Artistic Director - Brigitte Orasinski’s interest lies in exploring how art can transform places, create connections and invite people into shared creative experiences. As the Artistic Director of Strange Cargo and a lifelong Folkestone resident, she is particularly interested in creating ambitious artworks that emerge through dialogue with the people and communities.

A graduate of Kent Institute of Art and Design, Brigitte has developed Strange Cargo’s distinctive practice across public art, installation, exhibition, carnival, light and large-scale participatory work. Her projects have been presented nationally and internationally, often bringing together contemporary visual art with the energy, imagination and stories of local communities.

Brigitte has played a significant role in Folkestone’s evolving cultural landscape and Strange Cargo’s flagship gallery helped inspire the development of the town’s Creative Quarter, while Strange Cargo’s relocation to Cheriton in 2015 marked a new chapter in her commitment to developing ambitious contemporary art rooted in place. Through Strange Cargo, she continues to create work that is visually and artistically ambitious, while opening up meaningful opportunities for people to contribute, collaborate and see their own places and experiences reflected within the work.

Project Manager - Richie Moment is an artist, curator and project manager based in Folkestone. His multidisciplinary practice explores technology, visibility and contemporary life through sculpture, video, print and public art. Alongside his own practice, Richie works with Strange Cargo to develop and deliver ambitious participatory arts projects, working with artists, communities and partners to create work in public spaces. He has curated and managed projects including The Resident Platform at Folkestone West station and commissions for public festivals and events. Richie studied Fine Art at the University of the West of England and completed his postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy Schools.

Chair of Trustees - Dr Jennifer Thatcher is an art historian, critic and public programmes curator. She is the co-editor of Theorising the Artist Interview (Routledge, 2025) and is working on a monograph titled The Golden Age of the Artist Interview for British Academy Publishing. She was co-curator of the 2023 Folkestone Book Festival; public programmes curator for the Folkestone Triennial (2014, 2017) and the Whitstable Biennale (2016); and was Director of Talks at the ICA, London (2003–10). She publishes regularly as an art critic, and has written features for Art Quarterly, Art Monthly, ArtReview and ARTnews magazines, as well as contributing to numerous exhibition catalogues and artists’ books. She is a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA). She holds an AHRC-funded PhD in art history from the University of Edinburgh and a British Academy postdoctoral fellowship. She has taught at many UK universities and art colleges, most recently at Sotheby’s Institute of Art and Chelsea College of Art.

Trustee - Dr Terry Perk is an artist and HE consultant. With a career in education spanning over 25 years, Terry has held various leadership positions in academia, most recently as Pro Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Fine Art Education at the University for the Creative Arts. He is also an external examiner at the Royal College of Art and Associate Director at the Cyprus Academy of Art, where he leads on academic strategy and business development.

 Terry has extensive experience developing and curating commissioned work for the public realm. His own practice plays with our relationships to landscape and geography through invented technologies. His most recent sculptural works explore the landscapes of Kent and the Southeast of England, where he lives.

Trustee - Josephine Carter is an artist, performer and community-worker based in Folkestone. Her interdisciplinary practice takes note of the spaces, materials, acts and affects of writing as opportunities for clown behaviour. Since 2020, she has been a convener and producer of socially-engaged artworks and projects.

 Starting in 2025, Josephine is co-director of arts company Common Grounding, delivering participatory dance and movement projects which focus on social and spatial embodiment in and around the Kent borderlands. 

Her collaborative and co-designed projects with organisations including Art Refuge, the Refugee Women’s Centre and Napier Friends  have been showcased by King's College London, Dulwich Picture Gallery and Autograph ABP, among other settings in the UK and abroad. From January 2024, she has been Associate Producer at People United’s project The Studio, working with young people from Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN) to commission and co-design public artworks.

In 2026, she graduated from the European Fine Art Masters/DNSEP programme at The Margate School of Art (MAST) and l'École Supérieure d'Art Tourcoing-Dunkerque (Esä).