Meet the project team

Eileen is the daughter of Haitian & Haitian-Chinese parents. She is a nationally recognised poet with strong connection to the Northwest region and Cumbria. She is a farmer, textile and natural crafts maker and martial artist based between Abruzzo, Italy and Cumbria, UK. Owner of an off-grid, permaculture and biodynamic homestead, she cultivates fruit, olives, and exotic plants using regenerative methods. She has worked in solidarity with indigenous growers and artisans in Costa Rican forests, and recently collaborates with indigenous forest defenders from Borneo, Malaysia.

Her approach to poetry is an experiential ecosystem: living, integrative, interdisciplinary & international. Her work is consciously grounded in art that integrates sustainability with sensitivity, whilst pioneering nature-centred possibilities of ‘how we live next’.

Photo credit @ Jan Bella

Kayle is an interdisciplinary artist situated within the public-social domain. She works in regular collaboration and participation with other artists, communities and audiences. Her practice is process-led. Spaces for improvisation and unplanned directions are important.

Kayle’s work often explores into urban relationships to nature, ecologies of story, place and people with connections to activism, co-operative movements, truth and reconciliation, and embodied experience. Methods and mediums include expanded sculpture, psycho-geography, performance, live events, object making,
drawing and writing.

Kayle has been commissioned to create a permanent work for The Rum Story
Re-imagined project. The working title for this work is “I am the dream they dreamt”.

Katy Haigh from Wigton in Cumbria is project managing The Rum Story Re-Imagined. She has a background in project management, the arts, social justice, not for profits and education and feels it is a great privilege to be leading this exciting, important and challenging project.

From 2014-22, Katy was Chief Executive of Good Vibrations, a national music charity supporting some of the most marginalised people in the UK to grow confidence, communication and social skills. In recent years, she’s been a consultant, managing workforce projects for the National Childbirth Trust and creating their 5-year For Every Parent Strategy. Alongside, she has supply-taught in various Cumbrian schools.
Earlier in her career, Katy was a Development Manager at an Australian homelessness charity and Deputy Chief Executive of a London charity delivering education, employment, sustainability, arts and heritage projects and services.
Over a decade ago, Katy worked for New Zealand’s government in the Ministry of Education and was an Assistant Head of Music and a teacher of Music and Sex & Relationships Education at various secondary schools in London and Reading.
She holds a PGCE, Music Degree and Diploma in Management. She loves songwriting, playing piano and painting. Katy volunteers with The John Peel Theatre and Workington and Carlisle courts. She co-owns a family-run self-catering accommodation business in West Cumbria - a Grade II listed Georgian manor and barn.

Bright White is an established creative design consultancy based in York, specialising in interpretation, innovation and experience design for the heritage sector since 2004. Their multi-disciplinary team brings expertise in planning, content development, graphic design, 3D design, media design, architectural integration and project management, alongside a network of specialist freelancers.
Dr Michele Curtis, Astrid Krumins and Katie Blake will be delivering this re-interpretation piece on behalf of Bright White.

This partnership combines Michele’s expertise as an interpreter of culturally sensitive heritage with Bright White's technical capabilities and sector experience. Together, Bright White offer the creative vision, community engagement methodology, and professional infrastructure required to deliver this ambitious re-interpretation programme within the allocated timeframe and budget.

They are committed to achieving the project aims and ensuring The Rum Story becomes a model for how heritage attractions can tell difficult histories with honesty, dignity and community participation at their core.

The image featured on the Project Team page is of The Highland Wildlife Park where Bright White Ltd were commissioned to plan, design and build a new interpretive scheme, most of which sits inside a brand new building named the Discovery Hub - Scotland’s Wildlife Discovery Centre.

The photo on this page is of a mural project Michele did for Seven Saints of St Pauls in Bristol.

Rowan Carr from Cumbria, is qualified in Embodied Coaching and Somatic Approaches to Healing Racial Trauma. We are offering three fully-funded sessions with Rowan to everyone taking part in The Rum Story Re-Imagined Project and engaging in work about enslavement and racism as this can can be triggering, create a mind and body response and bring up trauma.

On the Adult Advisory Group are the following people:
Sophie Campbell. Sophie completed a PhD on heritage narratives that highlight economic connections to transatlantic slavery in England and New England, and has worked with small museums on developing their narratives. She is now working for the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Callum Hyslop. Callum volunteers on the Rum Story Re Imagined project, supporting the team to embed strong, evidence-based evaluation across the work. Volunteering has been a rewarding way to support a more inclusive and representative reinterpretation of Whitehaven’s heritage, while also helping to build lasting skills and capacity across the region.

