Lucy Neal

 

Lucy Neal is an independent producer artist and educator with 30 years’ experience. An international portfolio includes theatre festival production, social entrepreneurship, community activism and cultural commentary.  She is especially interested in the art of social sculpture and how celebratory events act as a catalyst for change.

 

She is initiator and co-chair of Transition Town Tooting, a positive collective response in South West London to peak oil and climate change. She has recently produced a TippingPoint Commission, The Trashcatcher's Carnival with artists Project Phakama and EEA, in July 2010 - a celebration involving Tooting's diverse community, reclaiming the busy A24 and initiating Tooting's steps towards a 20-year vision for a low-carbon future. www.transitiontowntooting.org. 

 

She is co-author of MMM’s Sustainable Ability(www.sustainableability.com/report) undertaken in 2010 for the Paul Hamlyn Foundation looking at the response to climate change and resource scarcity amongst the UK’s arts and cultural sector and is co-founder of Taking Up Space, a CLP funded network, looking at the transformative role of the arts in systemic change within communities. She has recently been appointed Happiness Associate with Hilary Jennings to the Happy Museum Project led by Tony Butler.

 

As Co-Founder and Director of the LIFT Festival (London International Festival of Theatre ) from 1981 to 2005 with Rose Fenton, Lucy was responsible for pioneering one of the world’s most adventurous theatre festivals.  She is author of a number of publications, including The Turning World. She was awarded the OBE for services to drama in 2005. 

 

Lucy lives in South London and is a member of the South London Swimming Club.