Board Updates, December 2025.

With immense gratitude we announce that Carol Fawsitt, who has served as Chair of The Ark Board since 2021, has stepped down from her role. Carol has been a valued member of our Board since 2017 and became Chair in 2021. We are grateful for stewardship of The Ark and the significant impact she has made as Chair championing creativity, and equal opportunities for all children to participate in the arts.

As we say thank you to Carol, we are also pleased to warmly welcome Mark Kennedy as our new chair, who was appointed to The Ark board in March 2023. Mark is a Chartered Accountant and a member of the Global Executive Committee and Group Governing Board of Forvis Mazars.

"On behalf of the staff of The Ark Children’s Cultural Centre I would like to sincerely thank Carol Fawsitt who has stepped down from her position as Chair of The Ark. As an experienced non-executive director Carol provided great leadership to our Board throughout her term while always recognising the dedication of small The Ark team.

Personally, I have had the benefit of Carol’s wise counsel both as Ark Chair and Board member. Her perspective and experience has been invaluable to me throughout, not least while we navigated challenges to children and the arts during Covid. We thank Carol for her service and wish her well in the future. I look forward to working with the new Chair, Mark Kennedy."

- Aideen Howard, Director.

All of our Board members give their time and expertise to The Ark on a voluntary basis and we are incredibly grateful for their contribution.