GRAHAM WOODRUFF
Together with Cathy Mackerras, Graham founded Telford Community Arts (TCA) in 1974. Before that, he worked as an actor and director in the USA and British theatre and in the Universities of Georgia, Manchester and Warwick. From 1971 to 1974 he was the Director of the Birmingham University Drama Department. At TCA, Graham was involved in the production of new plays, video films, two oral history books, community festivals and young peoples’ holiday arts workshops. He was responsible for funding applications and finance over 15 years .Graham has written several articles on community arts, published a booklet called 50 images of Telford Community Arts and produced a PhD on Community Arts Theatre. He was also guardian of the TCA Archive for over 30 years.
CATHY MACKERRAS
After graduating in Theatre and French from Birmingham University, Cathy trained in ‘animation culturelle’ in France before founding TCA in 1974 with Graham Woodruff. At TCA she focussed mainly on theatre, alongside community publishing, video, campaigns, festivals, holiday arts and visiting artists programmes. She shared responsibility for the development of policy, management and administration of the overall project for fifteen years. After 1989 she worked as a freelance community arts and education practitioner in drama, oral history and festivals, also leading arts and training programmes in various settings. She continued this work after moving to North Somerset in 2003, where she coordinated Theatre Orchard’s first festival of eight community plays and many other arts/outreach programmes.
DON SANDERS
Don trained as an arts and crafts teacher in Australia. He came to the UK in 1969, working as a painter, scenery designer, sculptor and restorer and as a potter in a special school. Don joined TCA in May 1976 as the third full-time worker and remained in the team for 5 years, developing murals, sculpture, and environmental arts projects as well as working on community celebrations, performances and holiday arts. He later returned to Australia where he worked in eduction and environmental sectors.
GRAHAM PEET
Graham joined Telford Community Arts in 1976. He was the print and photography worker at the TCA Printshop in Madeley. This produced Community Magazines, publicity, protest posters, local history books and Punk Fanzines. Graham continued to work with young people in Telford after moving on from TCA in 1982, making community programmes for Channel 4 and other freelance arts work. He then worked with Jubilee Arts in West Bromwich helping develop The Public, a large community arts building. An interest in interactive media led to the first Bafta award for Interactive Learning. After several local history books he created a museum of the social history of coracles and poaching in South Telford. He continued to help document the work of TCA.
GRAHAM MARSDEN
Graham worked as a theatre designer for seven years before joining TCA in 1976. He facilitated workshops particularly in carnival art, banner-making and puppetry. He later set up the Bannerworks community arts project with his partner Jean Compton in Huddersfield, creating both trade union and community banners, as well as starting the popular Kite Day. From there Graham worked in arts development with three local authorities, pioneering arts work within housing and regeneration in Bolton. He continued working as a freelance artist, developing den making and creative place in Early Years across Merseyside and Greater Manchester. In 2016 he retired to Sheffield and volunteers his skills especially around environmental activism.
KATE BRADLEY
Kate joined TCA in 1976 as an administrator. She had previously worked in administration in industry in Corby and Kettering, but had moved to Bridgnorth with her two sons, where she worked in a youth centre. Kate remained part of the TCA team for many years, dealing with payroll, admin and resources, becoming Company Secretary in the early 1980s. She also became increasingly involved in creative activities herself.
BETTE ABBOTT
Bette was a resident of Sutton Hill when she joined Telford Community Arts full-time from 1980. Previously, she had been a businesswoman in Wolverhampton and later obtained a diploma in Arts Education from the University of Birmingham Extra-Mural Department. At TCA, Bette was involved in creating new Theatre, Fabric Sculpture, Ceramics and Music and used her artistic skills in successful campaigns for a Sutton Hill Nursery School, to prevent families having children in different schools and to win land for Sutton Hill allotments. She was also the coordinator of many Festivals and Carnivals. Bette became the Company Secretary and Administrator in the late 1980’s.
JEAN COMPTON
Jean taught Art at a comprehensive school. She joined TCA in 1979, and worked in the Printshop doing screen printing, photography and printing/publishing. Jean organised a weekly writing workshop at the Printshop and worked with a group of women campaigning successfully, to make an estate road safer after a fatality. On leaving TCA, she set up Bannerworks with her partner Graham Marsden, making banners with Trades Unions, community publishing and photography workshops. She was a Traveller Liaison Teacher in Bolton for 7 years before returning to Community Arts around Manchester, making shadow puppets, willow sculpture, Carnival figures and costumes. She is now retired and doing her own artwork and art for environmental concerns.
SALLY ABBOTT
Sally trained in Community Dance at the Laban Centre and holds an MA in Arts Management. Sally was brought up in Telford, and after running a dance and performance summer play scheme season, she took on a TCA apprenticeship in 1983. She went on to work as part of the team in dance, music and celebrations for several more years. Sally’s subsequent career in arts and event management spanned the public, private and university sectors, including being Director of Arts Council England South East and then Director of Arts at Canterbury University. Sally then retrained and now works in the equine industry.
MARK ABEL
A saxophonist, pianist and composer, Mark was working for Zip Theatre in Wolverhampton before joining TCA in 1984 where he led TCA’s musical activities, including the street/jazz band Public Money. After moving on in 1988 to study jazz at Guildhall School of Music, Mark had a career performing and teaching music at colleges in London, Surrey and Bournemouth and Southampton University. In 2012 he gained a PhD in cultural and critical theory and published a book entitled Groove: An Aesthetic of Measured Time. He is currently a Senior Lecturer at the University of Brighton.
Many other people worked as part of the team for shorter periods, including local artist and teacher Andy Brown (photography, art), and Paul Ashwell (silkscreen/printshop) while other artists worked on short-term projects such as environmental sculpture and glass making. Additional artists/workers joined TCA for summer Holiday Arts programmes and to take up training opportunities.
telfordcommunityarts.org 