GREENSPACE SCOTLAND - Key Persons
Adil is a storytelling associate with greenspace scotland on their "Remembering Together programme: Co-creating Covid Community Memorials". He leads and facilitates on the storytelling, developing their mentoring programme for artists and work with partners, artists, project Team, and relevant advisory Group members to produce, gather and share a range of written and visual media. Adil brings more than a decade of global experience in community-focused creative projects, storytelling, and mobilization of diverse groups through art.
Over the last 15 years, he has founded several brands and social enterprises focused on the arts and heritage. As a creative practitioner he consults with businesses to create holistic community practices, mobilise the youth, and generate social and environmental impact. Throughout his work, he advocates for gender equality, climate justice and developing alternate economic models.
Job Titles:
- Remembering Together Programme Co - Lead
- Remembering Together Programme Co - Lead Read
Before joining greenspace scotland Carla was working as a Programmer for the Renfrewshire Leisure Arts Team, curating and managing the music and performance programme for Paisley Arts Centre and other venues around Renfrewshire. She also works with the Sofar Sounds Glasgow team putting on gigs in unusual spaces around the city and showcasing local musicians throughout the year.
Carla moved Scotland in early 2018 to join Dundee Rep Theatre as a Producer and has mostly worked as a freelance producer and facilitator for the past 10 years, working in theatre, multimedia and site-specific projects across all of the UK and internationally, working with independent artists, companies and music and outdoors festivals including Electric Fields in Dumfries and the Royal National Theatre's River Stage Festival in London.
Job Titles:
- Admin
- Finance Officer
- Admin & Finance Officer Read
Caroline provides general administration and finance support to the greenspace scotland team and board. She works closely with the team of Community Enablers on the Tesco Bags of Help programme and provides book-keeping support for MyParkScotland.
Caroline joined greenspace scotland in 2016 and has experience of working in the private sector and running her own business.
Job Titles:
- Project Officer for the Covid Community Memorial
- Remembering Together - Project Officer Read
Diane is the Project Officer for the Covid Community Memorial project, working alongside Carla and John. Before joining greenspace scotland Diane worked in the academic sector as a researcher, events co-ordinator, and teacher. She has led and collaborated with projects across the academic, arts and cultural sectors, and has a background in community engagement and outreach focused on access to heritage and digital skills building.
Diane has delivered workshops and engagement activities for public audiences and community groups across different spaces, including libraries, art galleries, museums and universities. She has also been involved in commissioning and publishing works that explore creative digital practice and the role of digital technologies within the arts and cultural sectors. Diane is passionate about widening access to education, heritage, and supporting knowledge exchange across sectors and areas of expertise.
Fiona's work combines creative practice, curation, research and development. A graduate of Fine Art, Glasgow School of Art, she is an Academician of the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, and has exhibited widely nationally and internationally, undertaking residencies and public art commissions. Her PhD, Stirling University, researched social in/exclusion within Higher Art Education and access/engagement has been a continued focus, with Churchill & Wingate Fellowships enabling extensive travel within the USA visiting community/artist-led programmes of social change.
Job Titles:
- Programme Manager & Community Enabler Coordinator
- Programme Manager & Community Enabler Coordinator Read
Emma was Programme Director at The Lighthouse and directed Scotland's Six Cities Design Festival's public programme in 2007. Prior to this she worked for the Science Museum in London and Glasgow 1999: UK City of Architecture and Design. Emma is also very active in her local area helping run events in the local park, she lead the design development of this important community greenspace and currently runs an electric cargo bike sharing scheme for the local community.
Job Titles:
- Author
- Project Manager - MyParkScotland
- Project Manager - MyParkScotland Read
Ian Goodman joined greenspace scotland as our MyParkScotland Project Manager in 2014. Ian has over 20 years' experience of working in the third sector on a wide range of partnership projects with bodies across the public, private and third sectors. He is enthusiastic about the use of digital tools for the planning and delivery of successful and innovative projects, and has been an advocate of this approach in all of his roles.
Prior to joining greenspace scotland, Ian worked for several years for the London Advice Service Alliance before moving to Scotland and taking up a role with the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Job Titles:
- Programme Manager - Park Managers Forum
- Programme Manager - Park Managers Forum Read
Ian leads work on the Park Managers Forum and Fast Follower network and cohorts. He recently joined from the Edinburgh's Thriving Green Spaces team where he was a Greenspace Development Officer working on topics including place-making, community co-design, park masterplanning, citizen and other digital science subprojects, and health and wellbeing work.
Ian spent much of his earlier career in strategy, planning, funding and policy development and implementation in post school education at local, Scottish and UK levels. He worked at the now Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh from 1990 to 1996 in a range of academic support roles including timetabling and quality assurance and enhancement before moving to the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC) in autumn 1996.
At SHEFC, later the Scottish Funding Council for Further and Higher Education (SFC), Ian held a series of different roles. These included managing Strategic Change Grant funding, strategic plan analyses, and working on the development of the University of the Highlands and Islands. He later worked on Scottish and UK governance, leadership and management development provision, human resource management in the college and university sectors, stakeholder relations, work on implementing the Single Equality Act 2010 and on monitoring and evaluation.
Job Titles:
- Associate - ParkPower
- Associate - ParkPower Read
- Author
John joined greenspace scotland in early 2019 to take up the role of Project Manager for the ParkPower Project exploring how parks and greenspaces across Scotland can benefit from green energy initiatives including renewable power generation, storage and distribution. The project uses spatial data analysis to develop a generic decision support process for local authority managers of greenspaces, allowing them to assess the green energy potential of their sites and portfolios.
