aura McDermott is Creative Director of Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts.  The space (formerly Gardner Arts Centre) is an interdisciplinary arts hub connecting University of Sussex to Brighton & Hove and the wider national and international arts and research community. Laura is also working as an associate producer with Situations on The Tale – a forthcoming project which will be a journey of discovery across Torbay (in September 2-17), unfolding through the landscape via a series of public artworks, performances and installations.  Previously (2009 – 2015) Laura was Joint Artistic Director (with Harun Morrison) of Fierce Festival – an international festival of live art, queer politics and activism in Birmingham.  The Fierce Festival programme takes place in formal arts venues (IKON Gallery, Birmingham Town Hall & Symphony Hall, mac, DanceXchange and Birmingham REP) and found sites (car parks, warehouses, Edwardian swimming pools and underneath Spaghetti Junction).  The festival brings international artists into dialogue with the context of the city – its history, places and people. 

 LVAD and heart transplant