Chairs - Past and Present

Current Chair

Philip Holyman 2022 - Present

Phil is a Black Country-raised and now Birmingham-based writer, who has been a Feeney Trustee since 2017. He is currently redrafting his first novel, Ballardville.

He is also the Co-Director of Little Earthquake, a theatre company that he has run with Gareth Nicholls since 2005.

Little Earthquake is an Associate Company at Midlands Arts Centre, where recent work includes The Dog With Two Dads, an LGBTQ+ affirmative show for families commissioned for MAC’s 60th anniversary season, and Rocket Fuel, an immersive dining experience based on Neil Armstrong’s in-flight menu, created with Kaye Winwood as part of MoonFest, Little Earthquake’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.

Since 2012, he has been a book in the living library for Mette Edvardsen’s Time has fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine, trying to commit J G Ballard’s Crash to memory and reciting for readers in Birmingham, London, Brussels, Oslo and Helsinki (so far).

J R Holliday (1907 - 1927)
JR Holliday was an active and generous member of the Art Gallery committee for many years, and is largely responsible for the large collection of works by David Cox, and Burrne-Jones. In 1903 he, with friends on the Committee, presented the Gallery with 260 drawings by Rossetti, and 226 by Burne Jones. Later in 1906 he and friends added a collection of 300 drawings by Millais, Madox Brown, and Sandys, and in 1907 they presented 105 drawings by David Cox.

John Henry Lloyd (1927 - 1944)
Director, Stewarts & Lloyds, JP, Member Birmingham Town Council, Lord Mayor 1901, Alderman, Pro-Vice Chancellor University of Birmingham, Chairman General Hospital.

George Bryson (1944 - 1945)
Proprietor Geo. Bryson & Son, JP, Chairman Birmingham Blue Coat School, Holder of various Church of England appointments – Birmingham Diocesan and Central Boards of Finance, Member of Church Assembly.

Tom Hamilton Baynes OBE (1945 - 1970)
Chartered Accountant, Partner Chalmers Impey & Co, JP, Chairman Birmingham Justices 1964-69, Life Governor University of Birmingham, Chairman of Council Malvern Girls College.

Stephen Lloyd (1970 - 1990)
Director, Guest, Keen & Nettlefold, Member Birmingham City Council, Alderman, Chairman CBSO Management Committee, Chairman Birmingham Diocesan Board of Finance, Vice President Queen’s College, Birmingham.

Pat Welch (1990 - 2005)
Director, Welconstruct Co, Methodist Local Preacher, Vice President Methodist Conference 1979-80, High Sheriff West Midlands 1987-88, Vice Chairman Selly Oak Colleges, Vice President Queen’s College, Birmingham.

James Lloyd MBE (2005 - 2010)
Chartered Accountant, Director Hoskins & Horton, National Officer The British Red Cross Society, Governor The Queen’s Foundation, Birmingham, Trustee and Bailiff Lench’s Trust, Trustee several other Birmingham and local charities.

John Richard Lloyd Smith (2010 - 2013)
Managing Director of Walter Smith butcher for most of working life. Still has a Pedigree Limousin Herd and the award winning Chase Farm shop in Sutton. Mac Board Member and ex Chair, ex BBC Regional Advisory Chair. Lifetime love of sociology, alto flute player, keen salmon and trout fisherman, enjoys the arts.

Charles Roderick King-Farlow (2013 - 2016)
Charles was for over 30 years a partner of Pinsents. His company law clients included John Feeney’s newspaper, the Birmingham Post. A member of the Council of the CBSO (1970s) and on the 1978 selection committee who chose Simon Rattle. Trustee of the Art Gallery's 1970 appeals for the Cornbury Park Bellini and Warwick Canalettos. Member of the Committee of the Friends of the Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery (1970s and 1980s), Midlands Arts Centre chair (1985-89).  Board member Birmingham Opera Company (1987-2010).  Trustee of City of Birmingham Orchestral Endowment Fund for some 30 years and in 2000 a trustee of the appeal for the Symphony Hall organ. Chair of the Clent Hills Advisory Committee for the National Trust (2000-09).  Retirement occupations include skiing, walking, fly-fishing and piano lessons.

Sally Katrina Luton (2016 – 2019 )
Sally Luton moved to Birmingham in 1986 to join West Midlands Arts, where she became Chief Executive and, following a restructuring of the arts funding system, Executive Director of Arts Council West Midlands until 2010.  She served on the Boards of Birmingham City University, Maverick Television and Watershed. Current Directorships include Creative Advantage Fund, a venture capital fund supporting the creative industries; c & t, a theatre in education company that works internationally through the creative application of digital technologies; and The Elmley Foundation, a grant-giving Trust supporting the arts in Herefordshire and Worcestershire. Retirement interests include learning to play the guitar and gardening.

Kate Organ (2019 - 2022 )
Kate has worked in the public cultural and charitable sector all her career, initially as an actor and director in theatre, arts in education and community arts and then as a programmer of theatre, dance and literature. As a member of the arts funding system, from 1996 - 2003, she was Drama Officer and Director of Performing and Combined Arts at West Midlands Arts/Arts Council England.

She has worked as a freelance consultant for many arts and charitable organisations, including a decade as Arts Adviser to the Baring Foundation. She currently sits on the Advisory Council of the Churchill Fellowship Trust and is herself a Churchill Fellow, having researched the role of the Arts in Japan and in particular in an ageing society. She is a practising coach and facilitator.