Ali Smith - Chair

Ali is the founding Director of Superact! an international not for profit arts organisation that uses creativity to improve the health and wellbeing of people from a wide variety of backgrounds and abilities. working with artists and musicians, both amateur & professional, to deliver highly successful projects in the healthcare, education and criminal justice systems.

Coming from 5 generations of professional musicians Ali’s first instrument is the Cello – studying both in the UK and at the Conservatoire in Prague under Paul Ward, Raphael Wallfisch and Stanislav Apolin.

Ali is also the 3rd generation of her family to be a member of the Royal Society of Musicians. Founded in 1738, the aims of the founding members, whose numbers include Handel, remain unchanged today: to provide assistance for those working in the music profession and their dependants when in need because of accident, illness or old age.

As an inspirational leader with a can-do approach, Ali’s career has spanned thirty years with a focus on creative industries, education, community regeneration and social enterprise. Her collaborative skills, enabling style and natural ability to work in partnership are particular strengths, as is her ability to set up new organisations and projects delivering outstanding results.

For 14 years Ali was also the South West Director, of Live Music Now (LMN), a National charity that was founded in 1977 by the legendary violinist, Yehudi Menuhin and his colleague Ian Stoutzker. Menuhin noticed how music could transcend barriers of experience, language, illness and disability. He witnessed the pleasure, therapeutic and educational benefits that involvement in live music brought to people he worked with, particularly when faced by challenging or stressful life situations.