Advisor-Facilitator

Working with the team as an advisor-facilitator to its City of London Cultural Strategy creation, helping embed place-based and people-centred values throughout the process. I work alongside the team to ensure the strategy reflects both the City's unique cultural assets and its evolving civic, economic and creative ambitions—grounding the work in lived experience, equity, and long-term impact.

Evaluator – Stories That Made Us

Stories That Made Us is an ambitious exhibition and audience development project exploring the cultural, political and economic contributions of South Asian and British South Asian communities in Coventry from 1968–2010. Drawing on two unique collections — the publicly held Virk Collection and a family archive curated by Hardish Virk — the project weaves together room settings, oral histories, archives, sound and video to tell intergenerational stories often left unheard.

As evaluator, I bring a developmental approach to understanding and evidencing the project’s impact. I support the team with inclusive evaluation methods, tailored tools and data-gathering techniques, and offer clear, constructive feedback throughout. My work includes producing a final insight-led evaluation report and advising on longer-term approaches to public engagement and organisational learning.

Create Place: Heritage & Digital

Evaluator for this University of Staffordshire-hosted major NLHF-funded leadership programme supporting mid- to senior-career heritage and cultural professionals in Stoke-on-Trent. The programme focuses on heritage-led regeneration, digital innovation, and place-based leadership, delivered through a partnership led by Staffordshire University and including national and local heritage bodies.

My role is to design and deliver a developmental evaluation framework that embeds reflection, supports continuous learning, and captures impact across six programme cohorts. I facilitate structured cohort feedback sessions, provide responsive insights to help refine delivery, and produce interim and final reports for programme partners and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The evaluation also explores themes of environmental sustainability, inclusion, participatory governance, and the use of digital tools in heritage.

This work builds on my expertise in heritage evaluation and leadership development, and positions evaluation as a critical tool for long-term sector resilience and learning.

National Forest: Burton & Coalville Creative Projects

Evaluator for a 2025 Arts Council England–funded programme celebrating the connections between urban communities, creativity and nature in Burton upon Trent and Coalville. The programme includes four artist-led projects developed with partners such as Coalville CAN, Burton Women’s Collective, and the Brewhouse Arts Centre, focusing on co-creation, green spaces, and unheard voices.

My role is to design and deliver a flexible, developmental evaluation framework that captures impact across multiple levels — from participant experience to community change and sector learning. I support baseline and environmental data collection, facilitate reflection and feedback sessions with artists and community partners, and report on co-creation methods, wellbeing outcomes, and strengthened partnerships.

The evaluation helps evidence the programme’s value to Arts Council England and informs future National Forest Company work across culture, nature, and place. It also considers low-carbon and circular approaches to creative production as part of its learning.

Strategic Analyst

As a strategic place-based analyst, I lead the design and delivery of insight-gathering activity to inform the town’s forthcoming Cultural Strategy. This includes hosting a series of in-depth conversations with diverse stakeholders and running a suite of online surveys aimed at residents, cultural organisations, businesses, and community partners.

Through this multi-method approach, I generate both a robust data baseline and an ambitious evidence base, identifying cultural assets, gaps, opportunities, and shared priorities. The analysis helps shape a strategy that is rooted in local context while aligned with wider place-based goals such as regeneration, wellbeing, and inclusion.

This work positions culture as a key driver of the town’s future and provides the foundation for meaningful long-term investment, cross-sector collaboration, and sustainable cultural development.

Sea for Yourself Commissioning Advisory Group

I sit on the Sea for Yourself Commissioning Advisory Group (SfYCAG), providing strategic and critical insight to support the delivery of a major creative programme aligned with the vision of the Plymouth Sound National Marine Park. The programme focuses on environmental engagement, inclusive artistic commissioning, and behavioural change through creative practice.

As a member of the advisory group, I act as a critical friend—advising on place-based strategy, community and citizen engagement, and the role of cultural commissioning in environmental and civic futures. I contribute to the shaping of briefs, support evaluation approaches, and help ensure the programme's alignment with values of accessibility, innovation, and sustainability.

My expertise in cultural strategy, creative placemaking, and environmental practice helps strengthen the programme’s long-term impact, and I also help identify potential partnerships and opportunities that support legacy and cross-sector collaboration. This role reflects my broader commitment to strategic, values-led approaches to place and cultural change.

