# data[].attributes.body
Edinburgh International Book Festival 2025

# data[].attributes.body
Bard in the Botanics, 2021/2024

# data[].attributes.body
Royal Conservatoire Scotland 2023-35

# data[].attributes.headline
Northern Bridge PhD Studentship- Durham University/Hand Of, Newcastle

# data[].attributes.subject
Northern Bridge PhD Studentship- Durham University/Hand Of, Newcastle

# data[].attributes.body
In 2025 I moved to Newcastle to start my PhD in Education through Durham University. I'm based with Arts Education charity Hand Of, evaluating their arts based practice with young people facing disadvantage across the North East of England. My collaborative doctoral award is funded by the AHRC through the Northern Bridge Consortium.

# data[].attributes.headline
Resident Programme Worker- Camas Centre, Mull

# data[].attributes.subject
Resident Programme Worker- Camas Centre, Mull

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Creative Week offers a unique blend of creative workshops (including creative writing, craft, movement and sound workshops) and space for your own creative project. Whether you are an experienced artist seeking research & development time or an enthusiastic amateur wanting to explore your creative side, this is the week for you!

During our week together we will be immersed in the beautiful landscape of the Ross of Mull, connecting with the incredible natural world around us as inspiration. There will also be the opportunity to get adventurous and try out some of Camas's wild activities such as kayaking, wild swimming and nature walks to help stoke the flames of your creative fire.

We will live as a community for a week, sharing life together through work and play. There will be plenty of opportunity for collaboration and sharing of your creative practice, without the pressure to have a finished product or outcome.

Come, let your creativity be free and express yourself at this wonderful week.

Led by Camas Staff

£310 full price, £155 concession.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Reinvigorate your creative practice through a mix of guided workshops and free solo creative time in the beautiful nature surrounding of the Camas bay.

# data[].attributes.headline
Front of House Supervisor- Imaginate Children's Festival

# data[].attributes.subject
Front of House Supervisor- Imaginate Children's Festival

# data[].attributes.body
2018-2023

# data[].attributes.headline
Policy and Participation Officer- Aberlour Children's Charity

# data[].attributes.subject
Policy and Participation Officer- Aberlour Children's Charity

# data[].attributes.body
2022/23

# data[].attributes.headline
Communities Programme Assistant- Edinburgh International Book Festival

# data[].attributes.subject
Communities Programme Assistant- Edinburgh International Book Festival

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Our June blog comes from special guest writer – Susie McGuinness – who joined the Book festival as our new Communities Programme Assistant a few weeks ago. Read on to hear more about Susie’s first few weeks in the job and her highlights of the Communities events happening this August. Since j

# data[].attributes.body
Part of the YTAS delegations to Rogaland Theatre (Oslo) and Youth Theatre Ireland (Cork)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
What is the BUZZ Network?

Leading arts organisations from Scotland, Ireland, Norway, Belgium and Germany have been awarded funding from the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union to cross-pollinate youth theatre practice across the continent for the first time.

Called the BUZZ Network, the organisations have joined forces to share knowledge, skills, contacts and resources across seas and borders, establishing a new network for collaboration and development.

All partners are leaders in the development of Youth Theatre in their own country. National development organisations Youth Theatre Arts Scotland and Youth Theatre Ireland will work alongside prominent theatres Rogaland Teater from Norway, Theater Bremen in Germany, and BRONKS from Belgium to advance practice in their region and across Europe.

During the project, the BUZZ Network will deliver multinational training events for youth theatre practitioners, engaging over 100 professionals from around twenty European countries.

Alongside training, the BUZZ Network will undertake the first mapping research of youth theatre across Europe, to identify leading venues and practice. It will also create a new web portal to increase awareness of cross-border opportunities for over 28,500 European youth theatre participants and professionals.

Artists' Lab One: BRONKS

In April 2022, after being postponed for two years, ten youth theatre artists from Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Slovenia, England and the Netherlands finally joined together in person for the first BUZZ Artists' Lab, exploring the theme of Co-creation and Empowering Young People.

