ARC is governed by a board of trustees who support, guide and manage the organisation to ensure it meets its objectives.  Current members of the board of trustees include:

Ishy Din
Local writer and taxi driver Ishy enjoyed immense success with his play, Snookered which is currently touring the UK culminating in a four week run at the Bush theatre in London. He is currently the writer in Residence at the Manchester Royal Exchange and is developing another play for Tamasha, the company behind Snookered. He is also writing a radio play for Pacificus Productions.

Kate Craddock
Director of Gateshead International Festival of Theatre (GIFT), Kate  works as a Senior Lecturer in Performing Arts at Northumbria University, and over the past three years has also worked at Leeds Metropolitan University, as well as in various international contexts working with students in Spain, Croatia and Romania. Kate’s one-woman show  Hand Me Down  received a Fringe First nomination at Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2008 and was subsequently re-staged at Live Theatre, Newcastle, Sibiu International Theatre Festival, Romania and Tristan Bates Theatre in London. As founding member and co-artistic director of Mouth to Mouth International Performance Collective, Kate has performed at various venues and festivals including BAC, LIFT, Whitechapel Gallery, Northern Stage and Dublin Fringe Festival.

David Taylor
Following several years working in the chemical industry and 35 years holding various academic posts within three universities, David recently retired as Dean of Faculty at the University of Sunderland. The Faculty offered programmes in performance arts, fine art, photographer, design, TV and radio, public relations and journalism. Within the University sector he was mainly involved with lecturing, research, programme development, management and student recruitment, both nationally and internationally. He has been chair of IMPASSE providing facilities for the unemployed including drama workshops and leisure activities. He has previously worked with young offenders and is currently a volunteer with the Durham County Youth offending Service.

Barry Thomas (Chair)
Barry is an Emeritus Reader and Honorary Fellow at Durham University, where he was previously Head of the Economics Department and Deputy Dean of the Business School. His academic interests include cultural economics. He has written several books and numerous articles in academic journals. He has lectured in many parts of the world, and has been an expert witness to Parliamentary Select Committees. He has been a consultant to the European Commission, and public and private sector organisations, including DCMS, Arts Council England, the V&A, and many others.

Paul Williams
Paul Williams is a Stockton GP and public health doctor who represents local GP’s on the Stockton-on-Tees Health and Wellbeing Board and is on the Governing Body of Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees Clinical Commissioning Group. Paul has spent his career in the North East of England and in Africa, where he led a hospital and community health program as a volunteer for five years. He recently spoke of his experiences in Uganda in a sell-out show, Living on the Edge of the Impenetrable Forest at ARC, with all profits going to the Mary Thompson Fund, a charity which supports refugees and people seeking sanctuary in the Tees Valley area. He is passionate about reducing health inequalities and about improving access to the arts for disadvantaged groups.

Board observers
Amanda Drago, Arts Council England, North East
Jan Doherty, Stockton Borough Council
Councillor Kenneth Dixon, Cabinet Member for Arts, Leisure & Culture, Stockton on Tees Borough Council