Hastings Contemporary – Time and Tide

As Evaluation Consultant for Time and Tide, a major NLHF-funded project co-designed with the Hastings fishing community, I bring a place-based, community-first approach to understanding and evidencing impact. The project celebrates the intangible cultural heritage of the Hastings fleet and supports long-term engagement between the gallery and local people.

My role includes developing the project’s Theory of Change and designing an evaluation framework rooted in community voice, co-creation, and civic value. I support the team in capturing both quantitative outcomes and the deeper, qualitative shifts in how the gallery is perceived and used by the local community.

Working closely with artists, participants, and project partners, I help ensure that evaluation is meaningful, inclusive, and used as a developmental tool throughout delivery. This role builds on my long-standing expertise in place-based cultural evaluation and my commitment to supporting arts organisations to embed community leadership, heritage relevance, and civic purpose in their work.

University of Derby / Barnet Council – Curated Meal on Extreme Heat

As Engagement, Place & Civic Special Advisor with the University of Derby, I designed and facilitated a Curated Meal for Barnet Council as part of its climate adaptation and just transition planning. Using my original methodology, this cross-community meal brought together local leaders, community members, and council officers for a three-course dinner, with each course paired with structured, place-based questions about extreme heat.

The format enabled open, relational, and reflective dialogue around climate impacts, heat resilience, and access to cool, safe public space—surfacing both lived experience and practical insight. The event created rich, qualitative data and community-derived recommendations now informing Barnet’s climate strategy.

This work demonstrates the value of creative, deliberative formats for civic consultation and evidence-led policymaking. The methodology will feature in a forthcoming paper as a model for how arts-based methods can build trust, surface complexity, and shape more inclusive, actionable climate strategies.

Civic Impact Metrics

As Strategic Advisor to the University of Derby Civic Team, I lead on the development of new civic impact metrics that underpin the University’s Civic University Agreement and broader place-based strategy. Working collaboratively across Strategic Insights & Planning, Civic Engagement, and UEB reporting, my role focuses on designing meaningful, evidence-led indicators that reflect both quantitative outputs and community value.

This work involves aligning institutional success measures with local and regional civic outcomes, helping to articulate how the university positively impacts its communities through research, partnerships, learning, and innovation. I advise on metric options, evaluation approaches, and data visualisation formats to inform internal planning and external reporting.

The resulting framework forms part of a forthcoming paper and book chapter exploring how universities can more effectively evidence their civic mission. My approach bridges academic rigour with practitioner insight, centring equity, place impact, and participatory accountability in strategic measurement.

Judge

As a judge for Coventry Open 2025, I was honoured to help shape this vital exhibition celebrating the city’s artistic talent. Working alongside Jemima Graham and Jason Wilsher-Mills, we reviewed a powerful breadth of work—submitted by artists across Coventry and the wider region—through open access rather than invitation, enabling art to be judged on its merit, not networks.

The Coventry Open plays a critical role in the city’s cultural ecology. It foregrounds place-based creativity and civic imagination, offering a platform for both emerging and established artists to contribute to Coventry’s evolving cultural story. As a placemaking specialist, I value the exhibition not only as a showcase but as an act of care—supporting visibility, participation, and dialogue at a time of civic transition.

I’m proud to support a programme where artistic expression becomes a means of local connection, reflection, and resilience. This work is also part of my wider advocacy for open, democratic arts infrastructure.

Culture-led capital projects: catalysing local decision making in place

I am a co-author of this national policy-facing paper commissioned by Culture Commons, which explores how culture-led capital investment can deliver more meaningful and equitable outcomes for people and places. Developed in collaboration with leading voices across the arts, heritage, policy and urban development sectors, the paper responds to a growing need for better-aligned infrastructure funding that places civic value and community benefit at its core.

My contribution draws on decades of experience in place-based cultural strategy and evaluation. I bring critical insight into how capital projects intersect with local identity, social infrastructure, inclusion and long-term sustainability.

The paper makes practical, actionable recommendations for national, regional and local stakeholders—including funders and cultural institutions—and offers guiding principles to centre people and place in future investment. It is a call for culture-led development that is not just about buildings, but about what happens within, around and because of them.

Evaluation Consultant

I support the team at ‘a space’ arts to assess the impact of their National Lottery Heritage Fund–funded business and cultural programme. GHT is a unique venue combining contemporary arts, heritage storytelling and commercial innovation, and my role is to help the organisation evidence how these elements are working together to build a resilient, inclusive cultural hub.

