Coming soon…

Toby trained as an actor at Bretton Hall and has specialised in co-creating theatre for young people since 2004. Toby spent three and a half years as the Lincolnshire Youth Theatre Director for Nacro, the national social justice charity, before establishing Zest Theatre in 2007. From grassroots beginnings in Lincolnshire, Zest is now an Arts Council England NPO that reaches thousands of young people nationally annually. As Artistic Director & CEO, Toby strategically oversees Zest's development and directs Zest's professional work. National touring productions include Gatecrash (2013-16), Boy Meets Girl (2014-16), Thrive (2015-17), First Person (2017-20), What Once Was Ours (2017), which went on to win Best Production for Young People 13+ at the Off West End Awards 2018, and Youthquake (2019-20). Digital work includes: *untitled - a visual EP (2020), Never Was a Normal (2021) and monolith (2021-22). Toby also curated Zest’s installations, Refresh (2021-2023) and The Forum (2022-23), and was the Theatre Director for Lost Village Festival from 2015 - 2019.

Adam joined Zest Theatre as our Participation Coordinator in July 2024, after completing the EVOLVE music project with the University of Lincoln at the Lincoln Arts Centre as a Project Coordinator. Previously working for Future 4 Me as an Early Help Worker, Adam gained extensive experience safeguarding young people and working with our community.

With years of experience working within education settings, Adams’s career has largely focused on safeguarding, pastoral support, SEN care and advocation, supply teaching and caring for boarders as a house parent.

Away from work, Adam is a performing musician playing at rock shows up and down the UK, alongside a positive record of over 40 grassroots music events hosted and promoted across England.

Most recently, Adam worked as Senior Producer at Hull Truck Theatre. Before that, he was Artistic Programme & Participation Manager at Lincoln Drill Hall and Programmer & Producer for Derby Theatre. In 2014, he won the Olwen Wymark Award for supporting New Writing within Theatre for the Writer’s Guild for his work in opening and running Create Theatre, a state-of-the-art studio theatre in Mansfield. Adam is also an artist, having self-produced and performed in the national tour of ‘Getting Better Slowly’ 2016 -2017 - an inspiring recovery story told through new writing, movement & sound . He specialises in supporting emerging companies, artist development and new writing and is a proud advocate for regional theatre. Adam is also a Trustee & Vice Chair for GAIN Charity. Adam was a Trustee at Zest Theatre for 8 years before joining the staff team as Executive Producer.

I’m the new co-leader for Future Proof, which is exciting as it is a brand-new role created for me. The aim of my role is to ensure that the young voices of Future Proof are being heard and that the diversity within the group is recognised to its fullest extent.

I have been a part of Zest for just over five years now. I was also a part of Youthquake in my hometown of Barnsley. I then joined Zoom calls within lockdown, leading to Never Was A Normal being created, which then further developed into becoming Future Proof, our youth advisory board.

I’m currently studying Fashion Buying with Merchandising at De Montfort University, Leicester. I’m really passionate about this subject, as I want to move to New York once I finish my degree. I am also an American citizen.

Future Proof is our Youth Advisory Board - giving a meaningful voice to Young People in order to shape the leadership and direction of the company.

Future Proof+ is our Shadow Board - mentoring and developing young people to become the Trustees of tomorrow.

Head to the Future Proof page to find out more about them and their work.

Gurpri is the Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Lead at Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club and an Inclusion Advisory Board member for Lancashire Football Association. Previously working at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games in the team that led the planning of the Opening and Closing Ceremony, the Cultural Arts Programme, and the Queen’s Baton Relay. Gurpri is passionate about using the power of art and sport as an agent to bring about social change. Gurpri has held an array of roles across the sports and arts sector including Participation Manager at Birmingham Opera Company, Conference and Events Coordinator at Nottingham Theatre Royal and Concert Hall, and Projects Coordinator at Aston Villa FC Foundation overseeing girls’ football and school participation programmes.  Born and raised in Handsworth, Birmingham Gurpri recognises the importance of positive role-modelling and representation, inspired by Zest’s passion about developing young audiences and bold creations she is delighted to be part of the journey!

Rachel is an artist, producer, and academic working across different artforms with a focus on collaboration, co-creation, and contemporary arts.  She was born in Lincoln and delighted to be back in her hometown working with Zest and other fantastic arts organisations to develop better opportunities and creative experiences for young people!  

A graduate of Dartington College of Arts, Rachel is a professional director, writer, and producer of collaborative and participatory arts projects with international reach. She has worked with public groups around the UK, and with major commissioning partners such as the NHS, the RAF, and Arts Council England. She is also a regular presenter for BBC Radio Lincolnshire.  She is Co-artistic Director of Proto-type Theater – a company of multi-disciplinary artists making original performance – critics have called their work ‘an intriguing brush with altered reality’ (New York Times), ‘smartly intelligent, coolly reasoned theatre’ (The Guardian) and ‘enthralling’ (Zambezi News).  

Rachel is Associate Professor and Creative Engagement Producer for the School of Creative Arts at the University of Lincoln. 

