Samantha Lindley
Chief Executive and Creative Director
Samantha brings over 20 years of leadership and creative expertise across the cultural sector, with a track record in public art, film, community engagement, education, talent development, live events, and commissioning.
As CEO and Creative Director of Threshold Studios, Samantha is dedicated to advancing the organisation’s mission of leveraging arts and culture to drive social impact and foster change on local, regional, national, and international levels. She advocates for the transformative power of digital and emerging technologies, championing their role in expanding cultural accessibility and inclusivity through innovative digital creative placemaking.
Emily Dennison
Director of Operations and Growth
Since graduating with a Media and Broadcast Journalism degree from the University of Westminster, Emily’s 25-year working journey through the creative industries spans senior communications and marketing roles across academic institutions, creative agencies, arts venues, and national museums.
From nurturing film and media talent at EM Media and heading inward investment and communications teams, Emily’s fingerprints are on successful campaigns, events, and British feature films showcased on prestigious platforms like Cannes, Rome, and Edinburgh.
Most recently, Emily enjoyed ten years helping shape the future of the Confetti Media Group, now part of NTU, as Director of Communications.
Emily describes her most challenging yet rewarding working experience as a Governess on a remote Australian Outback Cattle Station, where she battled heat, dust, crocs, cattle, wild boars, and Flying Doctors. Helping children through their “school of the air” education was an unforgettable and character-building experience.
Now, Emily joins Threshold eager to contribute to its growth and collaborate on delivering exceptional experiences for audiences across Lincolnshire and beyond.
Kate Saunders
Director of Marketing and Audiences
Kate excels in cultivating new and existing cultural audiences for innovative projects, leveraging her 15+ years experience in marketing, branding, and audience development across the cultural, creative, and higher education sectors.
As Director of Marketing and Audiences, Kate crafts and implements strategic, data-driven marketing and audience development plans for Threshold. She spearheads the organisation’s branding, marketing and communication strategies, leads project campaigns, and manages the expanding marketing and design team during Frequency International Festival of Digital Culture.
A self-confessed data enthusiast, Kate is passionate about using data to highlight the social, economic, and cultural value of Threshold’s work. She developed and oversees the data and impact framework and is dedicated to showcasing and creating further lasting impact through all of Threshold’s projects.
Kate holds a CIM Professional Diploma in Marketing (Digital Strategy) and a BA in Fine Art from Leeds Metropolitan University. She is committed to building arts and culture audiences, enhancing inclusivity and accessibility, and strengthening the sector for artists and creatives.
Jo Heldreich BA FCA
Finance Manager
Jo is a chartered accountant with strong technical accounting and IT skills backed up by 16 years of practical experience and a logical, hands on approach to getting the job done efficiently. She has a track record of delivering timely, accurate and relevant financial information to a wide variety of audiences, and experience of forming successful relationships at all levels of business.
In 2014 Jo made the decision to set up her own company, Beehive Accountancy Services Limited, with the aim to deliver a high quality outsourced finance function to small businesses. The company provides a range of accountancy services from bookkeeping and payroll, to management reporting and high-level financial advice. Beehive specialises in providing professional services to the not for profit sector where Jo has spent most of her career, both inside and outside of practice.
Donna Close
Associate Director
Donna is a strategic consultant and creative producer with 25 years’ experience in arts and culture, working at senior levels across the private, public sectors and third sectors. She has developed cultural strategy and new partnerships, consortiums and alliances for local, national and international projects and raised more than £10 million investment for culture.
Donna has particular expertise in place-making projects and in creating and initiating arts festivals, special events and creative public art programmes. Donna created and developed an award winning international festival White Night which commissioned 60 new pieces of work over 4 years including the civic soundscape project ‘West St Story’ with Martyn Ware.
Donna was also one of the founding trustees of the Brighton Open air Theatre raising more than £120k through crowd funding. Donna is Associate Director at FEI and a senior research fellow at the University of Brighton specialising in creative leadership and experience economy. Donna also produces immersive and film based projects as producer with Driftwood.
Simon Hollingworth
Associate Producer
Simon is a freelance Creative Producer based in Lincolnshire and works with a variety of venues, festivals and creative projects across the East Midlands and beyond.
Recent clients have included Transported, Rosa Productions, Lincs Music Hub, Doddington Hall and Peterborough Presents and he is one of the regular Creative Producers on Grantham’s biennial Gravity Fields Festival of arts & science. He was previously Director of Lincoln Drill Hall for 10 years and as part of that role was involved in helping to set up the first Frequency Festival in 2011.
Simon (also known as Mr Holly) is on the Board of Tom Dale Company and Zest Theatre and is delighted to be joining the Threshold team as one of two new Associate Producers and is looking forward to getting more people involved in Frequency 2019 and beyond.
Rob Gethen Smith MBA BEng
Associate Director
Rob is a digital technology specialist with extensive experience working across the arts as well as the broader social impact sector.
As Chief Information Officer he led digital transformation programmes at Tate and Southbank Centre enabling the wholescale opening up of digital access to artistic and educational content, development of new digital services and the modernisation of operational systems and practices. Working closely with curatorial and education colleagues to envision the digital ‘art of the possible’ and facilitate new experiences, he was also instrumental in the delivery of the Web we Want Digital Festival.
As a consultant, Rob provides advice to large and small organisations on how to maximise the potential of digital technology. He is currently Chair of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising’s Digital and Technology Special Interest Group and he leads on partnerships for a software supplier that delivers CRM solutions to non-profit organisations. He thrives on simplifying the complex to arrive at solutions that make sense and can be achieved.
In spare time he enjoys playing the piano badly and watching Crystal Palace sometimes win a game of football.