My work includes co-designing a developmental evaluation framework with the team, creating tools to track progress across cultural, commercial and audience outcomes, and analysing data from visitors, artists and staff. I provide staged reporting to inform both internal learning and NLHF accountability.

Particular focus is given to GHT’s three priority themes—climate action, access and inclusion, and anti-racism—and to understanding how underrepresented communities engage with the venue. This role draws on my wider expertise in cultural strategy, audience insight and values-led evaluation.

Accrington Market Chambers – Interpretation Plan

As part of the core consultancy team—working with Gabriela Spangenthal and Hamdee Yusuf, and with Sherry Dobbin—I lead on audience profiling and community engagement for the Interpretation Plan for Accrington Market Chambers, commissioned by Hyndburn Council.

My role focuses on identifying current and potential audiences, understanding their needs, and addressing barriers to engagement. I design and deliver a series of inclusive consultation activities—including surveys, interviews, and co-creation workshops—with a strong focus on youth voice, underserved communities, and local cultural partners.

These insights directly inform the development of a place-based interpretation framework that translates community knowledge into a cohesive and resonant interpretive vision for the site. This includes shaping themes, values, and delivery approaches aligned with National Lottery Heritage Fund priorities. The work aims to ensure that heritage interpretation at Accrington Market Chambers is locally meaningful, accessible, and embedded across both cultural programming and the wider visitor experience.

Sussex Co-Lab – Placemaking Lead, University of Sussex

As Placemaking Lead for Sussex Co-Lab, I play a central role in shaping this cross-sector initiative, which brings together universities, artists, communities, and local government to explore creative approaches to place-based problem solving. The programme focuses on using culture, creativity and collaboration to inform better decision-making about the future of places and communities.

Part of the collective decision-making team, hosted by University of Sussex, developing strategy, securing funding, building partnerships, and designing ways of working that combine research and creativity with local knowledge.

Through this role, I support the creation of real-world solutions to complex local challenges—from health and wellbeing to regeneration and climate resilience. Sussex Co-Lab is building a growing body of evidence about what works when working with place, and my role ensures that the arts, culture and community voice are integral to that learning.

Consultation Designer and Public Art Commissioning Lead

Our Town, a major public engagement and art-in-public-realm programme in Yeovil, funded through Levelling Up and supported by the High Street Taskforce. The initiative brings together Yeovil Art Space, Love Yeovil, Somerset Council and local stakeholders to shape the future of the town through creative and community-led approaches.

I lead the design and oversight of town-wide consultation activities—including those focused on a key 1.5-acre greyfield regeneration site—ensuring meaningful engagement that connects cultural activity with planning and policy. I also act as mentor and Community Commission Lead for the Art Action Group, a resident-led body that co-commissions new public artworks.

In parallel, I oversee the project’s monitoring and evaluation strategy, capturing outcomes for participants, partners and place. This role combines my strengths in place-based consultation, participatory commissioning, and strategic cultural development to support Yeovil’s regeneration through creativity.

Evaluator and Critical Friend

Working with the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum’s intra-museum team to co-develop new community-led evaluation practice. This project explores how museums can better understand and reflect the identities, needs, and aspirations of Coventry’s diverse communities through their collections and public programming.

My role includes designing and delivering a focused feedback framework, mentoring staff through training and facilitated sessions that build confidence and internal capacity. I support the team to test new ways of gathering, analysing and applying qualitative insight from a wide range of community and staff stakeholders.

Positioned at the intersection of cultural democracy, collections strategy, and audience insight, this work informs future collecting practices at the Herbert and across the wider CV Life museums group. It also contributes to broader organisational learning around representation, relevance, and the museum’s civic role in a changing city.

Art in the Public Realm Strategy 2025–2045

I co-created Birmingham’s refreshed Art in the Public Realm Strategy 2025–2045 alongside Research Associate Hamdee Yusuf - and a mutltitude of the city’s arts and place leaders. Commissioned by Birmingham City Council, this strategic update was grounded in deep engagement with city planners, cultural leaders, community stakeholders, and national exemplars.

Our work reframed public art as civic infrastructure, integral to Birmingham’s future as a liveable, just and creatively ambitious city. We proposed an expanded role for public art across planning, wellbeing, placemaking and climate resilience, including the introduction of a new stipulation model for public art through Design Codes—an innovation for the city.

Drawing on critical policy research and practitioner experience, we embedded co-creation, cultural democracy and community benefit into the heart of public realm policy. The strategy delivered actionable short-, medium-, and long-term recommendations that linked public art directly to the city’s planning frameworks, including the Birmingham Development Plan 2042.