Hosted by BRONKS, and facilitated by lead artist Simon D'huyvetter, participants undertook a packed week of workshops and discussions, sharing in each other's practice as well as gaining an insight into the vibrant youth arts sector in Flanders, with visits to arts organisations and performances across Brussels, Ghent and Brugge.

Artists' Lab Two: Theater Bremen

The second Artists' Training Lab was held at Theater Bremenin Germany from 14 - 19 October 2022 and explored the theme of Form and Aesthetics of Co-creative Work with Young People. Sixteen artists attended the Lab, from Germany, Scotland, Belgium, Ireland, Norway, Ukraine, England and Czechia.

Hosted by Theater Bremen Junge Akteur*innen, this multinational training lab allowed artists to explore what it means to evolve and challenge their artistic practice in a youth theatre context. The group undertook intensive workshops with researchers Theater X, choreographer Birgit Freitag, and director Joanna Praml, as well as collaborating with one another to share, learn and connect.

Artists' Lab Three: Rogaland Theater

The third Artists' Training Lab was held at Rogaland Theater in Stavanger, Norway, from 6 - 10 March 2023. The five-day programme offered professional youth theatre artists the chance to explore the theme of Dramaturgical Approaches to Youth Theatre. Twenty-one artists attended the Lab, from Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Norway, Belgium, Austria, England, Greece, The Netherlands, North Macedonia, Romania, Sweden, Spain, and Ukraine.

Rogaland Teater's Children and Youth Theatre Department hosted and led our participants in a series of activities exploring how Dramaturgy can be used within a youth theatre context. Participants watched performances both by the youth and the adult theatre, and met the people behind the performances. Participants also took part in workshops, debates and presentations in peer-to-peer groups, and got the chance to workshop their own ideas for performances.

Artists' Lab 4: Impact Arts, Glasgow

For the final BUZZ Artists' Lab, nineteen artists from across Europe gathered in Impact Arts in Glasgow, Scotland. Hosted by Youth Theatre Arts Scotland (YTAS) the five-day programme from Monday 12 - Friday 16 June 2023 invited artists to explore the theme of Diverse Voices in Youth Theatre. Artists shared and explored creative approaches to engaging with disability, ethnic diversity, sexuality, gender, and socioeconomic deprivation within youth theatre arts contexts.

Alongside lead artist Ivor McAskill and a range of companies including Birds of Paradise Theatre Company, Solar Bear's Deaf Youth Theatre, Ignite Theatre, Impact Arts, and Sanctuary Queer Arts the lab interrogated what a diverse and inclusive approach brings to youth theatre, and what is required for it to be implemented and sustained.

BUZZ Network Launch: October 2021

In October 2021 we hosted a series of online events to launch the BUZZ Network. Featuring discussions, networking workshops, and performance screenings, we welcomed youth theatre artists and leaders from across Europe to meet, share and cross-pollinate their practice.

These events are available to watch on-demand at our Vi.to Hub, which you can find on the BUZZ Network website below.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Leading arts organisations from Scotland, Ireland, Norway, Belgium and Germany have been awarded funding from the Creative Europe Programme of the European

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Lead Artist: Jack Anderson
Trainee Artist: Susanna McGuinness

Over the next 10 weeks, Jack Anderson and Susanna McGuinness will be working together with Primary 7A and 7B classes at Craigroyston Primary School in Muirhouse in Edinburgh.

During their times together, they will cease to be a bunch of P7s and a couple of adults - instead they will become a collective of professional artists! Theywill no longer be in school - but in a place where anything is possible, where imagination can take charge. They will be getting physical, and using movement to explore and process thoughts and ideas. They'll be curious, adventurous and honest. They'll be a bit daft sometimes. They'll be together.

Jack and Susanna's plan is to put together a performance by using movement and creativity to dive into some questions like - who are we? What does it mean to be these people, here, now? People on the cusp of something? What's important to us? They'll be collaborating as they go, to see what direction their ideas take them in - but maybe they'll look at themes like change, the unknown, moving on, endings, beginnings, freedom, dreams and choices.

