About

A large projected close-up of an eye fills a curved concrete wall, a small figure reflected in its iris.
In a perpetual remix where is my own song?, 2025, Christelle Oyiri, Tate. Photo credit: Jai Monaghan.

Purpose

Extraordinary artists are essential for our collective growth and sense-making. Glass Castle exists to enable the extraordinary.

We create the conditions for extraordinary artists from across disciplines to experiment and thrive - and for their work to be shared with and felt by the largest possible audience. 

Glass Castle is here to rethink systems that are failing artists and to provide catalytic support that puts artists’ lived reality first. We enable artist centred ecosystems and expansive ideas, so artists can produce work of greater ambition, relevance and risk. 

We connect this work with audiences - through partnerships, physical spaces and digital environments. Working to strengthen the arts ecosystem to flourish.

Values

  • Artist-Centred

    Prioritising the fundamental role of artists for a thriving society.

  • Experimental

    Embracing creative risk and the potential of the new.

  • Collaborative

    A proactive partner in building a shared, healthy arts ecology.

How We Work

Glass Castle is in Prelude, testing and learning different ways of working in line with our mission and values. We occupy a hybrid space as funder and commissioner, venue operator and convenor. Our activities are always considered through the lens of both artists and audiences.

Funding &
Partnerships

We provide support to artists, collectives and arts organisations across four areas:

  1. Increasing artists' capacity to sustain their practice.
  2. Increasing capacity for the extraordinary through commissioning.
  3. Increasing artists' visibility, reach and recognition in the digital space.
  4. Driving change by backing ideas with generative potential, systemic changemakers and innovative organisations.
An installation view showing large, rock-like forms constructed from cardboard and timber, with speakers arranged toward the end of the room. The space is illuminated in warm orange light
Gadzi, 2026, nora chipaumire, Tate. Photo credit: Lucy Green.

Wapping
Powerhouse

We are bringing Wapping Powerhouse back into use as a venue for experimental arts and culture, and a creative space for the neighbourhood.

Our Prelude programme tests what is needed to inform major capital upgrades, securing it as a home for the extraordinary for future generations.

Discover more
Weathered industrial pipes and a control box lit in pink and purple light against a tiled brick wall.
BODYSUIT, 2024, Sharon Eyal and George Rouy, Hannah Barry Gallery. Photo credit: Dan John Lloyd.

Artist
Residencies

We are developing a multi-artform, interdisciplinary residency facility on a regenerative farm in the South Downs National Park.

Hatch Farm will offer fully-funded, accessible residencies for up to 12 artists at a time. We are currently in the planning and development phase ahead of opening.

Alongside this we aim to work with partners to strengthen the residency sector across the UK through networks, knowledge exchange and funding.

A conductor gestures to an orchestra, seen through the raised lid of a grand piano.
Garland, 2025, Oliver Leith, Bold Tendencies. Photo credit: Dan John Lloyd.

Team

  • DianaSpiegelberg

    CEO

    Diana Spiegelberg joined Glass Castle in November 2025 and is tasked with bringing the organisation’s potential to life. Diana draws on an extensive career forging collaborations across a wide range of artforms, engaging audiences, setting up artist development programmes and developing the operational and commercial models needed to sustain arts organisations. 

    Most recently Diana spent a decade as Deputy Director of Somerset House, having begun her career with live music producers Serious. Diana is chair of The Leche Trust.

  • LilliGeissendorfer

    Director of Strategy

    Lilli brings expertise across producing, philanthropy, and policy development at the nexus of arts, culture, climate, and change. She served as Director of the Theatre Green Book, and held senior roles at the Creative PEC, Almeida Theatre, and Arts Council England. 

    As Director of Jerwood Arts she distributed over £10m to artists and arts organisations, designing influential programmes and exhibitions including Weston Jerwood Creative Bursaries, Survey and Collaborate! Lilli is chair of Fuel Theatre and trustee of Projekt Utopia, and sits on the Mayor of London's Cultural Leadership Board and What Next? Advisory Board.

