I am originally from Northern Ireland and I have lived in the North of England for over 20 years. I also regularly work in Ireland.

I compose songs and performances that meet audiences within their everyday environments. I utilise singing, song-writing, theatre, poetry and my experience of delivering arts participation to create grassroots, bespoke performances for real people in real places. My work is always aimed at live, community audiences in public spaces, it’s often ephemeral and sited where there are low levels of arts engagement.

I enjoy the logistical challenge and acoustic experience of unlikely performance locations. I have composed new work and sung in a flooded engine house in the Wet Earth Colliery in Salford, 100ft underground in Clearwell Caves, Forest of Dean, at the bottom on the UK deepest canal lock in Sowerby Bridge and dangled from the rafters of a derelict shipping warehouse in Liverpool.

I’ve benefited from support, commissions and awards from Arts Council England, Arts Council Ireland, Finzi Trust, The National Theatre, Stockton International Riverside Festival, HOMEMcr, City of London Festival and National Trust to name a few.

I’ve performed and created work with lots of other companies and I am extremely proud of the wide network of exceptional and diverse artists and professional practitioners that I can call upon as friends. I have learnt a lot from the likes of IOU, Horse and Bamboo, Whalley Range All Stars, Wired Aerial Theatre and Walk the Plank. I owe a debt of gratitude to those who came before me and wrote the manual especially the seminal work of Welfare State International and Knee High Theatre.

I love putting together the very best teams and meeting new people. There is always a perfect person for each role in a project, you just have to find them and they might not be where you expect. I consider cross-sectoral partnership building to be a valuable secret weapon to any cultural event.

Over the years I have developed strong values that I measure all my work against.

I believe in chasing wonder and hope.

I believe in offering art and culture to the public, free of charge.

I believe in making work that is needed, useful and relevant but also in developing ideas that are gloriously bizarre.

I believe in making work that is so beautiful, people cry with delight.

I believe in properly acknowledging and valuing people’s skills and time.

I feel a responsibility to look after the teams I work with and the audiences I gather. (Rule #1 - If you bring people together, you have to feed them.)