Bella Finlayson

Bella Finlayson (she/ they) is a multidisciplinary artist, director and producer working at the intersection of performance and social justice. Their practice often centres on socially engaged projects with a particular focus on movement, queerness, protest, and climate justice.

Bella holds a BA in Drama from the University of Exeter and trained with National Youth Theatre and the Queer School of Live Art. They were part of Made In Bristol at the Bristol Old Vic, a theatre-making traineeship, and Elevate at acta Community Theatre, a scheme for theatre practitioners working in participatory and socially-engaged theatre.

Bella is co-Artistic Director of Muddled Muse, a sapphic-led theatre company and creative community focused on authentic storytelling for queer audiences. In September 2026, they directed a Research and Development phase of the new play, Sappho Could’ve Bathed Here, written by Nelly Weston, with support from Arts Council England. Bella also co-host the company’s podcast Sappho Could’ve Yapped Here and their monthly sell-out Sober Sapphic Pub Quiz at Cafe Kino.

They are one half of motionsensor,‍ a feminist multi-disciplinary art partnership seeking build resilience through embodied practice. In collaboration with University of York, Arts Rights Truth and Amnesty International, they created BOUND, a short film responding to Amnesty International’s report Under Protected and Over Restricted, providing a feminist exploration of restricted bodies and protest through movement and dance. This premiered in 2025 at Artivism Futures: Reimagining Human Rights Activism at Kairos in London. Since then, motionsensor has continued this collaboration, alongside the collectives Bascule, ShiftSlow and Gear Up!; they brought the film, workshops and a street performance to Barcelona in October 2026 as a part of the Ensayos de Resistencia exhibition.

Alongside their artistic practice, Bella has worked for two years as a freelance Assistant Producer and Accessibility Coordinator for Super Culture, delivering festivals and large-scale public engagement projects including Whirligig, Arts and Health Festival, Summer Circus Daze, Cardboard Pier, and Good Grief Festival.

They also have worked as Drama Facilitator for 9 years, working with Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol Old Vic, Super Culture, Creative Youth Network, Unique Voices, Drama With Hannah Rose, Bristol Academy of Drama, Pauline Quirke Academy and Threefold Theatre.