Maybe their work together will help them to see each other and the world differently. Maybe their performance will remind them (and the audience) that we're all still alive!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Craigroyston Primary School Artists Residency - Year 3 - Imaginate

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Over the next 10 weeks, Jack Anderson and Susanna McGuinness will be working together with Primary 7A and 7B classes at Craigroyston Primary School in Muirhouse in Edinburgh. During their times together, they will cease to be a bunch of P7s and a couple of adults - instead they will become a collective of professional artists!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Susie is a creative practitioner and performance-maker based in Edinburgh. She graduated from the University of Glasgow with a degree in Social Policy and Theatre Studies in 2021.

Susie is passionate about children's rights, having been involved in rights campaigning since her mid teens (GirlguidingUK, British Youth Council, ALYVEUK). She now incorporates this into her creative work with children and young people, exploring what radically upholding children's rights can mean for collaborative performance making. She is particularly interested in sensory theatre-making, her final year dissertation looked at how Article 31 of the UNCRC could be explored through participatory theatre experiences made for and with autistic children and young people.

Since graduating she has supported ActionBoat's performance making residency at Glencryan School as a trainee artist, and assisted with the development and delivery of Soundplay Production's sensory/sound-making Spaced Out project.

This year she's excited to be a trainee artist with Immerse, and continues to work part time directly supporting young people at health rights charity Children's Health Scotland.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Susie is a creative practitioner and performance-maker based in Edinburgh. She graduated from the University of Glasgow with a degree in Social Policy and Theatre Studies in 2021. Susie is passionate about children's rights, having been involved in rights campaigning since her mid teens (GirlguidingUK, British Youth Council, ALYVEUK).

# data[].attributes.body
susanna.mcguinness@gmail.com

ig- @svsanna

linkedin.com/in/susanna-mcguinness

# data[].attributes.headline
Children's Health and Wellbeing Service Assistant- Children's Health Scotland

# data[].attributes.subject
Children's Health and Wellbeing Service Assistant- Children's Health Scotland

# data[].attributes.body
2021/22

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The SMS:CONNECT Programme delivered by Children's Health Scotland was announced as the winner of the Digital Innovator Self-Management Award at the 2021 Self-Management Awards organised by the ALLIANCE. The Award Ceremony, which was a celebration of all things Self-Management in Scotland, was held online on Wednesday 29 September 2021 and hosted by STV Presenter Laura Boyd.

The Digital Innovator Self-Management Award was delivered in partnership with ' Discover Digital ', Scotland's first public-facing initiative to discuss how technology can help us live better and healthier. In a year in which all our lives have by necessity adopted a far more digital lens, this award focused on what stood out as real innovation in the use of digital technology. The innovation element could be associated with finding new ways of working digitally, reaching out to new audiences through digital media or the use of new technology for Self-Management.

Commenting on the Award, Helen Forrest, Chief Executive of Children's Health Scotland said: "The evening was really inspirational as it showcased the very best projects, individuals, and organisations involved with Self-Management in Scotland.

"We were shortlisted with two other amazing organisations, Leuchie House and the Moira Anderson Foundation, so being announced as the winner of the Digital Innovator Self-Management Award was a huge honour for the charity.

"The health and wellbeing of children and young people with health conditions lie at the heart of what we do. I am so incredibly proud of everyone at Children's Health Scotland, which includes our amazing children, young people, and volunteers, who have all risen to the challenge presented by COVID to develop and deliver what is now an award-winning Self-Management Programme that will continue long-term. I would also like to say a huge thank you to the trusts, foundations and fundraisers who make our work possible.

"To be recognised for this work and our commitment to our children and young people is so incredibly rewarding and I would like to thank the ALLIANCE for this award."

SMS:CONNECT Programmes

Self-Management means improving the relationship you have with your health and wellbeing and building your confidence and self-esteem. SMS:CONNECT is an online Self-Management Programme developed with the help of children and young people with long-term health conditions.

The Programmes are fun, informal, and friendly and are designed for children and young people aged 9-17. The online six-week group programme seeks to improve confidence, self-esteem and communication skills through health and wellbeing discussions, games, relaxation, and peer support, so that participants feel better able to cope with their health condition.

