National Youth Arts Wales welcomes three new young members to its Board of Trustees

NYAW's Board has appointed three new young trustees, as part of its commitment to embedding youth voice within its daily work.

New trustees Isaac Lewis, Rhys Watkins and Mared Browning took up their new roles during their first board meeting on Wednesday, November the 8th. Each artist within their own rights, the new trustees bring fresh perspectives to the board and place the voice of the younger generation at the highest level of NYAW’s decision making.

Evan Dawson, Chief Executive Officer of NYAW, said: “National Youth Arts Wales aims to inspire, support and connect our next generation of Welsh artists - but we can only do this with authenticity if young people’s voices are heard at every level of the organisation’s leadership. That’s why I’m so excited to welcome Mared, Isaac and Rhys to our Board of Trustees. They each bring a wealth of individual experience, creativity and good humour, which will help shape our projects and strategy over the years ahead.”

NYAW’s Board of Trustees, led by its chair, plays a fundamental role in the work that NYAW does. Acting in the best interests of the charity, it helps set our strategic plan and oversees its developments, ensuring the organisation can continue to bring the best opportunities possible to the next generation of Welsh talent through their various national ensembles and projects.

Chair to the Board of Trustees, David Jackson OBE, said: "I’m delighted to welcome our three new trustees to the NYAW Board - their varied skill sets and enthusiasm will definitely inject new thinking into our meetings. I’m confident that NYAW will benefit from their ideas and energy, and I really look forward to working with them all.”

The new appointments help diversify NYAW’s board further, with a 40% total of female representation and 40% under the age of 30. Earlier this year, NYAW published their new business plan, setting themselves the target of ensuring that at least 30% of the board are Welsh speaking by the end of 2026. Following the recent appointments, NYAW’s are pleased that they’ve already crossed the halfway mark with 20% of the board having fluent Welsh language ability.     

Instrumental in the process of the creation of the young trustee roles, was vice-chair, Karen Pimbley. “Young people are at the heart of all NYAW activity, so it was a natural step to include young people at decision making level on our Board. We are delighted that our new young trustees will help shape the direction of travel for our ensembles and projects in the coming years and there is no doubt they will become great ambassadors for the organisation.”