Louisa Davies is an arts’ professional of over 20 years’ experience, currently in the role of Head of Culture and Leisure Services at Gloucester City Council where she oversees a diverse portfolio and programmes including the Gloucester Guildhall, Museum of Gloucester and busy festivals and events programme, alongside the strategic development of the city’s cultural sector.

Prior to this, she was Senior Producer for the Birmingham 2022 Festival, a six-month, £12m regional arts festival taking place alongside the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, which engaged over 2.4m people.

For five years she worked in Stratford-upon-Avon, firstly as Events Manager at the Royal Shakespeare Company, where she was responsible for a public and off-stage programme that incorporated everything from family activities, workshops, debates through to large-scale outdoor commissions and town-wide collaborations. She also programmed live music, with a focus on contemporary songwriting, into the company’s theatre spaces. Latterly she was Head of Creative Programme at Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, where amongst other things she commissioned Nancy Kerr to write a set of new songs to celebrate and mark a key anniversary for the town.

Between 2017-2019, Louisa participated in the Creative Producers International initiative led by Watershed in Bristol and funded by Arts Council England’s Ambition for Excellence strand. The project gathered together a dynamic network of 15 creative producers from across the world and helped them to become change makers in their cities and beyond.

Louisa has also worked as an independent producer and project manager on a range of projects, with folk music clients including Will Pound, Benji Kirkpatrick, Saltburn Folk Festival and Warwick Folk Festival. For ten years, she was the Producer – Performing Arts and Programmer at Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham, where she curated the arts centre’s performing arts and music programmes, championing folk and roots music.

In her spare time, she is a semi-professional folk musician, often playing for ceilidhs, and is a main stage MC at a number of folk festivals. She is also a board member of Birmingham-based theatre company The Bone Ensemble.