The people behind the events…

Coming from 5 generations of professional musicians Ali’s first instrument is the Cello – studying both in the UK and at the Conservatoire in Prague under Paul Ward, Raphael Wallfisch and Stanislav Apolin.

Ali is also the 3rd generation of her family to be a member of the Royal Society of Musicians. Founded in 1738, the aims of the founding members, whose numbers include Handel, remain unchanged today: to provide assistance for those working in the music profession and their dependants when in need because of accident, illness or old age.

As an inspirational leader with a can-do approach, Ali’s career has spanned thirty years with a focus on creative industries, education, community regeneration and social enterprise. Her collaborative skills, enabling style and natural ability to work in partnership are particular strengths, as is her ability to set up new organisations and projects delivering outstanding results.

Ali was the South West Director, and is currently Project Director, of Live Music Now (LMN), a National charity that was founded in 1977 by the legendary violinist, Yehudi Menuhin and his colleague Ian Stoutzker. Menuhin noticed how music could transcend barriers of experience, language, illness and disability. He witnessed the pleasure, therapeutic and educational benefits that involvement in live music brought to people he worked with, particularly when faced by challenging or stressful life situations.

Ali is also the founding Director of Superact!

Nick is a co-director of Superact, a graduate of Cambridge University and has 25 years experience in research and evaluation for the not-for-profit sector.

His career has included employment in some of the largest international research organisations (BMRB, part of WPP) and since 1996 has run the Research Partnership. He has also been Chairman of the Social Research Association. His clients included major public sector bodies (the Cabinet Office, Financial Services Authority, Regional Development Agencies), charities (Royal Academy of Engineering, National Asthma Campaign), Local Government (Hertfordshire County Council) and academic institutions (Bristol University, Exeter University).

Nick has particular experience in the fields of educational research and volunteering, looking at the role of volunteering as a gateway to education and employment.

Working with the Cabinet Office, he is the lead evaluator of a three year initiative to encourage ‘hard to reach’ groups (including BME, low skills and the disabled) to volunteer.

Nick also works with government bodies such as the Joint Information System Committee (JISC) and the Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association (UCISA), looking at the use made of technology as a learning tool in higher and further education settings.

Katharine has been part of the Superact team since 2008 working across a variety of projects from The Bandstand Marathon to the development of new projects with older people throughout the South West.

Katharine was elected as a committee member of the Working Group Youth of the European Music Council in Turin in 2010. The Council is a group of young people from all over Europe whose aim is to enhance youth engagement within the EMC’‘s member orgainisations and throughout the European Cultural sector.

Katharine studied Geography at Swansea University and during her time there, passionately campaigned to make the city greener. In 2006 she was awarded the ‘Champion Award’ by the Mayor of Swansea for her efforts to make the city and the University campus more environmentally sustainable.

Katharine was selected for the Oxfam Change programme in 2006 which led to her completing a 6 month internship with the Campaigns and Policy team at Oxfam Cymru in Wales. During her time at Oxfam she discovered her passion for working in the Third Sector and interest in policy and advocacy.

Katharine is always taking on new challenges such as learning French and attempting to grow vegetables in her new allotment!

Lynda was born and raised in Kenya, East Africa, and farmed in Naivasha with her husband, growing horticultural vegetables for daily export to Covent Garden and for local sales to hotels and restaurants. Lynda was responsible for the administration and financial departments of the enterprise employing 250 local staff.

On return to the UK, Lynda entered the retail business and ran her own shop for ten years, selling street clothing to teens and young adults. During this time she also worked closely with local councils and youth initiatives to plan and promote events in conjunction with her shop within the area.

On moving to Devon, Lynda continued working in finance and administration with a private school in Taunton before joining Superact.

Lynda is interested in wildlife conservation and whilst in Kenya worked as a volunteer at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust which rescues, raises and rehabilitates orphaned baby elephants. Her other interests include floristry and through her work with The Constance Spry Flower School has arranged flowers for Royal occasions, No. 10 Downing Street and Lancaster House.

Sue started with Superact as Project Assistant working on the Bandstand Marathon projects for 2011 and 2012 and is now supporting Lynda with Finance.

