Resume

Part of CV Life, the Turner Prize 2021 and at the heart of Coventry City of Culture 2021 celebrations and legacy.

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To build strong community partnerships which ensure co-curated activities and projects.  A key focus was on continuing the development of a resilient and sustainable service for Warwickshire's communities and supporting teams to create audience-focused programming.  Specialist liaison with 'not yet found' and neurodivergent communities; and enhancement of the institutional space to welcome all.

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Projects

• Community Garden - built collaboratively a cross-community accessible raised bed art garden in response to local consultation and work with the Natural History Museum and their 'Dippy the Dinosaur' installation.

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• Divided Selves - curated by Hammad Nasar MBE this exhibition explored ideas of belonging and living together when the world is under tension. I led a collaborative flag-making project with four diverse community groups inspired by the works of Larry Achiampong which resulted in the development of a permanent community exhibition area in the gallery.

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• Work On Walls - diverse artwork meticulously hand-drawn, painted, sprayed, or stuck onto the gallery's walls. It was enriched with community responses and installations that used the museum's collections for inspiration, making it truly unique. Working with Art Riot Collective and Mim, we produced a breathtaking installation using kaleidoscopes and the stained glass windows of Coventry Cathedral. With Escape Arts' youth group, stunning animal motifs were created with Roo adorning a massive interior gallery wall; we included learning the art of spray painting in response to the natural history collection. These works were complimented by a series of large-scale spray art pieces developed by communities within spaces in the city.

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• Coventry Open - set up to showcase local talent and provide selling opportunities for artists, it celebrated the quality and diversity of art produced in the West Midlands region. This exhibition was the twelfth and the first to include: a young people's showcase, giving artists aged 15-18 a chance to exhibit their work in a professional gallery setting, use an online submission portal, and the ditching of hanging rules. As the community coordinator, I was committed to enhancing participation and diversity. I increased the typical number of submissions from around 500 to over 1,000. I did this by developing a grassroots roadshow in community places and an easy-to-use guide to participation to encourage more to submit their work.

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• Grown Up In Britain - celebrated a century of teenage life in the UK. It chronicled young people's experiences, culture and impact through photographs, objects and stories, exploring what unites across generations. I worked with Coventry and Warwickshire communities to discover photographic histories of growing up by organising capture roadshows around the region. In addition, I collaborated closely with a college offering opportunities for young people (age 16-25) with complex disabilities and learning difficulties and a Stratford youth club where we taught photographic skills to capture their experiences and environment. These pieces and the donated submissions were shown as part of the exhibition.

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• Daniel Lismore - Be Yourself; Everyone Else Is Already Taken - a major installation inspired by the Terracotta Army, featuring 50 3D sculptures modelled on the artist, Daniel Lismore. The life-size sculptures combined haute couture with nearly 7,000 unique curiosities, with vintage fabrics and found objects to examine social, historical and cultural themes, including sustainable fashion. I helped communities explore and understand the pieces curated to show Daniel's unique journey from being raised in Coventry to international fame. My community engagement activities included exhibition tours, sensory offerings, making a piece with Daniel, hosting a community ball, HAF activities, and masterclasses culminating in an exhibition of life-size art mannequins reflecting Daniel's techniques and local community concerns and passions, in collaboration with Warwick University. The generated models went on tour throughout the region in train stations and closed shop front stores.

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• Turner Prize 2021 Legacy - Coventry Banner - in collaboration with Array Collective, I ran a region-wide community collaborative project to create banners inspired by their Turner Prize-winning creativity and coordinated actions in response to the socio-political issues. This project was the subject of a research piece by Dr Rachel Marsden as an illustration of best practices being shared in Social work. EDI Issue 3, and nominated for a number of awards. The fabric was donated by Artichoke Trust from their Processions' Project, repurposing their suffragette sashes. Any medium or mark was acceptable as long as the piece communicated a passion. I ran a roadshow of making opportunities to encourage participation and created an easy-to-read guide. Over 200 individual and group banners were created and installed in a major piece at the entrance to the Herbert. A social celebration launch welcomed everyone as part of Mental Health Awareness Week, allowing everyone to share personal messages and calls to action for social change. Visitors to the exhibition added their own messages for change, expanding the reach even further. Communities were invited to share the stories behind their banners in drop-in sharing sessions.

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• Twenty Years - an interactive installation that invited visitors to reflect on the past 20 years and explore their visions for the future. Participants contributed their thoughts, memories, and predictions onto categorised index cards added to a timeline mural. This growing archive aimed to record people's recollections, hopes, and fears and was shown at different locations and settings across the UK and internationally. Twenty Years encouraged new and existing audiences to engage with the construction of contemporary art and socio-political debate as active participants. I ran community sessions around the region on behalf of Bennett & McDermott to generate initial cards to encourage participation in the gallery installation, and take it to those that could not attend.

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• Turner Prize 2021 - for the first time, the Turner Prize came to Coventry and consisted entirely of artist collectives that tackled pressing issues in society today; the five shortlisted collectives were: Array Collective, Black Obsidian Sound System, Cooking Sections, Gentle/Radical, Project Art Works. Their work encompassed films, installations, interdisciplinary practices, and socially engaged programmes reflecting solidarity and community, demonstrated in response to the pandemic. All nominees work closely and continuously with communities across the UK to inspire social change through art. I acted as the Herbert's community coordinator to bring their messages to Warwickshire. I ran exhibition tours reaching out to communities with which the Herbert needed to deepen its relationship, demystifying the exhibition's concepts. In addition, I collaborated with each nominee to bring their community collaborative programming to fruition, whether it be neurodivergent artists working live in the space; community discussion forums; an artist in residence from the community; supported trips to their studios; live interactive interventions with the public; and, sensory backpacks and an accessible easy read guide to the Turner 2021 developed with artist Anna Farley.