Conversations

Conversations are an opportunity for artists to have a 1:1 session with the staff at Humber Street Gallery.

These bookable conversations offer the chance to connect, gain advice or sound out ideas from peers working in the creative sector.

HSG Staff sessions can be booked by directly emailing the staff member you wish to speak with. You may book one session every six months. This opportunity is open to Fruit Factory Guild members.

To get the most out of a Conversations session, we encourage you to think about what you’d like to discuss in advance. Whether that’s introducing your work by talking through a specific project, seeking feedback on a new idea, or getting advice on a challenge you’re facing; the conversation should be led by you.

Staff set aside time each month for up to three Conversations sessions, and if a staff member’s schedule is full, they will work with you to find the next available opportunity.

Dave McLeavy

Dave McLeavy (he/him) is CEO & Artistic Director of Humber Street Gallery and Absolutely Cultured. He is a curator, writer, producer and organisational leader whose practice is rooted in supporting artists, developing ambitious cultural programmes, and building meaningful connections between people, places and contemporary art.

Over the last fifteen years Dave has worked across galleries, charities, festivals, universities and creative businesses, holding leadership roles at organisations including Bloc Projects, Site Gallery, Active Fusion and Studio Synth. Alongside his role at Humber Street Gallery, he is Chair of Trustees at Our Big Picture in Grimsby, founder of the artist interview platform Young Artists in Conversation (YAC), and has maintained an independent curatorial and artistic practice throughout his career.

Dave is particularly interested in helping artists navigate the realities of building a sustainable creative practice. His experience spans exhibition making, commissioning, fundraising, strategic planning, partnership development, governance, leadership and career development. He is passionate about supporting artists to identify opportunities, articulate their ideas, develop confidence in their work and think critically about how they position themselves within the wider cultural sector.

At Humber Street Gallery, Dave leads the organisation’s artistic vision and strategic direction, while championing artist development.

Interests: Artist development, curating and commissioning, cultural leadership, fundraising and strategy, partnership building, writing, contemporary visual art, career development, governance and organisational sustainability.

Dave.McLeavy@humberstreetgallery.co.uk

Lauren Wilson

Lauren Wilson (she/her) is the Exhibitions Curator at Humber Street Gallery. Her role focuses on supporting artists to develop and present new work while embedding meaningful opportunities for artist exchange, learning, and development across the programme.

Lauren is interested in modes of artistic production that are not solely outcome-focused, including social and collaborative practices, artist support, radical hospitality, and collective forms of organising. She is particularly interested in creating alternative formats for sharing artistic work beyond the gallery context, exploring how art can circulate through correspondence, conversation, public space, and everyday encounters. She has worked with Invisible Dust to support the development of Wild Eye, a public sculpture trail in Scarborough, and is interested in the relationships between art, nature, growing, and place.

Alongside her curatorial work, Lauren produces Sometimes There’s Sparkle, an ongoing correspondence project. Guided by fragments, each edition gathers small, peripheral works – things made, found, or noticed – and offers them as part of an exploration of process, gesture, and attention. The project creates a space to share encounters, ideas, and making as they unfold.

In 2026, Lauren Wilson, Thomas Robinson, and Alexander Stubbs co-led Mental Bookshelves, a collaborative project located across the HU3 postcode of Hull at Giroscope St Matthew’s Community Enterprise Centre and West Park. Through a series of discussion-based gatherings, film screenings, and shared listening sessions, the project brought people together to learn from one another, exchange ideas, and be.

Interests: Artist support, hospitality, nature/growing, collaborative/self organising, art and the exhibition as site of affect

Lauren.Wilson@humberstreetgallery.co.uk

Dave Windass

Dave Windass (he/him) is Events & Engagement Curator at Humber Street Gallery and a writer, storyteller, artist, poetry and prose editor, and producer. As a writer, he has written over 30 pieces of work for theatre and live performance. As an arts producer and programmer he has more than twenty years’ experience developing and delivering ambitious performance programmes across theatre, festivals and the wider cultural sector. This work has included programming contemporary performance festivals, producing national broadcast events, commissioning artists and collaborating with touring artists and companies across the UK.

He is particularly motivated by organisations that combine artistic excellence with a strong commitment to place and community. With decades working as a freelance practitioner in the arts, Dave understands the challenges facing freelance artists, from developing sustainable careers, articulating and communicating artistic ideas, building relationships with arts organisations, to fundraising and budget management and protecting mental health and wellbeing in order to maintain creativity.

Interests: Co-creation, learning and partnership working across the arts, heritage, charity, and public sectors, accessibility, inclusivity, storytelling, artist development, technology, live event production, critical thinking, fundraising, social impact, cross-disciplinary ways of working.

Dave.Windass@humberstreetgallery.co.uk

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Conversations

Dave McLeavy

Lauren Wilson

Dave Windass

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