Robin Simpson Chief Executive, Voluntary Arts Expand Before joining Voluntary Arts in 2005, Robin was Deputy Chief Executive of Making Music – the national umbrella body for amateur music making, supporting over 2,000 amateur music groups throughout the UK, including choirs, orchestras, and music promoters. Previously, he worked as General Manager of the British Federation of Festivals, supporting the volunteer organisers of more than 300 festivals of music, dance and speech and drama across the UK. Robin has substantial experience of working with volunteers, having also worked for six years for the Royal National Institute for the Blind, managing a team of over 130 volunteer readers to record academic textbooks onto tape for visually-impaired students. He completed his MBA with the Open University Business School in 2002. Robin is a keen amateur French horn player, currently a member of the Northampton Symphony Orchestra. He is also a perennial ballroom dancing student, a frequent theatre-goer, an enthusiastic reader of contemporary fiction, an insatiable consumer of classical and world music and a keen blogger at culturalplayingfield.org and culturaldessert.blogspot.com. “For those of us who voluntarily practice some form of arts activity in our own time – and some estimates suggest that this includes almost half the adult population, playing in orchestras, singing in choirs, acting, dancing, painting, lace-making etc. – it’s often difficult to articulate exactly why we do it. But it usually becomes such a significant part of our lives we genuinely feel we couldn’t do without it.”
Lindsey Jackson Finance and HR Manager, Voluntary Arts Expand Lindsey has worked at Voluntary Arts since 2009 and prior to that has worked as a Welfare Benefits advisor. She has also completed her AAT qualification while working for Voluntary Arts. Lindsey enjoys reading and knitting and is determined to start her first quilt now that her AAT work has finished. “What I enjoy most about working for Voluntary Arts is the opportunity to work with so many talented individuals both in-house and the organisations we work alongside with, it really is inspiring to see so many diverse and different art forms”
Damien McGlynn Communications & Partnerships Director, Voluntary Arts Expand Damien joined Voluntary Arts in December 2015 and manages the communications of the organisation across the UK and Republic of Ireland as well as managing staff across England. He is currently Project Manager for the Get Creative Festival and works on a number of European partnership projects. Damien was born in Dublin and studied Fine Art at the National College of Art & Design while also completing an exchange in the Vilnius Academy of Arts, Lithuania. After working for a number of visual arts organisations in Dublin including Temple Bar Gallery & Studios, Visual Artists Ireland and the Dublin City Arts Office, Damien relocated to Edinburgh and spent several years working for both the National Galleries of Scotland and Tate on the joint project, ARTIST ROOMS, which toured a shared collection of works to regional galleries and museums across the UK with the aim of inspiring young people to be creative. He now lives in London and wonders who all these people are. Damien’s creative passion has, since the age of 8, been photography. Eventually upgrading from a 110mm contraption with flashcubes, he spent several years working as a freelance photographer primarily in documentary photography and photojournalism. He combined this interest in photography with his first true love – music – by photographing countless gigs over the years and presumably causing severe damage to his hearing. Damien is also hopelessly devoted to various perennial underachievers in the sporting world and has both a profound love and fear of the internet.
Claire Sharples Development Officer (North West), Voluntary Arts England Expand A Manchester-made boomerang, Claire has lived and worked in London, Slovakia and China and travelled and volunteered with social, educational and creative projects throughout Europe, China and India. Claire practiced and studied creative arts and design crafts, alongside art, design and film history and theory as an undergraduate in Kingston-upon-Thames; but always had an interest in the wider social contexts and holistic impacts of cultural and creative practices, completing a masters degree in Communication for Development at Malmo University in 2017, during which she focused particularly on the role of creative cultural exchange and participation in an inclusive public sphere. Prior to joining Voluntary Arts England, Claire has worked in communications, coordination and research and evaluation roles across the public and cultural sector. Work in social documentary and participatory media, as well as creative arts in gallery and community contexts, has emphasised widening participation and encouraging the opportunities of creative and cultural practices to be experienced - and defined - by all, in all their diverse forms and expressive mediums. Most recently Claire has worked with Curious Minds to coordinate the national pilot of the Cultural Citizens Programme in the North West, which supported 200 KS3 students across Liverpool and Blackpool to attend and review cultural venues and experiences across the region and beyond. She continues to support their research for programmes with participation and access themes, as well as providing external evaluation consultation for projects such as Cast's Paul Hamlyn Foundation-supported Social Seats project, which seeks to provide more opportunities to attend performances and other events to the diverse audiences across Doncaster, who are not currently accessing their offer. She volunteers and participates with a number of local community projects supporting social inclusion and community wellbeing, including community led cultural spaces, gardens and language and befriending programmes.