Loren Redmond. Loren lives in Whitehaven with her husband and three children. She works in the nuclear industry and has a personal interest in supporting the local community to thrive, not only for her own family but for generations after. She is creative, energetic and always wants to embrace change however big or small this may be - it’s important to continuously grow, develop and learn.

Jon Ward. Jon has a great interest in maritime history. The bulk of his career has been in reinsurance and wholesale insurance, but his first job was bosun's mate on a sail training ship.

Chris Barras. Chris lives on Kells and is a grandfather of three young boys who keep him grounded and remind me how wonderful and exciting the world is. In between times he writes poetry about nature and other things that catch his imagination.

Livi Adu. Livi has deep family roots in Cumbria going back generations. She is a museum consultant who works with museums locally and nationally to advocate for decolonising history and making the stories we share more representative of the communities we live in. Find out more about her work at https://www.muchaduabout.com.

Anne Blankson-Hemans. Anne is an artist based in Cumbria and currently Resident Artist at Rosehill Theatre. Her work explores themes of belonging, memory, and identity, often drawing connections between local histories and wider global narratives. As Vice-President of the Society of Women Artists, and leader of the Lake District Plein Air group, she brings both professional and community experience to The Rum Story Reimagined. Growing up in Ghana and now living in Whitehaven, Anne feels a personal connection to the intertwined histories of the harbour and the transatlantic slave trade. Being part of the Adult Advisory Group allows her to use both my artistic practice and lived experience to help shape a more inclusive retelling of this story.

Laura Hesketh. Laura is a historian and consultant with over 15 years’ experience working with diverse communities across Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, and the UK. She specialises in heritage, anti-racism, and inclusive practice, collaborating with museums, universities, and cultural organisations to reimagine narratives and amplify underrepresented voices. Her expertise spans curation, education, archival research, and stakeholder engagement, with past work for institutions such as National Museums Liverpool, Birmingham Museums Trust, and the Church of England. A graduate in Black Studies in Birmingham and International Slavery from the University of Liverpool, Laura is also currently pursuing a PhD focusing on enslaved resistance. (Photo credit © Zak Grant)

Marzia Hussain Zada joined this group after taking part in two Rum Story Re-Imagined consultation workshops with Whitehaven Library's English Café Group. Marzia, originally from Afghanistan, lives in Whitehaven and is very active in the local community, particularly with helping to run multicultural festivals.

Cadaverous Black is a performance artist and all round creative imagineer. He has been performing under the stage name Cadaverous Black for seven years now and has cultivated his own brand and immersive Horror Drag Show and world. His passion is creating fantastical worlds and experiences for the public to immerse themselves in and ultimately escape, that is what Cadaverous Black as a project is all about. Being involved with the Rum Story Re-Imagined project is a very exciting prospect for him as the attraction holds a special place in his heart and from childhood he has always had a fascination with the place. He intends to inject a bit of magic into the newly Re-imagined attraction and create a place where people can be transported back in time and leave people in awe. From newly imagined immersive theming and his physical skill in set dressing, prop and set creation he intends to help make the newly imagined Rum Story attraction somewhere that takes people on a journey and inspires younger generations to create and build worlds of their own.

Cat Telford. Cat grew up in Whitehaven and is the workforce equality, diversity and inclusion Lead for The National Trust for Scotland. Their role is to support the workforce in being as inclusive and supportive as possible. Cat loves the outdoors, has a passion for storytelling, and has a keen, personal interest in tackling inequities which currently exist for many, when they try to engage with their heritage and participate in conservation work.

On the Youth Advisory Group are the following young people aged 12-17:

Aadya Bharadwaj is a Year 8 student at Keswick School with a creative spirit and a compassionate heart. She enjoys playing guitar and is a talented sketch artist, known for her detailed and expressive pencil drawings. Aadya has actively supported local events across West Cumbria and, in 2022, completed the remarkable journey to Mount Everest Base Camp, showing both resilience and curiosity beyond her years.

Aarshiya Bharadwaj is a Year 10 student at Keswick School with a passion for singing, music, and adventure. She actively volunteered with Anti-Racist Cumbria and continues to support local organisations and events across Whitehaven and West Cumbria. In 2023, she took part in monitoring and climbing to Everest Base Camp, demonstrating her commitment to both community and challenge.

