Marjolein has been visiting Kettle’s Yard since she first moved to Cambridge, and still enjoys the experience of the student concerts, New Music concerts and the Chamber Music series at Kettle’s Yard. She regularly attends other musical and cultural events, both in Cambridge and further afield.

In return for those many hours of enjoyment, challenge and inspiration, she is pleased to support music at Kettle’s Yard more actively and to apply her University background and experience. Marjolein says, “with its newly refurbished galleries, it is an exciting time to be part of an enthusiastic team and help to make music sparkle in this wonderful space.”

Malavika is Head of Live Programme at Wellcome Collection – a museum of contemporary art and historic collections in London – where she oversees a vibrant public programme of events, broadcast partnerships, youth engagement and schools’ activity. Previously, Malavika worked for the University of Cambridge, organising the Festival of Ideas and later, as one of Arts Council England’s nationally selected ‘Change Makers’ at the University of Cambridge Museums. As a local resident, she has always loved Kettle’s Yard and is excited by the radical potential of its vision and role as a cultural space.

Helen has been teaching in a North Cambridge primary school since completing her English degree and a PGCE at Homerton College, Cambridge.

She has worked closely with the Kettle’s Yard community team for the past five years on several projects including Making Conversations and the opening ceremony in 2018 of the New Kettle’s Yard. Helen is also a member of the Open House panel selecting and working with artists and promoting Art and creativity in North Cambridge.

Favaad Iqbal is Head of Indirect Taxes at Cambridge Assessment. Fav received his PhD in Neuropharmacology from University College London in 2012 before going on to qualify as a Chartered Tax Adviser in Deloitte’s Charities & Public Sector team, advising a number of museums and galleries during his tenure. He is a holder of the ICAEW’s Diploma in Charity Accounting and recently completely his Masters in Voluntary Sector Management from Cass Business School. He lives in Cambridge and Kettle’s Yard is one of the places he most enjoys visiting – for the café and drinks receptions, as much as the art itself!

Sabine is a communication specialist with over two decades of experience leading and supporting multi-cultural teams at times of transformation. Having transferred early in her career from the arts and academia to a business environment, she continuously seeks ways to build storytelling and personal identity into organisational narrative. A Swiss and Portuguese national, Sabine has lived in the UK since 1991. Based in Cambridge since 2009, her links with Kettle’s Yard are driven by her interest in the role of museums and cultural capital in shaping the future of diverse communities.

Antoinette Jackson has been Chief Executive of Cambridge City Council since June 2009. The Council provides a wide range of services to the city. This includes arts and community development activities, including some projects in partnership with Kettle’s Yard.

Antoinette is particularly interested in how the arts can help develop communities and shape places

Prior to joining Cambridge she worked for the London Borough of Camden and Reading Borough Council. She attended Somerville College, Oxford where she studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

A long-standing BBC Correspondent, Bridget was appointed the first female Master of Peterhouse, the University of Cambridge’s oldest College, in 2016. 

Educated at Oxford and Harvard as well as two Russian Universities, she joined the BBC World Service as a trainee in 1983 and became the BBC’s Moscow correspondent in 1989, covering the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, as well as the emergence of post-Soviet Russia.

In 1994 she moved to the United States to spend five years as BBC Washington Correspondent before moving back to the UK to take up to the senior role of BBC Diplomatic Correspondent, a position which she held for 17 years, covering global crises and trends, including the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the 2003 Iraq war, the Arab uprisings of 2011, and returning to her earlier specialisation in Russia to follow closely the rise of President Putin.

She has conducted two long interviews with Vladimir Putin. Other interviews with global leaders include Margaret Thatcher, Hillary Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev and Dmitry Medvedev. 

She is host of BBC radio’s weekly discussion programme, The Forum. Her book The Cold War; a New Oral History explores the decades long conflict between East and West through the eyes of those who experienced it at first-hand. Her awards include the James Cameron Award for distinguished journalism, as well as an MBE. She is an Honorary Fellow of her two Oxford Colleges, Lady Margaret Hall and St Antony’s College and has Honorary degrees from St Andrew’s, York University, Exeter University and Birmingham City University, In 2020 she was elected an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy.

Toby is a highly-experienced marketing professional with over 25 years’ experience in running marketing agencies. He is a founding partner and managing director of Sunday, an award-winning agency based in London. He develops marketing and communications strategies for digital, offline and social media, and has worked with a range of consumer and business clients from John Lewis to Savills, to Microsoft and ITV. Frequent visits to Kettle’s Yard as a teenager kick-started Toby’s lifelong love of Jim Ede’s singular vision and legacy.

Beckie is the student member of the Kettle’s Yard Committee. She is in her second year, reading History of Art at Peterhouse. When visiting Kettle’s Yard as part of her course, the rare mix of art and the everyday, as well as the continued tradition of students visiting this wonderful collection immediately sparked her imagination! For all university members, Kettle’s Yard offers a unique oasis of culture and an escape from the hectic world of university life.

Luke Syson is the fourteenth Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum. From 2012-19, he was Chairman of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, where he led on the complete refurbishment of the British Galleries, a $22m project, planned to open in January 2020. Luke has held curatorial positions at the British Museum, V&A and the National Gallery – where he led the successful campaign to acquire Raphael’s Madonna of the Pinks for the nation and curated the highly-acclaimed exhibition, Leonardo da Vinci – Painter at the Court of Milan in 2011.

Nicci is Head of Visitor Services at Cambridge University Botanic Garden, and interim Chair of the Friends of Kettle’s Yard, having been a Friends’ Committee member since 2011.

Nicci was an international finance solicitor at Linklaters in London and Paris for many years, before deciding to change tack and study photography at the then-London College of Printing. This was followed by a decade establishing and running a retail business in the Cambridge area, before joining the Botanic Garden in 2011.

Nicci first visited Kettle’s Yard as an undergraduate. Her interest in Jim Ede’s unique legacy was piqued irrevocably and she has been a supporter of Kettle’s Yard in many ways since moving back to Cambridge, including as an ‘occasional regular’ House and gallery invigilator before the redevelopment project in 2015.

Nicci says ‘It’s a privilege to be leading the Friends at this juncture. The Friends, and I personally, look forward to continuing to support Kettle’s Yard in all its activities.’