Meet Our Team

Hello Culture started in 2011 and in response to the ever-changing cultural landscape it has grown to encompass new partners and collaborations with universities, policy bodies, cultural institutions, venues,  producers and artists. Hello Culture continues to demonstrate the agility and resilience it has been arguing are essential for cultural and arts organisations to develop,  by transforming its programme model in order to be responsive to the needs of the sector with conferences and Labs bringing together artists, arts organisations, academics and creative technologists. Hello Culture is curated on themes such as identity and representation, disruptive cultural experiences, and diversity in story telling.

In 2018 a new strand Hello Culture: Remix was born. Delivered as part of BBC Academy’s Digital Cities in Birmingham and Manchester, the Remix strand platforms new thinking to help artists, organisations and academics remix their practice in response to new applications of technologies and meet the myriad ways audiences engage with culture.

In 2023 Hello Culture has morphed again to look at post pandemic content: live, broadcast and streamed and exploring what skills we need to develop new and novel form of content to curious audiences with high expectations of diverse and relevant content. 

Lara Ratnaraja
Programme Curator

Lara is a Cultural Consultant who specialises in diversity, innovation, leadership, collaboration, and cultural policy implementation within HE, cultural and digital sectors. She co-created the Hello Culture event series https://www.hello-culture.co.uk/ (how cultural and digital technology intersects).

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Shirley Benson
Producer

Shirley is a highly experienced training and event producer with decades of industry experience within Fact Ents & Entertainment programming.

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Wendy Osmond
Captioner

Wendy is a stenographer who began her career as a court reporter and now provides live remote captioning (also known as speech-to-text or CART services) via Zoom, YouTube Live and other platforms for online events such as conferences, meetings, lectures and webinars, with a particular interest in the cultural and digital spheres. Other work currently includes live TV broadcast subtitling, specialising in sports coverage and current affairs.

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Gareth Peel

Drawing on his background in music and the nightlife industry, as well as extensive AV and IT support experience in the fields of broadcast, events, and HE there isn't much that Gareth hasn't encountered and overcome in the tech event space.

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Emilia Moniszko
Digital Content Producer

Emilia is a founder of Blunt & Brave and a creative brand strategist with 10 years of experience working in the cultural and education sectors. Blunt & Brave is a multi-disciplinary brand and content agency created to nurture sustainable and socially-conscious brands. As part of her work, Emilia works with organisations, delivering digital solutions that help organisations cultivate positive change, educate and inspire.

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