Adam Davey, Co-Founder and Director of Petaurum HR has over 30 years of professional expertise from both public and private sectors. With extensive experience of supporting businesses on their day-to-day HR issues, Adam has also designed, developed and implemented HR strategies in a range of organisations and sectors from PLCs to SMEs. Supporting growing businesses and those facing change is a particular speciality, which has included him working as the interim HR Director of an international business based in Australia. A proud ‘Yellowbelly’ and firmly rooted in Lincoln, Adam is the former Chair of the Lincolnshire Branch of the CIPD and an active member of the Lincoln business community. A keen runner, he is in sight of completing his 20th Great North Run, with 1 London Marathon thrown in for good measure.

Nicola helps leaders and organisations be their best. A Master Coach (MSc), Nicola has spent her career working in the field of People, Personal and Leadership development, and lights up when she sees those she works with truly thrive. Nicola has worked in every sector and most industries, coaching at every level of the organisation. She is also a specialist in mindset and often works in elite sport helping athletes maximise their performance outcomes. Naturally light and positive, she believes that people are capable of anything they set their intention to. She was drawn to Zest by the team’s purpose and energies believing that she can make a contribute to the collective outcomes the team enable. A southerner, living in Lincoln she juggles her work with being a new mum. She loves every second of what she does, and it shows.

Christopher Gorry is an arts leader specialising in co-creation. Currently the Artistic Director of The Spark Arts for Children, an organisation that is driven to spark creativity and change in children aged 0-13. The organisation is a National Portfolio Organisation of Arts Council England and delivers a year round programme of activities and projects as well as the national flagship festival for Children and Families -The Spark Festival. The organisation also leads the internationally recognised Vital Spark programme that increases the diversity in Performance for Young Audiences sector. He believes that all theatre should be made with/by/for the audience it is intending to serve. Whether that be audiences involved in the creation process, the research and development phase or working towards a public presentation of product.

He was previously the founder and Artistic Director/CEO of Warts and All Theatre in Northampton and has worked for organisations such as Almeida Theatre, London, Birmingham Rep, The Point ,Eastleigh, Chichester Festival Theatre and Royal & Derngate in Northampton where he redeveloped the Youth Theatre and Young Company model to increase quality, access and inclusive practice.

He established the UK’s first Practitioner Training Programme that embedded Arts Council England’s 7 Quality Principles of Excellence in participatory practice, which was developed during a residency with Theatre Royal Plymouth.

He has previous governance/Trustee experience at Stoke Heath Primary School in Coventry (where he lives! – not the school- the City!), Lincoln Drill Hall and The Doddridge Centre in Northampton.

I first worked with Zest back in October 2019 for Youthquake Lincoln as Jamie, a role I later reprised for Youthquake Norwich. In 2020, I joined Future Proof, Zest’s youth advisory board. In 2021, I worked as a workshop facilitator for Refresh Lincoln, followed by making Never Was A Normal with the rest of Future Proof and then voicing ‘Someone’ in the audio adventure Monolith.

My progression from youth cast with Youthquake to youth advisory board member in Future Proof to shadow trustee board member in Future Proof+ highlights the drive Zest has to serve and centre young people.

In January 2025, I was honoured to become a trustee. I’m excited and thankful for this opportunity and grateful to be able to represent other young people at the top level.

In my free time, I love to read, draw, and paint, and spend time with my fur children (a cat and two guinea pigs).

My journey with Zest began in 2020 when I collaborated on their Youthquake project. Later that year, I joined the Youth Advisory Board Future Proof, where I gained valuable experience as a critical friend to Zest and honed my analytical and leadership skills.

In January 2025, I was honoured to become a trustee, a role that reflects my growth within the organisation and my transition into a recognised leadership position. I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to key decisions at Zest.

In my current role, I work in a secondary school, providing student support and pastoral care alongside taking on administrative responsibilities, including marketing and website management.

Emma lives in Lincolnshire with her family, after returning to the county seven years ago.

Emma is a Quality Improvement specialist working across NHS England and the University of Lincoln, within the School of Health and Social Care, her passion is to support people and their teams to reach their maximum and be their best possible selves.

Outside of work, Emma loves to cook and stands by the mantra, “if you love them, feed them” and boasts an array of culinary dinner party favourites, including her epic brownies.

The voice of young people needs to be amplified, Zest are perfectly placed to support, encourage and facilitate conversations across sector partners, stakeholders and between young people themselves.

Emma is thrilled to be taking on the role of trustee, it’s a privilege and she cannot wait to get started on this exciting journey.

Azam has a passion for business dynamics, spending much of his career advising companies on business strategy, ultimately moving to Boston USA to join Harvard Law School as a Director for a negotiation programme. Azam brings that passion to bear in dealing with his clients, understanding the core of how their businesses work, their capabilities and their ambitions.

Azam is an award-winning specialist Corporate and Commercial lawyer. Having trained at top-tier firms, he went onto become Corporate Partner at a leading full service practice and then a Director at a leading commercial practice.

He is widely sought after for his expertise, and has clients from all over the world ranging from tech start-ups to international brands.