Our Trustees
Tyneside Cinema is a registered charity, and company limited by guarantee.
The Trustees of the charity are unpaid and give their time freely and generously, bringing their significant skills to support the cinema.
Tyneside Cinema Board of Trustees
Steph Edusei
Steph Edusei is the Chief Executive of St Oswald’s Hospice, a large children and adults charitable hospice. She’s also a Director of the North East Chamber of Commerce.
As an integral part of her local community, Steph has been a leader with Girlguiding UK for over 30 years and holds the position of Chair at Eliot Smith Dance Company. Previously, she served as a Non-Executive Director of The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and was the co-chair of The Angelou Centre, a charity offering training, counselling, and refuge support.
Steph is the founder of the ‘Black All Year’ podcast and associated events. She uses the platform to amplify black voices, highlight the challenges faced by Black people, and celebrate their successes and achievements.
In 2022, Steph was named Transformational Leader at the Northern Power Women Awards.
In 2024, Steph was named on the BusinessCloud Northern Leaders list and in 2025 Steph was added to the prestigious Northern Power Women Power List.
Lindsey Adams
Lindsey Adams is the founder and creative lead of Daily Madness, a 2D-focused animation studio dedicated to emotionally rich, inclusive storytelling for kids and families. A graduate of the University of Teesside in Computer Animation, Lindsey began her career in Scotland, working on a range of international co-productions including Dennis the Menace and Gnasher (CBBC, Nine Network Australia) and the International Emmy-nominated Ask Lara (BBC, VPRO). She later moved to Dublin, where she continued to expand her producing credits on projects such as Boj (CBeebies, PBS) and Wildernuts (RTÉjr, TinyPop).
In 2015, she launched Daily Madness with the mission to champion underrepresented voices in children’s media - particularly women -both on screen and behind the scenes. Since founding the company, Lindsey has created and produced multiple original IPs including Pins and Nettie, a gentle preschool series about shyness and emotional growth, and Ray of Sunshine, which celebrates caregiving and emotional intelligence in young boys.
Daily Madness also provides development and creative production services to major global partners including Netflix, Disney, and the BBC. In 2020, the studio’s pitch Goat Girl became the most-viewed project at Cartoon Forum and is now a greenlit TV series commissioned by Cartoon Network, RTEjr, KIKA, VRT, and others. The studio was named to the Kidscreen HOT50, ranked #4 in 2021 for production.
Now based in the North East of England, Lindsey continues to shape the regional and international animation landscape through values-led development and strong creative partnerships.
Deborah Evans
Deborah is currently the Head of Business Transformation at Advance Northumberland and has extensive experience of leading and supporting transformational change across organisations.
Her background includes a strong focus on governance, compliance and performance management, bringing a strategic and structured approach to organisational development.
Although new to trustee roles, Deborah is excited to bring her professional experience to the Board, contributing to the continued growth and success of the Tyneside. She is passionate about using her skills to help shape a sustainable and impactful future for the organisation and the community it serves.
Emma Lawson
Emma is a television executive with over 20 years’ experience in scripted comedy, working across development and production for major broadcasters and streamers including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Netflix, Sky, HBO and Apple TV+.
She worked her way through the production ranks on many hours of scripted comedy with leading independent production companies -most notably spending 10 years at Roughcut TV, working with Ash Atalla on series such as Cuckoo and People Just Do Nothing. Emma went onto join BBC Studios, where she produced Trying - the first original scripted comedy for Apple TV+, which led to an in-house role at the streamer.
Since her time at Apple, Emma has created Smothered, an original comedy series for Sky Max, worked as a development executive for Mercury Studios’ global scripted team, launched the North East Comedy House, a regional initiative focused on discovering and nurturing emerging talent, before joining the BBC Comedy commissioning team in 2022.
A proud North Easterner, Emma is a passionate advocate for regional representation and class inclusion in comedy. She has spearheaded numerous outreach and partnership programmes, including the Tiger Aspect Development Producer scheme, BBC Comedy Collective, BBC Comedy Grants, Regional Partnership Schemes, and Script Partnership Projects - initiatives designed to widen access and opportunity for emerging talent and production companies across the UK.
Erinn Roocroft
Erinn is a senior TV production executive, who's worked for over 25 years in both public service and commercial programming, including at ITV, the BBC and currently at Apple TV+. She's produced content in multiple genres, particularly championing new and emerging media.
