Cathie Boyd, Founder & 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

Claire Moran, 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.

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

Aimee Adam, Marketing and Communications Officer

Aimee joined Cryptic as Marketing Assistant in February 2022 and has since been promoted as our Marketing and Communications Officer. Aimee achieved a Bachelor of Design in Illustration at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in 2019 where she specialised in digital illustration and comic art. She then progressed to a Masters in International Fashion Marketing at Glasgow Caledonian University and graduated in 2021.

 Five favourite things:

  • Dancing with strangers at music festivals in Spain
  • Pepperoni pizza by the slice in NYC
  • Anything designed by Vivienne Westwood
  • Illustrations by Polly Nor
  • Life drawing

An illustration of a woman being surrounded by long red arms

Blair Wallace, Administrator

Blair achieved a First Class Honours in Painting and Printmaking from The Glasgow School of Art in 2021. Prior to joining the organisation, Blair took part in Cryptic’s youth artist development programme, Deep Dive, during 2022-23. For a number of years, Blair has independently programmed events around Glasgow within venues like French Street Gallery, The Berkeley Suite and The Art School. He is the founder of Portal, an audio-visual communal listening event series based in Glasgow.  
 Five favourite things:
  • Playing on the radio
  • Seoul in the winter
  • Les Îles du Frioul
  • The morning sun
  • Almond croissants
A busy street in Seoul

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.
 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.

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); Hannah Moore (Director, Hannah Consulting Ltd); Kaja Przepiora (Robertson Scholar); Paul Simmons (Founder, Timorous Beasties); Gina Wilson (Senior Legal Counsel, Employment, Workday) and Cathie Boyd (Founder & Artistic Director, Cryptic).