People
Place
Culture

People transform place through culture. Culture is the single most powerful factor in making urban locations thrive. Our vision is to create places with culture at the heart, elevating everyday life, nurturing communities, driving economic growth and environmental sustainability.

Futurecity is a cultural placemaking agency transforming the built environment through arts and culture. Founded by Mark Davy in 2007, we have delivered over 125 cultural placemaking strategies, brokered over 20 cultural partnerships, and completed more than 100 public art commissions globally.

We use culture to write the story of places, creating innovative opportunities for cultural infrastructure, projects and partnerships to enhance urban life.

Our Team

We provide expertise across the cultural sector; visual arts, performing arts, design, craft, technology, and creative industries.

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Mark Davy
Founder & CEO

Mark Davy founded Futurecity in 2007 (with offices in London and Cambridge) as a culture and placemaking consultancy and a platform for predominantly private sector involvement in culture-driven development of our urban centres. Under his leadership Futurecity has written over 50 cultural and arts strategies for large brownfield developments, regeneration areas and urban projects across the UK.

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Rachel De Cesaro
Business Director

Rachel leverages her extensive management experience in the creative industry to coordinate business operations, drive results, and champion the integration of art and culture in projects. All while supporting the company's growth both within the UK and internationally, and fostering a dynamic, collaborative company culture.

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Andy Robinson
Director of Placemaking

Andy leads Futurecity's placemaking projects from strategic growth areas of UK cities to international creative districts, airport hubs and green belt communities. Andy directs research and engagement to craft narrative and cultural visions for new places. He also transforms strategic positioning into deliverable programmes of cultural infrastructure and partnerships, integrating social and economic priorities as sustainable placemaking strategy.

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Fabienne Nicholas
Associate, International Curatorial Director

Fabienne has over 25 yrs of senior leadership, curatorial & producing experience delivering creative arts programmes and public art projects. In London, she established the Contemporary Art Society’s Consultancy, leading a team delivering major scale strategies, public art commissions and curatorial projects, including the first statue of a woman in Parliament Square and long-term public art programmes for LSE, Cambridge and Bristol universities. For Futurecity, Fabienne leads on the delivery of arts and cultural strategies and public art commissioning across the international project portfolio.

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Anna Pearson
Director of HR

Anna develops and enhances Futurecity’s human resources by planning, implementing, and evaluating all HR and employee relations strategies, policies and practices. She works closely with the team to plan resources and ensure all HR practices are legally sound. Anna is a fully qualified HR professional with over 20 years’ HR experience with 17 of those post-qualification (CIPD Advanced Level 7 Postgraduate Diploma in Human Resource Management).

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George Kekatos
Cultural Director

George develops Futurecity’s activity in the arts and cultural sector and its network of cultural partners. He devises business structures and processes for cultural brokering and develops new business models for cultural collaborations. He has delivered several flagship cultural placemaking strategies and public artworks on a global scale and holds an MA in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy from Goldsmiths University of London.

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Sinéad McCarthy
Curatorial Director

Sinéad plans and manages the delivery across the public arts commissions, strategies and exhibitions, providing a curatorial perspective. With over 15 years contemporary arts experience, curating, commissioning and producing projects with Artangel, Barbican, Liverpool Biennial and Museum of the Home, she has worked with many artists, organisations and stakeholders initiating and shaping new partnerships and programming opportunities. She holds an MFA in Curating from Goldsmiths College.

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Marek Wolynski
Associate, Director of Innovation

Marek develops and directs large-scale projects and cross-sector partnerships that connect, transform, and inspire. He has orchestrated creative commissions, steered public art initiatives, and curated multifaceted projects with major institutions and public entities, including Riyadh Art, British Council, United Nations, Mayor of London, Misk Art Institute, Luma Foundation, Art Rotterdam, and European Parliament, among others. Operating at the intersection of art, design, and architecture, Marek shapes ecosystems where heritage and innovation synergise.

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Alessandra Grignaschi
Associate, Curator

Alessandra is a highly skilled Curator who commissions and produces diverse projects within the creative, arts and media industries. Since 2010, she has worked with curator and exhibition-maker Judith Clark in the delivery and management of exhibitions of dress in museums, galleries and retail spaces worldwide. She previously worked in the film industry managing events to promote UK film culture and talent within the international marketplace.

