The Team



Clayton Lee (He/Him)

A person with dark hair, glasses and a moustache stands behind a clear acrylic podium. There is a laptop on top of the podium and a microphone partially obscuring his face. The background is dark red.

Artistic Director

Clayton Lee is a Canadian curator, producer, and performance artist. He was the Director of the Rhubarb Festival – Canada’s longest-running festival of new and experimental performance – at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre from 2019 to 2023. He worked as Creative Producer on Jess Dobkin’s projects, including You’re Divine as part of Fierce’s Healing Gardens of Bab programme and For What It’s Worth, her large-scale commission at the Wellcome Collection.

Clayton was also the Curatorial Associate at the Luminato Festival and the Managing Producer of CanadaHub at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. His performance projects have been presented in venues across Canada, the United States, the UK, and New Zealand. He was one of the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Artists-in-Residence in 2023.

clayton@wearefierce.org

Former Fierce Team Members

Fierce was founded in 1997 and over the years we’ve had some brilliant team members come and go through our doors. Here’s a list of who worked on previous editions of the festival.

Fierce Festival 2024
Rachel Baker – Front of House (Softly/Tenderly), Joseph French – Production Manager, Pippa Frith – Director (Producing), Catherine Groom – Director (Operations), Clayton Lee – Director (Artistic), Poonam Maher – Volunteer Coordinator, Francesca Millican-Slater – Access Assistant, Demi Nandhra – Access Assistant, Rosa Simmonet – Front of House (Manual), Rebecca Welsh – Marketing & Ticketing Coordinator, Becky Woodcock – Event Producer, Leigh Wishart – Front of House (Twine). Documentors: Rachel Bunce & Manuel Vason. Design: Monnet Design & Jane Anderson. Video Trailer Production: Nicole Eveleigh.

Fierce Festival 2022
Mojere Ajayi – Assistant Curator, Will Amott – Artist Liaison, Dan Brown – Access Assistant, Katie Burchett – Production Coordinator, Robb Cartin – Production Manager, Pippa Frith – Executive Producer, Catherine Groom – General Manager, Rebecca Welsh – Marketing & Ticketing Coordinator, Tinisha Williams – Volunteer Coordinator, Aaron Wright – Artistic Director. Documentors: Rachel Bunce & Manuel Vason. Design: Kerry Leslie. Video Trailer Production: Nicole Eveleigh.

Healing Gardens of Bab 2022
Mojere Ajayi – Assistant Curator, Will Amott – Assistant Producer, Rachel Baker – Access Assistant, Nyasha Daley – Production Coordinator, Joseph French – Production Manager, Pippa Frith – Executive Producer, Catherine Groom – General Manager, Richard Hawley – Senior Producer, Hassan Hussain – Steering Group Member, Sym Mendez – Steering Group Member, Demi Nandhra – Access Assistant, Eric Scutaro – Steering Group Member, Bethany Steventon-Crinks – Steering Group Member, Patrick Vernon – Steering Group Member, Rebecca Welsh – Marketing & Ticketing Coordinator, Tinisha Williams – Assistant Producer, Aaron Wright – Artistic Director. Documentors: Ryan Charles, Shaun Evans, Kate Green, Trevor Price. Design: Kerry Leslie.

Key to the City 2022
Roisin Caffrey – Producer, Catriona Cork – Volunteer Coordinator, Touwa Craig-Dunn – Front of House, Jack Davies – Front of House, Pippa Frith – Executive Producer, Catherine Groom – General Manager, Kristina Hall – Assistant Producer, Richard Hawley – Project Manager, Lacey McFadyen – Front of House, Paul RamÍrez Jonas – Lead Artist, Rebecca Welsh – Marketing & Ticketing Coordinator, Tinisha Williams – Assistant Producer, Aaron Wright – Artistic Director. Documentors: Rachel Bunce, Hank and Margot. Design: An Endless Supply.

