Raidene is a cultural leader, creative producer and festival curator with over 20 years’ experience in developing new theatre and cultural experiences out of participation, community and collaboration projects. In this time she worked for Talawa Theatre Company, Lyric Hammersmith, Birmingham REP and, notably, The Albany in Deptford, where she spent a combined decade developing its creative programme to bring about pioneering work such as Meet Me at the Albany, Fun Palaces, Circulate: London and Sounds Like Chaos. She was Executive Director and Joint CEO of leading young people’s and schools’ touring company, Theatre Centre (2018-2020), until embarking on her latest adventures in Birmingham for the 2022 Commonwealth Games. As Executive Producer for Cultural Programmes and Live Sites (2020-2022), Raidene successfully led the Birmingham 2022 Festival, a 6-month festival of creativity across the West Midlands which reached 2.4m audiences and 10,000 participants with 153 individual projects; her 2022 projects include Hew Locke’s iconic Foreign Exchange with Ikon Gallery, the festival’s outdoor opening show, Wondrous Stories, by Motionhouse, and Critical Mass, a large-scale inclusive dance programme for over 240 young people with and without disabilities. Raidene also oversaw Games Festival Sites that engaged over 1m non-ticketed Games spectators in the city, and led on the design and fabrication of the 2022 Prize and Commemorative Medals. Most recently, motivating the cultural legacy of the Games, Raidene was Creative Director for Birmingham Festival 23, a free, 10-day celebration of Birmingham’s creativity and culture, marking the one-year anniversary of Birmingham 2022.
As a trustee Raidene has served on the Boards of National Theatre Wales (2019-2022) and the Paper Birds (2017-2023), and been a longstanding company director and critical friend for live artist, Mem Morrison (2007-present). She is now a proud trustee for China Plate Theatre Company and Open Theatre – two Arts Council National Portfolio Organisations based in Birmingham and the West Midlands. Her accolades include being an inaugural MOBO/LTC Executive Fellow (2016) and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (2021).
