The Girl Friday Breakfast Club was established by Kate Reynolds and Anita Taylor, and aims to provide a friendly and informal space for women to meet, chat, and support each other. There is no agenda other than hearing from an interesting women speaker, eating breakfast and drinking great coffee or tea together in Studio Cafe at Drawing Projects UK on the lats Friday of each month from 8:00 to 10:00am. On Friday 25 May, our guest speaker is Helen Legg, Director of Spike Island in Bristol and the future Director of Tate Liverpool, who will speak about her work and career in the arts.

Since her appointment as Spike Island Director in September 2010, Helen Legg has developed an ambitious exhibitions programme focused on emerging and underrepresented artists alongside the growth of a dynamic internal community. Over this period Spike Island has seen significant increases in attendance and a raised national and international profile. Spike Island plays a leading role in the visual arts in the South West. Helen was previoulsy Curator at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (2005 – 2010), where she was heavily involved in the development of Ikon, Eastside, based in a former factory building in Digbeth, an industrial area of the city. With almost two decades of curatorial expertise, she has worked extensively with British and international artists, and has built impressive relationships in the UK and abroad.

Helen is currently an external advisor to the Arts Council Collection Acquisitions Committee, a member of Arts Council England South West Area Council, Chair of Visual Arts South West, an Honorary Visiting Professor at the University West of England and sits on the advisory board of the Bristol Cultural Development partnership. Among other achievements, she was part of the selection committee for the British representations at the Venice Biennale 2017 and Jerwood Drawing Prize 2017.

She gained an MA in History of Art from the University of St Andrews in 1996 and an MA in Curating & Commissioning Contemporary Art in 2002 from the Royal College of Art. She completed the Chief Executive Programme of National Art Strategies, hosted by Harvard Business School and Michigan Business School, in April 2015.

Please book your Girl Friday Breakfast Club ticket in advance, so we know how many to cater for!

All women, and those who identify as women, are very welcome to join.