Directors | Motionhouse

Directors

Louise Richards | Founder and Executive Director

Louise is the driving force behind Motionhouse’s trailblazing journey and global success. Her vision shapes the company’s activity and strategic direction.

Louise’s skill for recognising opportunities for the company has enabled Motionhouse to set rather than follow trends, initiating the expansion of our repertoire to include outdoor work to appeal to a range of festival and other audiences, and producing many of the acclaimed large-scale productions that have made us a well-respected player in the UK arts sector. She is instrumental in developing the many partnerships that Motionhouse enjoys and is the producer of the company’s extensive programme.

Under Louise’s direction Motionhouse has developed a wide reaching education and training programme, reaching annually nearly 10,000 young participants. Committed to the development of the sector as a whole, she also acts as a mentor for young performers and arts organisations, as well as developing a range of apprenticeships and professional development strands for the Motionhouse programme.

Originally a dancer and choreographer, Louise remains closely involved with the performing company and creative process. A recognised leader in her sector, Louise is regularly invited to attend and speak at seminars and conferences. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

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Kevin Finnan MBE | Founder and Artistic Director

Kevin is known for his dynamic, highly visual productions integrating dance, circus and digital technology. He is responsible for the distinctive style that Motionhouse is renowned for.

He is passionate about exploring and questioning the traditional use of space in performance, which has led to the creation of an extensive body of work developed over three decades. He is regularly commissioned to develop extraordinary dance spectacles, most notably as Choreographer and Movement Director of the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

In March 2022, Kevin was commissioned to create Wondrous Stories, the opening show of the Birmingham 2022 Festival, seen by more than 22,000 people over four days. The show launched the six–month festival in the West Midlands running alongside the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. He also developed Watermusic, a large-scale outdoor spectacle for the Aarhus 2017 European Capital of Culture celebrations in Randers Harbour, Denmark in September 2017 and Lumen, a large-scale outdoor spectacle in the lead up to the TM2021 European Capital of Culture celebrations in Timișoara, Romania in October 2018. Kevin has created major productions celebrated globally, including more than 35 theatre and outdoor festival productions and large-scale outdoor spectacles, bespoke performance events to mark cultural capital celebrations in Copenhagen and Marseille-Provence and the launch of the London 2012 Festival with The Voyage in Birmingham city centre.

Committed to collaboration, he has worked with artists including writer A.L. Kennedy, installation artist Rosa Sanchez, film-makers Logela Multimedia, set visionary Simon Dormon and international companies such as Legs On The Wall and Vancouver’s Headlines Theatre.

In 2017 Kevin became first Visiting Professor of Dance at Birmingham City University’s Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. He has an MA in Contemporary Performing Arts from University College Bretton Hall and a PhD in Theatre from Warwick University. He is a Research Fellow at the University of Warwick and Associate Artist of Greenwich+Docklands International Festival. In 2013 he was made an honorary Doctor of Letters at the University of Warwick in recognition of the importance of his work and his service to the arts. He was awarded an MBE in 2013 for his services to dance.

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