SMS:CONNECT is part of a suite of Self-Management services offered by Children's Health Scotland. If you would like to find out more CLICK HERE.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
SMS:CONNECT wins Digital Innovator Self-Management Award - Children's Health Scotland

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The SMS:CONNECT Programme delivered by Children's Health Scotland was announced as the winner of the Digital Innovator Self-Management Award at the 2021 Self-Management Awards organised by the ALLIANCE. The Award Ceremony, which was a celebration of all things Self-Management in Scotland, was held online on Wednesday 29 September 2021 and hosted by STV Presenter Laura Boyd.

# data[].attributes.headline
Trainee Artist- At A Distance (Action Boat)

# data[].attributes.subject
Trainee Artist- At A Distance (Action Boat)

# data[].attributes.body
About ACTIONBOAT-

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
By Geraldine Heaney, PUSH filmmaker and Hannah Venet, PUSH (over)protection Lab participant.
Geraldine and Hannah were also both Artists in Residence as part of Immerse.

If school is a place where we learn to be in the 'real world' can we teach the next generation of children that the 'real world' is centred on care, kindness, agency and interdependence?

Almost overnight life as we knew was changed in ways hard to imagine possible. It's been proven that radical change can happen when necessary. There is need for more change and more action in our education system.

Theatres, museums and galleries are all closed. Community centres have been repurposed to meet immediate survival needs. Hospitality is doing its best to survive on take-aways. Play parks are covered in red tape. Is it time to reimagine art and its role in education? Can we move beyond the traditional spaces 'where art happens' and into the community?

Education is developing new models. Teachers, learners and families are adapting. How will the Creative sector shift and change and be connected with this? How are artists and arts organisations involving themselves in that conversation?

We have a workforce of enthusiastic, skilled and diverse creatives that are suddenly unessential and unemployed. Could we utilise this group of people who are interested and experienced in working with young people to help with the recovery of schools? Could they help implement a new education system that is more holistic, more inclusive, more creative and more collaborative? Could this better equip our children to live in the future that they will live in?

Could we create the role of Resident Collaborators in schools across the country?

During recent months a wealth of online resources have been created for learning and consumption of the arts. However not everyone has access to internet or devices or capacity to be able to participate remotely. Can we democratise art and make it accessible to all by embedding it into our education system? Rather that creating more digital content, can art move into the real world, creating local, grassroots artist movements in schools, classrooms and in the wider community through the Recovery Curriculum?

In the Scottish Government's Initial Impact Assessment on the Strategic Framework for re-opening schools and ELC settings in Scotland it states:

20. Introducing a blended model of in-school and at-home learning will ensure almost all children and young people have access to some face-to-face learning from August onwards. Consideration is being given on how best to support children and young people who may be unable to attend the main school setting due to health, disability or shielding reasons.

21. Fundamentally all children have a right to play, to learning and experiences that meet their physical, social and cultural needs, and they have a right to associate with their peers.

We need to be together. We need to by physically distant. Connection is particularly crucial for those young people who are vulnerable and at risk at home but universally important for all our mental health. How do we find this vital connection? This question needs to be addressed in the recovery of education too. Could Resident Collaborators help to keep nurture, empathy and connection in face to face learning?

Our schools and classrooms are not built with social distancing in mind. Class sizes and spaces are going to have to be dramatically reimagined. Could we learn from Outdoor Educators and model that in our Primary and Secondary education? Can we shift to outdoor learning? Could Resident Collaborators be part of helping shift education outside to places and spaces that you might not expect?

Could artists/citizens/practitioners become Resident Collaborators? - A team of people who are part of each school community. They do not subscribe to the traditional adult/child hierarchy. They are there to support, collaborate and provoke pupils, teachers and the wider school community. Resident Collaborators will share the responsibility of all the unknowns schools are facing.

Support

Resident Collaborators are a resource for everyone. They will be in the classroom to support pupil's learning. Support for teachers. Support for the focus of nurture across the school. Encouraging child led learning, play, discovery and creative bravery.

