Eight emerging leaders from theatre and dance form the first intake of the Imogen Kinchin Fellowship, the funded programme created in memory of the producer who was latterly Executive Director of Matthew Bourne's New Adventures.
The Fellowship launched in March 2026, and its inaugural 2026–27 cohort has now been named. Between them the eight Fellows cover producing, artistic direction, dramaturgy, dance, curation and community-engaged work, in subsidised and commercial houses, independent companies and higher education, which is very much the spread of a career like the one the scheme commemorates.
- Aisha Zia, Artistic Director & Co-CEO, Kali Theatre
- Alessandra Hồng Duyên Zavagno, Outreach & Partnerships Producer, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre
- Beccy D'Souza, Artist Development Producer, Nottingham Playhouse
- Ben Alexander Anderson, Creative & Executive Director, Lincoln Arts Centre & Barbican Creative Hub (University of Lincoln)
- Connor Allen, Founder & CEO, LOYALTY Arts
- Franny Rafferty, Senior Producer, Theatre Royal Plymouth
- Kat Joyce, Co-Artistic Director & Co-CEO, Tangled Feet
- Vanessa Maria Mirza, artist, curator and Founder-Director, Dance Bridges
Imogen Kinchin, born in Plymouth in 1979, grew up around the Theatre Royal Plymouth, where her grandfather Alec Lozynski was head cutter in the wardrobe department for more than twenty years, and she came through its Youth Music Theatre in the 1990s. After a degree in Cardiff she returned in 2002 to work in the theatre's education department, alongside freelance contracts with the National Theatre's Learning team. A move to London in 2004 took her to Half Moon Young People's Theatre, then to Act Productions in 2006 as assistant producer on shows including Edward Scissorhands and Boeing, Boeing.
She joined the Lyric Hammersmith in 2008 as line producer on the Broadway transfer of Spring Awakening, and stayed until 2017 as Sean Holmes's senior producer across the theatre's productions, tours and transfers. As Executive Director of New Adventures she oversaw a period of substantial growth and helped lead the dance sector's response to COVID, and in February 2020 she joined the board of Theatre Royal Plymouth. She was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer in March 2022 and died on World Theatre Day, 27 March 2024.
The programme was devised over the two years after her death by eight peers who had worked with her, and they now serve as its mentors: Emma Brünjes, Jo Danvers, Georgia Gatti, Glenn Graham, James Grieve, Nia Janis, Nicholai La Barrie and James Mackenzie-Blackman. Seven organisations from her career are partnering to resource and host the first cohort: Theatre Royal Plymouth, New Adventures, Playful Productions, the National Theatre, Half Moon Young People's Theatre, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre and Bourne & Hollingsworth. The Fellowship itself is a non-profit company limited by guarantee, paid for by private donors, and intends in time to become a Charitable Incorporated Organisation.
Speaking for the founding mentors, Emma Brünjes said: "We were in awe of the applications we received for the Fellowship — our industry is full of exceptional talent." Recalling the launch supper with the new Fellows, she added: "Imogen loved nothing more than a deep discussion about theatre over dinner. She would have relished this gathering and left feeling excited and full of hope for the future."
Franny Rafferty, whose own post is at the theatre where Imogen Kinchin started out, said: "Being selected feels particularly special, as the fellowship recognises the legacy of someone whose brilliance and generosity blazed a trail."
