Board Members

Lindsey Fryer – Co-Chair of the Board

Lindsey is a champion of collaboration and socially engaged arts practice and brings this to Open Eye Gallery supporting programmes with artists working within local communities, across countries and continents in arts, education, health, youth sectors, and the justice system.

Formerly Head of Learning at Tate Liverpool Lindsey brings experience of working with artists and people on different forms of collaborative and socially engaged arts practice, exhibition making and commissioning. Lindsey established Tate Exchange at Tate Liverpool inviting artists and cross sector partners to research, create and exhibit projects on their own terms within the gallery.

Making socially engaged practice public and visible is crucial in the mix for Open Eye Gallery’s programme. Lindsey brings a range of experience in support, having worked with artists, young people, communities and creative partners to include socially engaged practice in Tate’s exhibition programme by commissioning Ferocious Love with Mikhail Karikis; O.K. The Musical with Christopher Kline; Illuminating the Wilderness with Project Artworks; Art Gym with Tate Collective; Utupya with Opavivara.

Lindsey is a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Gallery Education from engage and the Marsh Trust Charitable Trust.


Sol Papadopoulos – Co-Chair of the Board

Twice BAFTA nominated – Hurricane Films’ producer/director Sol has originated, written and shot documentary films and series for broadcasters, both nationally & internationally. Originally a stills photographer who picked up a film camera after a short course at the National Film School in Beaconsfield, England; his work to date has included the acclaimed historical series for WNET/PBS, WARSHIP and WARPLANE. As a self-shooter he includes his observational documentary, DOCKERS, for the UK’s Channel Four as one of his six Royal Television Society award winners.

Moving into producing feature films in 2008 with director Terence Davies’ OF TIME & THE CITY. A further two Terence Davies directed features followed – all critically acclaimed, premieres were Cannes (2008) OF TIME & THE CITY, SUNSET SONG in Toronto (2015) and A QUIET PASSION in Berlin (2016); In May 2017 his film A PRAYER BEFORE DAWN, also premiered at Cannes. More recently he has produced Bill Nighy starrer SOMETIMES ALWAYS NEVER (2019) and Tim Spall/Phyllis Logan starrer THE LAST BUS (2021). Sol attends all the major international film markets to develop and finance Hurricane Films’ slate of projects.

Sol is a member of Directors UK & BAFTA.


Steven Lucy – Treasurer

Steven joined Evelyn Partners (then Tilney) in 2014. He is an Associate Director and Portfolio Manager. His primary responsibility is managing investment portfolios for private clients, trusts, corporates and charities.

Steven graduated with a first class degree in Economics from Cardiff University. He is a Chartered Wealth Manager and Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment.


Gary Bratchford

Gary Bratchford is a Reader in photography at Birmingham City University.


Iam Burn

Iam is a post-graduate of the University of Sunderland (Photography) and an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society. His own contemporary photographic practice has a strong focus on mental health, often drawing from his own experiences. He also has experience in Photojournalism.

Iam currently works for a Creative People and Places (CPP) organisation, funded by Arts Council England, in the North-East of England. The aim of all CPPs is to focus on parts of the country where involvement in creativity and culture is significantly below the national average and make it an accepted and expected part of people’s lives through community engagement. Iam’s speciality concerns identifying, developing, and communicating the social and cultural impact arising from his organisation’s work by building and managing effective means of capturing impact.

Iam also has an enthusiasm for music, including live performance photography and passionately writing about the subject.


James Gadd

James Gadd has over a decade of marketing and communications experience across private sector, public service, and charity contexts. He has a special focus on user experience and accessibility.

Graduating from University of Birmingham in 2014 with a degree in English, James has since worked at Halfords in the Customer Experience department and was heavily involved with the launch of Cycle Republic. He went freelance for many years working across ecomm, medtech, and business intelligence.

Until last year, James was Communications Manager for Manchester City Council where he oversaw communications teams responsible for all channels. During this time, he was especially focused on the Covid response, ensuring that the vaccine was delivered to every demographic through strategic, responsive, and sympathetic communications.

James currently works at Mankind, a charity that provides counselling for those affected by unwanted sexual experiences, as well as managing the 1in6.uk site, providing a range of resources.


Lilian Otaye-Ebede (PHD)

Professor Lilian Otaye-Ebede (PhD) is a Professor in Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour with the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom, holding a PhD in Management from Aston University. She has over 13 years’ experience in higher education, having held previous academic positions at Aston, Lancaster, Sheffield, Manchester and Liverpool John Moores Universities.

Her research interests are in the areas of diversity management (race/ethnicity, gender, neurodiversity), strategic Human Resource Management (HRM), work/life interface and employee well-being. Lilian is an Associate Member of the Higher Education Academy, an Academic Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) and serves on various journal editorial boards. Lilian advises the OEG board on HR and Race equality matters.