After an earlier career in civil service policy administration Sue studied for a fine art degree as a mature student, graduating in 2004 from the University for the Creative Arts at Farnham. A teaching qualification followed and Sue has since combined development of a printmaking practice with teaching and arts administration.

Sue has delivered printmaking courses in a number of adult and FE settings around Richmond and Kingston upon Thames. Surrey. She has also worked with school children as an artist in residence at Surbiton High School. As an adminstrator Sue worked at the Crafts Council, on programmes of support and professional development for craft makers. More recently she was Research Coordinator at Creativity, Culture and Education, supporting a programme of research into the impact of creative education on the attainment and life chances of young people.

As a practising artist Sue has worked in a number of artist-run studios and exhibiting groups and has exhibited regularly in galleries and art fairs in London and the South East. After many years living and working in London, Sue has recently returned to Somerset, where she was born and grew up, and is looking forward to making a new network of friends within the Somerset arts community.

Jasmine has been Administrator for the Superact team since June 2011 and was given the role of Photographer in Residence in March 2012.

She is a key member of the team, working in the office answering telephone calls and keeping the office in order!  Jasmine assists the Superact team in booking accommodation and travel for our artists and team members.

Jasmine is one of the youngest members of the Superact team and has recently participated in a charity event for disabled modelling. Being a wheelchair user herself, Jasmine comes across a few challenges, but this doesn’t stop her doing the everyday tasks, and working for Superact!

Jasmine is very passionate about singing and acting and her excellent grades at school reflect her many talents.

Patsy alias Ratsy Fang!, has a Bachelor degree in Fine Arts from York University in Toronto, Canada. She specialized in Theatre Production & Design, going on to work in the field of Set & Lighting Design for 15 years in Canada. Her design work was for both mainstream and alternative theatre companies. She made a significant contribution to the development of native theatre companies in Canada as a Director of the Native Theatre School.

Patsy’s theatre work brought her to the Edinburgh International Festival with the Native Earth Theatre Company. Here she developed a passion for working with international companies and was soon working for the Festival on a Canada Arts Council grant.

After 3 years at the Festival, Patsy returned to Toronto to start her own touring company, PAS Cultural exchange Arts. The concept behind PAS was to develop international exchange tours with various art forms.

Patsy’s return to Britain to have children, brought her in contact with the SW branch of Live Music Now, where her project & tour management skills were put to work initially on a special needs schools project, and eventually on the justice projects that the branch was developing.

Patsy has managed all the Justice projects for LMN SW over the last 5 years, and now manages similar projects for Superact! C.I.C.

Iwan (pronounced Ivan) is originally from Belgium, where he earned a Law degree and an MA in International Relations.

He speaks six languages and has traveled through almost every continent.

Iwan has worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and has also been a journalist in Cairo, farmhand and tree-planter in Canada, fishmonger, body therapist and teacher.

He is also a musician and storyteller, performing both in the UK and internationally.

Iwan lives in Totnes, Devon, with his wife Susan and their new puppy, Duduk

Lerato is the Education and Training Manager at Superact with responsibility for developing Superact’s BTEC qualification; Supporting Employability and Personal Effectiveness (SEPE)

Whilst studying for a degree in English Literature and Cultural Criticism at Cardiff University, Lerato discovered her love of community arts through volunteering on a project for young people with learning difficulties. After completing her degree she trained as a Community Dance Practitioner at Rubicon Dance and taught for a few years before moving into arts education and project management. 

Building on the experience she had gained in developing arts and heritage volunteering as part of community engagement and progression routes for young people,  Lerato took on a strategic role as Head of Volunteering at the University of the West of England which widened her experience of the voluntary and social enterprise sector. She is very excited to return to where her passion lies and be working on projects where creative interventions make a difference to people’s lives.

Lerato is also passionate about high quality participatory performance, particularly taking performance work to unconventional settings and volunteers as Dance programmer & producer for Shambala Festival and is also a performer with The Original Spinners.

Thomas has been a Music teacher for four years and whilst doing this full time job has been working for Superact in a number of roles.  As an educator Tom has taught a number of different courses; from A-Level Music to Year 7 Literacy; he has been involved in every aspect of school education.  His focus has been primarily on Music; both BTEC and GCSE, but has also focused on the holistic power of music through a new Edexcel BTEC SEPE.

