What have you been doing today?
I have had meetings all day with partners in Barnsley. I am getting to know the arts and health sectors and finding out about the great work that goes on day to day in creative health.
Is that a typical day for you?
So far, every day is different, and I am only 3 weeks in! I am meeting people in Barnsley, creating an action plan for my work and generally trying to understand where I can be most supportive for Creative Health in the Borough.
When did you start working with culture, health and wellbeing, and how?
My career has always been within this sector from working for Barnardos to Sheffield Children's Hospital. I was the CEO of a participatory arts organisation in Sheffield for many years and we did some amazing projects within the community supporting health and wellbeing. Here is our Adopt a care home project where we bought primary aged children and care home residents together to get creative. I was also a steering group member for the Sheffield Arts and Wellbeing Network and part of the small working group developing Sheffield Creative Health Board.
What was the last project you came across that inspired you?
I find this one hard as I feel a bit out of the loop as I have been on maternity leave the past year. I often think about a film I saw at Leeds Art Gallery years ago. You walked into the dark room and there were two large screens across from each other. A group of men from Afghanistan started to sing a traditional song, dressed in traditional clothes. Then the other screen came a live and the women started to sing. The power of these voices, the sense of separation but togetherness. It was beautiful and sad and has stayed with me all this time.
I have always worked within the charity sector and been fundraising for charities since I was 12 years old! Starting my career working for Barnardos Voice and Influence service in Barnsley working with young people, moving to Leeds City Council running arts events and Music Industry competitions and then running a chat room for chronically ill children for the Sheffield Children’s Hospital. I then was the CEO for 16 years of Ignite Imaginations (HOME | igniteimaginations), a participatory visual arts organisation in Sheffield. My passion here was to ensure people from all walks of life had equitable access to creative local experiences and opportunities to work in the sector. As a volunteer I ran the Sharrow Lantern Carnival for 14 years (Creativity and Community | Sharrow Lantern Carnival | Sheffield) an amazing community lantern parade in Sheffield, and previously been on the steering group for SNAP and Sheffield Arts and Wellbeing Network and a board member and chair for the Sheffield Creative Guild. Sheffield Creative Guild Homepage Video. My partner and I ran an award winning microbrewery On the Edge Brewery | Facebook from our house for many years and now we have two small children.