Lindsay Pellow

Lindsay is a Liverpool based data & analytics professional with over 20 years’ commercial experience in the Retail and Financial Services sectors. Lindsay is active in the North West data leaders community, and a member of the UK Women in Data network where she was named as one of the Twenty in Data & Technology 2018. She is currently the Data & Analytics Director and DPO for Network Digital Marketing Ltd, a leading provider of discounts to Healthcare, Education, Care, and Charity sector workers.


Maike Pötschulat

Maike is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Liverpool John Moores University specialising in urban and visual sociology. She has experience of using participant-led visual methods and is interested in the potential of the visual to generate new insights about the social world. Besides her academic work, Maike has worked for and volunteered at a range of urban organisations (predominantly in the third sector) in Germany and the UK.


Salma Raheem

Christiane Todd

Christiane specialises in commercial and procurement law and has worked in both private practice and in-house. Christiane works for a global organisation and is legal counsel for procurement contracts in 41 countries. The organisation also has a substantial Arts and Culture programme to which Christiane provides legal support and guidance in addition to her regular work.


Ian Stenton

Ian is Head of Estates Sustainability at NHS England, working in the national estates and facilities team. His role includes developing guidance and working with NHS organisations to identify, share and replicate best practice in meeting national carbon targets. He has a keen interest in all aspects of sustainability, including energy, waste, green spaces, social value, climate change adaptation and arts for health.

Ian has more than ten years’ experience in public sector sustainability roles. He was previously Head of Sustainability at Liverpool University Hospitals and Greener NHS lead for Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership. He has held previous board roles at Kensington Fields Community Association and the Clean Growth Board of the Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, and was the healthcare lead for the Liverpool 2030 Hub. In addition to a Masters in Sustainable Development, he also holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Executive Coaching.


Ghazal Vahed

Ghazal Vahed is an Account Executive for a leading hospitality software company. Originally from Iran, Ghazal immigrated to England at a young age, fostering a deep interest in both local and international politics. With a robust background in the hospitality industry, she is dedicated to leveraging her expertise to drive technological advancements in the sector. Ghazal is also passionate about social justice, actively engaging in initiatives that promote equity and inclusivity within her community and beyond. 

Young Board Members – July 2024 / July 2025 Cohort

Isaac Costello

Isaac is a classicist and musician, born in Blackburn and currently based in Manchester. Completing a Classics MA at Durham University in 2023, Isaac’s academic interests centre on the history of collecting, and the role that imperialism and colonialism played in the formation of Britain’s national collections. In future research he hopes to explore how Britain’s museums and galleries can better democratise by honestly displaying the history of their collections and working to better reflect and incorporate their local communities.

As an arts organiser at University, Isaac co-founded Reliquary, a grassroots collective that provided a progressive and safe platform for artists through free printed zines and live music events. Starting small, Reliquary’s events consistently grew in size, eventually winning an award and culminating in an all-day free music festival that the university’s artists together to network and celebrate their achievements as a community. Having now relocated to Manchester he hopes to start a similar grassroots publication to platform and create a community for local artists.

In the professional world, Isaac’s work has centred around improving organisations financial systems and governance. As the Finance and Compliance Officer of St. Cuthbert’s Society JCR, a student run charity, he worked to professionalise their financial planning by creating a new accounting and fund allocation system. These improvements allowed the Charity’s operations to become more accountable and transparent to their beneficiaries and the charity commission. Isaac currently works as a Student Finance Administrator at the University of Manchester, managing invoicing and liaising with tuition fee sponsors but he hopes to soon bring his skills to the heritage sector.


Afzal Khan

Afzal is a freelance curator and researcher, who also currently works at the Whitworth Art Gallery. He is also the founder of the Muslim Arts Network and publishes the zine Practising Empathy in Mirrors.


Aditi Shah 

Aditi is from India and moved to Liverpool in 2021 for her MA in Media, Culture and Everyday Life at the University of Liverpool. She works as a social media manager and administrator at The Windows Project. She is developing her own art practice and enjoys exploring a range of mediums including poetry, watercolour and acrylic paintings, photography, collages and linoprint artwork. She is passionate about providing opportunities in the arts, especially to people from the Global Majority community – she believes these voices need to be heard by more people, without prejudice.

Erin Shields

Erin Shields is an art historian and curator based in Liverpool with curatorial experience at the Walker Art Gallery, the Royal Liverpool Golf Club and The Royal Standard Studios and Gallery. Her research interests include feminist art histories, socially engaged art practices and improving public access to collections, as well as facilitating access for under-represented and emerging artists.

Erin studied BA Fine Art with History of Art at the University of Leeds from 2017-2020 and completed her MA in Social History of Art there in 2021.