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Don Porter
Associate, Advisor on Saudi Projects

Don assists with the development of projects in Saudi Arabia for Future City. He brings unique experience to the role having served as Programme Director of the largest public art program in the world, Riyadh Art, implementing the masterplan developed by Future City. In this role he oversaw direct artist awards, artist competitions and architect/artist collaborative commissions for large scale pieces. He is very familiar with contracting, commissioning and procurement of public art in KSA. Prior to this role, he acted as Project Director for several museums and cultural projects in the Middle East, Egypt and India.

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Karolina Slup
Senior Researcher

Karolina is a creative producer working at the intersection of art and design. Her extensive experience collaborating with both public and private institutions spans multidisciplinary cultural initiatives ranging from exhibitions and publications to research-based projects and marketing campaigns. Through her practice, she cultivates creative partnerships and explores the intersections of culture, design, and ecology.

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Maheer Khan
Researcher

Maheer provides support to both the arts and strategy teams and helps generates project content. She holds a BA in Architecture and has significant experience in community engagement, design, and management. Previously working as design assistant for a social enterprise, she is committed to demonstrating the complex and powerful role culture plays in cities, exploring the role of spirituality, cartography, sports, design and animation.

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Lucy Colbert
Projects Coordinator

Lucy supports projects across public art and strategy at Futurecity. She holds a BA in Fine Art from the Glasgow School of Art and has a background in curating and managing projects within arts organisations and museums. Passionate about the power of the arts to create a sense of place, Lucy is dedicated to contributing to initiatives that create meaningful, global impact through culture and creativity.

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Emanuele De Angelis
Projects Coordinator

Emanuele coordinates national and international projects within the Strategy team. Previously managing events programme in the public realm and for a several Business Improvements Districts in London, he is experienced in stakeholder engagement processes as catalyst for public-private partnerships. He is an active member of Placemaking Europe network and holds a BA in City Planning and Architecture from the University of Westminster in London with previous studies in business and marketing in Italy.

Our Associates

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Sara Almutlaq
Associate, Curator

Sara Almutlaq is a curator and cultural strategist living and working in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. With a background in architecture and critical theory, her pedagogical approach merges the theoretical with the theatrical, transforming the experience of space into a stage set for speculative thought.

Almutlaq has contributed to strategy and cultural asset development for various institutions, including the Black Gold Museum, Fenaa Alawwal, and the newly launched Diriyah Art Futures. During this time, she has devised long-term exhibition strategies and public programs that highlight the ambitions of these cultural assets. Almutlaq has also led the commissioning, fabrication, and installation of public artworks with artists including Zahrah Al Ghamdi, Saddiek Wasill, and Ugo Rondinone.

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David Barrie
Associate, Social Impact Entrepreneur

David is a producer of urban projects and advisor on entrepreneurship, social impact and the involvement of communities in development. David has founded pioneering ventures, including The People’s Supermarket, Castleford Project and venture investor Wild Blue Cohort and worked in the UK, Canada, Russia and China. He was named recently in the Maserati 100/Sunday Times list of “game changing entrepreneurs”.

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Vestalia Chilton
Associate - Senior Curator

Vestalia focuses on Urban Planning and Cultural Strategy. Formerly at Sotheby’s, with a degree in Valuation and Auctioning of Fine Art and Chattels, she consults on significant permanent public art commissions in London. She leads the Kensington and Chelsea Art Week and Public Art Trail she co-founded in 2017, which brings together over 150 cultural public and private sector organisations guided by a 15-strong advisory board. Vestalia is currently pursuing a RTPI-accredited MA in Urban Planning and Resilience at the University of Kent.

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Dr Cara Courage
Associate, Placemaker

Cara is an arts and placemaking expert. Her passion for and dedication to people and place has led her to specialise in practices that are socially-engaged, community-led, and in embedded in place, whether that place be a team, a city park, a national museum or a rural town high street, doing this as a consultant, practitioner, researcher and writer.

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Jez Collins
Associate, Cultural Researcher

With over thirty years’ experience in the creative and cultural sector, Jez provides strategic advice across a broad spectrum of industries and sectors including music, culture, development, place-making and tourism. Founder of the Birmingham Music Archive, Co-Director of Un-convention and member of the Bearwood Promoters collective, Jez has spent a lifetime working and writing about popular music and its history, heritage and culture.