John has spent most of the last 25 years running businesses in Scotland. Initially this focused on the application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the development of statistical reporting software. In the last 10 years, his focus shifted to the rapidly growing renewable energy sector where he has run several businesses. He has a broad range of senior management experience working extensively with the public, and private sector organisations across the UK. He has also co-founded and chaired local environmental groups and worked closely with community organisations to enable them to develop renewables projects.
He returns to the energy sector in 2019 after a two year experience qualifying as a secondary geography teacher, a career decision which did not quite go to plan. His enthusiasm to work with young people, particularly outside the classroom, endures and he is a committed volunteer for Lothian groups undertaking Duke of Edinburgh expeditions.
Job Titles:
- Remembering Together Programme Co - Lead
- Remembering Together Programme Co - Lead Read
John Saich is one of greenspace scotland's Covid Community Memorial Project Officers.
John has worked throughout the highlands and islands of Scotland for twenty years as an arts development officer, youth music tutor, workshop leader and most recently as an events promoter in the performing arts.
In his earlier years John was a professional touring musician, performing all over Scotland and the UK as well as in North and South America, the Middle East, Japan and Australia. He continues his passion for music as a composer and producer, working from his home in rural Argyll where he is continually inspired by the unique landscape, culture and heritage of Scotland's west coast.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive
- Fellow
- Chief Executive Read
Julie has led greenspace scotland since it was established in 2002. With over 25 years experience in the environmental sector, she has a strong track record in developing and leading cross-sectoral partnership projects which inform and influence policy and practice. She has contributed to a wide range of policy and research working groups. An effective communicator and influential advocate, she led the project to develop Scotland's Greenspace Map; this involved working with all 34 Scottish planning authorities and several Government departments and agencies. Julie has worked in both local government and the third sector.
Julie is a Fellow of the Landscape Institute, Fellow of the RSA, Member of the Association of Chief Officers of Scottish Voluntary Organisations, Institute of Rights of Way Managers and Institute of Fundraising. She is also a Director of The Parks Alliance and a Resilience Mentor for the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Job Titles:
- Associate for the Remembering Together
- Remembering Together Associate Read
Keir is an associate for the Remembering Together team, working on digital media and visual design for the programme.
He is a multidisciplinary designer who often works in community engagement, arts and heritage, and active travel contexts. Having studied both Communication Design and Exhibition Design at university, he has a particular interest in arts and heritage engagement, through interpretation design, digital media strategy, workshops, and co-creation.
His creative practice also includes illustration and UI/UX design.
Rita joined greenspace scotland in 2016 as a Community Enabler for Bags of Help, now Tesco Community Grants, a fund that supports local projects with food growing and other community projects.
For Tesco Community Grants Rita covers the following local authority areas - Shetland Islands, Orkney Islands, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Dundee, Perth & Kinross, Fife and Stirlingshire.
Rita has been working in rural community development for over 30 years as a community worker, researcher, facilitator, policy officer and grant assessor. She coordinated the Rural Tayside LEADER Programme 2007-2013 working with the Local Action Group to deliver grant funding to community based projects throughout rural Tayside.
Sue joined greenspace scotland in 2016 as a Community Enabler for Bags of Help, now Tesco Community Grants, a fund that supports local projects with food growing and other community projects.
Previously she was a Development Officer with the Forth Valley and Lomond LEADER Programme, supporting community-led rural development in Falkirk, Stirling, Clackmannanshire and parts of West Dunbartonshire. She now sits as a community member of the LAG (the LEADER decision making group).
Sue was a Community Councillor involved in establishing the Strathfillan Community Development Trust, leading on the Railway Houses affordable housing project. She later became the Development Manager, supporting community woodland, playpark and community events activities. Sue currently volunteers in the community garden at Bannockburn House in Stirling, a community owned historic estate with 17 th century Jacobean mansion house, gardens and woodlands.
For Tesco Community Grants Sue covers the following local authority areas - Clackmannanshire, Falkirk, East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, Scottish Borders and Dumfries & Galloway.
Tamara joined greenspace scotland in 2016 as a Community Enabler for Bags of Help, now Tesco Community Grants, a fund that supports local projects with food growing and other community projects.
For Tesco Community Grants Tamara covers the following local authority areas - Highlands, Eilean Siar, Moray, Argyll and Bute, West Dunbartonshire, Inverclyde, Glasgow, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire, Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian.
Tamara has experience of working in both rural and urban locations in community growing spaces and community arts. This includes work with trail blazing organisations in North Glasgow such as Depot Arts, Lambhill Stables and the North Glasgow Community Food Initiative where she worked in support and co-ordination roles for volunteers and community groups. One of her specific interests is youthwork and capacity building.
She also has experience of running a ceramic design and manufacturing Open studio whilst bringing up her family on the Isle of Coll. Tamara volunteers with her local Recycoll group, An Cridhe community hall and the Feisean Nan Gaidheal movement.
Job Titles:
- Associate for the Remembering Together
Tanwen is an associate for the Remembering Together team, and is passionate about creativity, community engagement and learning. Having trained at Edinburgh College of Art she has used her creativity skills in many ways, from having her work in the National Museums of Scotland collection, to teaching college students and community groups, and devising local and national learning programmes for arts organisations and local authorities.
Alongside her work at greenspace scotland Tanwen is an assessor for Creative Scotland, associate with Arts Council of Wales, and provides freelance services as a researcher and facilitator. Tanwen is also a proud and native speaker of Cymraeg (Welsh).
The Young Placechangers toolkit aims to inspire young people to take the lead in their local community, to voice their opinions and help make positive change happen. Practical, free and fun - have a look!