Photo of Dr Helen Thomas

Dr Helen Thomas

Artistic Coordinator and Public Engagement Officer, School of the Arts School of the Arts

About

Personal Statement

Dr Helen Thomas has thirty years' experience of working in the academic, commercial and charitable sectors of the creative industries. She has a PhD from Lancaster University and an MA in Music since 1900 (awarded with Distinction) from Liverpool Hope University. After graduating with a BA (Hons) in Music from the University of York she was appointed to the Repertoire Promotion Department at Oxford University Press to promote copyright music to international performers, festivals, broadcasters and recording companies. Following the arrival of two sons a decade later Helen decided to go freelance and subsequently managed The Cornerstone Festival at Liverpool Hope University and the new music ensemble Psappha. She has combined teaching in HE and FE with research into arts, wellbeing, and the language and experience of musical time and was Music Research Associate for the MRC-funded Ageing Creatively project at Newcastle University. Helen is an oboe, oboe d'amore and cor anglais player and a member of Liverpool Bach Collective, Orchestra dell'Arte and Wirral Symphony Orchestra. She is conductor of Chester Sinfonia and Wind Tutor for the annual Workers' Musical Association Summer School. As Artistic Coordinator and Public Engagement Officer at the University of Liverpool she runs the popular Lunchtime Concert Series, the SOTA Public Lectures in the Arts, and is the relationship manager for the partnership with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Ensemble-in-Residence.