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About Nesta

Nesta is an innovation foundation. For us, innovation means turning bold ideas into reality and changing lives for the better. We use our expertise, skills and funding in areas where there are big challenges facing society.

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Creative economy & culture

We bring bold ideas to life to grow the creative economy, and help arts and cultural organisations thrive.

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Figurative

Figurative uses social impact investment to support arts and cultural organisations that benefit the lives of individuals, communities and society through their work.
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Team

Fran Sanderson

Fran Sanderson

Director of Arts Programmes and Investments

Alongside heading up the Arts, Culture and Creativity team, Fran also had primary responsibility for the Arts Impact Fund.

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Seva Phillips

Seva Phillips

Head of Arts & Culture Finance

Seva was responsible for Nesta's social impact investment work in the arts, culture and creative industries.

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Trishna Nath

Trishna Nath

Investment Manager, Arts & Culture Finance team

Trishna joined the Arts and Culture Finance team as Investment Manager for the Cultural Impact Development Fund (CIDF).

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Louisa Shanks

Louisa Shanks

Investment Analyst, Arts & Culture Finance

Louisa worked across the investment process for the Arts & Culture Impact Fund, sourcing opportunities to due diligence, preparing investment proposals and managing portfolios.

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Dominika Cazamea

Dominika Cazamea

Investment Analyst, Arts & Culture Finance team

Dominika was an Investment Analyst for the Arts & Culture Impact Fund, a social investment fund offering repayable finance to arts, culture and heritage organisations across the UK.

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Rachel Green

Rachel Green

Investment Manager, Arts & Culture Finance

Rachel worked in the Arts & Culture Finance team as an investment manager of the Arts & Culture Impact Fund.

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Amplified

Amplified was a pilot programme supporting cultural and creative organisations seeking to develop digital ideas that generate social impact.
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Team

Deborah Fox

Deborah Fox

Director of Creative Innovation

Deborah leads Nesta's Arts practice.

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Celeste Salas

Celeste Salas

Assistant Programme Manager

Celeste managed the Creative Business Mentor Network, a programme which aims to nurture some of the UK’s most promising creative companies by matching them with successful mentors.

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Fran Sanderson

Fran Sanderson

Director of Arts Programmes and Investments

Alongside heading up the Arts, Culture and Creativity team, Fran also had primary responsibility for the Arts Impact Fund.

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Arts and Heritage Matched Crowdfunding Pilot

We're working with arts and heritage funders to explore the potential of crowdfunding through mixing money from the crowd with grant funding.
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Team

Jonathan Bone

Jonathan Bone

Mission Manager, healthy life mission

Jonathan works within Nesta Cymru (Wales), focusing on working across public, private and non-profit sectors to deliver innovative solutions that tackle obesity and loneliness in Wales.

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Sam Mitchell

Sam Mitchell

Programme Manager, Digital Arts & Media

Sam Mitchell was a Programme Manager in the Digital Arts & Media team at Nesta

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Peter Baeck

Peter Baeck

Director of the Centre for Collective Intelligence Design

Peter leads work that explores how combining human and machine intelligence can develop innovative solutions to social challenges.

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Christopher Burnett

Christopher Burnett

Policy & Research Intern, New Technology and Startups

Christopher focussed on the field of start-ups and entrepreneurship, mainly working on the Startup Europe Partnership 2.0 project.

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Toby Baker

Toby Baker

Mission Manager, A Fairer Start

Toby worked with local governments to develop and pilot improvements to services that support young children and families.

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Creative Enterprise Programme

A practical capacity-building programme to support creative entrepreneurs around the world and encourage sustainable and resilient livelihoods.
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Team

Kimberley Ballantyne

Kimberley Ballantyne

Learning and Development Manager

Kimberley worked as the Learning and Development Manager.

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Sonja Dahl

Sonja Dahl

Director, Innovation Skills

As Director, Sonja led the team responsible for spreading innovation skills and strengthening the conditions that allow innovation to thrive.

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