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Sophie Forbat
Associate - Senior Curator, Sydney

Sophie is a leading curator and project manager in Sydney. Working with Kaldor Arts Projects for eight years, Sophie has undertaken a wealth of ambitious art projects across the city including 13 Rooms and Marina Abramovic in residence. She is a strategic thinker bringing fresh ideas and approaches to the development and implementation of Futurecity’s strategies and offers considerable experience in the delivery of complex projects.

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Ali Hossaini
Associate, Digital Scholar & Curator

Ali Hossaini works at the cutting edge of art, technology and business. His productions have been shown in museums, performing arts centers, galleries and festivals globally. An active consultant to museums, theatres and arts districts, he develops technology, design and strategic plans in cities around the world. He lectures regularly and is lead author of The Manual of Digital Museum Planning, released in 2017 by Rowman & Littlefield.

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Imran Hussain
Associate, Hospitality Forecaster

Imran is a Director at THC/ Endeavour – a collaborative marketing communications agency. Previous work within the boutique hotel sector has included being Marketing Director for brands including My Hotels Group and the Great Northern Hotel. Clients such as The Pilgrm, The Zetter Group, Central Working, Gotham, citizenM, Bespoke Hotels and Shinola. Over the years Imran has worked with brands Somerset House, Coco de Mer, Film4, Tiffany & Co etc.

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Rachel Hutchison
Associate, Senior Placemaking & Communications Strategist

Rachel is an experienced cultural strategist and has developed place narratives and strategic frameworks for varied scales of mixed-use developments and cultural districts across the UK and internationally. She leads a social innovation lab at the University of the Arts London, focussing on co-design and placemaking.

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Dr Anna Marazuela Kim
Associate, Senior Cultural Researcher

Anna is an adviser and scholar at the intersection of the arts and built environment with institutes of advanced study, industry and universities internationally, advancing insight on placemaking, civic agency and human thriving; culture, conflict and urban futures. Anna brings academic expertise to broader publics and practice, recently as Associate at Foster + Partners, and is an Associate of Thriving Cities Lab (US) and King’s College, London.

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Rose Lejeune
Associate, Senior Curator

Rose is an independent curator with expertise in time-based media, performance, participatory and public art. She is known for her innovative work in museum collection development, public/private collaborations, and multidisciplinary formats, and has lead projects and taught both in the UK and internationally, especially across the GCC. Looking at new institutional formats, she completed her PhD in Curating at Goldsmiths College in 2024.

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Tessa Marchington
Associate, Cultural Strategist

Tessa is a musician and entrepreneur working at the intersect of arts, health & business. She founded the award- winning company ‘Music in Offices’ in 2007 to bring people & businesses together through music, and increase the role that music can play. Tessa co- founded her own Festival bringing world class music to intimate venues in Surrey, and has been a consultant/producer on numerous projects and festivals globally.

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David Micklem
Associate, Performing Arts Specialist

David is an experienced producer, cultural leader, writer and trainer with a demonstrable track record in supporting artists, delivering significant arts projects and influencing policy. From 2007 until 2012 he was Joint Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Battersea Arts Centre, a ground-breaking theatre in South London. He currently works independently for a range of clients including Futurecity.

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Rajesh Punj
Associate

Based between Antwerp and London, Rajesh Punj is a freelance art critic, correspondent and collector, with an academic background in Art History and Curating from Warwick University (UK) and Goldsmiths (UK) respectively. Well versed in European and American modern and contemporary art, with an appreciation of the newer markets in India and the Middle East, having traveled extensively, and interviewed leading artists, philanthropists, scholars and sculptors, for a wider worldview.

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Ben Stephenson
Associate, Strategist

Ben has 20 years’ experience in economic development and placemaking roles, including most recently as Chief Executive of the Waterloo Business Improvement District. With wide-ranging experience in programme development, policymaking and delivery, Ben’s work for clients focuses on place development through cultural activation, retail and street markets, neighbourhood planning and place branding.

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Alice Strazzeri
Associate, Craft & Design Specialist

Alice is Futurecity’s strategic advisor for craft and design. Prior to this she was a design curator at the British Council, publishing The New English Dandy with Thames & Hudson, and curating a series of international touring exhibitions. As Director Arts & Culture India, she commissioned Tim Supple’s seminal Midsummer Nights Dream, managed 13 staff across the continent and budgets up to 1 million.

Our Clients

We have worked with over 100 clients in the property sector.

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