Having worked at Holyrood Academy in Somerset as a Teaching Assistant, Tom was appointed as Teacher in Charge of Music at Ansford Academy in September 2008 this was through Superact and the Jumps project: an innovative approach to delivering professional musicians into a school environment to supplement the classroom curriculum. Having spent 3 successful years there and completed his ITT (initial teacher training), Tom moved on and is currently working as a Music and Drama Teacher at Merchants’ Academy in Bristol.

He has also been involved in delivering BTEC qualifications across Europe. Having developed a training pack for artists to deliver the SEPE BTEC in the UK this was taken as a transfer of innovation project across Europe where SEPE is now being delivered in Italy, Portugal, Turkey, Austria and the Netherlands. Tom was fundamental to the process of ensuring enough artists were trained to deliver this award in the respective countries’ Justice Ministries. As part of this project Tom had his guide to delivering SEPE published as a stand-alone publication to enable schools, colleges, and other artists to deliver SEPE wherever necessary.

As a keen arts practitioner himself, Tom is a competent Oboe and Mandolin player, with skills on various Percussion and Piano. Having sung in the County Youth Choir Tom has a passion for vocal music and has written two collaborative musicals that have been performed in local schools across Somerset. He is currently working on a second publication a selection of Folk Oboe Duets for aspiring players and teachers.

Lucy is a graduate from Bath Spa University, where she studied Arts Management and finished with a First grade. She has a working background in festivals, not-for-profit arts, youth music and theatre.

Lucy is experienced in and passionate about marketing, web design, event coordination, event programming, PR, social media and much more. She loves being busy, working in a pressured environment and getting stuck into lots of different projects – which is exactly what she does with Superact as Junior Project Manager! Before joining Superact, Lucy ran Europe’s biggest vegetarian music festival, VegfestUK.

Lucy is a life-long vegetarian and has a passion for cooking. She is a huge music fan and loves to immerse herself in the live scene and discovering new bands. She also has a keen interest in vintage and couture fashion and likes rummaging around charity shops in search of bargains. In her spare time she likes to go on long walks with her mum and dog (Percy), and swimming in the South Devon sea regardless of the season!

Tracy moved to Somerset 13 years ago from Oxfordshire and has a varied career background from purchasing to fund raising, most recently managing large European funded projects across the South West. She is currently working as the Local Authority lead for the Bandstand Marathon 2012.

Tracy is a SFEDI accredited business advisor and trainer specialising in social enterprise and creative business development. She has 8 years experience of working with SMEs in the SW region.

Her spare time is filled with family, pets, walking and reading.

Angie is an award winning facilitator, coach and Arts Manager with over 15 years experience of working in the creative industries. After working as Creative Manager of an Inclusive arts organisation Angie decided with her joint passions of Creativity and personal development she should inspire people to find themselves through the arts.

Her clients have included The BBC, The Prince’s Trust, Capita, Future Lab and UWE, Bristol.  She has worked as Diversity Co-ordinator on behalf of Arts Council, England and has run national Creative Leadership programmes for the Cultural Leadership programme. 

Angie also runs a community film making project and Personal Branding company as well as working as a professional stand-up comedian, performance poet and actor.  Her International charity work includes being overseas Director of Youth with a Vision, a youth arts organisation in Uganda.

Rachael is a graduate from the University of Exeter, where she studied English Literature until 2010. After a stint working for Somerset County Council, she is now in the role of Bandstand Marathon Administrator, providing support across the team to ensure the event goes off with a bang in September.

She is passionate about creative writing, and coordinated weekly creative writing workshops for other students while at university. Rachael also co-edited the bi-annual writing magazine, The Journal, which included stories, poetry and illustrations created entirely by students. She runs a tumblr page titled ‘Enchanting Imagery’ that features an eclectic selection of classic illustrations, art and photography.

Rachael enjoys travel and has visited a range of worldwide destinations, having most recently travelled to Japan. She also loves cinema, and spent a year volunteering at the The Bill Douglas Centre for the History of Cinema and Popular Culture in Exeter where she catalogued vintage magazines, researched and designed display cases and assisted with family-centred open days.

