The Team

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Susan Coffer

Rural Touring Dance Initiative Coordinator

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Susan joined the team in January 2023. She has worked in arts management for over 35 years and still gets excited by seeing the impact performers can have on an audience.

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Jo Cottrell

General Manager

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Jo joined the team in January 2025, having been a business manager in a primary school for 20 years. Jo is an artist, selling her work in local galleries and craft fairs across the north.

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Dawn Foster

Administration

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Dawn joined the team in April 2023 after taking a year out to complete a Masters in Environment, Health and Wellbeing. She is also a musician and performs regularly in Cumbria.

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Linnhe Harrison

Marketing & Communications

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Linnhe works with the artists, venues and promoters in her role as Communications Officer, in addition to managing the marketing for Highlights. She comes from a background in animation and graphic design and joined the team in 2022.

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Kate Lynch

Director

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Kate has worked in arts administration for more than 25 years and joined Highlights as Co-Director in 2018. Kate is passionate about playing her part in bringing the arts to rural communities and has been a promoter in Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria since 2015.

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Joel Phillimore

Community Programmer

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Joel joined the team in September 2024 after a decade working in the charity sector. He has also been an actor since the age of 6 – most recently he played Gordy Adam in ‘The Boys in the Boat’.