Fac
Facilitation
I have facilitated workshops in arts and crafts, drama and creative writing for over 20 years. I am a qualified teacher with a PGDE in Adult Literacy and have a Joint Honours BA in Creative Writing & Writing For Stage, Screen and Radio. I also have Level 3 qualifications in Drama & Theatre Studies and Art & Design. I have an Enhanced DBS Check as of November 2024.
I especially enjoy working with families and with young people and adults with complex needs and creating accessible workshops which teach traditional GRT crafts and introduce folks to poetry.
All of my workshops are fully devised and planned by me and I create all of my own resources and materials.
British Art Show 9
In 2022 I was an Art Agent for Manchester's British Art Show 9. I worked with Our Room, (was Men's Room), who support men and non-binary folks who are homeless and/or sex work, to create a series of workshops that would provide quotes for the 'Where Have You Slept?' tent. The workshops were based on the five I created the five fundamental questions of homelessness: Where do you sleep? inspired a protest badges workshop about experiences of sleeping rough and in hostels, Do you feel safe at home? inspired a workshop in which participants visited HOME gallery and put notes on post-its by provocative artworks that aligned with their experiences of feeling unsafe Can you have a bath? and Can you use the toilet? inspired a workshop in which participants created 'shit journals' in which they recorded negative experiences of hygiene whilst being homeless before flushing them down a miniature toilet, and 'When did you last eat?' inspired a sensory food buffet in which participants also made collages of favourite and least favourite foods and discussed the difficulties in obtaining food that homelessness poses. Participants were invited to the unveiling of 'Where Have You Slept?' and were rewarded with gift bags and shopping vouchers.
The Turnpike Gallery
I have delivered a number of family drop-in workshops for The Turnpike Gallery, starting in 2023. They are designed for all ages and abilities and the majority of them include an upcycling or recycling element. They include: protest badge making, pompom buddies, silly sock pets, plastic bag and bottle flowers, painting fabric with natural fruit and veg dyes, paper vardo (Gypsy caravan) making, fruit and veggie stamping and sweetshop bottle gardens.
A New Exchange
For this project, in 2023, I worked with The Turnpike Gallery, True Colours CIC and fellow neurodiverse artist Jamie-Lee Wainman to devise six workshops each to explore different skills and the senses with young people and adults with learning disabilities and/or autism. In my workshops we made individual: scented playdoh, slime, pompoms, musical instruments and mini sandpits and collectively we made a ribbon garland and sensory boards with fidget spinners and spinning bottle caps. Together with Jamie-Lee, we arranged a showing of all of the participants' work for their friends and families to attend and invited the Mayor of Leigh to present them with certificates and goodie bags.
Write Here, Right Now
I am a member of the female and non-binary artistic and protest collective Girl Gang Manchester and between 2023 and 2024, I devised and ran a monthly creative writing workshop and sharing for adult writers at any stage in their practise. The workshops included: haiku, character development for stage and screen, using anaphora in poetry, outlining a screen play using post-its, writing for children, limericks and using sibilance in prose and poetry.
CultureDale & Leeds GATE
I have worked with CultureDale and Leeds Gate, (Gypsy And Traveller Exchange), several times throughout 2024, providing drop-in family workshops for all ages and abilities based on the history and traditional crafts of GRT folks. This includes: paper vardos (Gypsy caravans), paper dolls with Black Patch Gypsy inspired clothes and paper flowers in woven baskets.
Queer Britain & Traveller Pride
In 2024, I ran a workshop at Queer Britain in conjunction with Traveller Pride for LGBTQIA+ folks who are also from GRT communities. The hybrid workshop which was both in-person at the museum and via Zoom involved cut-up poetry in which great GRT poets' words were mixed with great LGBTQIA+ poets' words to make integrated poems which reflected the intersectionality of the participants. A second task involved the participants providing the words for each other in the form of 'I want' statements on post-its. Each participant then made an 'I want' poem before they were collaboratively formed into one, large poem. The online participants did the same using a Jamboard.
Love & Rage
For International Women's Day 2024, myself and my fellow Girl Gang Manchester, (a female and non-binary lead organisation of artists and activists), took over the social space of AVIVA Studios/ Factory International and put on an afternoon and evening of celebrations. In addition to leading a collective scream of anger at midnight, performing poetry and taking part in a banner unfurling/ mini parade, I also ran a cut-up poetry workshop, 'Cut Em Up To Shut Em Up'. Participants were provided with terrible and offensive depictions of women in literature written by men and cut up and remixed them into beautiful collages and angry and celebratory poems celebrating women and decrying the patriarchy.
Crafting Heritage
In 2024, I lead a series of workshops for Cartwheel Arts, working with Kurdish and GRT women and their children with varied experience in stitching to explore traditional embroidery. This environment allowed for discussions of traditional crafts, asylum and immigration and how differing heritages can overlap, with some participants being supported by translators.
Hidden Stories
For GRT History Month 2024, I worked with Warwickshire Council, Warwickshire Libraries and Wolvey CofE School to deliver this entire project. I devised and ran six workshops for a mixed ability Year 5 class of both Traveller and non-Traveller children, covering Gypsy crafts, language and traditions and had an open policy to answer any question that was asked politely to dispel myths about GRT communities and foster better relationships between the children. We made: paper vardos (Gypsy caravans), cardboard horse puppets, woven baskets, pleather embroidered wallets, proggy (rag) rugs and story dolls based on the Victorian Black Patch Gypsies. Each craft session was accompanied by a written story, poster or poem and these were used in a week-long roadshow of five Warwickshire Libraries in which local school children from Year 2-Year 6 and drop-in participants both attended. The roadshow included: a dark tent with blankets, Richard O'Neill's books to read plus subtitled recordings of him shot and edited by me on iPads with headphones, a huge co-created proggy rug and basket, custom colouring sheets, doll making, Q&A sessions, story time and sing-alongs. This tour columnated in an event at the Warwickshire Police HQ in which the Wolvey children were celebrated for their hard work, Richard O'Neill performed and I presented them with certificates and goodie bags. The completed giant proggy rug and basket also went on display and Richard O'Neill and I recorded a video in which we answered anonymous questions gathered along the libraries tour. I also facilitated a trip to Nuneaton library for the Wolvey children in which they learned about library services and I incentivised parents to attend and sign up for library cards with shopping vouchers and was able to provide reassurance that it was a safe space for GRT folks.
Word Up North
In 2024, with Word Up North and the National Trust, I devised and ran workshops on concrete poetry for two primary school Year 3-4 classes exploring Brimham Rocks, its unique landscape and how poems' structures can follow natural shapes.
Fun Palace
For Nuneaton Library's Fun Palace in 2024, I brought back many elements of my 'Hidden Stories' project for one day of drop-in family workshops with mixed ages and abilities. This included: embroidered pleather wallets, basket weaving, story dolls, custom colouring sheets and the story tent.
Naughty Elf Lessons
This fun kid-friendly workshop, devised and ran by me with my trusty sidekick elf, Tommy, can be brought to any space, festival, party or event. Participants will choose an elf name, make an elf hat and an 'elf-plate' before pulling funny and harmless pranks on their parents and any other willing adults, such as pelting them with indoor snowballs, (pompoms), putting a big bra on a statue, letting loose a wind-up mouse, surprising someone with a rubber spider, planting a reindeer poop, (slime), and more! The session ends with the naughty elf oath and the presentation of a certificate and mini joke kit to take home.
