Dean Webster joins Creative Access board

Creative Access is thrilled to announce that Dean Webster has joined the board of Creative Access. Dean started his Creative Access journey as a trainee for Shine Group back in 2013 and is now Head of Development at Ten66 Television.  

Dean participated in the2023 – 24 Steering Group; a training programme for future charity trustees bringing together a group of 16 individuals from the Creative Access community. This initiative is sponsored by leading media law firm, Simons Muirhead Burton who joined forces with Creative Access to guide and sponsor the programme. Their involvement includes a financial contribution, hosting the meetings at their central London office and providing in-house speakers on legal governance.  

In addition to Dean, two other members of the steering group have secured board roles including film & TV production strategist Osas Esosa, Olsberg SPI, who has joined the board of Shoreditch Town Hall and freelance writer & editor Dushi Horti (formerly HarperCollins) is joining London-based reading charity, Doorstep Library.  

Josie Dobrin, Executive Chair, Creative Access said: “We’re delighted to be welcoming Dean to our Board. We know his commitment, energy and experience will be a huge asset to us. It’s extremely exciting to now have two brilliant and skilled alumni on our board, reflecting the needs of our community as we seek to grow our impact over the coming years, and to create the urgent change required to representation at all levels of the creative industries and culture sector.   

Our community have a huge amount of skills and energy to offer to leadership teams of commercial and not-for-profit organisations.  All too often, job descriptions require applicants to have experience for non-executive roles, so we are thrilled that by having created this leadership pathway, we are removing obstacles for progression and that so many of the group have already secured non-executive roles. We are indebted to Simons Muirhead Burton for their huge and invaluable support of this programme.”  

Commenting on his appointment to the Board, Dean Webster, Head of Development, Ten66 Television said: “I’m absolutely delighted to have been accepted onto the Non-Executive Board of Creative Access, an organisation that has been so integral in my career by opening the door to the television industry and supporting me to thrive in the sector. I’m proud and excited to support Creative Access in this new chapter as they continue to create more opportunities in the creative economy for diverse people.”  

Speaking of their involvement, Peter Weiss, who jointly heads the Corporate, Commercial & Finance team at Simons Muirhead Burton and also sits on the Creative Access advisory board said: “There are many synergies between the work and values of both Creative Access and Simons Muirhead Burton. We are delighted to be able to sponsor this important initiative which will create a pipeline of candidates from communities that are under-represented at non-executive level, who will help organisations to innovate, future-proof decision-making and better reflect the organisations which will benefit from their engagement.”