Nema Hart

Relationship Manager, Creative Media, Arts Council England South West

Nema’s academic background and interests are in arts, science, and technology. She has a BSc (Hons) MediaLab Arts and an MSc in Digital Futures. In 2003 Nema joined Arts Council England (ACE) where she held the strategic lead for local government in the South West and was responsible for managing £1million partnership projects; she became the regional lead for international work and developed strong links with the British Council’s Creative Economy programme. In 2007 she was invited to do a secondment at ACE’s national office in London where she led on the national Creative Economy Programme. Nema returned to the South West (had two children) and now leads on ACESW priorities for Arts Technology and holds the strategic lead for Cornwall.

Alongside Nema’s career in academia and public sector she has actively been supporting and promoting new talent. In 1999 Nema founded Submerge an organisation that provided a platform for graduates, researchers and innovators to celebrate, network and promote their skills to industry. The submerge platform supported graduates to connect with industry to gain employment and encourage entrepreneurial activity. Submerge’s network of new talent has grown over the years to include hundreds of graduates now in industry who are continuing to support the next generations of creative talent.

Recently Nema has taken a part time career break from ACE to lead an all-female creative tech team to deliver the R&D for an exciting automation prototype – Looking for the Cloud. This will test the model for a new creative tech partnership in the SW – The Re+ Collective which supports diversity and talent in the creative technology sector.