Marie-France is a curator, commissioner and cultural producer. She supports artists to work in the public realm, devising collaborative, participatory projects that increase access to the arts and foster community, belonging and wellbeing.
As UP Projects' Programme and Partnership Manager (Enfield of Dreams) she is working on a transformative two-year, Arts Council England–funded Place Partnership programme. In this role, she is working in close collaboration with Enfield Council, Enfield's cultural organisations including Border Crossings, Chickenshed Theatre, DYSPLA, Face Front Theatre, High Rise Entertainment, artists, creatives and young people to deliver co-created public realm projects and a leadership development programme for emerging cultural leaders.
Most recently prior to UP Projects, she led award-winning commissions, partnerships and creative delivery across capital arts and user-engagement programmes at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. Her work there included ambitious, co-created projects such as African Women in British Healthcare, a major public art mural celebrating the diversity of NHS staff across generations, and a collaborative creative programme with teenage and young adult cancer patients to co-design their dedicated ward environment. She also led Moments of Grace, an oral-history and sound project developed with On The Record, bringing together the voices of nurses and midwives across hospital sites and clinical specialisms. Across this work, she commissioned and supported over 30 artists and designers, embedding creative practice within healthcare infrastructure and organisational strategy.
Prior to this, she was Curator & Exhibitions Programme Manager at Firstsite, Colchester, where she developed and delivered a place-making and community-engagement programme of large-scale exhibitions, public events and site-specific commissions. During her tenure she curated and managed exhibitions by artists including Lubaina Himid, Gillian Wearing and Martin Parr, worked with Hayward Touring, and led a landmark retrospective of Essex-born radical artist Gee Vaucher, contributing to renewed audience engagement and the gallery’s reinstatement as an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation.
In 2024, Marie-France became a Churchill Fellow, researching how public art and creative commissioning can contribute to civic engagement and social wellbeing. Her fellowship involved field research in New York, Philadelphia, Paris, Bordeaux, Besançon and Saint-Amand-en-Puisaye, shadowing organisations pioneering citizen-led and socially engaged cultural practice. With extensive experience across healthcare, civic and gallery contexts, she is increasingly interested in the role of the curator as a facilitator of cultural democracy and citizen-shaped place.
Marie-France’s background is in Fine Art Photography. She holds a BA (First Class Hons) from the University of the Arts London and an MA with Distinction from the Royal College of Art, and has held roles at major UK institutions including the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Kettle’s Yard and Tate.