The Independent Cinema Office is delighted to welcome three new members to our Board of Trustees: Dr Sita Thomas (a director, intimacy coordinator and academic), Anthony Lee (an arts marketing and communications specialist) and Richard McDonald (a chartered accountant).
With expertise in finance, direction, communications, accessibility advocacy and more, these new members will work with the rest of our board to provide guidance, perspective and support to the ICO’s leadership team, helping to steer and shape our future work.
For those interested in supporting the ICO’s work, we are currently looking for an individual with governance experience to become the new Chair of our Board of Trustees. We welcome applications from various professional backgrounds and are open to a co-chairing model. Please visit our Chair of the Board of Trustees recruitment page to learn more, and apply by 19 May.
A huge thanks to all our new trustees for contributing your time and expertise to our work, and welcome to the team!
Dr Sita Thomas
Dr Sita Thomas works across TV, film and theatre as a director, movement director, intimacy coordinator and academic. She holds a PhD from the University of Warwick and a Masters in Movement Direction from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Sita is currently a lecturer in Theatre and Performance at the University of Bristol.
Coming from a Welsh-Indian background, Sita is passionate about championing and creating opportunities for Global Majority, LGBT+ and neurodiverse creatives. Until recently, she served as artistic director and CEO of theatre and arts charity Fio, based in Cardiff.
Sita has directed documentary and drama short films, and music videos for clients including the National Theatre, Theatre Royal Stratford East and Tara Arts. Her 2024 broadcast credits include director of The Way I Play, a documentary about race and disability in Welsh sport for BBC Wales, and intimacy coordinator for HETV shows broadcast on BBC with Bad Wolf, Quay Street Productions, and Hera Pictures. Sita was a TV presenter for Channel 5’s milkshake! from 2015 to 2023 where she also created short films and provided voice-over narration.
Sita’s theatre directing credits include a range of innovative productions, such as The House of Jollof Opera, a pop-up food ‘hip-hopera’ experience for Fio and Music Theatre Wales; The Shoemaker, an immersive opera co-created with refugees and asylum seekers in Wales for Welsh National Opera, Oasis Cardiff, and Fio; Coventry Embraces, a large-scale site-specific production as part of Good Chance’s The Walk with Little Amal; and Under The Mask, a binaural audio drama about the NHS for Tamasha and Oxford Playhouse. As assistant, associate, and staff director, Sita has worked at the National Theatre, Royal Court, Theatre Royal Stratford East, and Royal Festival Hall.
Sita is passionate about supporting the next generation of diverse creatives, and has created and led year-round artist development programmes Arise (Wales Millennium Centre, S4C, BBC Audio, Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, Fio) and Tamasha Directors Programme. She has experience across a range of advisory groups, panels and charity trustee Board positions including Young Vic and Emergency Exit Arts. Her potential and excellence has been recognised with awards and bursaries from several acclaimed organisations including the Arts and Humanities Research Council, MGCfutures and ScreenSkills.
For more information about Sita, visit her website.
Anthony Lee
Anthony Lee is a marketing and communications specialist with experience working across music, arts, and culture. Specialising in branding, storytelling, strategy, and audience engagement, he has cultivated a track record of developing creative campaigns within grassroots, national, and global organisations including AWAL, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Punch Records, BMG, Sony Music, and the Young Vic.
With a love for film from around the globe, he is passionate about the sharing of culture, representation of marginalised communities, and challenging perceptions through screen. Through collaborative projects with the likes of Film Africa, BFI and Flatpack, to leading on the cinema marketing at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre and supporting Back In (Punch Records’ flagship programme investing in Birmingham’s Black filmmaking talent), he has been able to create space for those with urgent stories to share.
Anthony is an advocate for demystifying and developing sustainable pathways into the creative industries having served on the advisory board of Creative Access, and through his work as a core member of ESEA Music and trustee of Graeae Theatre Company and Brighter Sound he continues to champion diverse talent.
Image credit: Morris Shamah
Richard McDonald
Richard is a finance professional with a passion for the arts. He is a chartered accountant and was a partner at Deloitte, where he worked for almost 30 years. In his time at Deloitte, Richard worked with businesses in the telecoms, media and technology sectors, before moving to an internal position where he held a number of leadership roles within Deloitte’s UK and Global organisations, including as a talent leader and the Disability Network sponsor.
Richard is now leveraging his corporate experience within the not-for-profit sector, where he has particular interests in the importance of social mobility and the advancement of the arts. His charitable activities include being a trustee of the International Students House.
If you would like to find out more about all our Board Members, please visit Our Trustees.