Cathie Boyd, Founder and Artistic Director

Cathie Boyd is an internationally respected director, producer and curator known for her ability to inspire others and her strong leadership of creative endeavour. With over 30 years of experience, she is able to work across art forms, from opera to music, digital arts and film while being able to work at a strategic and practical level, often working in new and unusual ways to achieve goals.

Raised in Belfast, Ireland, Cathie graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and set up Cryptic in 1994 with the desire to create innovative music and/or sound-based performances that would ‘ravish the senses’ of international audiences. Her many years of artistic practice include numerous international commissions and collaborations which have been presented in over 30 countries.

Cathie has been instrumental in providing a key platform for artists around the world by creating Glasgow’s biennale Sonica Festival in 2012.  She also has much experience in working with new technologies and was previously awarded a NESTA Fellowship to develop live visuals for classical music – performances include the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, BBS SSO, London Sinfonietta and NYO.

Awards include International Citation of Merit (from ISPA); Creative Programming for Sonica; NESTA Fellowship; European Woman of Achievement for the Arts; Outstanding Young Person Award; Junior Chambers of Commerce and an Edinburgh Festival Fringe First. Cathie also served as President on the Board of IETM (international network for contemporary performing arts) and Vice Chair at Visiting Arts, London. She recently participated in the Performing Arts Research metaLAB with Harvard University.

Cathie’s five favourite things:

  • Outdoor swimming : Le lac d’Oô in the Pyrenees
  • Riga: one of the most beautiful and welcoming cities in the world
  • Best spa: Therme Vals in Switzerland, designed by Peter Zumthor
  • Writers: Samuel Beckett
  • Austin Healy Frogeye Sprite

Nina Franklin, Festival Producer

Nina is a producer, broadcaster, and artist based in Liverpool. With over a decade of experience in live events, electronic music, interdisciplinary art and alternative broadcasting, she’s particularly interested in bringing working class artists to the forefront of culture and exploring the cutting edge of performance mediums. Prior to working with Crypric, she was a producer at Manchester International Festival, and the station manager at Melodic Distraction Radio in Liverpool. Outside of producing work, she maintains a strong broadcast-as-artform practice as a presenter at NTS and regularly gives talks on the vitality of the European independent radio scene for festivals like We Out Here, Unsound, No Bounds and many more.

Nina’s five favourite things:

  • Brisk and blustery mountaintop hikes followed by a pub lunch – (lager shandy and salt and vinegar crisps, please)
  • Bronze Age and Neolithic history, stone circles, burial chambers
  • The Blindboy Podcast
  • Getting a fresh BIAB set 💅
  • Niche independent music radio stations

A stone building with ornate wall paintings of mythical animals and thick wooden doors and beams.

Tara Marshall-Tierney, Head of Marketing and Communications

Tara joined Cryptic in 2026 after two years as Membership Manager at Southbank Centre in London – the UK’s largest arts centre – where she led the restructure of its Membership scheme. With 13 years of experience working in the arts and heritage sector, specialising in arts marketing, she is a champion for audience-focused and data-driven strategy. She has previously held roles at Scottish Opera and Wasps Studios, with additional experience from Jupiter Artland and Glasgow School of Art. Tara studied Sculpture and Environmental Art at the Glasgow School of Art, graduating in 2016. Her artistic practice explores collaboration, storytelling and voice, particularly online, which helpfully spills into her day job.
Tara’s five favourite things:
  • Dancing in a crowd: dark clubs, sunny festivals, loud gigs, or a combination of all the above
  • Being round a table of good food and drinks with great people
  • Getting blown about on a windy beach, preferably in the waves. Favourites: Shingle Street, Suffolk and Freshwater East, Pembrokeshire
  • Harmonised singing in choirs
  • Café Môr crab rolls with a pint of Guinness

Shingle Street beach in Suffolk, a long shingle beach with blue skies and kite surfers in the grey sea.

Claire Moran, Executive Producer

Joining Cryptic in 1997, Claire Moran was responsible for producing all of Cryptic’s works until 2002. She rejoined the company in 2005 and has been instrumental in the production of work that was toured across Europe, South America and Asia. Claire studied Performing Arts, specialising in new dance, at De Montfort University, Leicester in the UK, and on graduating moved into the field of arts management. She has worked with a variety of theatres and cultural organisations in Scotland including the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Scottish Ballet producing arts events, conferences, festivals and education programmes. From 2000 – 2002 Claire was chairperson of Renfrewshire Dance Project , she is now chairperson of the Board for Glasgow-based theatre company Vox Motus and also recently joined the Board of Objet-a.

