Megan Piper
Megan Piper is the inaugural Executive Director of Grand Arts CIC. She co-founded The Line, East London’s public art trail, with the late regeneration expert, Clive Dutton OBE, and served as its Director from 2015-2025. Prior to starting The Line, Megan was a gallerist and ran The Piper Gallery in Fitzrovia (2012-13) and a gallery space on Jermyn Street in St James’s (2016-17). She is a founding member of the Association of Women in the Arts and a former Governor of Elmhurst Ballet School in Birmingham.
Caitlin McCarthy
Caitlin McCarthy teaches yoga, barre, and dance fitness classes in and around Folkestone, including The Grand, VWell, Hotpod, Grace Hill, and The Loft. She launched Yoga at The Grand in September 2025 and is continuing to support the development of our wellness programme. A former professional dancer, Caitlin now balances her time between the studio and her career as an actress.
Harry Johnson
Harry Johnson is the Executive Chef at Keppels. He has a background in elevated French bistro cooking, progressive wine-led dining and international café-bar projects. Formerly working with Daniel Rose at La Bourse et La Vie in Paris, he was subsequently involved in the opening and development of Cafe Bar Universal in Bogotá and John Dory Wine in Sandgate. His approach integrates creative, produce-driven menus with considered wine offerings and relaxed, neighbourhood-focused hospitality.Â
Team
Giles Croft
Giles Croft was the Artistic Director of Nottingham Playhouse from 1999 to 2017. He has directed more than 60 productions and his work has played in London’s West End and on Broadway. During the lockdown of 2020, he directed an audio version of The Understudy by David Nicholls starring Stephen Fry and Russell Tovey; in 2022 his production of The Kite Runner played at The Hayes Theatre, New York; and in 2024 The Kite Runner toured in the UK & US. He is also a playwright and his work has been produced widely in the UK and Europe.
Grand Arts CIC’s vision is to reimagine The Grand as a landmark destination for arts, culture, community and hospitality to promote creativity, connection and wellbeing.
Board
Grenville Hancox
Grenville Hancox MBE is well known as a teacher, performer and conductor, initiating and researching music and health activities throughout his career. He founded Canterbury Cantata Trust, a charity developing a collection of singing groups, including Sing to Beat Parkinson’s, with all groups demonstrating the principle of caring through singing. He is both Emeritus Professor of Canterbury Christ Church University and Honorary Professor at Kent University, and was awarded the MBE for services to Music in 2005 and a Civic Award by Canterbury City Council for services to the community through music in 2006.
Aïcha Mehrez
Aïcha Mehrez is a freelance curator, writer and researcher. She graduated from the Courtauld Institute of Art in 2011 and from 2016-2021, was Assistant Curator of Contemporary British Art at Tate. Since 2021, Aïcha has been undertaking an AHRC funded PhD with Tate and the University of Leicester titled ‘How might curatorial methodologies centred in care and prevention of harm, help museums to ethically surface and address their colonial and imperial connections?’. Aïcha is also a lecturer on the MA Curating Apprenticeship at University of Teesside/MIMA, an editor for the University of Leicester’s Museological Review and was previously a trustee of Nottingham Contemporary.
Alexandre Mamelle-Warnock
Alexandre Mamelle-Warnock is a Franco-British investment professional. A graduate of Sciences Po Paris and a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), he has spent the past decade working in London’s financial industry. His work focuses on long-term investment in businesses addressing environmental challenges across Europe. Alex is an opera and ballet enthusiast and is delighted to join The Grand Arts CIC, building on his volunteering experience with a leading British ballet school.
Ellodie Gibbons
Ellodie lives close to The Grand with her young family and practices as a property law barrister at Landmark Chambers, London, for which she is recognised in the leading legal directories. Ellodie’s particular expertise lies in landlord and tenant law, most notably residential leasehold matters. Ellodie has authored leading texts on service charges and management and leasehold enfranchisement and was named Barrister of the Year at the 2025 Apartment Adviser Awards. Alongside her private practice, Ellodie spent over six years working part-time at the Law Commission on leasehold and commonhold reform and continues to advise the Government on such matters.
Rachel Noël
Rachel is Head of Learning at Tate Britain and Tate Modern, where she leads vision and strategy for a live programme that invites young people, families, schools and the wider public to question, imagine and play with art in Tate’s exhibitions and displays. She specialises in co-creation, collaborating with young people and community partners. She works towards a world where everyone — particularly those marginalised by systems in society — can feel connected to art and ideas in their local communities, public spaces, museums and galleries. She is a 2022 Clore Fellow and was co-chair at We Don’t Settle 2022-25.
