Small, friendly, focused; passionate about the mill and its heritage; we talk lots, work hard, make things happen, and eat lunch together regularly.
With a complementary skill set that ranges from project management, accounting, marketing, weaving, cooking and D.I.Y., we collaborate daily to create spaces for business, culture and community.
WILLIAM GAUNT
Joint Managing Director
As likely to be found in overalls tinkering with a loom, identifying Victorian underground pipes or fiddling with bits of old machinery as in his office. William keeps an eye on the numbers as well as Jane (and the rest of the team) and managing all things mill with John.
JOHN GAUNT
Joint Managing Director
Often found up a ladder with bunting or heaving A Boards round the mill at events, John oversees signs and technology as well as running the mill generally with William. A firm believer in the value of being nice in business, John is committed to supporting the mill business community. Not to be left alone near a biscuit jar.
JANE KAY
Arts Director
Jane programmes, curates and manages all the creative output of the Art Gallery which includes exhibitions and workshops, as well as special large scale events around the Mills. Over 10 years, she has created and facilitated the growth of the Gallery from a pop-up space to a fully established, independent commercial art gallery which supports 100s of artists every year. All the high flying stuff aside, she loves playing in the Gallery shop and is famous for her delicious cakes which grace the tearoom but never last for very long!
RACHEL MOABY
ARCHIVE CURATOR
Never happier than when surrounded by mill artefacts, Rachel looks after our archive and its lovely volunteers. Comes out into the daylight for meetings (and food).
fiona gell
marketing and engagement officer
New to the team, Fiona’s challenge is to market the mill in all its glory ensuring that the Gallery, Archive and Creative Spaces and their tenants all get an equal voice. That’s no mean feat! Fiona has a background in marketing, events, heritage, archives and libraries. Her passion is supporting literature in Leeds and she is never happier than when she is talking to writers or helping them organise a book launch. She is a founder partner of Leeds Lit Fest.
SONIA MORAN
arts programme and engagement coordinator
Sonia is most often to be found in the Gallery helping in its day to day running, assisting customers and making it all look beautiful. She’s a whizz at community engagement workshops and is keen to further develop our arts engagement programme. Sonia has recently graduated from the University of Leeds with an M.A. in Fine Art. Her artistic practice is a melting pot of poetry, song, performance, costume, textiles, and moving image informed by the ritualistic nature of Witchcraft and the effect of transformation on materials. She’s a little obsessed with mushrooms too!
natalie kolowiecki
Arts programme and events coordinator
Natalie is not only the linchpin organiser of our events and workshop programme, she assists in the day to day running of the Art Gallery as well as being our social media whizz and inhouse website consultant. Highly creative herself, she writes music for film and arts projects.
alison mcmaster
archive digital curator
Lover of the old and the new, you will usually find Alison using 21st century tech to bring the history of the Mills to life online. She’s happy behind a camera or some fancy 3D software but loves the history of the site, the textiles and the artefacts too and doesn’t mind dusting objects down to capture their best side. If her eyes glaze over chances are she’s running low on coffee (step away from the decaf!).
