The Team

It takes a diverse and hardworking team to bring our Festival to life, here you can find out a little more about team Kendal.

Jacqui Scott

CEO

As the Chief Executive Officer, I am responsible for the overall activities and direction of the company. I like to see challenges as opportunities and alongside my strong team, I am proud of the way that we are consistently developing our delivery through careful and considerate curation alongside an awareness of what constitutes adventure and the outdoors in today's landscape.

Without fail my absolutely favourite moment is Sharing the Adventure with the young and the sheer joy (and noise) of 1700 school children welcoming our guest speakers each year to the stage as part of our Kendal for School Sessions.

Steve Scott

Festival Director

I'm a Festival director and key presenter. I also work with Clive on brand partnerships and drive new overseas alliances and opportunities. I present our UK Tour and interview special guests at the event as well as on our digital channel. I programme and work on three Specialist Sessions at the Festival – Snow, Bike and Fly.

My Festival highlights are too numerous to mention but I genuinely love standing back and watching our audiences (young and old) have the time of their lives. That's incredibly rewarding.

Clive Allen

Festival Director

As a director I tend to get involved in many areas, but in particular I work with our amazing Festival Partners, without whose support we genuinely wouldn’t be able to exist. Plus I get involved in several of our key Specialist Sessions, especially those that involve climbing up or dangling under things.

Favourite Festival highlight? Too many to identify just one, but did I mention having lunch with Yvon Chouinard?

Claire Carter

Artistic Director

As Artistic Director, I facilitate the theme of the Festival; this means working out what we as a team, and you as an audience, want to think about each year, and most importantly, feel we've been inspired by, when the show's over. I work with a fab group of volunteers who screen films all year round to create the Kendal Film Programme, and wrangle our jury in November to pick the hotly contested award winners.

My highlights of the Festival are watching the evolution of storytelling, and storytellers. It's incredible to observe what's becoming important, and to whom, and ensuring unexpected voices and tales are heard and seen at Kendal.

Paul Scully

Book Festival Director

Kendal Mountain Book Festival celebrates and explores our relationships with nature, landscape, people and place sharing ideas, stories, and voices from around the world. I work all year round with wonderful writers, publishers, artists, cultural organisations, the Kendal team and our patron Robert Macfarlane to create a space where people can connect with each other; experience events that entertain, surprise and move them.

Emily Lyons

Production Coordinator

My role as Production Coordinator means I work throughout the year researching, plotting and planning with our team, brand partners, speakers and presenters to ensure all of the speaker content across the Festival weekend is as entertaining and inclusive as possible. It is most definitely a team effort that I happen to sit in the middle of and make the spreadsheets for.

My favourite moments each year is seeing the audiences the reactions as they leave sessions; hugging, high-fiving, crying and smiling - it all makes it worth it.

Anna Bailey

Marketing Manager

I manage all things communications; advising, planning and keeping an eye on marketing across all of our projects and events.

I love watching the town of Kendal transform with Festival energy each year and seeing our audience of all ages inspired to enjoy the outdoors.

Faye Latham

Marketing Executive

I am delighted to have joined the team at Kendal Mountain Festival where I work in marketing and communication where I get to liaise with our fantastic brand partners on an array of different projects. My favourite part of the role is collaborating with the team to think of creative ways for us to reach out to audiences and carving new pathways to help make the festival experience accessible to everyone.

Chris Field

Marketing Coordinator

Having volunteered at the 2021 Festival I’m now part of the core team and couldn’t be happier working with such a great bunch of people and so many incredible brand partners. My marketing role covers a wide range of areas which keeps it endlessly interesting.

I love being part of an event that brings so much energy and excitement to Kendal each year and brings so many people together in their shared passion for the outdoors.

Anna Blakeley

Production and Tour Manager

I am responsible for the Kendal Mountain Tour in the UK and overseas, as well as the events we run throughout the year in partnership with other organisations and festivals. I also manage the production element of our Festival working with the fantastic tech teams and event programmers to create the amazing live and online events.

My highlight is having the opportunity to work with a wide range of venues and partners to grow the Festival outside November so we can share the amazing films and speakers with new audiences.

Jenny Rice

Design Manager

My main role as Festival Designer involves creating all of the printed and digital materials for our Festival, Tours and other events. I'm also lucky to be involved in lots of other areas, including film scouting, and curating some of the live events - specifically the Outdoor Swimming, Road Bike and Running Sessions.

My highlights over the years have been meeting so many legends from the worlds of fell running and outdoor swimming, but a more recent memory would be from our transformed 2020 Festival - sharing our films and live-streamed events with a worldwide audience was so exciting and opened our eyes to future possibilities.

Ben Cannon

Programming and Production Assistant

As Programming and Production Assistant, my time is spent divided between managing the Kendal Mountain Player, along with growing our YouTube channel alongside supporting the delivery of our Specialist Seesions at the Festival. After working as a small part of the team at the 2022 Festival, I am delighted to be joining on a full time basis and embrace every opportunity that comes my way!

Having visited the Festival for many years, I found myself drawn to the town itself and ended up moving here as a direct consequence from the Festival. Now, to be a part of the Festival and bring our ideas to life feels like a dream come true!

Zoe Wilkinson

Hospitality Manager

Guest and customer experience is what allows our Festival to evolve and grow, we want our Festival goers to return year after year and the relationship with our speakers and brands to strengthen and this is where my role as Hospitality Manager is key. I am here to oversee that our guests over the Festival have a positive experience, an unforgettable time and leave with a huge smile on their face!

Tim Murray

Basecamp Manager

I'm responsible for all things Basecamp related! This means that I make sure it appears at the start of the Festival and disappears at the end of it. In between these two events there is a team of people working hard to support brand partners and Basecamp visitors in having a rewarding and stimulating time at the Festival.

A constant highlight for me is the buzz of conversation and air of excitement the Basecamp seems to generate every year.

Tom Rumsey

Festival Operations Manager

My broad Festival support role means I am involved in various parts of the Festival. My core role includes managing venues, looking after front of house and providing logistical support to the rest of the rest of the team as needed. Much of this is achieved through managing and looking after our AMAZING team of Festival volunteers - without whom this Festival simply could not happen.

I have been involved with Kendal long enough to have a long list of wonderful Festival memories and highlights. For me it is the little things, special moments, occasional strange happenings and memorable interactions with the visitors, guests and the team that make it all worth it.