Meet our new steering committee members

Last year we put the call out for new members for our steering committee and you did not disappoint. We had lots of fantastic applications, so choosing our 4 new members was a tough process. They’re all excellent people, and now it’s time for you to meet them!

Jean Campbell

My knowledge of the male domination of the industry and why this must change comes from over 15 years’ experience of freelance work in over 20 museums and heritage organisations. Because the scope of work has been quite broad, from learning to audience development, content consultation to training staff teams, I have encountered thousands of professionals and audiences in many set-ups. I have witnessed the frustrations and limitations to creativity and ambition born by women who work in the field.

As a Black, Jamaican born, North London raised, older woman (aged 68), working class, single mother, parent of two children (male and female) and grandparent within a blended family, my feminism is grounded in the everyday. I bring this awareness to all aspects of my work, including as a trustee for METAL culture. I hope to draw on them to contribute to the work of Space Invaders.

Interpretation is a particular area that I am interested in. I am particularly keen on trans-generational, museum projects, getting more working class, Black and Brown women through the doors, as workers and as visitors, claiming their right to re-story the objects.  

Margaret Middleton

I am an exhibit designer and museum consultant working at the intersection of design and social justice.

I appreciate the Space Invaders for their unapologetic, intersectional approach to feminism and the concrete goals they work toward. A lifelong feminist, I am passionate about bringing my activism to work with me in the museum sector.

An American living in Belfast, I’m bringing to the committee a positionality that is white, millennial, middle class, non-disabled, genderqueer, and queer. I also bring my experience of over 15 years in the museum sector.

I am especially interested in the fight for fair pay.

Lucy Perman

As a feminist leader, I am committed to individual transformation and speaking truth to power. From 1997 to 2018 I was CEO of Clean Break – the feminist theatre company working with and for women with lived experience of criminal justice. I was Interim Deputy Director at Dulwich Picture Gallery and then Project Director Future Plan. As a freelance, I have supported boards and CEOs with strategy, including EDI and succession planning.

By working with Museum Boards to create more inclusive, accountable cultures, significant progress can be made for women of colour, disabled women, working class women and those not visible in this sector.

Space Invaders has an appealing energy and activism and a great manifesto – it will be a privilege to help you shake things up.

Ria Shah

I am a Change Manager, with experience in communications and project management across the public and private sector. I am also an aspiring artist, who runs life drawing classes in North London. Currently,  I work at the Natural History Museum, for a £182 million government-funded programme which involves moving over 27 million specimens to a new science and digitisation site in Oxfordshire. 

I joined the museums and heritage sector relatively recently. Although I initially felt this sector was more diverse and inclusive, there are many changes that are needed. As a young, British-Indian woman, I particularly want to see

• more women (and especially women of colour) in senior positions
• safer and accessible spaces for women, trans women amd non-binary people
• greater visibility of women artists, curators, presenters and illustrators …to name a few.

These all align with the space invaders manifesto, and I’m excited to start campaigning and delivering action.

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