Governance and Strategic Development Advisor

I have supported Take A Part, one of the UK’s leading socially engaged arts organisations, over several years in a strategic advisory capacity. My role focuses on strengthening the organisation’s governance, leadership, and business model to align with its evolving ambitions, from its home in Plymouth and its national and international presence.

I have led the organisation through a progressive Board recruitment process, including developing an inclusive governance model and onboarding strategy to support a values-led transition toward 2025 and beyond. This work includes annual facilitation of Board and team away days and advising on scaling models that honour Take A Part’s community-first ethos.

Alongside this structural role, I’ve contributed to the organisation’s wider field-shaping work as a keynote speaker and in-conversation guest at Social Making, its biennial national symposium on socially engaged art—helping to connect governance innovation with artistic and civic practice.

Critical Friend

I provide strategic insight, reflective challenge and sector expertise to support this Somerset-based Creative People and Places programme. Seed works across Bridgwater, Highbridge, Burnham-on-Sea and the wider Sedgemoor area, creating new opportunities for communities to engage with arts, culture and heritage on their own terms.

My role involves advising on organisational development, place-based strategy, evaluation and partnership working. I contribute to annual reporting and impact reflection, facilitate team and Board development conversations, and support Seed to navigate shifts in local context and national policy.

I also help frame Seed’s learning and legacy planning, supporting its role as a changemaker within the national Creative People and Places cohort. At the heart of this relationship is a shared commitment to cultural democracy—ensuring that creative opportunities are not just available to communities, but shaped by them in ways that reflect local voices, priorities and potential.

Placemaking Lead

As Placemaking Lead for the Glovers Walk regeneration project in Yeovil, I led the town-wide public consultation process, the creation and facilitation of the Glovers Walk Town Board, and the development of a long-term Meanwhile Use Strategy. Commissioned by Yeovil Art Space, Love Yeovil, Yeovil Town Council and Somerset Council, the project forms part of the legacy and exit phase of Yeovil’s Future High Streets Fund investment.

My work involved designing and delivering inclusive consultation to surface community aspirations, synthesising findings into a place-based vision, and translating this into a practical, 7-year Meanwhile Use Strategy that supports phased redevelopment. I also established and facilitated the new Town Board—a cross-sector group responsible for governance, oversight, and civic co-ownership of the site’s future.

This role combined strategic leadership, cultural planning and participatory practice to support Yeovil’s transition from high street decline to a creative and community-led future.

Business Model and Governance Advisor

I supported the strategic transition of this ambitious cultural consortium as it moved toward independence from its university host. Creative Estuary brought together public sector bodies, cultural organisations, and local authorities across Essex and Kent to transform the 60-mile Thames Estuary region into a globally significant cultural hub.

My role involved facilitating Board development workshops, advising on governance structures, and assessing viable business models to ensure long-term sustainability. I led critical conversations around legal form, accountability, risk, and income diversification, tailored to Creative Estuary’s place-based ambitions and complex partnership structure.

This work supported the consortium’s next phase of growth, aligning operational governance with its creative and civic purpose. It also ensured the transition process reflected the organisation’s values—embedding inclusivity, regional leadership, and cultural equity into its future as a standalone entity with national and international relevance.

Placemaking Curator and Special Advisor

As Placemaking Curator and Special Advisor for Culture Central, I supported this pan-regional collective voice for the West Midlands in its mission to convene, challenge and connect through culture. My role spanned strategic advising, practitioner development and curatorial leadership, focused on embedding placemaking as a core strand of Culture Central’s work.

I curated and facilitated the Future City Placemakers Conference, bringing together regional and national voices to explore the role of culture in place leadership, regeneration and community development. I also designed and led the Future City Placemakers Bootcamp—a practitioner-focused intensive that equipped cultural leaders with tools and frameworks for impactful, place-based work.

Helping position the organisation as a catalyst for cultural placemaking across the region. My work contributed to shaping a shared language and direction for how place, culture and civic purpose intersect in the West Midlands.

CivicLab Conference Chair and Civic Collaborator

Since 2021, I have been closely involved with the University of Derby’s CivicLab—a leading platform for exploring the civic role of universities in place. Initially invited as a guest speaker, I have since become the regular Chair of the annual CivicLab conference and plenary sessions, helping to shape the tone, direction and ambition of this flagship event.