Claire’s five favourite things:

  • Walking along the deserted Praia do Beliche, Algarve
  • A glass of chilled Viognier sitting on the veranda of Peppers Retreat in the Hunter Valley, Australia
  • Having a rummage in Kinokuniya Bookstores, New York
  • The arrival of springtime flowers
  • Memories after seeing The Nutckracker, when we left the theatre to enter a gentle snow storm – magical!

A picture of a beach with blue sea.

Freya Povlsen, Administrator

Freya joined Cryptic in 2026, following her role as an Administrator within the University of Glasgow’s School of Arts and Humanities. She supports Cryptic’s day-to-day operations and artistic programme. She studied Painting at Gray’s School of Art, graduating in 2023. Alongside her work at Cryptic, Freya is also a practising visual artist. Her work investigates themes of human nature, transformation, associations and subconscious creation through painting, draughtsmanship and digital collage, and has been presented in both solo and collaborative exhibitions.

Freya’s five favourite things:

  •  Entering a flow state while painting for hours
  • Hiking through forest, hills or by the sea
  • Finding a new outfit combination
  • A herbal tea on a fresh summer morning
  • Silver accessories

A teacup nestled in lush grass.

Chloe Spiby Loh, Immersive Arts Producer

Chloe joined Cryptic as the Immersive Arts Producer in July 2024. She is the main contact in Scotland for the UK wide Immersive Arts programme , where her role is to work with artists on the programme to develop new immersive artworks.

Prior to starting at Cryptic, Chloe worked as a Producer of multi-disciplinary cultural programmes for public audiences in museums and cultural organisations in London. Since 2018, she has produced and managed programmes at Wellcome Collection, Royal Institute of British Architects and the Architecture Foundation working with artists, designers and a diverse range of partners to produce talks, tours, screenings, festivals and installations, alongside commissions by emerging practitioners. She specialises in dynamic inter-disciplinary projects, and has worked with a number of high profile cultural collaborators including BBC World Service, V&A Dundee, Rooftop Film Club, Photographer’s Gallery and Create London.

Chloe’s five favourite things:

  • Swimming in the sunshine in outdoor 50m swimming pools
  • All cats
  • Eating at hawker centres in Singapore
  • Travelling around Italy
  • A great find in a vintage/ second-hand shop

A busy eating centre called the Hawker Centre, in Singapore.

Caroline Thompson, Head of Inclusion and Evaluation

Caroline re-joined Cryptic in 2013, having previously worked with the company on its productions of The Paper Nautilus, Optical Identity and Orlando. She has worked in the arts and cultural sector for more than 20 years, with a particular focus upon artist, participatory and organisational development.  In her current role she is responsible for the development of planning and embedding inclusion, diversity, equalities and accessibility across the organisation. Data collection and analysis, research and evaluation are a key aspect of this work. She has developed and delivered creative development and co-design, workplace innovation and inclusive practice for a number of organisations including Aproxima Arts, Articulate Cultural Trust and Dandelion. Caroline is currently a Director of Friends of the Pipe Factory.

Caroline’s five favourite things:

  • Loch Maree
  • Centre Pompidou in Malaga
  • Walking the South Downs Way
  • The smell of rain on freshly cut grass
  • A glass of chilled Jurancon in the garden of Clos Mirabel

An image of Loch Maree

Lizzie Urquhart, Project Assistant

Lizzie Urquhart is our Project Assistant, joining the team in 2026. She is a visual artist and co-founder of record label Somewhere Press. Somewhere Press is a collaborative artist research-based practice. They prioritise work by women, non-binary and queer artists and have programmed events internationally. She hosts Silent Sea, a residency on Mutant Radio that explores liminality, desire and sensory encounters in intimate sound.

Lizzie’s five favourite things:

  • Long walks in nature
  • Listening to music with friends
  • Breathing in sea air
  • Taking photographs/analogue photography
  • Basking in the sun eating fresh fruit

A film photo of a sunset over a calm sea.

Board

The current Cryptic board consists of Chairperson Shirani Sabaratnam (Chair, Television Executive) and Directors: Annette Christie (Glasgow City Council Convenor for Culture and Sport /Glasgow Life Chair); Paul Condron (Brand Director at Highland Park); David Moir (Senior Director at CBRE); Kaja Przepiora (Robertson Scholar); Paul Simmons (Founder, Timorous Beasties); Gina Wilson (Senior Legal Counsel, Employment, Workday) and Cathie Boyd (Founder & Artistic Director, Cryptic).