Who we are Meet the Team Martin Bright, Founder & CEO Martin is the award-winning former Political Editor of the New Statesman and The Jewish Chronicle. His idea for The Creative Society (formerly New Deal of the Mind) captured the imagination of the cultural world in 2009 and attracted the support of politicians from across the political spectrum. Martin is Founder and Chief Executive of The Creative Society. Since March 2009 he has been working closely with ministers, officials and arts organisations to deliver jobs in the creative industries. [email protected] Barbara Palczynski, Projects Director Barbara joined The Creative Society as Projects Director in November 2016 bringing with her a wealth of knowledge of the arts and creative sector to strengthen our strategic-thinking and projects work. She has worked for 20 years in music, overseeing large-scale orchestral and opera projects, to cross-arts, multi-media and digital projects with NPOs. She was a founding member of the pop-up club inégales, an open space for multi-genre free improvisation and collaboration. Several of her projects have been nominated for an RPS Award. She has worked with multiple stakeholders across many different countries and she believes firmly in the importance of cultural exchange, creating an environment in which partnership working, imagination and openness can flourish. Barbara works closely with Martin on strategic planning and oversees the mentoring and projects for The Creative Society. [email protected] Kitty Withington, Project Manager After graduating from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 2014, Kitty worked as a freelance drama facilitator and scriptwriter for participatory theatre projects across London. Kitty’s first play The View From Down Here was part of Ovalhouse’s First Bites season in October 2014. Kitty has since worked for Theatre Royal, Stratford East and Rewrite as both playwright and facilitator. Kitty started working as a Project Assistant for The Creative Society in February 2016. She supported the running of Creative Careers Space, a project supporting young people from South London to access work in the creative sector and went on to manage The Creative Society’s schools project, Careers Clusters. Kitty is now Project Manager of the Creative Job Studio in partnership with Somerset House. [email protected]