Participatory Arts, Community & Youth Leadership

The practice

I co-create with communities and young people, placing their imagination, leadership and lived experience at the heart of the work. This practice is grounded in my teacher education, youth development leadership, safeguarding and trauma-informed professional learning, together with my international Design for Change facilitation. My approach combines creative facilitation, intercultural collaboration, youth agency and practical pathways for shared action.

Through eduSOIL CIC and Design for Change, I have contributed to and led youth participation and community arts activity across international contexts, including South Africa, the Philippines, Sudan and Northern Ireland. Art for Change in Northern Ireland, with its programme activity and virtual showcases from 2023 onwards, provides a substantial example of collaborative artistic engagement. The work brings artists, young people, schools and community partners together around issues that matter to them.

My participatory leadership includes Design for Change Philippines (2010–2020), ongoing regional leadership across Northern Ireland, South Africa and Sudan, and eduSOIL programmes connecting young people, artists, educators and communities. The Amazing Ants and International School Manila Community Garden helped crystallise the recognition 'We Are All One' through children’s ecological action and leadership. I can shape a one-off workshop, sustained youth-led programme, intergenerational arts project or multi-organisation partnership so participants experience their own creativity, build belonging through shared agency and develop the confidence to lead change. The emphasis is on meaningful participation, creative agency and relationships that can continue beyond a single event.