Founders in Focus
A Creative Alliance Driving Change
Meet Our Founders
Fortitude Arts, co-founded by Agnieszka Lokaj and Wendy Southern - a bold new non-profit using the powerful combination of art and sport to help women and girls build resilience, confidence, and connection.
With a shared commitment to inclusion, creativity, and social impact, Agnieszka and Wendy bring together two decades of complementary experience across the arts, sport, and community engagement sectors.
What Sets Us Apart
All About Us
Agnieszka Lokaj is an award-winning UX Lead, artist and curator whose socially engaged practice is informed by her lived experience of ADHD. Her work spans public exhibitions, digital storytelling, and audience engagement - always placing participation, accessibility, and emotional truth at the heart. She has delivered impactful projects with organisations including World Athletics, the British Olympic Association, and the London Olympics. In 2024 she was selected for Re:Create Richmond, an innovative business support programme designed to boost the creative industries in the London Borough of Richmond.
Wendy Southern is an award-winning Business Development, Marketing, and Programme Director with over 20 years’ experience leading high-impact campaigns, partnerships, and content programmes across sport, media, and culture. She has delivered strategic and creative work for major organisations including World Athletics, Royal Horticultural Society, ITV, Volkswagen Group and British Army.
With a reputation for building trusted relationships and delivering with precision, Wendy specialises in audience-first strategy - translating complex ideas into compelling, purpose-led experiences that drive engagement, social impact, and brand value.
Together, Agnieszka and Wendy form a dynamic team that blends vision and execution, artistry and structure, storytelling and strategy. They ask bold questions, challenge norms, and believe deeply in the transformative power of creativity and movement.
Their first major project, Touchlines of Fortitude, launches in 2025 during the Women’s Rugby World Cup, celebrating female strength and storytelling through visual art and sport.
Fortitude Arts is now building partnerships with artists, schools, funders, and advocates. If your work aligns, we’d love to connect.
Fortitude Arts empowers women to build resilience, confidence, and community through the fusion of art and sport.
Our vision is a world where every woman and girl sees herself as strong, creative, and capable — on the canvas, on the field, and in life.