Fierce Festival 2019
Suriya Aisha – Fierce Lab Facilitator, Robb Cartin – Production Manager, Pippa Frith – Executive Producer, Catherine Groom – General Manager, Colleen Kleshie-Martin – Volunteer Coordinator, Harriet Maguire-Smith – Marketing & Ticketing Officer, Lucy Price – Artist Liaison, Becky Woodcock – Production Coordinator, Aaron Wright – Artistic Director. Documentors: Rachel Bunce & Manuel Vason. Design: An Endless Supply.

Fierce Festival 2017
Katy Baird – Volunteer Coordinator, Robb Cartin – Production Manager, Inès Elsa Dalal – Marketing Assistant, Pippa Frith – Producer, Catherine Groom – General Manager, Toni Lewis – Artist Liaison, Shekayla Maragh – Marketing Officer, Aaron Wright – Artistic Director. Documentors: Rachel Bunce & Manuel Vason. Design: An Endless Supply.

Fierce Festival 2015
Bek Berger – Assistant Producer, Ria Jones – Volunteer Coordinator, Julie Kim – Graphic Design and Brand Development, Toni Lewis – Producer & Communications Assistant, Laura McDermott – Joint Artistic Director, Harun Morrison – Joint Artistic Director, Joe Welden – Production Manager. Documentors: Meg Lavender & Kate Rowles.

Fierce Festival 2014
Kate Andrews – Marketing Coordinator, Sarah Hamilton-Baker – Volunteer Coordinator, Liz Howell – Projects Assistant, Julie Kim – Graphic Design and Brand Development, Laura McDermott – Joint Artistic Director, Harun Morrison – Joint Artistic Director, Joe Welden – Production Coordinator. Documentors: James Allen & Kate Rowles.

Fierce Festival 2013
Annabel Clarke – Marketing, Alastair Flindall – Production Assistant, Liz Howell – Production Assistant, Julie Kim – Graphic Design and Brand Development, Sadie Newman – Festival Coordinator, Laura McDermott – Joint Artistic Director, Anna Morris – Production Assistant, Harun Morrison – Joint Artistic Director, Nicole Shuchardt – Associate Festival Producer. Documentors: Kate Rowles & Katja Ogrin.

Fierce Festival 2012
Laura Coult – Festival Coordinator, Matthew Higginbottom – Production Manager, Julie Kim – Graphic Design and Brand Development, Nicola Lowery – Participation Coordinator, Amy Martin – Project Manager (Press Gang), Laura McDermott – Joint Artistic Director, Matthew Moore – Production Assistant, Harun Morrison – Joint Artistic Director, Lisa Newman – Project Manager (Gifts of the Spirit). Documentors: Kate Rowles & Jaskirt Dhaliwal.

Fierce Festival 2011
Angie Bual – Associate Producer, Julie Kim – Graphic Design and Brand Development, Nicola Lowery – Production Assistant, Simon McColl – Production Manager (EXYST), Laura McDermott – Joint Artistic Director, Anna Morris – Communications Assistant, Harun Morrison – Joint Artistic Director, Jigisha Patel – Associate Producer, Gareth Sumnall – Production Manager, Gemma Thomas – Trainee Producer

Fierce Team Members 1997 – 2009

Mark Ball, Helga Henry, Andrew Tims, Sindy Campbell, Anna Cook, Pippa Frith, Kevin Isaacs, Chris Keenan, Simon MacColl, Deborah Kermode, Anne-Maire Pope, Hildergarde Derby, Simon Pickthorne, José Forrest.





Work Placements

Fierce understands the importance of work experience to young people with ambitions to work in the arts and aims to provide placement opportunities that will support and develop the next generation of arts professionals.

In fitting with the ethos and vision of Fierce, we aim for all placements to be non-exploitative and open to young people from a range of backgrounds.

Here are blog posts from previous young people who have been on placement with us:

James Deaville

Maud Haddon