Contact us

Get in touch using the email addresses below, or find us on social media.

Choosing who to contact

Events and tickets

Ticket booking enquiries
tickets@thesparkarts.co.uk
Festival attendees
delegates@thesparkarts.co.uk

Artists and programming

Artistic submissions
info@thesparkarts.co.uk
Programming enquiries
programme@thesparkarts.co.uk
Vital Spark
vitalspark@thesparkarts.co.uk

Schools and learning

Schools activity and training
learning@thesparkarts.co.uk

Jobs and volunteering

Job applications
jobs@thesparkarts.co.uk
Volunteer enquiries
volunteers@thesparkarts.co.uk
Charity trustee enquiries
info@thesparkarts.co.uk

Industry partnerships and training

Industry training and development
learning@thesparkarts.co.uk
Vital Spark
vitalspark@thesparkarts.co.uk
Partnerships/sponsorship
info@thesparkarts.co.uk

General/other enquiries

All other enquiries
admin@thesparkarts.co.uk

Social media

Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
LinkedIn

Staff team

Director

Trina Haldar

Trina@thesparkarts.co.uk

Trina is Interim Director at The Spark. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of national touring company Mashi Theatre and former Associate Director: Festival and Programming at The Spark Arts for Children.  As a Freelancer she works as a Director, Facilitator, Consultant in Diversity, Equality & Inclusion and is also a Giggle Doctor with the Theodora Children’s Charity.

Directing credits include productions at Polka Theatre, Derby Theatre, Nottingham Playhouse, Tara Arts, Curve Theatre, Soho Theatre and Prithvi Theatre, Mumbai, India. She was awarded the Naseem Khan commission with Curve, Bristol Old Vic and The Lowry.

Trina is a former participant with the National Theatre – Step Change programme, The Optimists with China Plate and a Clore50 SC Alumni. She consults with Theatres and consortium to increase representation on and off our stages and has spoken at a number of platforms including the Guardians “Our Nations Theatre” conversations with Lyn Gardner and on Radio 4s Front Row programme.

Trina is Co-Chair of the board of international touring, Pilot Theatre (York), former board of Trustees for Theatre-Rites (London) and Advisor to Baboró International Arts Festival for Children (Galway).

Operations & Finance Manager

Tatiana Kidder

Tatiana@thesparkarts.co.uk

As a Woven Textile Design graduate, I had my first experience working for a charity early in my career as a volunteer designer working with hill tribe weavers on the Doi Tung Project, a UNDCP programme for the rehabilitation of the Golden Triangle in Thailand. When I returned to the UK my career path led me to working in Fashion Retail at Paul Smith Ltd where I began as the Chairman’s Office Assistant and progressed as a Merchandiser.

I continued my journey as a Merchandiser working with smaller organisations and start-ups, but after having my first child I decided to move away from Retail. I moved to the not-for-profit sector, which is where I have remained and gained a broad skillset and experience supporting all aspects of office management, from Board Governance to HR to Finance. I haven't looked back since and have dedicated my working life to making sure small charities can flourish and thrive. I am delighted to be working in the Arts & Culture sector, bridging my experiences back to my creative beginnings.

Creative Producer: Learning

Hazel Townsend

Hazel@thesparkarts.co.uk

I have worked with young people and artists in the arts and cultural sector for over 18 years, working with organisations such as The Mighty Creatives and Creative Partnerships before joining The Spark in April 2023. In my previous role from 2015 - 2023 I was the lead for the Artsmark programme across the East Midlands, supporting hundreds of schools and education settings in the region to embed arts, culture and creativity across their whole curriculum and to recognise the powerful impact that arts and creativity can have in education.

My background is in visual arts, having trained in ceramics originally, and I am passionate about the place that arts and culture has to play in transforming and enriching people’s lives, in particular those who are most disadvantaged. Inspired by my previous work with SEND schools and Early Years settings, child-centred practice is at the heart of all my work, and I strongly believe in the importance of listening to children and supporting their voice and agency.

Company Administrator

Kamini Chhana

Kamini@thesparkarts.co.uk

I’m the Company Administrator with a background of HR and Finance working within the Charity sector. I previously worked for Guide Dogs within HR & Volunteering recruiting nationally, implementing new systems and of course getting cuddles from dogs in training.

