Cat Auburn (she/her) is an Aotearoa New Zealand artist living in Scotland. Investigating how culture is constructed, reinforced, and strategically employed is at the heart of her interdisciplinary practice. Cat is currently an AHRC Northern Bridge Consortium PhD candidate at Northumbria University (UK). Her doctoral research is a practice-based, autotheoretical exploration of the personal, political and social stakes of engaging with national identity and collective memory. Cat is co-host of the podcast series, Thinking-With and co-editor of the 2022/2023 Special Issue of the journal Arts, titled Autotheory in Contemporary Visual Arts Practice. Cat’s exhibition, ‘The Horses Stayed Behind’ received the 2016 Award for Best Regional Art Exhibition at the Aotearoa New Zealand Museum Awards.

Karen joined Cove Park in October 2021 initially as relief housekeeper, and now manages the housekeeping team and provides support to residents. Karen has a background in Nursing and Administration, having obtained a BSc in Nursing Studies and a BA in Business. She has worked within the NHS, Voluntary and Social Service sectors prior to joining Cove Park. Karen is also an amateur musician and has given her services voluntarily to the Royal Naval Volunteer Band Association for the past 30 years.

Emma Henderson joined Cove Park in 2017. She is a print and pattern designer and illustrator based in Helensburgh. Since graduating from Glasgow School of Art she has combined her passion for design, screen printing and patterns into a bold and eye-catching fashion and home wears brand. Selling nationally and internationally, clients have included Anthropologie, Whole Foods Market, Paperchase and Fenwiks. Emma’s first textile design collection was selected for the Scottish Show during the six cities design festival and subsequent commissions have included We are What We Do, Graham & Brown and Urban Outfitters. Prior to studying at Glasgow School of Art Emma worked at BAFTA Scotland and The Lighthouse while working on features film and TV productions such as ‘The Magdelaine Sisters’ and Book Group.

Alexia was appointed by Cove Park’s Board of Directors as Director in April 2023. She has as worked for Cove Park since 2004 in a number of senior roles, most recently as Senior Director of Programmes, overseeing its international programme of residencies, commissions, partnerships and collaborations. Prior to Cove Park, she was Curator at Tramway, Glasgow, where she commissioned major solo exhibitions by artists such as Martin Boyce, Pipilotti Rist, Stephen Sutcliffe, Salla Tykka and Tatham & O’Sullivan. A graduate of Glasgow University’s History of Art department, she also worked at Glasgow School of Art and the CCA whilst completing a Ph.D. on early twentieth century fashion design. As Curator for the Scottish Print Network, between 2012 and 2016, she developed ‘Below another sky’, an international programme of residencies, exhibitions and events for Scotland’s five print studios. In addition, during 2016 and 2017, she was Project Coordinator for Little Sparta, the garden of Ian Hamilton Finlay, and its Sharing Little Sparta programme.

With over 30 years in the media, culture and arts industry, Nicola has had the role of General Manager for a number of art establishments, responsible for developing and managing partnerships, events and activities, has knowledge and experience of working with artists, art organisations and creative industries both in the UK and Internationally. Currently the Co Founder and CEO of the Mackintosh Club Helensburgh, she continues to use her skills to run a successful Centre for Arts, Architecture and Design. Responsible for the curation of the Gallery, sourcing and booking artists for performance and workshops within budget, developing and maintaining partnerships with local schools, the Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow Life, Glasgow Mackintosh and the BBC. She has served as Director of Puregreenspace Architects, a practice that specialises in sustainable and green building technology, Sea Change Arts Festival Committee Member, Glasgow Life Advisory Panel Member, Glasgow Mackintosh Advisory Panel Member.

Kerrie joined Cove Park in 2018 to provide operational support during busy periods and now also assists the team with finance and administration. Prior to Cove Park she worked as a senior manager within the hospitality industry, working between Glasgow, London and the West Coast of Scotland in four and five-star hotels. Kerrie is currently studying towards a BA in French & Spanish.

Alex Marrs (she/her) joined Cove Park in January 2022. She is a producer, arts administrator, and values-based fundraiser, and moved from New York City to pursue a MSc in Creative Industries & Cultural Policy from the University of Glasgow. She has worked as the Executive Producer for Brooklyn-based theatre company Colt Coeur, Chief of Staff for Off-Broadway theatre company Primary Stages, and Assistant Director of Arts Advancement at Tilles Center for the Performing Arts at Long Island University. She is a graduate of the Commercial Theatre Institute fourteen week producing intensive and an alumna of TedxBroadway’s Young Professionals group. Alex now serves on the Board of Directors of Playwrights’ Studio Scotland and Colt Coeur.

Thom Switalski-Rees is a Glasgow-based artist exhibiting nationally and internationally, working across print, sculpture and installation. Graduating from the University of Brighton and Glasgow School of Art he has worked as a freelance art technician for public and commercial institutions and leading contemporary art organisations such as MK Gallery, Modern Art Oxford, Talbot Rice Gallery, V&A Dundee and Constantine. His career as a technician and maker has led to his work as an onscreen wood working technician for the Channel 4 TV show Handmade: Britain’s Best Wood Worker, in addition to working with prominent artists to realise large scale public commissions.

