About Deptford X

Deptford X is a visual arts charity based in Deptford, South East London. We foster artistic talent and nurture community within the borough of Lewisham and beyond. We achieve this through a free annual festival in Deptford and ongoing activity supporting artists and our local communities throughout the year.

Founded in 1998, Deptford X is London’s longest-running visual arts festival. Each year, we stage a free, ten-day festival, working with hundreds of artists to locate art at the centre of everyday life for all of the area’s communities.

Our Vision

Deptford X:

Is led by local artistic ambition, interests and practice.
Brings art into informal contexts and public spaces for all to access.
Seeks to make a positive contribution to our locality, communities, and to art, and to lead by example.
Places equity, accessibility and care at the heart of the organisation.
Holds space and advocates for difference, creativity, experimentation and learning within art.

Fundamentally we support artists and creative practice, as well as those who do not yet identify as artists, with a focus over the next three years on:

1) People of Colour: Specifically local Black communities. We are actively redressing the balance of participation in Deptford X and visual arts as a whole and making space for People of Colour-led creative programming.

2) Disabled people: We are working to remove barriers to participation in our work and inviting disability-led programming.

3) Young people: We are developing ways to engage local audiences and participants at a younger age and create pathways for their participation and ownership of Deptford X.

Deptford X Staff

Director: Nathalie Boobis – nathalie@deptfordx.org

Deputy Director: Kellie Blake – kellie@deptfordx.org

Programme and Communications Manager: Christy O’Beirne – christy@deptfordx.org

Freelance Fundraiser: Catherine Herbert – catherine@deptfordx.org

Board of Trustees

Seema Manchanda (Chairperson) is Managing Director of The Showroom Gallery, former Assistant Director Planning & Environment, London Borough of Wandsworth, and is chair of Action for Race Equality. She made the jump from the world of planning and regeneration to arts in 2020 when she joined The Showroom as Managing Director, following the completion of a Fine Art Diploma from the Art Academy in 2019. When she has time, she is also a practicing artist.

Teresa Cisneros is a Chicana cultural producer. She is Senior Practice Manager Culture Equity Diversity and Inclusion at The Wellcome. She has worked with many art institutions including Nottingham Contemporary, Tate, Spike Island and Serpentine to explore care, policy making, learning, and institutional change. In 2016-18 at The Showroom she curated Object Positions to explore cultural equity, decolonial processes and colonial administration. She is a part of agency for agency and is interested in reconstructing cultural institutions from the inside to begin working towards forms of transformational justice. Teresa was one of the panelists for the inaugural Supported commissioning programme for the 2019 Deptford X festival.

David Cotterrell is a visual artist who maintains an active studio practice from his studio in Deptford. He is engaged internationally in the realisation of art, curatorial and advocacy projects. His work spans galleries, architecture and the public realm. He is Research Professor of Fine Art, Director of the Culture & Creativity Research Institute (CCRI) and co-founder of Empathy & Risk C.I.C. David is a regular contributor to the Deptford X Fringe programme.

Jenny Klein is an artist, writer and educator living and working between South East London and Southern Italy. Her practice centres on themes of time and memory, location and surface, and the encounter between the artist and the viewer at the shifting skin of the artwork. She works with a range of media including photography, assemblage and stitch. Her work has been exhibited widely across the UK with shows at Saatchi Gallery, Crypt Gallery, Tate Modern and Harrow Arts Centre. She has 20 years’ experience working in education as a headteacher. Jenny has exhibited as part of Deptford X Fringe.

Jason Page is a space activator and connector at heart with decades of experience working at the intersection of government, community affairs, social change and the arts. His passion is unlocking new opportunities for young people and making space for unheard voices, talents and communities. Having lived all over the United States Jason has called Lewisham home for the last 10 years and currently produces a physical network called South East Salon which serves as a global access point for bringing creativity, enterprise and resources to new and exciting spaces throughout south east London. He is manager of Create Civic Change for Peckham Platform and Operations Manager at Migration Museum.

Celeste Ricci is a development and fundraising specialist with a background in art history and contemporary art theory. She is currently Head of Development at Create London, and was previously Senior Development Manager at Tate.

Nicola Thomas is a multidisciplinary artist born and based in South London whose work often utilises performance, film, sound, and print. She completed her MA at the Royal College of Art, where she was awarded the Augustus Martin Prize 2013 and the RCA Graduate Jealous Print Prize 2013. She is also the recipient of the London Print Studio New Graduate Award 2013. She has shown her films recently in Paris, Berlin and Miami. Exhibitions include Multiplied at Christie’s; Carousel at Aspex Gallery; and Parallax, at CG Projects. She is programme coordinator for BA Fine Art at Winchester School of Art and associate lecturer at Central Saint Martins. Nicola was nominated by Larry Achiampong to produce new work for Deptford X 2018’s Platform strand.

Company Number: 04133414
Registered Charity: 1087490