Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature are delighted to announce the addition of three new members to their Board of Trustees: Claire Bale, Khaya Job and Emily York. They each join the Board of Trustees at a significant time, ahead of our fifth birthday celebration next month.
The new members bring skills in equality and diversity, cultural education and youth engagement, and will enhance the skillset of the existing board of industry professionals, writers and academics.
Sandeep Mahal, Director of Nottingham City of Literature, said: “It’s a great pleasure to welcome our new board members. They bring new, necessary and complementary skills which will strengthen the board as we continue to develop new international partnerships and new creative leadership and literature programmes. They all intrinsically understand the importance of the UNESCO City of Literature designation and the role reading and writing can have in a city like Nottingham. I very much look forward to their contributions to our understanding, ambition and planning.”
David Belbin, Chair of the UNESCO Creative City’s board, added: ‘It’s been great to meet our three new trustees this month. I’m excited about what they bring to the next leg of our journey. They are each talented, committed young leaders who will make sure we stay in touch with this very young city and find the best ways to tackle the many challenges our city’s young people face: in particular growing mental health issues, the environmental catastrophe and low levels of literacy.’
The new appointments are:
Khaya Job is the youngest member of our Board. A 22-year-old creative from Nottingham, Khaya is the founder of annual magazine and creative empowerment platform, Femme Fatale Gals.
Khaya said: “I am absolutely thrilled to be the youngest member on the board. My goal is to contribute to a better world and shine a light on marginalised voices and those that don’t often get a seat at the table.”
Emily York is Audience Development Manager at The Mighty Creatives, an arts and cultural charity who fight for the creative voices of children and young people across the East Midlands. She has worked in the Education and Arts sectors for the past 6 years after studying English Literature at the University of Leicester. She has witnessed first-hand the transformative effects that creativity can have on people’s lives and believes every child has the right to have equal access to rich arts and cultural opportunities.
Claire Bale – Born and raised in Nottingham, grand-daughter of a Black miner, Claire is a passionate advocate for Equality and Diversity. She brings with her a wealth of personal and professional expertise. Director of Marketing for Nottingham Girls’ High School and part of the Girls’ Day School Trust’s steering group for Diversity, Claire is an expert in driving measurable change. Author of the anti-racism blog, “thatsabitracey.com” and accompanying bookstagram account, Claire is a firm believer in self-education, representation and making a difference.›
As a UNESCO City of Literature, our mission is to build a better world with words. David Belbin, founding chair of the board, and Sandeep Mahal, founding director, lead a team of 3 staff and 11 board members. For more information about all the staff and trustees of Nottingham City of Literature, see https://nottinghamcityofliterature.com/about/our-people