As Highly Sprung’s Co-Founder and Executive Director, Sarah spearheads both the strategic and artistic elements of the charity’s work. With over 20 years of experience, she leads on the development for all Highly Sprung’s programmes, and has directed many of Highly Sprung’s major productions. Sarah is an experienced, creative and passionate leader. She is committed to children and young people through her work, enabling better futures through inspiring projects and performances.
Sarah has extensive experience in delivering participatory physical theatre projects, including in primary and secondary schools, work with the Coventry Young Producers Collective, and leading Highly Sprung’s weekly performing arts sessions. Alongside this, Sarah is heavily involved with local arts education networks, serving as the Chair of Coventry’s Cultural Education Partnership, and leading on teacher development programme Teach Make.
Sarah has directed numerous site-specific performance projects, including at Kenilworth Castle, Coventry Cathedral, Tate Modern, local museums and libraries, arts venues, and festivals nationally and internationally. She has been the Director for the majority of Highly Sprung’s major performances and touring works including Up, Up and Away, Home, Urban Astronaut, CastAway, the award winning Out Out (a dance film for Sky Arts) and early years performance Grow.
Sarah has experience in producing large scale projects such as In Transit, a mass participation project for 400 young people as part of the opening of Coventry’s new railway station and working across the community of Castle Vale (Birmingham) to create Taking Flight as part of Birmingham’s Commonwealth Games 2022.
Recently, Sarah has become an associate with ISTA (International Schools Theatre Association) which extends her experience of working as a physical theatre practitioner in schools across the world. As part of this work Sarah was the Festival Director for ISTA in Terezin (Czechia), exploring the Holocaust, the nature of activism, education and the role young people play in making change.
Sarah regularly collaborates with other organisations as a movement director or consultant. She has worked with Imagineer Productions, Warwick Arts Centre, the BBC, the RSC and the Birmingham REP. Sarah was the Artistic Director of the Horizons Festival with Echo Eternal, a commemorative Holocaust arts engagement project working with young people across the Midlands in 2020 at Birmingham Town Hall and in 2021 online. The project was recognised with a Gold Pearsons Teaching Award.