  • KeriElmsly

    Artistic Director at Large

    Keri Elmsly is a global curator and producer who builds institutional programmes, cultural infrastructure, and the work of artists operating at planetary scale. In 2025 she founded PACT, a collective championing artists' unique utility as engines for imagination, agency, and change. 

    Keri previously served as Executive Director of Programming at ACMI (Australia's Museum of Screen Culture) and Senior Vice President at Sphere Studios (Sphere, Las Vegas). Keri is a mentor of Serpentine Arts Technologies' new Future Art Ecosystems R&D Fellowship (London) and long term mentor at New Inc at the New Museum (New York).

  • Chloe SpibyLoh

    Project Manager

    Chloe is a builder of creative projects. Originally training in architecture, she now applies her design-thinking to help artists and cultural organisations take their creative ideas from concept through to delivery. Her expertise is in building projects and programmes that support interdisciplinary artists whilst connecting their work with public audiences. 

    As a Producer on the UK-wide Immersive Arts programme, she distributed funding and directly supported artists working with creative technologies. Prior to this, she managed public programmes at Wellcome Collection, RIBA and the Architecture Foundation and has also worked in award-winning architecture offices including O'Donnell + Tuomey, David Kohn Architects and Eric Parry Architects.

  • NiloofarTaatizadeh

    Executive Assistant

    Niloofar is a creative professional with over a decade of experience supporting internationally acclaimed artists and managing leading artist studios in London, including those of Antony Gormley, Jadé Fadojutimi, and Rana Begum. Her expertise spans executive support, studio management, and delivering complex artistic and organisational initiatives. 

    Alongside this, Niloofar is a multidisciplinary artist exhibited in the UK and internationally. She holds an MA in Contemporary Photography: Practices and Philosophies from Central Saint Martins, where she is now undertaking a practice-based PhD.

  • NefeOguntoye

    Finance Manager

    Nefe is an ACCA-qualified finance professional with experience across theatre, entertainment, creative industries and professional services. Prior to joining Glass Castle, she worked in production finance supporting UK and international theatre productions, alongside previous senior accounting roles within specialist accountancy practices. 

    Her experience spans financial reporting, budgeting, cash flow, payroll, VAT and financial operations. At Glass Castle, Nefe oversees the organisation’s finance function, supporting strong financial management, planning and systems to enable its creative and strategic ambitions.

Trustees

  • SuneilSetiya

    Chair

  • GregSkinner

    Trustee

  • NeilCosgrove

    Trustee

FAQs

Glass Castle has been established by our Chair, Suneil Setiya, who supports the foundation philanthropically.

Glass Castle's mission is driven by Suneil's commitment to enabling artists to thrive and connecting new audiences to their work. Suneil is co-owner of Quadrature Capital Limited, a trustee of Quadrature Climate Foundation and Chair of Ice Hockey UK Foundation.

Hatch Farm will offer world-class, fully-funded artist residencies integrated with sustainable estate management and regenerative farming. Hosting up to 12 artists at a time for residencies from 4 days to four months, it will bring together practitioners across visual arts, theatre, performance, music, literature and beyond to grow creatively within a nourishing community, beautiful landscape, and practical studios and workshops. Shaped by the rhythms of farming and growing seasons, residencies will offer paid time, expert support, and fully accessible space and facilities, removing barriers for extraordinary artists from across the world to develop their practice on their own terms, without the pressure of outcomes.

We are currently going through the Planning process with the South Downs National Park Authority. We hope to be in a position to open by the end of 2028.

See Wapping Powerhouse for up-to-date programming.

We have begun working to sensitively restore this unique heritage site and to open it up to visitors for cultural events for the first time in 14+ years, alongside commercial hire activity to contribute to its long-term financial sustainability. Our Prelude programme will test and learn what works best for artists, audiences and the community across the building and its outside spaces to inform long-term plans. At the end of this exploratory phase, we anticipate a period of closure for capital refurbishment and conservation work, including to increase accessibility. 