Being a mum myself I attended several Spark sessions before starting to work with The Spark watching ‘Stickman’ in children centres and libraries which inspired me to work with the Organisation when the role came up. I enjoy working in the background and making the Finance and HR systems work and liaising with various artists, people etc. But the joy that arts bring to a child is what I love to see the most.

Associate Artist: Building Brave Spaces

Sam Redway

Sam@thesparkarts.co.uk

Sam is an international award-winning dramaturg, director, librettist, and co-creator with a deep passion for co-creation, climate focused arts practice, and creative democracy. He recently wrote a full-length opera with Laura Bowler, to be directed by Jude Christian, The Girl with a Hurricane Brain, built through eco-anxiety workshops with children around the world. Recently he co-created HOME:Zero, an interactive family theatre installation on sustainability with Nottingham families, Lakeside Arts Nottingham, Makers of Imaginary Worlds for The National Gallery & NESTA.

He is currently producing the Royal Exchange Theatre’s radically community co-created Den Festival in Rochdale and Our Room’s Social Script programme, working on a new opera co-created with the Royal Opera House’s Young Opera Company, writing his first novels, and is funded by Julie’s Bicycle and Arts Council England to investigate community empowerment as a model of Environmentally Sustainable Deep Touring with international partners.

As co-founder of Knaïve Theatre he co-wrote and performed the world-touring, multi-international award-winning Bin Laden: The One Man Show; dramaturged several pieces including War With The Newts (Lustrum Award for Outstanding Theatre); and wrote an interactive, online, game-based environmental schools piece, Antarctica.

He is Associate Artist (Dramaturgy) of Smoking Apples Theatre Company whose Kinder won Ettie and Offie Awards for Theatre for Young Audiences in 2023.

Recent dramaturgy includes: Joshua Val Martin’s Today The Streets Are Ours for Royal Exchange Theatre, Alex Oates’s The Filleting App (RSC’s 37 Plays); Laura Bowler’s Distance with Juliet Fraser and Advert with Decoder Ensemble.

Libretti include: Samhain Bloom (Edward Shilts), Tiresias 2.0 (Dominic Matthews), Cummings & Goerings (Zhenyan Li) and Women Conduct (Laura Bowler).

Directing credits include: Bermondsey 1983 by Rob Reid Allan and Gareth Mattey, Cupboard Love by Madeleine Dring and The Operatists, GOLD, Antarctica, and FFF (movement direction) by Laura Bowler, Module 471 by Lucy Mulgan and The Operatists, The Macclefield Potatot Riot with the community in Macclesfield, and Dead Tree Gives No Shelter by Bysshe Inigo Coffey and company.

Vital Spark Lead

Mita Pujara

VitalSparkLead@thesparkarts.co.uk

Mita Pujara is the Vital Spark Lead, an artist, researcher, educator, and accredited coach with over 25 years in socially engaged arts. Her extensive background spans theatre-making and dance, with performances across the UK, India, Palestine, Kenya, and China (1994-2007).

As Associate Director of Pan Intercultural Arts, she established London’s first intercultural youth performance company and founded two refugee arts programs for children that continue today. After earning a Master’s in Arts, Creativity, Education, and Culture (University of Cambridge), she transitioned into research and evaluation, consulting for arts organisations and theatres like the Royal Court, Kiln Theatre, and Tamasha. She lectures at universities, including the Central School of Speech and Drama and Rose Bruford College, and is currently developing a one-woman show.

Associate Lead Artist: Small Wonders

David Higgins

david@thesparkarts.co.uk

Early Years Coordinator

Morgan Stockton

Morgan@thesparkarts.co.uk

Morgan is an early years, gallery education and play enthusiast committed to ensuring that young children have the best and most creative start in life.

Morgan has worked at several leading contemporary art galleries such as Ikon Gallery, Nottingham Contemporary, Leicester Gallery, and QUAD. Alongside running Open Play Early Years, an early years programme dedicated to open-ended child-led play in museums, galleries, and cultural spaces.

As the East Midlands Area Representative for Engage (The National Association of Gallery Education), Morgan enjoys sharing best practices and connecting with others in the sector. She has also contributed to two Early Years action research programmes, such as Moonbeams’ Triad Action Research Programme in the West Midlands and Talent25 in the East Midlands.

Find us offline

Address

The Spark Arts For Children
LCB Depot
31 Rutland Street
Leicester
LE1 1RE

Telephone

0116 261 6893