Cardboard Citizens Announce New Chair of the Board of Trustees

Cardboard Citizens announces that Prue Skene succeeds Graham Fisher as its Chair of the Board of Trustees.

Prue Skene has had a long career in arts management, holding top positions at the English Shakespeare Company and Rambert. She has held trustee positions at, among others, Theatre Royal, Bath and NESTA, and has previously chaired The Arvon Foundation (2001-2005), Rambert (2000-2009) and Free Word (2000-2014).

Prue was also a member of the Arts Council England from 1992 to 2000. She continues to work as an independent freelance consultant and leads on Board development for the Clore Leadership Programme. She was awarded a CBE in 2000 for services to the arts, especially dance.

Prue, who takes up her appointment following the Board meeting on 2 November, said: "I'm deeply honoured to have been invited to chair Cardboard Citizens. It is a company whose work I greatly admire, particularly as it directs the power of theatre towards one of the most pressing social problems of today, homelessness. I look forward to working with Adrian Jackson and the rest of his talented and committed staff and to chairing a Board that Graham seems to have made a model of good practice. He will be a hard act to follow."

Adrian Jackson, Artistic Director and Founder of Cardboard Citizens, said: "We are delighted to welcome Prue to the Board. Citz have been blessed with a succession of extremely talented and committed Chairs in our history and I am confident that Prue will take us forward to our next exciting chapter."

Outgoing Chair, Graham Fisher said: "I am delighted to welcome Prue to Cardboard Citizens. Her extensive knowledge and experience of both theatre and governance is exactly the combination of skills needed to successfully lead Citz in its exciting next stage of development. I have had a wonderful six years as Chair; it has been an enormous privilege to work with such talented staff, Members and fellow trustees who are all dedicated to giving a uniquely powerful voice to those untold stories of homelessness that increasingly blight too many people's lives".

Cardboard Citizens is the UK's leading Forum Theatre company, making theatre that effects change - personal, social and political - in the lives of homeless and marginalised people and in society's perception of them. They tell stories that needs to be told, through theatre performed on stage, on the street, in hostels, prisons and centres. Initially set up by Artistic Director and Chief Executive, Adrian Jackson, to work with the street-dwelling residents of Cardboard City, near Waterloo Station, the company is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2016/17. It is currently touring its four star hit Forum Theatre piece Cathy, a new play by Ali Taylor, informed by Ken Loach's pioneering film, Cathy Come Home. Tour details can be found at www.cardboardcitizens.org.uk/events/cathy-forum-theatre-tour-2016.

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