About The Foundation

Creativity has the power to transform the lives of individuals and communities.

Established in 2024, the Hugo Burge Foundation is dedicated to nourishing and inspiring creativity in every single one of us, young and old.

We run courses, host events, offer awards and provide opportunities to anyone wanting to enrich their lives and surroundings with art, beauty and the magic of making.

We provide affordable workspaces for artists, makers and creative professionals in the Scottish Borders, and offer funded and self-funded residencies throughout the year.

We welcome art-lovers, schools and community groups to visit our beautiful walled garden and restored glasshouses on the Marchmont Estate.

Team

Lucy Brown

Lucy Brown

Chief Executive Officer

With a background in theatre, arts, law and business development, Lucy has lead the Foundation since early 2022. Her motivation is to remove perceived barriers around arts and to provide support for those of us who want to explore our creativity.

Dr James Fox

Dr James Fox

Creative Director

Dr James Fox is an art historian, writer, curator and multi award-winning, BAFTA-nominated, broadcaster. He believes in the power of creativity to transform lives for the better.

Emma Aviet

Emma Aviet

Projects and Engagement Officer

Emma joined HBF while finishing her doctorate in British and American literature. She's eager to work on projects related to community engagement, supporting marginalised voices in creative and cultural contexts, as well as research that questions societal views of these spaces.

Toby Loveday

Toby Loveday

Head Gardener

Toby began his horticultural career in 1996 and despite all the years of experience, still considers himself a novice gardener. He’s responsible for the running of the walled garden and surrounding areas, including its planning and development. His main influence comes from arts and crafts gardens. He likes using colour and especially texture to create inspiring planting schemes.

Laura Eberst

Laura Eberst

Gardener

Laura developed her love for plants through working as a florist for 10 years. As a gardener at Marchmont, she uses this love of plants to manage the cut flower borders and the displays in the glasshouses. She also enjoys drying and pressing flowers to provide material for other creative projects connected to the garden.

Nick Findlay

Nick Findlay

Site Supervisor

Nick has a strong background in project management and team working in the fast-paced world of Formula One. He joined HBF to pursue working in an environment that supports and nurtures communities. Nick takes good care of all our tenants, visitors and artists in residence along with managing the beautifully restored studio spaces at Marchmont and our new Earlston Campus.

Shaun Adams

Shaun Adams

Gardener

Although Shaun’s background is in gamekeeping, since coming to Marchmont in 2017, he has played a major role in the development of the garden. His main passion is mowing the grass and making sure the garden and grounds are kept neat and tidy. Shaun is also responsible for managing the Marchmont Beehives and proudly looks after 5 hives.

Charlotte Alder Bateman

Charlotte Alder Bateman

Gardener

Charlie has a degree in Blacksmithing and has successfully turned her hand to horticulture over the last few years. Her main role is managing the vegetable garden which is a very important part of the Marchmont walled garden. She has a real passion for propagating plants and loves looking after the glasshouses – a great combination!

Board of Trustees

Alan Martin

Alan Martin

Chair and Founding Trustee

Alan is a Chartered Accountant with over 30 years’ experience holding senior management roles in a wide range of businesses primarily in media and technology. Alan first met Hugo in 2011 when working for 6 years as CFO of Momondo Group, a travel search business where Hugo was the CEO. Alongside Hugo, Alan helped to substantially grow revenues, integrate a significant overseas acquisition, and led the sale of the business to Booking Holdings in 2017. Hugo and Alan then established Marchmont Ventures in 2018 to invest in and support high-growth, disruptive technology businesses and manage a large portfolio of public and private market assets. Alan is also a founding trustee of The Hugo Burge Foundation and holds directorships for Motorway Online Limited, GetAgent Limited, The Float Yard Limited, Bird Sunglasses Limited and CheckMyBus GmbH. Alan hopes that the Foundation will help to inspire creativity in as many people, young and old, as possible and truly make a difference to their lives.

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Hazel Smith

Hazel Smith

Trustee

Starting out in community education 30 years ago, Hazel set up, developed and managed organisations and projects combatting exclusion and inequality working with third sector and public sector services and economic development agencies. Much of the work has focused on children, young people and women: managing Youth Agencies and Women onto Work in Edinburgh; working with the European Commission on research and development projects that promoted women’s and young people’s participation in education, enterprise and employment. Eight years ago, after a stint volunteering in rural Senegal with women and children’s charities, she returned to Berwickshire and set-about developing social enterprises that supported women and families. One of those enterprises has won numerous awards for promoting egalitarian values and empowering vulnerable women to be leaders in their lives and communities. She is a former Board Member of a number of charities working on behalf of women, children and other disadvantaged groups and currently holds a public appointment with the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration. Hazel is a former care-experienced child and young person and someone whose career path has primarily focused on working with disadvantaged groups and communities. That commitment was informed by her first 18 years in care; starting out youthwork in her late teens through to setting-up and managing local, regional and national initiatives that focused on equality, inclusion, wellbeing and care for those who are most vulnerable, including our children and young people. She is currently developing a legacy of 130 registered tartans, including the “Tartans for Africa Collection,” bequeathed by a talented philanthropist, David McGill – under the banner of Tartans for Social and Humanitarian Good.

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Dr James Fox

Dr James Fox

Trustee and Creative Director

Dr James Fox is an art historian, writer, curator and multi award-winning, BAFTA-nominated, broadcaster. After positions at Harvard and Yale, he is currently Director of Studies in History of Art at the University of Cambridge, where he has taught for fifteen years. He specialises in British art, modern art, the cultural history of colour, and British craft traditions. His most recent book, The World According to Colour: a Cultural History, was published by Allen Lane in 2021. He is currency writing another book called Craftland: In Search of Britain’s Vanishing Trades, which explores the country’s lost and endangered crafts. Convinced of art’s huge social importance, James works with museums, schools, charities and the media on both sides of the Atlantic to engage broader audiences in this most life-enhancing of subjects. He is currently Director of Education at the Jeffrey Rubinoff Sculpture Park in Canada, one of the largest sculpture parks in North America. James is perhaps best known for his broadcasting work, where he has established himself as one of the country’s best-loved arts presenters. Over the last fifteen years he has made many documentaries for BBC television and radio, including the BAFTA-nominated British Masters (2011), Royal Television Society-nominated A History of Art in Three Colours (2012), Forest, Field & Sky: Art out of Nature (2016), The Art of Japanese Life (2017) and The Age of the Image (2020).

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Donate

If you've been inspired by Hugo's vision and want to help us transform more lives with creativity, you can donate as much (or as little!) as you like below.