We look forward to welcoming Magdalen Fisher, Executive Director of Sadler's Wells, and Hanna Grzeskiewicz, freelance opera producer and PR.

Magdalen and Hanna will talk about the challenges faced by women in leading roles in the arts sector and what can be done to stay activated within our organisations as young members of our teams.

Hanna is a freelance producer and PR, specialising in contemporary classical music, currently based between London and Berlin. She is the co-director of award-winning ensemble, The Hermes Experiment, and co-founder of Alternative Classical, a PR, marketing and project management agency, which creates and promotes new approaches to classical music – due to be launched later in Spring 2018. Hanna has worked with people and organisations including Nonclassical, the EFG London Jazz Festival, Gabriel Prokofiev, Joby Burgess, Shadwell Opera, Mahogany Opera Group and ORA choir. Due to her love of working with large groups of people, Hanna has also recently produced and managed a tour of George Benjamin’s Written on Skin to the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, and a tour of the Street Orchestra of London, a pop-up orchestra, around London and the Midlands.

Magdalen is Executive Director at Sadler’s Wells. She leads on developing the organisation’s strategy with responsibility for external communications, marketing and fundraising. She also directly manages the teams responsible for the artistic programme, producing and touring. Before joining the theatre in 2015, Magdalen was Development Director at English Heritage for over 10 years, with responsibility for fundraising, volunteering, stakeholder relationship management and directing specific capital projects. Having introduced English Heritage’s first fundraising strategy in 2004, she led its ongoing development to achieve income of over £58 million for major capital developments and revenue programmes, most notably the campaign to deliver major landscape improvements and new visitor facilities at Stonehenge. Previously, Magdalen held leadership positions at the Zoological Society of London (2002-2003) and the Museum of London (1999-2002). Having trained at the Royal Academy of Music, her career began in live music and, between 1989 and 1998, she held positions in communications and development at Wigmore Hall and Shakespeare’s Globe.

Join us for more discussion over networking drinks at Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes bar after the talk.