The Challenge Group and Young Challenge Group

Carey Robinson is the Curator – Education Programme at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. She has over 10 years experience programming and producing in the cultural field, developing learning strategies and creative initiatives that challenge current approaches to diversity and inclusion in the sector such as the youth-led online digital community, Social Creative Network. Prior to working at the ICA she spent a number of years at Tate working across Families, Schools & Teachers and Young People’s Programmes, as well as taking freelance roles with the Bush Theatre, Coin Street Neighbourhood Centre, SE1 United, Islington Centre for Refugees & Migrants, and the National Maritime Museum.

John Craig is Chief Executive of Care City and his responsibilities include delivering on Care City’s two priority programmes; the NHS Innovation Test Bed and NHS Healthy New Town at Barking Riverside. Coupled to this his focus is to secure future investments for the business, with a particular focus on social regeneration and continue to raise the profile of Care City through generating a positive image of the contribution the work makes to the community it serves.

John is a Senior Associate of Innovation Unit, and has worked with FutureGov, the Cabinet Office’s Policy Lab, Shelter and Stonewall. John spent five years leading Innovation Unit, an independent non-profit that develops radically better, lower-cost public services.

Before his time at Innovation Unit, John worked at the Cabinet Office as a policy advisor, and at the think-tank, Demos, as a senior researcher. He holds degrees from the University of London and the University of Oxford.

Mubin Haq is CEO at Standard Life Foundation and has worked for a number of independent funders, including Trust for London, SE London Community Foundation. He has also been on the board of a range of organisations including Community Foundation Network, London Funders, the London Strategic Migration Partnership and the Homelessness Transition Fund.

Marc, a member of A New Direction’s board, runs Marc Jaffrey Associates that provides development support to leaders and businesses seeking to improve their leadership and communications practice. He designs projects that are forged through use-centred design principles and leads programmes that seek to deliver significant positive social and business disruption and impact. He led the Music Manifesto and has been a Senior Independent Advisor to the Secretaries of State at DfE and DCMS. He has developed a portfolio of award-winning content and services as a BBC commissioner, including the ground-breaking OneMusic for Radio 1. Marc was appointed OBE in 2010 for services to music and education.

Dinah Bornat is a co-founder and Director at ZCD Architects. The practice is design lead and has a particular focus on projects with a social purpose. Dinah is a Mayor’s Design Advocate, a design review panel member for Harrow Council and has numerous advisory and consultancy roles focusing on urban design around children and young people. She has published and continues to produce research in this area.

Assistant Director for Culture and Creative Industries. She is overseeing the publication of the Mayor’s draft Culture Strategy and working on major new initiatives including London Borough of Culture, Creative Enterprise Zones, the Creative Land Trust and the Mayor’s vision for equality of access to participating in and creating culture. Shonagh was previously Director of Jerwood Charitable Foundation where she worked with national organisations to found a range of cross-disciplinary artist development programmes.

James Banks is Director of London Funders, the membership network for funders and investors in London’s civil society, who aim to equip funders from all sectors with the knowledge and networks they need to fund a sustainable voluntary and community sector, to meet the needs of Londoners. James has worked and volunteered in London’s civil society sector for nearly 20 years, and immediately prior to joining London Funders was Chief Executive of Greater London Volunteering, the membership body for social action charities, where he worked with the Mayor’s office to successfully bid for London to be recognised as European Capital of Volunteering in 2016.

David Parker is a consultant specialising in research and evaluation in the arts and education sectors. He has a longstanding interest in education programmes designed to unlock the creative potential of young people and has contributed to a range of studies which seek to explore new methods of measuring and valuing creative development in schools. He has over 20 years’ experience as Director of Research at Creative and Cultural Skills, Director of Research for the Arts Council England’s Creative Partnerships programme, Head of Research at the British Film Institute and as Research Fellow at Kings College London based in the School of Education.