Glass Castle is a proactive funder committed to enabling long-term change for artists and audiences. We do not run open calls; instead, we identify organisations, artists, projects and programmes that align with our purpose through our own research and relationships, working closely with a global network of Glass Castle Correspondents and Nominators.

Our approach starts with our values: artist-centredness, experimentation and collaboration. Alignment with these values sits at the heart of any funding or partnership decision.

Our strategy is relational: we believe relationships shape what and how change happens.

  • Sometimes we will take the lead, as sole funder of a big new idea, or in designing a change programme that meets a specific need, or delivering a project through our venues - a Make It Happen relationship.
  • Sometimes we will enable and match-fund alongside others, collaborating and partnering as the default - a Help It Happen relationship.
  • Sometimes we will work generatively, providing just what's asked for to emerging ideas and visionary change coming from the edges - a Let It Happen relationship.

See In The Spotlight for some of the artists, organisations and projects that Glass Castle has supported.

Our funding and partnerships are focused on the following four areas. 

  • Supporting artists' capacity to create the extraordinary - identifying and enabling extraordinary artists to develop and thrive through direct support for artists, curators and producers.
  • Increasing commissioning capacity to create the extraordinary - we are artform agnostic, interested in interdisciplinary and collaborative work that defies easy categorisation, challenges consensus and asks big questions. We support organisations with commissioning for both creation and onward touring and transformation/adaption of works across media and geographies to reach new audiences.
  • Amplifying the visibility, reach and recognition of living artists in the digital space - We aim to increase access and financial sustainability through innovation in interpretation, dissemination and distribution.
  • Generating change to strengthen the arts ecology - we support innovative organisations and changemakers with bold ideas to increase inclusion, diversity, equity, access and sustainability; shape the future of artistic practice; and how people experience art. 

Glass Castle does not currently consider external applications or requests for funding from individuals. Instead, we proactively identify the artists we support through our network of Glass Castle Correspondents, Nominators and our core team.

Artists and collectives are nominated anonymously. You will not know if you have been nominated unless you are successfully shortlisted and invited to make a full application. The work of application-making and interviews is paid for by Glass Castle.

Glass Castle can provide funding to charities and non-profit entities, supporting both core operating costs and targeted programmes, projects, commissioning and change initiatives.

Glass Castle does not consider external applications or unsolicited requests for support. We ask that you do not send enquiries or requests for meetings unless specifically invited by our team. We proactively identify partners through our own research and established networks of Glass Castle Correspondents and Nominators.

If we are interested in your work, you will be invited to submit a brief Expression of Interest. These are reviewed and shortlisted throughout the year, with full applications invited on a rolling basis. 

Our small core team, proactively research artists and organisations, will follow newsletters and social media, and attend exhibitions, studio visits, festivals, biennials and conferences.

We encourage you to add us to your mailing lists of people who receive updates on your work or newsletter. This is the best way to get on our radar. You can also fill in this form to tell us about your work. 

We are aware of arts sector inequalities and the risks of bias that affect all research and selection processes, and we actively seek to mitigate these as part of our ongoing conversations and skills development. We believe that in an age of AI and digital overwhelm, leaning into trust, judgement, experience and relational ways of working will be more effective at embracing equity and inclusion and enabling us to achieve our mission, than a mass open call.

A performer in an elaborate head-to-toe pink costume stands in an industrial space, grimacing with teeth bared and hands raised beside their face. The outfit includes a ruffled hood framing the face, a frilled bib and short skirt, puffy ruched leggings, and pink boots. Sheets of pink paper fly through the air around them and litter the concrete floor. Behind them are a weathered brick wall and large rusted green machinery.
Live performance drawn from Enclosure by Jenkin van Zyl, 2026, Agnieszka Szczotka, Somerset House Studios. Photo credit: Kingsley Bishop.

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