My role involves curating the day’s flow, facilitating conversations across sectors, and holding space for critical and creative discussion about the university’s civic responsibility. I ensure the event foregrounds diverse voices and perspectives—bridging academic, cultural, community and public sector insights.

Beyond the conference, I act as a critical collaborator to the CivicLab team, contributing to thought leadership on place-based partnerships, cultural strategy and civic impact. My involvement helps to position CivicLab as a national exemplar for civic practice that is rooted in local context and designed for sector-wide learning.

I was awarded the accolade of Civic Champion in 2024.

Critical Friend

As Critical Friend to Hospitable Environment, I support this Newhaven-based socially engaged arts, placemaking and wellbeing organisation in its mission to build safe, connected and sustainable communities through creativity and food. My role combines strategic reflection with sector insight, offering thought partnership as the organisation grows its programme, partnerships and impact.

I provide ongoing advice on organisational development, evaluation, place-based strategy, and funding positioning—ensuring Hospitable Environment’s values-led, participatory approach is reflected in its decision-making and future planning. I also contribute to its workshop delivery around place-based evaluation and have spoken at its knowledge exchange events.

Through this relationship, I help Hospitable Environment remain both rooted in its local context and connected to wider national and international practice in creative placemaking, food justice and cultural health. My role supports the organisation’s evolution while keeping community voice and care at the centre of its model.

Co-Author, Public Art Vision for Hedge End, West End and Botley

Commissioned by Eastleigh Borough Council, I worked alongside placemaker and wayfinder Richard Wolfstrome to co-create a Public Art Vision for the communities of Hedge End, West End and Botley (HEWEB). Funded through a Section 106 Developer Contribution and the HEWEB Local Area Committee, the project focused on embedding public art into the fabric of local life through meaningful, place-based engagement.

My role involved co-authoring the strategy and leading a creative, collaborative engagement process with residents, local businesses, Councillors and Council officers. We used a range of participatory tools to surface local identities, priorities and opportunities, ensuring the vision reflected lived experience and future ambition.

The resulting strategy provides a framework for commissioning public art that is community-informed, site-responsive and values-led—strengthening a sense of place while guiding future investment. It positions public art as a connector between people, landscape and local stories across Eastleigh’s HEWEB area.

Project Lead and Director
As Project Lead and Director for Volunteering Futures Basildon, I oversaw the delivery of this £250,000 DCMS-funded initiative (administered by Arts Council England), with additional investment from Active Essex, Sport England, Basildon Borough Council and further £159,000 in audience development funding. The project aimed to widen access to high-quality volunteering opportunities for young people and those facing barriers to participation across arts, heritage, libraries, museums, sport, and community settings.

Working with a network of borough-wide partners, I led programme strategy, partnership development, and delivery frameworks that connected volunteering with wellbeing, employability and civic pride. The initiative supported cross-sector collaboration across eco, arts, and physical health sectors, focusing on inclusive participation and long-term impact.

My leadership helped shape a place-based model of volunteering that responded to Basildon’s local context and community aspirations—demonstrating how volunteering can drive engagement, build skills and foster a stronger, more connected civic life.

My Top Tips for such programmes through the link below.

Programme Advisor and Partnership Broker

As Programme Advisor to Schools Without Walls, So Sussex’s arts-led learning initiative, I supported the development of its landscape, environmental and ecological learning offer for schools and museums across Sussex. My role focused on strategic programme development, capacity building, and sector-facing partnership growth.

I brokered a cross-sector partnership with Engage, the national support organisation for visual arts engagement, to co-develop a professional development programme for museum and gallery educators across the region. This included advisory input on funding strategies, programme design, and long-term planning to expand and diversify the cohort of arts-educators working across formal and informal education settings.

My involvement helped align Schools Without Walls with broader national agendas in climate education, creative pedagogy and inclusive arts practice—ensuring the programme supports high-quality, accessible learning that connects children and young people to place, environment and creativity through meaningful engagement with the cultural and natural heritage of Sussex.

Governance Specialist and Membership Advisor

VASW advocates for the visual arts across the South West, connecting artists, organisations and networks with the resources, knowledge and support they need to thrive. I worked with VASW as a Governance Specialist through its ongoing Membership Surgery programme, supporting members to explore new models of leadership, organisational structure, and governance that are better aligned with values of equity, resilience and community engagement.

My sessions offered tailored guidance on co-creation, collective decision-making, legal structures, and evolving cultural governance practice, providing practical insights for organisations navigating transition, growth or renewal.