Becky Hoghton Development Officer (South West), Voluntary Arts England Expand Becky joined Voluntary Arts in early 2019 and is the new Development Officer for the South West. Before moving to Bristol in 2016, she spent 15 years in London working for various arts organisations and charities. She’s a specialist in commissioning public art and managing community festivals and outdoor events. As a freelance Creative Producer, she managed two big community arts festivals - the Whitecross Street Party and Cally Fest – in the borough of Islington for four years. Her favourite project was an intergenerational hula-hoop troupe that was set up and performed at Whitecross Street. The youngest member was 3 and the oldest 86.When she’s not working for Voluntary Arts she’s developing her ceramics practise and has just taken on a space in a Bristol open pottery studio. She also runs an on going interactive poetry project, Hey You Haiku.
Laraine Winning Up For Arts Development Director Expand Laraine has worked in the media for 30 years specialising in social action broadcasting and developing media services with commercial radio/television and BBC local radio. She was the National Broadcast Manager for CSV (where she worked for 18 years) responsible for the award winning Action Desk output of 40 BBC local radio stations in England. After leaving CSV, she was the Project Director for the Media Trust on the prestigious government led Volunteering for All programme working with the Cabinet Office / Office of Third Sector developing national media volunteering initiatives, that engaged with priority groups in disadvantaged communities and a number of national charities. She joined Voluntary Arts in 2009 taking up the role of Project Director, developing an arts engagement service with BBC local radio entitled Up for Arts. Up for Arts projects are now based within BBC Radio Merseyside, Lancashire and Cumbria and strong links have been made to other services and departments within the BBC. There is hope that this network may expand and develop over the next few years. Additionally, she has managed a pan-European project entitled SPAR / Culture Guides.
Helen Jones ‘Up for Arts’ Merseyside Broadcaster, Voluntary Arts England Expand Whilst studying towards a first class Performance degree from the University of Bedfordshire, Helen took to the stage, performed for TV for Children’s television but best of all got the chance to interview the great comedy legend Ronnie Barker. She specialised in Radio Performance, and since graduating as mature student in 2000, has been based at BBC Radio Merseyside in Liverpool. Helen has been Helpline & Broadcast Manager for Voluntary Arts England since 2010. She currently oversees the radio project Up for Arts which is a Voluntary Arts England and BBC Radio Merseyside partnership supported by the Liverpool Primary Care Trust the whole collaboration showcases voluntary arts and crafts groups. Helen is also an established broadcaster and often can be heard on the BBC Radio Merseyside airwaves. “I believe you can come to life on a stage and that performance can really take you to places beyond your wildest dreams. My Up for Arts role allows individuals to promote their work and give them a voice on local radio … the folk I have met have truly been inspirational and passionate about the arts.”
Jennie Dennett ‘Up for Arts’ Cumbria Broadcaster, Voluntary Arts England Expand Jennie has been with Voluntary Arts since December 2013, championing voluntary arts in Cumbria through a partnership with BBC Radio Cumbria where she also works as a reporter. “I think of myself as a bit of an arts evangelist,” says Jennie. “When people come together to do creative things it makes for happier people and places. It’s my job to find those characters whose passion for their pastime, be it dance or dry-stone walling, shines through and inspires others to get involved.” Jennie graduated from the University of Oxford with a Geography degree in 1997 and pursued a career in journalism, starting out in a London agency distributing freelance footage from far-flung war zones before settling in Cumbria and working on local newspapers and radio. She lives in Ulverston, Cumbria’s self-styled festival capital where barely a week passes without one. Evenings are spent organising Ulverston’s Candlelit Walk, sorting sessions to make the hundreds of candles, spooky shadow-screens and pottery spike-lights that fill a local woodland for Halloween. Jennie’s also works on the town’s biggest event, the Ulverston Lantern Festival, recruiting volunteers and making lead lanterns that always turn-out bigger than anticipated, most recently a giant seagull and a 12ft fairy. She also makes textile art and is learning to hoop dance. “It makes me happy to create as many opportunities as possible to bring different people together to do crazy things. It brings a feel-good factor to a place.”
