Jo Taylor, Director, Morris Hargreaves McIntyre

Jo’s role as Director of Morris Hargreaves McIntyre involves working with many key clients on projects such as segmentation and branding; empowering cross-disciplinary teams to develop audiences through a vision-led, audience-focused approach.

Jo has a track record of inventive practice in more deeply engaging audiences and developing mutually beneficial brand relationships. She balances clear strategic thinking with first hand practical experience of the issues facing arts managers in daily life. She provides pragmatic support and confidence to organisations seeking to exploit the benefits of an audience-centric, insight-led approach to organisational resilience.

Recent clients include the Barbican Centre, The Old Vic, Shakespeare’s Globe, BBC Proms, The Place, Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse, Rambert, Lincoln Center, The Public Theater, Kennedy Center, Historic Royal Palaces, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and the British Council.

Previously to working for MHM, Jo brings 18 years’ applied experience in posts across a range of venues, producing, touring companies and arts festivals including senior positions at Welsh National Opera and Wales Millennium Centre. Jo frequently delivers conference keynotes, training, workshops and seminars and is on the board of the Arts Marketing association.

Stephanie Dieckvoss, Art Market Expert

Stephanie Dieckvoss is currently senior lecturer and course director for the Art Market and Appraisal (Professional Practice) MA at Kingston School of Art, Kingston University, London. She also works as a lecturer at Central Saint Martins and teaches on Art History, Art Markets and Globalisation; and is a member of Sotheby's Institute of Art Online Faculty.

Stephanie holds an MA in Art History, an MBA (Public Services) and a PgCert in Art and Design Education and is a fellow of the Higher Education Authority and chair of Contemporary Markets, TIAMSA. In addition to her academic work, she writes for Handelsblatt and the Neue Zuercher Zeitung.

Prior to her academic career, Stephanie spent over a decade working in the commercial sector of the art world; she began her career in blue chip galleries in Europe and the USA before joining Frieze Art Fair as the first Fair Manager in 2003. From 2007 to 2009 she was co-director of the Art HK: Hong Kong International Art Fair and from 2012-2015 she was fair director of Art 13, Art14 and Art15 in London.

Her research interests centre around contemporary art markets, cultural globalisation and emerging markets and the art school as institution. She currently focuses her research on art fairs and power and on private museums in emerging markets. She received a TECHNE PhD scholarship in 2018.

Holly Selby, Digital Strategist

Having worked for over 10 years in digital roles spanning fashion, homeware and art, Holly has developed sound experience of launching new digital platforms for SMEs, helping to define strategy and oversee technical delivery. In 2015 Holly joined Affordable Art Fair to re-launch their website and lead the creation of a new online marketplace for art. A complex undertaking, Holly has steered the platform to its current iteration, driving design and user experience changes over its lifetime to continue to optimise its performance. Recently, Holly left Affordable Art Fair to pursue a career as an independent Digital Strategist.

Anne Gournay, Founder of ContemporArti

After having graduated from her business studies in Paris, France and Toronto, Canada, Anne Gournay worked in marketing for 10 years for the Danone Group both in France and the UK, practicing art as a hobby. In 2004, she decided to retrain and change career, to commit herself to what she was passionate about. After discovering printmaking at Central St Martins in 2007, she redirected her practice on this very demanding and technical medium, and started exhibiting and selling her work internationally. In 2016, she created ContemporArti, an artist-run gallery with a strong focus on editions, which organises pop-up exhibitions, and participates in art fairs. Anne also acts as an agent for other artists and has been instrumental in the creation of “Elton John: Home Run – Dodger Stadium 1975”, a screen print by artist David Studwell, with the collaboration of Sir Elton John and iconic photographer Terry O’Neill.

Carla Benzing, Co-Director, Blank100

Carla Benzing is a German artist, curator and co-director of London-founded temporary art space BLANK100. Within a 15-month period BLANK100 hosted nine exhibitions, various performance events, talks and supper clubs with the aim of supporting emerging artists. With a background in journalism and art history studies in Vienna, Carla completed a Master’s degree in Contemporary Photography; Philosophies and Practices at Central Saint Martins in 2018. Fascinated by how humans relationships interact with new technologies, she focused her research field on the artistic politics of the drone. With seven years of experience in the art world, Carla has worked together with many international artists and contributed to various exhibitions in galleries and museums.

Makesa Kaizen, Art Dealer and Curator

Self-taught art dealer, curator and collector, Makesa Kaizen is also the founder and director of The WHO Gallery. A digital gallery focusing on emerging talent/artists essentially in the primary market. Without a designated flagship space, The WHO gallery operates on the moving gallery concept, hosting and collaborating with pop up spaces to showcase 21st-century contemporary art. Currently studying for his MA in arts and culture enterprise at Central Saint Martins, Makesa’s ambition is to merge the online digital space with the offline principles of a traditional gallery.

David Tanguy, Founder and Creative Director, Praline

David graduated from Central Saint Martins (BA Graphic Design) and founded Praline in 2000. Since then, he has gathered around him a dedicated team of highly talented individuals, all sharing his love and understanding of type and the purity of the form.

David has created numerous successful projects worldwide, encompassing graphic design to branding, exhibitions and art direction. He has worked with clients including Tate, the Royal Academy of Arts, Barbican, Harvard GSD, V&A and many others. He has designed numerous books for international publishers and art galleries, and his work has been recognised with several international awards. He is the co-author of the books Unforgotten New York (Prestel, 2015), Pop City – New York (Editions du Chêne, 2016) and The Scale of Things (Quadrille, 2017).

Joe Elliott, Director of Sales & Marketing, Artlogic

With a background in art and design, Joe began his career working for galleries in the New York area, whilst also designing and developing websites as a freelancer. He then transitioned into the art technology space working initially for Collectrium, before joining the Artlogic team in 2012. Joe is an expert in data migration having helped numerous major galleries transition from locally hosted offline databases to cloud-based solutions. Joe received his B.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of design before attending New York University to earn his M.A. in Visual Arts Administration.

Artlogic works with hundreds of fine art businesses in over 50 countries. For over 20 years, they have been at the forefront of innovation, creating seamlessly integrated websites, databases and apps for galleries, artists and collectors. With simplicity and elegance, Artlogic brings everything together.

Beckie Smith, Directing Consultant, Flying Geese Marketing and Development Consultancy

Beckie is the Directing Consultant at Flying Geese, having previously held the positions of Director of Marketing and Development at The Roses Theatre in Tewkesbury and Head of Global Marketing for Imagination Workshop/ Interactive Theatre International (ITI), working with iconic venues including Sydney Opera House, Wales Millennium Centre and The Lowry. She is an expert in working for regional NPOs, where budgets can be tight and development targets can be tough, but where an audience member’s journey and relationship with the venue and programme provides genuine excitement.

Having graduated from Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama with a Post Graduate Diploma in Arts Management, Beckie is a strong advocate for cultural data analysis. Using profiling and segmentation she aims to encourage people to increase their frequency of attendance or expand their artistic consumption by trying something new. She became a full-time consultant as she values the power that data, insight and research has in making an organisation thrive.