Right now...

RIGHT NOW i'M WORKING AS...

LYRICI ARTS: ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANT

Two black women with shoulder length straight hair sit facing each other at three-quarter angles. Behind them is a curtain of African wax resist patterned fabric. One woman wears a black shirt, gold earings and has her hair in a pony tail. She holds a microphone as she talks, while the other woman wears a blue floral blouse and red lipstick. She looks at the woman with the microphone and smiles. The two women are Clara and Keely Augustus. They are the two sisters who founded and run Lyrici Arts.

Working with Lyrici (Kent's Black lyrical theatre production company) is an honour. They're in a phase of strategic focussing and at the tipping point of a major boost in their profile. As they evolve from a business following opportunities, to one carefully and deliberately carving their own niche, they need help seeing the overview. We're looking at how their work in the next 3-5 years pans out locally, regionally and nationally, and what that means for their approach to engagement with audiences, artists, partners and investors.

THE PANKHURST CENTRE: ROOMS OF OUR OWN - evaluation consultant

Rooms of Our Own is a project by The Pankhurst Centre, the . It will improve the centre's archives by cleaning, digitising, researching and adding to the archive records. Volunteers will be trained to interview the women involved in the early days of the centre. Young creative practitioners will work with selected content from the archive in summer schools, exploring creative responses to the archive's content with young people. The project will end with sharing events, an exhibition, and the transfer of the archive into the Archives+ resource centre at Manchester Central Library. The evaluation follows National Lottery Heritage Fund guidance, responding to their outcomes and approved purposes, as well as monitoring, and exploring the processes involved, to help inform future projects. Funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust - Bradford Urban Discovery Impact Evaluator

Supporting Yorkshire Wildlife Trust evaluate this project helping Bradford people reclaim and improve local green spaces so nature and children have better places to thrive. The work involves making data collection methods more user friendly; monitoring the data on Upshot; advising on methodologies; collecting case studies from local families, communities and partners; and writing annual progress and final reports. The first year's progress report can be read here.
Reaching Communities (National Lottery Community Fund)/Bradford Council funded.
(Photo: Laura Darn).

safedi: social art for equality, diversity & inclusion - evaluator & critical friend

SAFEDI is an AHRC fellowship led by by Manchester Metropolitan University working with Axis, Social Art Network, social artists, marginalised communities, and policy makers to rethink what equality, diversity and inclusion in the arts means. The work involves supporting the project as a critical friend and evaluating the extent to which the work met the aims of the initial proposal. Are the arts more inclusive as a result of this project? Have policies changed because of it? What can we learn from it for the arts sector in general? The findings will come out of the six artists commissions, the learning of the academic research team, feedback from communities, and the experiences of policy makers.
Funded by Arts & Humanities Research Council.
Image: Jarsquad: Carmen Wong / Rachel Dobbs / Tess Wilmot

Collaborative touring network - evaluator

Fourteen young adults sitting in a circle with their backs to each other. In the middle of them is a large patterned rug. Each person sits on a different kind of chair, some hard, some soft. In front of each person is a tv screen, and everyone is wearing headphones. The lighting is very dark except for the light coming from the screens.

Helping a network of 8-9 small /medium theatre production companies create a flexible, reflective, inclusive and participatory evaluation to capture and share the impact of each of the nine areas involved - and evaluate how belonging to the network helps organisational development. I'm helping them through the process with templates, toolkits, guidance, mentoring, training, facilitation and reporting.
Arts Council England funded.
(Image: Caroline Williams & Reem Karssli 'Now is The Time to Say Nothing' CTN 2019 tour)

Charterhouse London - Engagement Consultant

A very large very grand historic hall is lined with red leather chairs. A huge dark wooden fireplace is in the middle of the wall, with enormous tapestries either side. The tapestries look faded. The ceiling is very ornate with lots of carved white plasterwork, and some more modern chandeliers hang from the ceiling. The light from the chandeliers and windows reflect off the floor and the chairs.

Working as a consultant for the National Lottery Heritage Fund to advise The Charterhouse, a centuries old former monastery and mansion tucked away in central London, on the development of their community engagement, including community relationships, schools work, accessible interpretation and programming. I provide practical advice, help the team keep their strategic objectives in mind, and nudge them beyond what they were previously capable of.
National Lottery Heritage Funded.