of Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature; a member of the Mansfield & Ashfield Cultural Compact and the independent Chair of First Art’s Creative People & Place Consortium. 

Karla has worked in education, early years, and early intervention for 30 years, with a career spanning local government, VCS, and health. She currently leads one of five National Lottery Funded ‘A Better Start’ Partnerships, Small Steps Big Changes, focussed on improving early child development outcomes and systems change and is a passionate advocator for co-production, child’s voice and asset-based approaches with communities and families.

Nigel Cooke is passionate about cultural and creative education. He presently works with Small Steps Big Changes on the UNICEF Child Friendly City programme.  He is chair of Young Creatives Nottingham and a trustee of the Nottingham Music Service.

During his career in the public and voluntary sectors Nigel led on innovation and Early Intervention. He led the team which won the title and delivered the programme for Nottingham City of Football, a programme which linked football, culture and creativity.

Eky is the Child Friendly City Lead for Nottingham www.childfriendlynottingham.org.uk

Eky’s background is in Youth and Play work - she worked across Nottingham with children and young people aged 5 – 19 year olds for over 17 years. Eky has extensive experience of working with children and young people as well as Youth Forums, Girl’s Groups, SEND and Family Support. 

Eky’s passion is to support engagement, participation and the voices of Nottingham’s children and young people. 

Jacqueline has had a keen interest in enabling young people and communities of interest and identity to access creative opportunities for over 30 years.  She has worked in community and local authority roles managing employment development, social regeneration and community-based partnerships. She has led on improving outcomes for parents as part of Every Child Matters and is an accredited specialist in Children and Families work and Participation. Jacqueline has chaired the independent Ending Youth Violence Network aka REALISE since 2016 and is the VCS representative for the One Nottingham Partnership. She is also a passionate advocate for families of children and young people with SEND in Nottingham.

Tara Lopez is Director of Participation at Nottingham Playhouse. Tara has worked in and around the arts and cultural sector across the Midlands for the past 10 years, with a particular focus on children and young people, participation and community projects. She brings with her a strong passion and experience for diversity and inclusion, having led various projects and initiatives aimed at addressing underrepresentation in the sector.

Jo McIntyre is Professor of Education at the University of Nottingham. After a number of years teaching English in local secondary schools, and then teacher education, Jo seeks through her research to understand and improve the lives of those who are marginalized or disadvantaged by society, with a particular focus on refugee education. Jo led on the Art of Belonging project which explored the role of art and culture in fostering a sense of belonging for newly arrived young people in cities in Europe. The Art of Belonging work has continued beyond the original funded project with the development of the city wide Art of Belonging pledge, a commitment that has been embraced by a wide range of arts and cultural partners
in Nottingham.  

Amanda is Head of Learning at Nottingham Contemporary. With her team of programmers and artists she works with schools, families, youth and community groups across the city.  Their approach focuses on partnerships and growing projects together. Before that Amanda worked in schools developing creative programmes for students and families and in neighbourhoods supporting children's voices in local decision-making.