HomeAbout the PrizeWho we are
Our Founders
Sarah / Sez Coleman (she/her)
Founder, Director Immersive Arts Price
sarah@kitmapper.com
Sarah (Sez) is an artist and creative producer working at the intersection of installation, film, and public art. Her practice is rooted in collaboration, sensory storytelling, and shared cultural memory. Over the past decade, she has played a key role in shaping London’s creative landscape—most notably at Somerset House, where she helped build one of the city’s most vibrant cultural communities, supporting thousands of artists and creative enterprises in residence.Sez co-founded the Immersive Art Prize to address a growing gap in recognition and support for artists working across immersive technologies and experience-based practices. The Prize reflects her belief that immersive art is not only a cultural force but a necessary one, emotionally resonant, socially engaged, and capable of transforming how we connect with the world.Through the Immersive Arts Prize, she is building a national platform that goes beyond accolades, offering investment opportunities, touring frameworks, business support, and training to help the next generation of creators thrive. Sez is passionate about bridging sectors and building sustainable, artist-centred ecosystems that connect bold ideas with meaningful infrastructure.
Dave Charlesworth (he/him)
Founder, Immersive Arts Prize
dave@kitmapper.com
Dave Charlesworth began his career as an artist, which shaped a deep commitment to building fairer, more sustainable systems for creative work. That ethos has carried through everything he has done since founding South Kiosk, an independent gallery focused on digital and lens-based practices, and later KitMapper, a production company supporting artists, curators, and institutions through technical expertise and infrastructure.

As Director of KitMapper for over a decade, Dave has overseen complex installations, exhibitions, and large-scale productions across the UK. Most recently, the company launched a touring exhibitions programme — a new model that reduces commissioning costs for host venues while enabling artists to earn through licensing, expanding their reach without having to start from scratch each time.

In parallel, he founded Kitto.rent, a dry-hire AV service designed by artists, for artists. Kitto challenges the barriers that prevent emerging creatives from accessing professional equipment by offering affordable, transparent pricing and flexible support. From CRT monitors to multichannel audio systems, Kitto enables artists to realise ambitious works without compromise.

Through KM Venture Studio, Dave develops ventures that rethink how the cultural sector can operate. He co-founded Collections Of, a platform that works with under-resourced archives and artists to bring hidden histories into the public realm. He also supported W/ Studio through a successful SEIS raise; the studio now produces original immersive experiences blending storytelling, performance, and design.Dave’s ongoing focus is on creating models that allow artists to thrive — not just survive — within the cultural economy. This means fair wages, sustainable production, and breaking down the barriers that keep bold work confined to elite audiences. He believes in cultural infrastructure that’s built with care, ambition, and long-term impact.
Our Creative Advisors
Jack Addis
Jack has over a decade of experience helping artists bring their visions to life. Directing the Lumen Prize for a decade, Jack specialises in the intersection of art and technology and has collaborated with renowned artists such as Sougwen Chung, Refik Anadol, and Nye Thompson. Jack has produced projects across the globe, working with partners like the Barbican Centre (UK), Kunstsilo (Norway), the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture – Ithra (Saudi Arabia), and the Today Art Museum (China). He holds a Master’s degree in Digital Art from UAL.
Estela Oliva
Estela is a director and artist working across film, performance, installation and immersive media. Her practice explores storytelling and the impact of technology on identity, memory, and ecology, situated within the realm of new cinema. Known for her sci-fi project CLON, her work has been exhibited internationally at festivals and institutions including Sónar, MUTEK, and Somerset House.
Theodore Spyropoulos
Theodore Spyropoulos is an architect and educator. He is the Director of the Architectural Association’s world-renowned Design Research Lab (AADRL) in London, a resident artist at Somerset House and an advisory board member for Casa Batlló, Gaudí in Barcelona. He previously chaired the AA Graduate School, and was a Professor of Architecture at the Staedelschule in Frankfurt and a visiting Research Fellow at MIT’s Center for Advanced Visual Studies. He co-founded the experimental art, architecture, and design practice Minimaforms with Stephen Spyropoulos. The work of Minimaforms has been acquired by international art and architecture collections, including the FRAC Centre, the Signum Foundation, and the M+ Archigram Archive. His work has been exhibited at MOMA (NYC), the Barbican Centre, the Onassis Cultural Centre, Somerset House, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology, and the ICA. He previously worked for the offices of Peter Eisenman and Zaha Hadid. In 2013, the Association for Computer-Aided Design in Architecture awarded him the ACADIA Award of Excellence for his educational work directing the AADRL. He has been published internationally and is the author of Adaptive Ecologies: Correlated Systems of Living (2013), Enabling (2010), and the forthcoming publications Quantum (2025) and Elemental: Phenomena as Technology (2026).
Gary Napper
Gary Napper is a veteran Design Director with over two decades of experience shaping award-winning video games. From early work on the Harry Potter series and Burnout, to leading roles on Alien: Isolation and Halo Wars 2, his career spans blockbuster franchises and experimental interactive art. A passionate advocate for collaboration and creativity, Gary has spoken at conferences, universities, and cultural institutions, offering insights on design, storytelling, and team facilitation. A BAFTA member and regular game jam participant, he continues to champion the craft of game development while consulting on innovative cross-media experiences. He is currently working at Rare, a Microsoft Xbox Studio.