About the Adur & Worthing Trust
Adur and Worthing Trust is a limited company and registered charity, no: 1156999. Their aim is to promote arts, culture and heritage across Adur and Worthing.
Adur & Worthing Trust aims to stimulate the economy, employment, regeneration and infrastructure in the local creative and digital sector both physically and virtually.
It actively supports Adur & Worthing Councils strategy, A Commitment to Culture, by encouraging inclusive cultural activities, expanding opportunities to participate in the arts and raising the profile and reputation of Adur and Worthing for cultural excellence and innovation.
Trustees
Karen Simporis
Karen Simporis BA(Hons), MBAcC, TnISPE cert is a local entrepreneur who runs her own Eco–business, Henry House Hot Pool & Therapy Centre, in Worthing. As a Long term Vice-President of the Worthing & Adur Chamber of Commerce, and active supporter of the arts locally, ( organiser and participant) she believes that creative thought is crucial to the regeneration of our local economy in all sectors and to our community’s well-being.
Karen chairs the Adur & Worthing Trust and the Colonnade House Management Board. She looks forward to performing on her clarinet and saxophone again soon!
Peter Bennett
Peter has his roots in Worthing: father born within a stone’s throw of Colonnade House: grandfather Mayor of Worthing in 1934/35 who opened the Pier Pavilion and Assembly Hall. Educated at Clare College Cambridge, he qualified as a Teacher in New Zealand where he taught in secondary schools, as well as in New South Wales.
Returned to Worthing and qualified as a Solicitor, starting his own firm (now Bennett Griffin) and retiring as senior partner in 2012.
He was elected to Worthing Borough Council as a Liberal in 1979. He was a Director and Vice Chair of the Board of the Connaught Theatre and Trust until 2004, Mayor of Worthing in 1993/4 and did not stand in 2003 elections when he became a member of the board of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He was elected as Chair in 2004, and voted Lifetime Award for contribution to Business in 2010. He has since retired from the Chamber in 2013 being given Life Membership.
Peter has been a Founder Director of Worthing Town Centre Initiative Ltd since 1999 and is an Hon. Alderman. A keen supporter of the Arts and has seen the regenerative impact of innovation on the local economy, the need for the vitality generated by the creative sector in arts, music, painting and digital media, he has been a founding Trustee of Adur & Worthing Trust since 2012.
Neville Pressley
Neville Pressley is a retired chartered accountant. He has been involved in many local charities and organisations over more than 40 years, including Northbrook College, Guild Care and Worthing Homes. He remains as a trustee of West Sussex Mind.
His main experience in creative fields has been with the Ropetackle Arts Centre, for which he acted as Finance Director.
He is committed to the encouragement of cultural and creative activities in Adur and Worthing.
Angela Shaw
Angela Shaw LRAM ARCM FISM is a singing teacher and Fellow of the Incorporated Society of Musicians.
She was a founding member of Worthing Arts Council, and is a long-serving trustee of Heene Community Centre. For more than 20 years, she was organiser of the annual Worthing Music and Arts Festival.
She has always been acutely aware of the importance of the Arts to everybody’s mental and emotional well-being, and is a firm believer in giving the townsfolk of Worthing and Adur opportunities to experience the widest variety of creative, performing and visual arts, whether as practitioners or consumers.
Tom Gillham
Tom brings to the Adur & Worthing Trust a mix of creative skills and regeneration experience. He has MA Fine Art from University of Brighton, and has exhibited paintings in shows in London, Brighton, Adur and Worthing, including Colonnade House.
Tom has supported a variety of organisations with successful regeneration and development schemes, and currently manages a partnership growth programme with investment across the West Sussex Coastal area, of Adur & Worthing, and Arun. Tom is involved in revitalising town centres economies, enhancing public spaces, making accessible and attractive places for residents, visitors, businesses, and creative enterprises to thrive within. Engaging with local stakeholders and interest groups to design sustainable solutions, aimed at reducing carbon, improving connectivity and community well-being.
Tom believes the creative industries are a key stimulus to individual and community health, local economy, employment, regeneration of communities, environment, and infrastructure.
Tom is excited about collaborating with talented local people and experts to develop a future arts and cultural strategy in Adur and Worthing, promoting Colonnade House’s offer and engagement with creative community. He wants to incorporate diverse and innovative ideas to develop a sustainable creative hub. Offering digital and art opportunities, projects happening both physically in the community and virtually on-line, to ensure inclusivity.
Slavka Jovanović
Slavka is a visual artist, theatre maker, producer and arts education consultant, having worked with organisations such as Watermans, Battersea Arts Centre, Crying Out Loud and Little Angel Theatre – where, as Head of Creative Learning, she was instrumental in setting up a new Creative Learning Centre with a comprehensive public engagement programme.
Slavka moved to Worthing in 2019, to take up the role of Creative Producer and Programmer at Brighton Dome and Brighton Festival. She specialises in participation and community engagement, and she supports/develops work with local, national and international artists/creatives. Slavka is committed to access, disability and inclusion, and set up/chairs the Access Action Group and the Disability and Carers Equality Group at the Dome.
As a visual artist Slavka has enjoyed exploring the creative scene in Worthing. In 2021 Slavka’s photos and collages were exhibited on Worthing Pier as well as the Museum, as part of Worthing Open 21. She also undertook a social engagement project, entitled Angels All Around, which celebrated the role of unpaid carers, with exhibitions at HISBE (Worthing), Colonnade House and online.
Slavka is passionate about art changing lives, whether as makers, participants or spectators. She believes that all people should have access to the arts for fun as well as to support wellbeing. She is delighted to join the Board of Trustees and hopes that she can support the trust in working with local creatives to realise engaging innovative projects for the communities of Adur and Worthing.