I am a freelance artist, educator and researcher, based in Scotland.

My Fellowship took me to the United States, visiting urban housing projects, schools and communities, where art, public art, and learning, acted as a catalyst for social change, integration and activism.

Growing up in a large housing scheme, I am very aware of the importance and challenges of access to arts and education, and, as someone lucky enough to become an arts practitioner, have focused on developing creative projects that connect and involve in ways that respond to local knowledge, needs and interests. The Fellowship showed a breadth and richness of 'live' projects that questioned and challenged formal settings, and worked in diverse, informal spaces.

On my return I began my PhD, focused on case studies of inclusion and exclusion in the arts and education, and ways through creative practice to address this. Since then, as well as writing strategic reports and evaluations, I've worked at finding new spaces for engagement – initiating exhibition and curatorial programmes that build on local knowledge through processes of co-curation to ensure we continue to learn from practice through meaningful methods and forms of research.