Creatives.

Janice is a visual artist and community engagement practitioner who ran the Art Department at Howgill Family Centre in West Cumbria for 14 years. During this time she developed Howgill Arts from a run of the mill community service to an award winning and highly respected arts organisation. Working with some of the most vulnerable families from the community she was able to build trust and creatively engage and inspire those who would otherwise not have access to a cultural language or opportunities. In her own practice, Janice employs traditional craft and textile techniques to create quirky and modern assemblages. Janice is a director at Handpicked Production and undertakes freelance work in collaboration with Morgan Murray Arts.

Jenn is a Freelance Creative Facilitator living in Cumbria. Jenn runs creative wellbeing workshops for adults, older people and people living with dementia and their carers. She is passionate about working with people of all ages, exploring multidisciplinary approaches to arts, heritage and storytelling. Jenn has also delivered a wide range of community initiatives including oral history projects, community exhibitions and sound projects.

Emma is a multi-award-winning writer and performer currently dividing my time between my native West Cumbria and London. She is particularly interested in working-class narratives and voices. Much of her writing and spoken word is semi-autobiographical. She takes pride in being close to vulnerability and truth in their work.

Anne Blankson-Hemans is a fine artist originally from Ghana who studied at the College of Art, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). She moved to the UK in 1984 and has exhibited widely, including at London’s Mall Galleries with the Royal Society of British Artists and the Society of Women Artists. Recently, Anne has focused on providing community art services to schools and communities in West Cumbria, sharing her expertise and passion for art to inspire creativity in new generations.

A visual artist, Nanette Madan aims to inspire others to explore their own creativity as a means of promoting connection and healing through community based projects. Embracing a diverse range of mediums, including printmaking, oil pastels, textiles and both 2D and 3D installations, her work reflects a deep commitment to environmental themes. Her art practice invites people to engage with science in a more accessible way.

Sarah is a playworker and forest school practitioner, most at home in wild places. She loves to co-create spaces with the families she works with where everyone feels valued. She prioritises play, creativity and nature connection in her own family life and the spaces where she works. Sarah loves to discover creative ways to use and explore natural materials and, when not working outside, to bring the affordances of outdoor spaces indoors. She is very interested in the power of story and imagination and often integrates this in her work.