John Offord 'Up For Arts' London Broadcaster, Voluntary Arts England Expand John Offord joined Voluntary Arts in early 2017 as an 'Up for Arts' Broadcaster based at BBC Radio York and then rejoined as 'Up For Arts' Broadcaster at BBC Radio London in 2018. John is a freelance producer and has worked on a variety of arts engagement campaigns for the BBC and has produced York in Harmony, a community choir/outreach project. Until 2016, he was a BBC Outreach Manager working with departments across the BBC and has been a fixed point of contact for major pan-BBC initiatives, eg. Children in Need, Sports Personality of the Year, Learning projects like Make It Digital, and region-specific broadcast moments like The Great Yorkshire Show. He was responsible for co-ordinating editorial across all three platforms and social media, working from within the 12 English regions. As a Producer in BBC Learning he was responsible for the production of some live events such as BBC2’s Stargazing Live, The Big Bang Science fair, Radio 1’s Hackney weekend, BBC’s WW1 Centenary commemorations, & the pan-BBC season, ‘Summer of Wildlife’.
Kevin Murphy Chief Officer, Voluntary Arts Ireland Expand Kevin, a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and a Clore Fellow, joined Voluntary Arts Ireland in 2010. Kevin began his career as a professional musician. He co-founded ground breaking groups such as Orbestra and the Portable Museum of Exotic Instruments and was lucky to perform with many leading musicians and in festivals and venues all over the world. Particular personal highlights include the Istanbul Festival, the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London’s South Bank Centre and the Schleswig Holstein Festival in Germany. On returning to Northern Ireland in 1998 he took up a role managing Music 55-7, an innovative organisation co-ordinating classical and contemporary music in Derry-Londonderry. The annual programme included festivals, concerts, BBC Radio 3 recitals and educational workshops. Opportunities for amateur participation was a strong thread running through the company’s work. “I still remember the excitement of the first Festival Chorus we established as part of the City of Song Festival. It drew members from across the community, young and old and many first timers! They got to perform on stage with Eddi Reader and her band….thrilling!” Kevin still performs himself on occasion and is a keen songwriter. He is also a voluntary director of Wall2Wall Music. He brings creativity and a sense of fun to his role.
Helen Barry Development Officer Voluntary Arts Ireland and Project Manager, EXIT 15 Expand Helen is a visual artist whose collaborative work with early years children is integral to her practice. Helen trained in Sculpture and photography at the University of Central England in Birmingham and she also has a background in dance. Helen’s work is not now defined by any one art form and she works with artists and mentors across other arts disciplines, most recently in areas of music and dance. Helen has received several bursaries and commissions for her work with children from The Arts Council and Local Authorities and is supported by the National Concert Hall. Her most recent commission ‘The Caterpillar Award’ an initiative of DLRCC, Creative Ireland and DLR Childcare Committee placed her as an artist in Ballyogan’s community crèche for a period of six months where she sowed the seeds of a relationship with the community and where it continues to grow through her new role with Voluntary Arts Ireland. Helen has over 30 years experience engaging creatively with babies, children, adults and older people through family and community participatory projects, in galleries and museums, within formal and non-formal education structures, youth arts and community development settings and within the probationary services. Her work has provided a wonderful range of diverse settings where she has striven to ensure that creativity is at the heart of all interactive experiences. Her formative years in youth work and community arts embedded an appreciation and understanding of community development that strongly shaped her approach to her practice that continues to this day. Helen’s practice has allowed her to challenge herself through the different areas of the arts from practical hands on creativity in and out of the studio through to arts management, project management, policy making and curatorial roles. Some examples are The Ark, the children’s culture centre, Dublin, The Cork International Film Festival 2001, The IKON Gallery, Birmingham, New Museum Melbourne and RTE (Radio Telefis Eireann), children’s television and radio. Helen is also a published children’s author and illustrator.