Tom Bragg from Whitehaven is a creative and curious person with a strong interest in history, especially in finding imaginative ways to explore the past and share important stories. He is particularly interested in how the history of enslavement connects to today’s world, and he wants to help make that narrative more engaging and meaningful for others. History is his favourite subject at school and he thinks it’s important to learn about history from different perspectives and to hear a variety of voices and experiences from the past.

Daya Carter is 15 and is very excited to be taking part in The Rum Story Re-Imagined Project so she could share her views and ideas and help The Rum Story tell its important history better. Daya feels people need to understand the full experience of what really happened and that this is especially important since Cumbria is predominantly white heritage. She wants the history of the Transatlantic trading and trafficking of enslaved African people to be shown from multiple points of views to educate people about what they may not be aware of. Sasha is an active member of Anti Racist Cumbria’s Youth Group and sung live on stage as part of the televised 2025 Children in Need fundraiser.

Sasha Carter is 14, lives in Wigton and goes to Trinity School in Carlisle. She’s interested in History, which is why she chose to join this project. She’d like to learn about The Rum Story in deeper detail and help others to understand the value and meaning of this piece of history. Sasha is an active member of Anti Racist Cumbria’s Youth Group and sung live on stage as part of the televised 2025 Children in Need fundraiser.

Grace Coombe, 14, attends Whitehaven Academy. She’s studying Performing Arts and is playing the part of Anne of Cleeves in the school’s production of Six the Musical. Grace does Ju Jitsu and is a brown and white belt, which is one of the higher grades. She is obsessed with the Maze Runner movies and books. She has joined this project to help make The Rum Story a better attraction for Whitehaven. She looks forward to hopefully seeing the impact the group has on The Rum Story and town when its re-imagining is complete.

Bobby Donald, 14, from Whitehaven, has been passionate about performing arts from an early age - dancing before he could walk and singing before he could talk. Since the age of 3, he has trained in dance, drama, and theatre schools. His experience includes appearances in Just Eat and Morrisons Christmas adverts, and roles in The Goes Wrong Show and Biggletons as Bobby the Vet. On stage, Bobby has performed professionally in Billy Elliot, playing Michael. Bobby’s ultimate dream is to perform on a West End stage.

Charlie Donald, 12, from Whitehaven, has been passionate about performing arts from an early age, attending dance, drama, and theatre schools for many years. He loves competing in dance competitions, drama and music festivals, and performing on stage. Since 2024, Charlie has been playing the role of Michael Banks in Cameron Mackintosh’s UK & Ireland tour of Mary Poppins. This incredible experience has strengthened his ambition to pursue a performing arts career. Charlie is a Year 7 school councillor, where he enjoys working on team projects, engaging in debates and achieving goals collaboratively.

Holly Dumont, 17, works in The Rum Story Vault, helping with events. She is studying Engineering at the Energy Coast University Technical College. She loves history and has previously volunteered in the Beacon Museum to learn more. She also loves learning about culture and is set to volunteer in a children's home in Kenya next summer. Holly loves The Rum Story and has been visiting since she was a child.

Carly Jensen is 13 and goes to Nelson Thomlinson School in Wigton. One of her biggest hobbies is drawing. She enjoys music and plays a variety of instruments. Carly joined The Rum Story Re-Imagined Project because she is interested in History and wants to learn more about what had happened to those people who were enslaved.

Chim co-facilitates the project's Youth Advisory Group and has been working as part of Anti Racist Cumbria’s youth work team for five years. They work across Cumbria with organisations such as Queer Cumbria and Proud & Diverse Cumbria, and aim to work intersectionally in everything they do. In Chim's spare time they are a spoken word artist, writer, activist and zine collaborator They love going on walks, playing video games and illustrating.

Chim co-facilitates the Youth Advisory Group with Laura Hesketh, alongside Katy Haigh.

Mina is an artist, supporting the project by graphic harvesting the feedback, questions and ideas coming out of the consultation and engagement, and capturing them in beautiful visual images. This helps everyone taking part in shaping the project to see what themes are arising about how The Rum Story should be improved over the next five years and about what should be the project's guiding principles.

Mina lives in West Cumbria and was trained as a Graphic Harvester with Phoenix Way. She is interested in how art can help people to heal and release emotions. She works with various arts, communit, and heritage organisations in Cumbria, e.g. Tullie House, Carlidoscope, Anti Racism Cumbria and Cumbria Development Education Centre.