Q&As
When did you join the Board of Tees Valley Arts?
December 2014.
What interests and excites you about Tees Valley Arts?
The opportunity to make a difference and improve social cohesion and community.
What do you love about Teesside?
The humility and resilience of our communities; the river and the hills, the public art.
When you were a child what did you want to be?
A footballer or a journalist.
What is your earliest memory?
Swimming lessons (maybe aged 4) in a “pool” that I later discovered was no bigger than a large paddling pool.
What is your most treasured possession?
My favourite guitar. A Gibson J200 acoustic.
What is the worst job you’ve ever done?
Delivering (discarding) free newspapers, aged 14. A (Boots own make!) Walkman and a collection of cassettes got me through it every week…
What has been your biggest disappointment in life?
Not being blessed with any inherent dance moves.
Who is your favourite artist (any artform)?
Stevie Wonder. Soul, groove, melody, lyrics, conscience – a poet, a maestro, a prophet, and in tremendous adversity.
What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
Think solutions – not problems
Which living person do you most admire and why?
Other than Stevie (see above), it would be my 3 year old Godson, Dominic, who continues to fight a very rare cancer.
If resources were no object, what project or activity would you most like to see Tees Valley Arts undertake?
I’d like us to continue to undertake any activities that address local poverty and lack of confidence – which is the route of many of the other issues (addiction, crime, worklessness) that communities face. Arts can lift communities.