Himanshu Acharya

Treasurer

Himanshu joined as Treasurer in 2020 and is responsible for advising the board on how to fulfil its financial duties and manage its finances. He has played a key role in increasing the accessibility of how it presents and shares its financial information.

Himanshu brings 15 years of experience in commercial and financial roles in the public and private sector where he has developed a strong understanding of financial reporting and performance. He currently advises government departments on large-scale commercial programmes.

Himanshu is passionate about leveraging his skills to make a tangible difference in the lives of others and is committed to ensuring the financial sustainability of Access All Areas to further its mission.

Sarah Brigham

Trustee

Sarah is Artistic Director and CEO of Derby Theatre. Her artistic work integrates inclusivity and excellence, helping to build diverse and collaborative creative spaces.

As a director, Sarah has worked with theatres across the UK and internationally. Her artistic work ranges from classic dramas to work for young audiences, with casts creating the story together. Her productions often incorporate music and ensure the performers are in direct dialogue with the audience. Over the last six years she has also developed a portfolio of work which centres Deaf actors and integrated BSL and has now began to develop productions with embedded audio description.

Through her focus on community and place Sarah has led Derby Theatre to be an organization which is nationally recognised for putting its local community at the heart of everything it does. Testament to the impact this building now has on its city are its specific programmes for young people in care, the Deaf community, two community hubs programmed by the community and supported by the theatre, a region wide artist development programme and an outreach programme working across the city.  This work has won Derby Theatre numerous awards and they are proud to be a part of the Connect Up European Network which connects companies focused on making theatre for change with, by and for young people.

Paul Christian

Deputy Chair

After taking part in Access All Areas’ Transforming Leadership programme in 2021-2022, Paul is now deputy chairperson of Access All Areas and brings his experience as a learning disabled artist to the board.

He has sat on governance panels and is passionate about sharing his knowledge of how to make boards more accessible and inclusive.

As a consultant and facilitator Paul has worked with a wide array of organisations including Netflix, the BBC, Magpie Dance, New Direction, Royal London School of Nursing, the Houses of Parliament, the Freelance Task Force.

For the past ten years, Paul has worked closely with academic Sue Ledger to research learning disabled histories (and underrepresentation) particularly in its intersection with race. Most recently Paul worked on untold stories of black learning disabled people living in institutions. He creates easy read documents about important historical events such as the New Cross Fire. Along with Sue, he speaks about his research on Symposiums internationally.

Paul is also an Associate Artist of Access All Areas. To learn more on his artistic career, read Paul’s Artist Profile

Shereen Jasmin Phillips

Trustee

We are very happy to welcome Shereen, an award-winning multidisciplinary creative and experienced arts leader of Vincentian heritage. She trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She brings years of experience delivering creative engagement programmes as Creative Director for organisations such as Haringey Shed (including the 25th Anniversary Xtravaganza at Alexandra Palace) and the Young Vic. She also led major community programmes for thousands across Lambeth and Southwark. Her work there included ‘Sundown Kiki’, London’s first theatre–ballroom show. 

As a dramaturg and writer, she has contributed to projects such as ‘To Sir, With Love’, ‘AiTopia’ and ‘Love Reign’. She also supports script and story development with a wide range of emerging and established artists. Her practice centres learning disabled, autistic, Global Majority and working-class communities. She uses theatre, film and creative facilitation to build spaces of care and pride where stories are written together. 

She co-founded Applied Scripted Arc, a writing development and applied theatre company, which provides script consultancy, leadership development and community-led projects that support Global Majority and working-class creatives. She is also a Trustee with Raw Material Music and Media, and a Talent Manager for Jay Jay Revlon LTD, bringing her extensive experience of participatory art and community engagement into her governance and advocacy.   

Shereen is now joining the board of Access All Areas, where she wants to support stronger disability-led and co-created practice across the theatre and film industries. Her goal is to ensure that artists with lived experience of disability shape the stories, structures and futures of the organisations that platform their work. 

Sarah Pickthall

Co-Chair

Sarah has always been interested in the spaces that unite and divide us all and one of her life highlights it to be co-chair of the Board for Access All Areas alongside Charlene Salter

Her extensive facilitation, training, production and coaching portfolio is dedicated to ensuring a broad range of voices and opinions are represented and included in the creative, cultural, media and health sectors in the UK and beyond. A dancer and children’s television writer and puppeteer for 10 years with the Media Merchants for CITV, Sarah joined Arts Council England in 2004 and became the first Chair of its Disabled Workers Group.

She has enjoyed an extensive career as a digital dance producer working locally and internationally but now focuses on bespoke coaching and leadership projects in arts, culture, heritage, broadcasting and health

Sarah founded Sync Leadership in 2008, alongside Jo Verrent of Unlimited, working with its mix of leadership theory and coaching practices, Sync has run its programmes in the UK, Australia, Canada, South Korea, Singapore, Jordan and Palestine and in Spring 2025, in Malaysia.

In 2023, she delivered Amplify, a leadership and coaching programme for Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent leaders at ITV.

She also heads up the Inclusive Cultures Programme for Clore Leadership.

Charlene Salter

Co-Chair

After taking part in Access All Areas’ Transforming Leadership programme in 2021-2022, Charlene is now co-chairperson of Access All Areas and brings her experience as a learning disabled artist to the board. She also sits on the advisory board of Battersea Arts Centre. She has since spoken on multiple governance panels championing accessible board practice.

In 2020 she was appointed to join the #FreelanceTaskForce where she joined other freelancers sponsored by arts organisations; together they worked to strengthen the influence of freelancers in deciding the future of theatre.

Charlene is also an Associate Artist of Access All Areas. To learn more on his artistic career, read Charlene’s Artist Profile

Lucy Sanga

Trustee

Lucy has recently joined as Trustee of Access All Areas. 

Lucy is currently Head of Women’s Sport at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), working hard to drive forward a Decade of Change for women’s and girls’ sport. She led the Carney Review of Women’s Football and now runs the Women’s Football Taskforce and Women’s Sport Taskforce at DCMS, driving higher standards for women and girls in sport. Lucy previously worked as Head of Strategy and Operations for Civil Society & Youth within DCMS, and prior to that she led commercial development in priority markets for Liverpool FC. 

Lucy is passionate about leveraging her experience across advocacy and policy, as well as her commercial background, to champion the work of Access All Areas. 

Alison Small

Trustee

Alison has recently joined as a trustee of Access All Areas. 

Her job is overseeing production training and industry engagement for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region at Netflix. It involves investing in the training and skills development of freelance crew, to support productions, across film and series, scripted and unscripted. She is lucky enough to work with incredible colleagues and partners to develop the programmes which impact the talent.

 Through her work at Netflix, Alison has worked closely with the Access All Areas team who have supported neurodivergent crew and talent on a number of titles, and supported Netflix in ensuring opportunities are accessible for all.

Alison joined Netflix in 2020. Previous to that she was the CEO of the Production Guild, an industry body supporting freelance production management and production finance professionals, where she was driven by ensuring there are no barriers to entry for any individual who wants to work in the industry.

Alison is a member of BAFTA, the BFI, the Royal Academy, the Tate, and the Institute of Ideas.

Ammay Tye

Trustee