VASW’s membership includes organisations such as Spike Island, Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange, Plymouth Culture, CAMP, Aspex, Arnolfini, Dorset Visual Arts, East Quay, Somerset Art Works and KARST. Through this role, I contributed to a wider shift in how visual arts organisations across the region are reimagining governance to better reflect their missions, communities and futures.

Critical Friend and Strategic Advisor

As Critical Friend to Things Made Public, I support this pioneering Essex-based placemaking and cultural regeneration studio in strengthening its role as a nationally-recognised leader in creative place development. Known for its dynamic, values-led approach to culture-led regeneration, the organisation delivers ambitious, community-rooted projects across the UK.

My role involves advising the leadership team on their development as place leaders, offering 360-degree strategic insight across operations, client partnerships, and organisational growth. I support the team in refining internal processes, deepening external collaborations, and aligning practice with evolving place-based policy and cultural agendas.

I also broker creative networks, connecting Things Made Public with a range of cultural practitioners and artists, to enhance both practice and impact. My ongoing involvement contributes to the organisation’s capacity to scale while staying grounded in its commitment to community, quality, and imaginative placemaking that delivers long-term change.

Placemaking Strategy Expert

As part of a select expert team convened by We Made That, I contributed strategic insight to help shape Peabody’s evolving placemaking practice across its portfolio of over 100,000 homes in the UK. This work focused on refining Peabody’s approach to place, ensuring that social impact, design quality, community voice, and long-term stewardship are embedded across its development and regeneration activity.

Drawing on my expertise in cultural strategy, participatory practice, and civic placemaking, I advised on models of community engagement, creative collaboration, and co-production that could inform a more values-led and inclusive approach to neighbourhood development. I also contributed to group workshops and critical discussions on governance, partnerships, and legacy.

This role supported Peabody’s ambition to lead in socially responsible housing-led placemaking, and helped align its operational frameworks with contemporary best practice in equitable, sustainable and community-rooted development across the UK.

Special Strategist and Mentor

As an ad hoc Special Strategist with Futurecity, I support the team on place narrative development and talent mentoring within one of the UK’s leading cultural placemaking agencies. My recent work includes advising on a local authority place narrative consultation, bringing a critical, place-based lens to how identity, community and culture can inform future development and investment.

I contribute strategic insight on cultural value, civic storytelling and participatory methods to help shape narrative frameworks that are both locally grounded and forward-facing. Alongside this, I mentored one of Futurecity’s emerging placemaking practitioners, supporting professional development, critical thinking and applied practice within live project contexts.

This role builds on my long-standing relationship with Futurecity, offering space for creative exchange and shared thinking on the future of placemaking. My input supports the organisation’s commitment to thoughtful, inclusive and culturally rich approaches to urban change across the UK and internationally.

Strategic Lead

As Strategic Lead with gentle/radical, the Turner Prize–nominated, Cardiff-based socially engaged arts organisation, I provided senior-level support across organisational development, strategy and operations. Working closely with the leadership team, I helped shape the direction and sustainability of the organisation as it deepened its practice and extends its impact locally, nationally and internationally.

My role included advising on governance, funding, partnership development, and internal systems, ensuring that gentle/radical’s bold, community-rooted vision was supported by resilient structures and strategic clarity. I contributed to long-term planning and capacity building, while safeguarding the organisation’s commitment to equity, cultural democracy and transformative justice.

This work supported gentle/radical’s evolution as one of the UK’s most vital voices in socially engaged practice, and strengthened its position as a model for cultural organisations working at the intersection of art, community, spirituality and social change. My input helped to align everyday operations with the organisation’s radical, care-led ethos.

Special Advisor, Social Practices Lab
As Special Advisor to the newly established Social Practices Lab at Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton, I supported the development of this research platform dedicated to socially-led creative practice. The Lab serves as a hub for research and projects that respond to global and local challenges through socially engaged, community-driven and place-based approaches.

My role involved advising on the Lab’s vision, structure and strategic positioning—helping to shape its focus on collaboration, co-production and public impact. I contributed to early thinking on programme development, partnership frameworks and interdisciplinary methodologies, ensuring the Lab’s work is embedded in cultural equity, critical reflection and civic relevance.

This advisory role builds on my wider expertise in socially engaged art, placemaking and institutional change, and supports the Lab to become a leading platform for creative research that connects academic inquiry with real-world social transformation, both within Winchester and beyond.