Every teacher has the potential to ignite.
Our Creative Igniters exist to unlock it
Our Creative Igniters
Every teacher has the potential to ignite. Our Creative Igniters exist to unlock it.
They are professional artists, composers, directors, choreographers and designers. They work in genuine partnership with teachers, sharing tools, methods and creative vocabulary that teachers carry forward long after the programme ends. All hold enhanced DBS checks and are trained in safeguarding, pedagogy and curriculum alignment.
Karen Gillingham
Artistic Director
She doesn’t just lead the Creative Igniters. She defines what it means to ignite.
Karen is Creative Ignition’s Creative Director and Principal Creative Igniter, leading the artistic team and setting the standard for the work in every classroom. A leading stage director and arts educator, she is also Creative Director of Garsington Opera’s Learning and Participation programme and former co-artistic director of the Royal Opera House’s Youth Opera Company.
Her directing credits run from Prom 66 at the Royal Albert Hall and A Trip to the Moon with Sir Simon Rattle at the Barbican, to Silver Birch, a people’s opera at Garsington, a prison tour with Welsh National Opera, and productions at the Hackney Empire and in Abu Dhabi. The thread through all of it is the Creative Ignition method itself: making ambitious work with people of every age and background, in every kind of room. The Guardian called her staging “strikingly effective.” We call her our Creative Director.
Our Founders
Creative Ignition was founded by Susan Hamilton and Rebecca Williams, who together bring over 45 years of experience working at the intersection of the arts and education in schools, festivals, cultural institutions and international settings.
They founded Creative Ignition because they believe that what they have seen happen in classrooms, when the creative arts are placed at the centre of learning, should not be a privilege available only to the few.
Susan Hamilton
Co-Founder
Susan Hamilton is an arts and education leader with over 25 years’ experience in creative leadership and arts-led learning. Formerly Director of Learning at The Grange Festival, she previously served nearly 15 years as Director of Opera Planning at Garsington Opera and has held senior international roles in education. She has a Bachelor of Education from Homerton College, University of Cambridge, and an Arts Management Diploma from City St George’s, University of London.
Rebecca Williams
Co-Founder
Rebecca Williams has led teams for the past twenty years, in a career spanning British Airways, creative and PR agencies, and senior marketing and engagement roles in independent school education. Most recently she has worked strategically with the Obama Foundation on creativity, arts and education. She brings to Creative Ignition the discipline of a global brand, the craft of the agency world, and an insider’s understanding of schools.
Our Trustees
They are professional artists, composers, directors, choreographers and designers. They work in genuine partnership with teachers, sharing tools, methods and creative vocabulary that teachers carry forward long after the programme ends. All hold enhanced DBS checks and are trained in safeguarding, pedagogy and curriculum alignment.
Alex Russell OBE
Chair
Alex Russell OBE is the founding CEO of Bourne Education Trust, which has grown to 36 schools under his leadership, with a focus on improving outcomes in challenging contexts. A former headteacher and National Leader of Education, he chairs Surrey County Council’s inclusion roundtable and co-founded AI in Education. He was awarded an OBE in 2021 for services to education.
Kate Bolsover
Trustee
Kate Bolsover brings over 25 years of senior leadership experience in fund management and corporate governance. She has held Managing Director roles at Baring Asset Management and Cazenove, and was Director of Corporate Communications at JPMorgan Cazenove. Kate currently chairs two investment trusts, serves as a non-executive director, and has extensive charitable trusteeship experience.
Stephen Mallet
Trustee
Stephen Mallet has over 30 years’ experience in investment banking and private equity, with senior international roles spanning Europe and the Middle East. Most recently Head of Portfolio Management at Dhabi Holdings, he brings deep financial and governance expertise. Stephen holds a PhD (UCL), MBA (Harvard), and degrees from Oxford and Birkbeck.
Testimonials
“They took a hard idea, that AI is a tool, not a friend, and made primary children feel it. By the end of the week, 89% were confident talking about AI. One pupil summed it up: humans are special in every way, and AI can’t stop that. We would recommend Creative Ignition without hesitation.”
“This session really made me think about the ways in which we can deliver knowledge and skills to our children in a more exciting and creative way, using methods that I wouldn’t have considered before.”
“We should work this way more often! It’s helping me focus at school and even at home”
