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Community Arts Worker Traineeship, Impact Arts, Glasgow
Educational background: MDES (Masters Degree in Design), Textile Design with Computer Applications, 2002, BDES (Bachelor of Design) (Hons), Textile Design, 2001, HND Design with New
Technologies, 1998
Photo of The Space, Dundee with Graham Berry, Director, Scottish Arts Council, Frank McAveety, MSP, Esmee Lien Thompson, Kapwani Kiwanga, James Lwanda and Basharat Khan.
'I began full time with Impact Arts as a Cultural Diversity Trainee in January 2004. The first month of my traineeship was spent visiting and assisting on live projects and shadowing project coordinators to gain an insight into project management. This encouraged me to look at my strengths and weaknesses and allowed me to focus on areas where support was needed. It also enabled me to gain an overview of the different areas of the company.
I have participated in a great deal of inhouse training, mostly provided by the artist mentoring programme. This programme, in its preliminary year, was established to provide training for nine artists to equip them with the skills needed to work within a community context. Seminars attended include: working with young people; arts in a community context; monitoring and evaluation; and working with people with disabilities. This inhouse training, coupled with the practical experiences gained on projects, provided me with an extensive insight into the skills needed to be a competent community arts worker.
Through the shadowing process and hands-on experience in workshops, I established myself as a competent projects coordinator, and from May 2004 I was offered the position of Local Projects Coordinator for Impact Arts. My remit is to work at local level, establishing good relationships with community groups and local people. I help local communities source and access funding. I also look for areas of the city that do not have a great deal of access to the arts and could benefit from our support through a project.
The majority of my work addresses some kind of issue which the local people feel needs to be tackled. My largest client group so far has been challenging young people, who we engage in well developed youth art programmes. I recently coordinated an environmental arts project involving a skate park in Baillieston Glasgow. The project was developed in partnership with local service providers and residents. This project engaged a group of the local young people who used the park in a design and creation process which challenged their views on vandalism and encouraged them to take ownership of the skate park. As well as my own projects, I provide support for community events by acting as their link with the company, setting up arts programmes in the run up to festivals and providing arts training with a strong focus on capacity building. I am also responsible for the recruitment of new tutors for Impact Arts alongside other established members of staff.
My skills are still continuing to develop, by coordinating more projects and regularly attending conferences and local community forums. The traineeship has benefited me immensely. This is the exciting beginning of my career in Community Arts.' |