Collaboration

Collaboration with pupils on instigating ideas. Collaboration with teachers to experiment. Collaboration with the school community to explore new ways of working.

Provocation

Ask questions and see education and learning through a different lens. Resident Collaborators are not trying to fit in with the current education system but are there as a sounding board to question why things have to be the way they've always been, encourage local community engagement and ART as ACTION.

Can we shift the way we see art in society so that instead of creating 'work' as material and as product, art can be individuals, choices, decision making, ways of seeing the world and ways of creating a more sustainable, positive and egalitarian society? Art as collaboration so that artist practice becomes embedded into the everyday in our schools system, encourages creativity and brings about social transformation.

Action Boat started as a conversation between Hannah and Geraldine and is now growing into a collective of creative practitioners who connect with these ideas and want to be part of creating change.

Hannah Venet took part in the PUSH (over)Protection Lab in September 2017. You can read more about her here. Geraldine was the PUSH filmmaker. You can watch her PUSH films here and read about her here.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Blog: What is the role of art at a time of social transformation? - Imaginate

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Artists Geraldine Heaney and Hannah Venet reflect on opportunities to change our education system following the current crisis. Theatres, museums and galleries are all closed. Community centres have been repurposed to meet immediate survival needs. Hospitality is doing its best to survive on take-aways. Play parks are covered in red tape.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Generally we facilitate playful sessions that last about 45 minutes throughout a day. We can also tailor the experience for specific needs and interests. Get in contact for booking enquires or to find out about upcoming shows.

# data[].attributes.headline
UK Young Ambassador for European Policy & Structured Dialogue Process- British Youth Council

# data[].attributes.subject
UK Young Ambassador for European Policy & Structured Dialogue Process- British Youth Council

# data[].attributes.body
Rose Theatre 2018-2019

# data[].attributes.headline
Cinema Assistant- Grosvenor Cinema, Glasgow

# data[].attributes.subject
Cinema Assistant- Grosvenor Cinema, Glasgow

# data[].attributes.body
2018-2019

# data[].attributes.headline
Front of House Team- Edinburgh International Book Festival

# data[].attributes.subject
Front of House Team- Edinburgh International Book Festival

# data[].attributes.body
2016-2017

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Action for Local Youth Voice Empowerment UK (ALYVE UK) is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) - a form of charity. We were registered on the 14th of January 2019, and founded as a 'Rejuvenating Politics' initiative of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe - the pan-European forum for local and regional representatives.

Our charitable aim is to advocate for and support local youth forums - groups led by young people (people aged 12 to 26), which aim to understand and advocate for young people's views within the local area in which they are based - across Scotland and other parts of the UK. We do this through three main avenues: research, advocacy, and funding!

ALYVE UK is run by its charity trustees, who make up its Board. The trustees, as well as being responsible for making the financial, legal, and governance-related decisions that the organisation faces, are also the main volunteers for the organisation: running our activities and implementing our projects.

Member of the National Youth Arts Advisory Group (NYAAG).

Former member of the National Youth Council of LGBT Youth Scotland.

Former member of the Housing and Homelessness Commission.

Former member of Communic18, leading on Equality and Diversity and Enterprise and Regeneration during the Year of Young People 2018.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Action for Local Youth Voice Empowerment UK (ALYVE UK) is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) - a form of charity. We were registered on the 14th of January 2019, and founded as a 'Rejuvenating Politics' initiative of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe - the pan-European forum for local and regional representatives.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Human rights should be taught from the earliest age possible to change attitudes to bullying, according to a Holyrood committee.

MSPs on the Equalities and Human Rights Committee said more needed to be done to tackle the problem in schools.

Committee convener Christina McKelvie said it had heard "gut-wrenching" evidence from young people during its inquiry into the issue.

But she stressed there was already some "inspiring" work being done.

The committee's report said it had uncovered "a real sense that prejudice-based bullying is on the increase".

It concluded that racism "has made a resurgence", gender-based bullying and harassment "appears to be commonplace", and bullying towards young lesbian or gay people "is still prevalent".

