About me
I am a lecturer and researcher in the fields of cultural policy and the sociology of culture. My teaching focuses upon work within the creative industries and cultural theory. I have previously conducted research to investigate barriers facing parents and carers working in the performing arts industry for Parents in Performing Arts (PIPA) in partnership with Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, cofounded by Arts Council England.
In 2017 I was awarded a PhD in Cultural Policy and Management from the Centre for Culture and the Creative Industries at City University. My PhD examined participatory and community art practices that take place within East London to consider how such practices introduce or reinforce particular social discourses. I also hold an MSc in Political Theory from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Projects
- My PhD Thesis: Community engagement in public art: An examination of public art policies in East LondonIn 2017 I completed a PhD thesis examining community engagement and public art policies within East London Borough Councils with an emphasis on how public or community participatory art projects introduce or reinforce particular social discourses. I used the example of participatory art practices that take place within East London to examine how public or community participatory art projects introduce or reinforce particular social discourses. As such, my research was concerned with considering the absence of neutrality behind such practices, particularly the frequently held argument that participatory art practices give the participants a legitimate and independent 'voice' of their own. The unique character of the work was arrived at through the application of particular theoretical positions to the practice of participatory art in order to illustrate this argument. Most notably, it sought to examine such practices within East London through the context of 'city habitus', an adaption of Bourdieu's habitus which seeks to recognise location and locality as a dynamic, rather than an incidental or secondary, social component. Further, the thesis was concerned with discerning parallels between participatory art practices and the number of texts concerned with the interconnection and relevance of Foucault's conception of governmentality to the art gallery or museum - namely, the position that galleries can be considered governmental instruments that seek to engineer self-steering mechanisms in order to ally individuals to socio-political objectives without governing individuals within the private sphere. Finally, I moved from questions of institutional control to the control of the artist him or herself - questioning the autonomy of the participant and thus challenging the commonly held assumption that participatory art acts as a 'bottom-up' structure that encourages creativity and the free-expression of individual perspective as celebrated in Wagner's 'The Artwork of the Future' through the "passing over of Egoism into Communism" and the "surrender of authorship by the artist."
Work history
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Associate LecturerGoldsmiths University of London
Freelance
*Theories of Capital MA Unit: Constructing and delivering a set of lectures and seminars examining theories of capital with a focus upon on the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Michel Foucault.
*Promotional Culture MA Seminar Leader: Leading MA seminar groups discussing the dynamics of power that exist between the public relations, advertising and marketing professions.
*Political Economy of the Media BA Seminar Leader: Leading BA seminar groups discussing the political and economic organisation of the media with particular reference to western industrial democracies.
*Research and Dissertation Support Workshops: Designing and delivering workshops to develop the research and dissertation writing skills of MA students.
*Providing tutorial support to both MA and BA students.
Associate Lecturer
Freelance
*Professional Industry Practice MA Unit: Producing and presenting a set of lectures and seminars on work within the creative industries as part of the Media, Communications and Critical Practice Masters course.
*Collaborative Practice Workshops: Leading and creating a set of workshops for BA students on theoretical and practical approaches to collaborative creative practice.
*Employability-focused Workshops: Designing and delivering workshops to develop the employability of BA students
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Skills
- Social Research
- Teaching
- Tutoring Students
- Qualitative Research
- Ethnographic Research
- Journalism
- Higher Education
- Consultancy
- Interviewing
- Critical Thinking
Education
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Introductory Certificate in Teaching in Higher EducationCity University of London
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PhD Cultural Policy and ManagementCentre for Culture and Creative Industries, City University, London
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PhD thesis examining community engagement and public art policies within East London Borough Councils with an emphasis on how public or community participatory art projects introduce or reinforce particular social discourses. The thesis draws parallels to the position that galleries can be considered governmental instruments that seek to engineer self-steering mechanisms to ally individuals to socio-political objectives without governing individuals within the private sphere.
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