Having grown up in the North-East, she's passionate about supporting the screen industry locally, and advocating the wealth of talent, storytelling and opportunities the region offers, especially for those whose voices are under-represented.
When she's not making TV, you'll find her watching it, in the cinema, curled up reading, or out walking.
Sean Nicolson
Sean’s first visit to Tyneside Cinema was as a student searching for somewhere that was screening a more obscure new release. As a longstanding Friends member, he is delighted to now have the opportunity to contribute as a trustee to one of Newcastle’s cultural jewels.
Sean has had a variety of business and finance roles over the years. He has been the chair of a number of listed companies including a virtual reality business as well as an investment trust and an investment company. He has also had a variety of commercial roles including as a director and chief operating officer of a listed drug discovery and development company. Sean currently works in venture capital, funding early-stage technology businesses in the UK and advising and supporting them as they develop and grow.
His previous roles with arts organisations include company secretary of Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, founder trustee of mimafriends, director of Culture North East and the founder of a print publisher and online art gallery. He has also been an adviser to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport.
Elaine Taylor
Professionally, Elaine has spent her career building connections with consumers to foster loyalty and drive engagement with brands, products, and experiences. Her journey started in brand licensing, working with iconic assets like Marvel, Star Wars, and the Crazy Frog, and evolved into consumer marketing, digital transformation, customer engagement, and audience growth.
She's worked with organisations including J Barbour & Sons, Montane Ltd, and the British Olympic Association for the 2012 Olympics. She's led Digital Marketing, Retail and Ecommerce teams, specialising in customer centric strategies that shape end to end customer journeys bringing new audiences in, nurturing loyalty, and making every touchpoint meaningful. Whether through digital storytelling, retail strategy, website content, checkout optimisation or community building via social media, her focus has always been on the best customer experience of a brand.
As a trustee, Elaine is excited to bring that perspective to Tyneside Cinema, supporting the team to attract new and diverse audiences, enhance the visitor experience, and help keep the cinema rooted in both its heritage and future.
For her, Tyneside Cinema is more than just a cinema, it's a cultural cornerstone for the region, and she's passionate about ensuring it remains open, accessible, and relevant for future generations.
Nicola Short
Nicola Short became a trustee of Tyneside Cinema in February 2022. Nicola is also a trustee for Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWAM) Enterprise responsible for all commercial and enterprise activity. Nicola is also the founder, trustee and fundraiser for Zambezi Sunrise Trust, a charity dedicated to supporting education in Zambia.
Nicola has over 30 years of industry experience in the North East. As CEO of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum, Nicola was instrumental in developing and implementing a commercial and financial strategy taking it from a funded to a fully sustainable model. Nicola governed and administered two boards during her tenure at Entrepreneurs’ Forum and Redu Group, and received her MBA from Durham Business School in 2019. In 2021 Nicola launched Oncoaching, providing professional coaching and mentoring services for individuals and organisations.
Iain Watson OBE
Iain moved into the cultural sector after an initial research career, training as a teacher, and managing services across libraries, archives and museums. He was Director of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums(TWAM) from 2010-2021.
Now a Consultant and Visiting Professor of Practice at Newcastle University, he is a trustee of Amber Side Trust, Tyneside Cinema and of the Association for Cultural Enterprises, a member of the Advisory Boards of Art UK and of the Living Archive, and a ‘Distinguished Friend’ of the Migration Museum.
In recent years he has spoken at events and conferences in Armenia, Brazil, Australia, Finland, Egypt, Italy, Hungary, Turkey, and China. Iain is a member of the UK Evaluation Society. He is currently leading a programme of seminars at Newcastle University on the ‘business of culture’.
Iain Wright
Iain is a chartered accountant, training at Deloitte in Newcastle. From 2004 until 2017, he was Member of Parliament for Hartlepool. During his time in Parliament, Iain was Minister for Housing, responsible for leading the ambitious strategy to eliminate rough sleeping, as well as Minister for 14-19 Reform and Apprenticeships, with responsibility for the quality of qualifications. Iain also led the influential business select committee in Parliament, producing high-profile and widely praised inquiries into working practices at Sports Direct, the collapse of BHS, industrial strategy and corporate governance.
Iain is currently Managing Director of Reputation & Influence at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales. He also is a Governor at Middlesbrough College, chairs the policy forum at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and sits on the Prompt Payment Code Board in the Office for the Small Business Commissioner. He was recently awarded an MBA with distinction from Durham University.