'Healthy relationships'

The committee has made 29 recommendations, among them measures it wants the Scottish government to adopt in its forthcoming refreshed anti-bullying strategy.

These include a preventative approach to bullying, improved research to understand the extent and nature of the problem, mandatory recording of bullying incidents and more training for teachers.

The government and councils are also urged to "ensure that consent and healthy relationships be taught from the beginning of primary school in an age-appropriate manner to safeguard children" amid evidence of children as young as 12 being coerced into sexual activity.

The Scottish government welcomed the report and said it would consider its recommendations carefully.

The committee had spent eight months listening to evidence about bullying.

Ms McKelvie, an SNP MSP, said: "We heard some gut-wrenching and heartbreaking stories. One stark reminder of the reality faced by far too many bullied young people is that 27% of LGBT children have attempted suicide.

"But we have also heard of some inspiring and great practice going on around Scotland - and there are schools where bullying is now seen as not cool.

"We are trying to bottle that attitude change and roll it out across the whole country."

Susie McGuinness, a 19-year-old Glasgow University student, told her story of bullying and classroom harassment to MSPs while they were taking evidence for the report.

She said: "I know from my own experience that there are instances of girls who have been filmed being assaulted, and that there is footage of rape going around schools and not being reported or dealt with.

"People need to realise that sexual harassment and bullying of this nature is happening to girls aged 12 or 13. By primary 6, I was sitting in classes in which boys were taking it in turns to shout 'rape' the loudest and I'm not alone."

'Human dignity'

The children's commissioner for Scotland, Bruce Adamson, said the report was a "call to action" for the authorities.

"Bullying impacts children in a number of ways," he said.

"It cuts right to the heart of their identity and their human dignity but it also has an impact on their access to other rights - like their ability to have a full education, to engage in cultural activities to engage in playing.

"And as we've seen from this report, and some of the really powerful evidence given, it has a real impact on things like their health including their mental health.

"At the most extreme we see issues where it actually engages the right to life where a number of children, particularly children from the LGBTI community, have contemplated suicide - so this is a real call to action."

A Scottish government spokeswoman said it funds its national anti-bullying service, Respectme, to support children, young people and their parents.

She added: "Bullying of any kind is unacceptable.

"That is why it is important for all schools and local authorities to have anti-bullying policies in place and it is vital that local authorities and teachers challenge any racist, homophobic and abusive behaviour in our schools."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Human rights should be taught from the earliest age possible to change attitudes to bullying, according to a Holyrood committee. MSPs on the Equalities and Human Rights Committee said more needed to be done to tackle the problem in schools. Committee convener Christina McKelvie said it had heard "gut-wrenching" evidence from young people during its inquiry into the issue.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
All young people deserve to feel safe and respected at school, but as the findings of Girlguiding's latest Girls' Attitudes Survey show, for many girls and young women in the UK, this just isn't a reality.

Every year Girlguiding conducts a UK-wide survey of girls, both those involved with the charity and people outside of it, to find out how girls feel about the issues affecting them. This year our results show a frightening rise in the number of girls aged 13-21 saying they've experienced sexual harassment in school or college over the past 12 months, rising from 59% in 2014 to 64%.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A zero tolerance policy is the only way to stop sexual harassment in schools

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
All young people deserve to feel safe and respected at school, but as the findings of Girlguiding's latest Girls' Attitudes Survey show, for many girls and young women in the UK, this just isn't a reality.

# data[].attributes.headline
Volunteer- A Moment's Peace Theatre Company/Kuche

# data[].attributes.subject
Volunteer- A Moment's Peace Theatre Company/Kuche

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Sharing Space, Sharing Creativity, Sharing Ideas: An afternoon Scratch Event Sunday, December 8, 2019 at 2 PM - 4 PM Tramway 25 Albert Drive, G41 2PE Glasgow, United Kingdom A Moment's Peace and Küche present the final in a series of regular scratch events seeking to raise the creative profile of anyone with lived experience of the immigration system.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The experience at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Opening Event Five Telegrams 2018