Mairead McCormack Digital and Online Communications Apprentice, Voluntary Arts Ireland Expand Mairead joined the Voluntary Arts Ireland team as Digital and Online Communications Apprentice in January 2017. Graduating from Ulster University in 2016, Mairead is a textile artist and is currently the Artist in Residence for the Textile Art, Design and Fashion course at Ulster. She provides support to students and gives talks and workshops on her specialism of embroidery. Mairead has completed an internship with the Belfast International Arts Festival and is a Designer and Marketing Officer for the Vintage Satchel Company. Loving all things creative, Mairead is also working on a very exciting project of e-books, games and interactive apps and workshops to develop resources for sign language in Northern Ireland with Language and Community Arts. Keen to gain as much experience as possible in all aspects of the arts, Mairead is also passionate about travelling. She aims to travel and do residencies in other countries including India, USA and Europe - next stop, Iceland!
Jemma Neville Director, Voluntary Arts Scotland Expand Jemma leads the Voluntary Arts Scotland team. She was previously Communications and Outreach Coordinator at the Scottish Human Rights Commission and has worked in a range of roles connecting human rights and culture including teaching at the European Inter-University Centre and co-editing an online journal, Rights!. A Creative Scotland bursary to undertake a Cultural Leadership training programme in South Africa made real the mutually reinforcing relationship between creative expression and a human rights based approach. She has written and presented for different press and media outlets such as BBC Radio Scotland and Scottish Television and was shortlisted for The Guardian International Development Journalism Award. Jemma is a Board member of the Citadel Youth Centre in Leith. @jemma_tweets
Kelly Donaldson Communications Manager, Voluntary Arts Scotland Expand Kelly has a BA (Hons) in Drama and Media, and has been responsible for Voluntary Arts Scotland’s information output and communications since 2005. She also works as a freelance journalist and has been The Scotsman’s chief dance critic for 18 years, is Dance and Kids Editor of The List Magazine, and writes for a variety of other newspapers, magazines and festivals. Kelly is a member of the Love Music Community Choir in Edinburgh, and enjoys creative writing.
Briana Pegado Engagement Officer, Voluntary Arts Scotland Expand Briana Pegado is the Founder and Director of the Edinburgh Student Arts Festival, an award-winning enterprise that provides a platform for emerging artists in Scotland. She is also a cofounder of Povo, a process-led consultancy and collective that engages people with the creative process through research and experimentation. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and explores how sustainable development principles can be more widely applied to the creative industries through her freelance work. She has completed projects for the National Theatre of Scotland and Scottish Drama Training Network among other national art bodies exploring the barriers young people face to the arts and creative industries. Briana sits on the board of Creative Edinburgh and is a trustee of YWCA Scotland - the Young Women's Movement. In 2017, she was named one of Scotland's 30 Under 30 Inspiring Women. She now works at Voluntary Arts Scotland's Engagement Officer focusing on mapping and supporting groups that voluntary arts Scotland seeks to better support namely BAME, youth and faith-based groups. Photo: Katharina Maria Photography
Gareth Coles Director, Voluntary Arts Wales Expand Gareth joined Voluntary Arts in 2015 and leads the team in Wales. Prior to this, he worked in public services policy for the Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA), promoting participation in public services and representing voluntary sector interests to Welsh Government. Previously he worked for the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) as a Development Officer in the Collaborative Working Team, and as a Grants Officer for the Community Fund / Big Lottery Fund. Gareth has a degree in Fine Art and an MA in Medieval Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. Gareth is a Welsh speaker and lives in South Wales with his wife and son. He is a keen artist, with a particular interest in drawing, and a woefully poor guitarist and pianist.