Lauren is an arts writer, researcher, and lecturer.  Currently she is a visiting lecturer in MLitt Art Writing at Glasgow School of Art, and one of five curators/researchers based in Oxford forming Hidden Objects Oxford, and has been an external PhD supervisor at Edinburgh College of Art.  She has written regularly for Artforum International and various critical journals and publications in Sweden, US, and the UK.   She is a member of AICA (International Art Critics Association), a Fellow of RSA London, a member of the Oxford Philosophical Society, and The Frontline Club.  She is a Trustee of David Dale Gallery and was the former Chair of Centre for Contemporary Arts Glasgow.  She was Executive Director of The Kitchen experimental arts centre for video, music, dance, performance, literature, film and art in New York City and a founding curatorial consultant of ZKM Interdisciplinary media arts centre in Karlsruhe, Germany.    

With 30+ years experience working on sophisticated, global cultural platforms, Eric Latzky has built vanguard communications strategies in the world of arts and ideas, media, cultural diplomacy, and corporate cultural partnerships.  Through an expansive, non-traditional sensibility, and a strong focus on digital advancement and practice evolution, he has a track record of creating and disseminating transformational messaging, and renewing and leveraging brand value and recognition. A seasoned spokesman, conversant in European, Pan-Asian, and Latin American social and business cultures, Eric Latzky is skilled in the planning and execution of complex projects on behalf of high-level clients.

Brian Lochrie is a qualified Chartered Surveyor with over 30 years of experience working in senior roles with major companies across the UK and in Dubai.  Brian’s experience covers property management, property development and project management across both the public and private sector acting as both a client and a consultant. Brian has experience of the preparation and implementation of policies and procedures and governance.

Karen McMillan is a chartered certified accountant and independent examiner. She has worked with a wide range of charity and third sector clients over the last twenty years, in an advisory capacity, as an auditor, and at Board level.

Parvinder Marwaha works in cultural and climate advocacy and creative programming, exploring core systems of gender, faith and race. At the British Council, she specialises in developing arts programmes across the UK, Europe and South Asia to promote cultural exchange. Her projects include ‘Gender Ecologies’, a cross-artform programme exploring the intersection of women and climate in Bangladesh and Pakistan; ‘Circular Cultures’ promoting sustainable practices across Europe; and ‘Our Shared Cultural Heritage’ – a youth-led programme exploring shared UK-South Asia histories in museums in Manchester and Glasgow. Her personal practice explores arts, culture and food – in her project ‘chai breaker’ she uses chai (tea) as a catalyst to collaborate with artists and designers to explore topics from colonialism and casteism to gender equality.

Heather Parry is a Glasgow-based writer. She is the author of a novel, Orpheus Builds a Girl, and a short story collection, This Is My Body, Given For You. She is the editorial director of Extra Teeth magazine and co-created the Illustrated Freelancer’s Guide with artist Maria Stoian. She works for the Society of Authors, a trade union for writers. 

Sumit Paul-Choudhury is a writer and consultant specialising in science, technology and society. His creative studio, Alternity, focuses on unexplored possibilities and applied speculations. Though trained as a physicist at Imperial College, Sumit spent most of his career in journalism, beginning with a long stint covering finance and risk in London and New York. In 2008 he joined New Scientist, where he served as editor-in-chief from 2011-2017 and as founding creative director for New Scientist Live, as well as editor-in-chief of Arc, a magazine dedicated to creative depictions of the future. He moonlights as an events producer and experimental musician, among other things.

Marianne Stark has enjoyed a 27 year career in hospitality managing prestigious 4 and 5 star hotels in London, Edinburgh and Glasgow before recently making her move to Contract Food Services. She started at Glasgow’s One Devonshire Gardens after university before moving to London’s 5 star Firmdale hotel group where, after 18 months, she became their youngest General Manager at 28. She opened their Haymarket Hotel before coming home to Scotland in 2008, straight to another opening of Hotel du Vin’s then newest hotel in Edinburgh. Marianne then came full circle, returning to where her hospitality career began at One Devonshire Gardens in 2013 but this time as General Manager. In 2022, Marianne left hotels to join Chartwells Independent, part of the Compass Group, as Regional Manager for Scotland. Marianne has a reputation for building strong teams in her businesses – both in new openings and established operations and believes having the right people is the key to success. An eye for detail, excellent service and food quality are her passions.

Nadia Sirc is a freelance lawyer based in Glasgow, having previously been a partner in a top Scottish law firm. She is experienced in providing legal advice in the public and private sectors. She is also experienced in policy writing. She was previously a trustee of both the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow and Outset Scotland.

Sophie Crichton Stuart is Chair of the Mount Stuart Trust, the charitable trust which administers Mount Stuart house, gardens, and rural affairs on the Isle of Bute.  She is additionally the founding Director of the Contemporary Visual Arts Programme at Mount Stuart which aims to promote and facilitate interest in the contemporary visual arts and bring exhibitions of an international standard to Bute and Argyll. Sophie was Director of the Edinburgh Tapestry Company from 1993-2001 and has served on the board for several contemporary arts organisations including The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, Location One and Public Art Fund, New York. Sophie is currently pursuing a master’s degree in modern literature and culture at Birkbeck University.

Among many positions in industry, Peter Jacobs served as the Chief Executive Officer of BUPA from May 1991 to August 1999, before which he was Chief Executive Officer of British Sugar. He served as a Non Executive Director of RAF Strike Command and as a Non-Executive Director of Allied Domecq PLC from 1998 until January 30, 2004. He is a Trustee of Cove Park.

In recognition of Julian Forrester’s significant contribution to Cove Park since 2000. Julian was an advisor to Eileen and Peter Jacobs during the first years of the Residencies, managed the Programme between 2004 and 2008, and was the Director of the organisation from 2009 to 2020.