Liz provides PR support to Superact, raising the profile of Superact projects and activities through the press, radio & TV and through social media such as Twitter & Facebook. 

She is Managing Director of a social enterprise called Brilliant Fish PR & Marketing which works primarily with not-for-profit organisations and charities. 

Qualified with the Chartered Institute of Marketing and the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Liz has a background in the Education and Public sectors, including various roles in Marketing and the Press Office in her 10 years with Bournemouth University.  Liz worked as Schools & Colleges Co-ordinator for the Government’s Aimhigher initiative, working with disadvantaged young people with low aspirations in the Dorset area, and was Project Director for the National Mentoring Scheme, where she gained extensive experience in volunteer recruitment and management.  Based in Poole, Dorset, Liz works regionally across the South West of England.

Mauricio, or Moss, is a world class musician whose first instrument is the Sikus (traditional Panpipes), but he also plays most Andean wind instruments (Kena, Mhozeno, Tarkas) and has developed innovative techniques on the Bombo (Andean percussion) and conga drums.

He has performed with some of today’s leading musicians such as John Williams and Julian Joseph in the most prestigious venues in England, including the Royal Festival Hall, the Barbican and at WOMAD. He has been recognised as a pioneer both in his field of research and for his educational work with young people.

Born in Colombia, Moss attended the Conservatoire of the University of Antioquia. In the UK, he completed a science degree in Instrument Research and Technology at the London Guildhall University that has enabled him to construct and develop his own instruments. His extensive work in the field has given him a level of expertise and understanding that enables him to use Andean music as a tool to design events and workshops that help people work more effectively both in corporate and educational environments.

Over the years, he has built up a great knowledge of musical styles; with strong influences ranging from Colombia’s mountain rhythms to Argentina’s passionate tango.

Moss’‘s firm musical training and success as a performer has led him to work with people of all ages and abilities. From the projects that helped keep young artists in the dance world in Colombia, to the ground breaking integration of poetry and music, Moss’‘s natural charisma and musical talent have inspired many young artists on the London scene.

He has developed a series of performances for schools, prisons, and children with special needs as well as for adults in the corporate sector. These performances introduce the audience to various musical styles and encourage active participation.

Moss currently continues his research work in connection with the London Metropolitan University and the development of the PEETA (Personal Effectiveness and Employability Through the Arts) project which he has helped develop and write.

Christopher Syrus is one of Superact’s leading expert on written and spoken word and is also the author of the book LoveLife6958 Memoirs from the pen…

LoveLife6958 is the symbolic transformation of his allocated prison number LL6958, representing the change from his negative past towards a promising and positive future. Christopher has dedicate himself to working with young people enabling them to learn from his mistakes. During his sentence he studied Psychology with the Open University, completed an NVQ in Advice and Guidance, 7303 Teacher Training and Goals for Young People facilitation. For his accomplishments in 2008 he was awarded the Learning Skills Council ‘‘Achieving Against The Odds’’ award. Most recently won ‘‘Turn Around Peace award’’ at London’‘s Peace Award 2010 (see link below). With these acquired skills and training he delivers motivation, personal development, creative writing and mentoring workshops.

Christopher has been involved in many successful projects. He was the music manager on ‘‘Out of the Gate’’ radio drama www.outofthegate.co.uk, which involved young offenders and those at risk of offending. He co-managed ‘‘The Freedom Initiatives’’ Rewards Ceremony to celebrate the achievements of young people in Croydon and surrounding areas and took part in the ‘‘Streetwise’’ drama project that toured schools in Kent to highlight the dangers of anti-social behaviour.

Rosie is a Graduate from Bath Spa University where she studied Music with English Literature; and is now studying for a Masters Degree in Music Psychology at the University of Sheffield. She runs her own company, Musica www.musica-music.co.uk providing interactive music workshops for older adults.  Rosie is passionate about promoting the benefits of the arts for older people and is keen to work with other artists in this field.

Rosie is currently working as Musician in Residence at the Royal United Hospital, Bath running music workshops for older patients as well as overseeing additional creative workshops on the wards.

Rosie lives in Dorset and enjoys going on long walks in the country with her fiancée Jon and their dog Bertie.