Speakers

• 

  Jess Prendergrast Founding Director Onion Collective
  

  Jess Prendergrast

  Founding Director Onion Collective

  Find Out More

  Jess Prendergrast, one of the founding Directors of Onion Collective, will talk about East Quay, the journey to its creation and the trials and tribulations along the way. Jess grew up living at the zoo her parents set up in rural West Somerset. With an economics background, Jess previously worked in academia and government research, and as Economics Editor for Oxford Economics, before leaving Westinster to return home to the West Country. There, she splits her time between cultural, funding and research roles. She is currently writing a book on ‘Attachment Economics’ to explore what a more connected form of economics could look like. Jess has been instrumental in the establishment of several social enterprises. She was one of the team behind the £3.2m Minehead Eye project, an indoor skate park and youth centre, for which she remains Director. Jess also established Contains Art, artist studios and exhibition space in shipping containers in Watchet, which since grew into the major £7.3m development of East Quay. She has recently retired as a trustee of the Power to Change Trust and remains a trustee of Dunster Music Festival and is the Chair of Contains Art, now a charity.

• 

  Rebecca Davies Co-Director Portland Inn Project
  

  Rebecca Davies

  Co-Director Portland Inn Project

  Find Out More

  Rebecca Davies is from London and lives in Stoke On Trent. She has a deeply embedded and collaborative art practice that crosses illustration, design, performance and event. Her work explores the role of art in making change, as a device and platform, to represent and communicate complex stories and politics.
  She has run participation projects with Turner Contemporary, Tate, New Town Culture, and was lead artist of the Whitechapel Gallery Community Workshops for 3 years. Rebecca and artist Anna Francis set up The Portland Inn Project CIC in 2016 in a residential area of Stoke on Trent, working in collaboration with other artists, arts organisations and residents to improve their community and renovate an old pub building.
  The project advocates for people-led change, social and environmental justice and champions the importance of art in leading that change, in cooperation with public services.

• 

  Sue Palmer Future Portland Facilitator
  

  Sue Palmer

  Future Portland Facilitator

  Sue Palmer is an artist, producer and project manager, with a particular focus on participation and community-led initiatives. Current artistic work includes Common Salt and Atmospheric Forces in collaboration with artist Sheila Ghelani.
  Sue also works as the Future Shed Lead in a health and climate partnership programme in her home town of Frome in Somerset, facilitating community-building and public events.
  Sue has also worked on many heritage and green space projects, including an international WCMT Fellowship award to study public green space and social arts practice. Sue has shown work as part of b-side Festival, including the No 1 Bus project with artist Joff Winterhart, as well as research work for Dorset AONB.

• 

  Fin Irwin Founder & Co-director intoBodmin CIC
  

  Fin Irwin

  Founder & Co-director intoBodmin CIC

  Find Out More

  Fin Irwin is a cultural and community leader. Having set up the successful Bike Shed Theatre in Exeter, being the inaugural programmer at The House in Plymouth and five years ago, founding the community and cultural organisation intoBodmin. As the founder of intoBodmin CIC, Fin focuses on community and cultural projects, embodying values of inclusion and creativity, working to break down barriers and foster a positive future for Bodmin.
  IntoBodmin is community interest company based in Bodmin, Cornwall, with a mission to provide equitable access to cultural activities. Our strategic aims focus on breaking down barriers, collaborating for positive impact, and creating inclusive community spaces. Emphasising unity, creativity, and environmental responsibility, we curate diverse programming, from cultural events to community initiatives. Our commitment to inclusivity fosters connections and wellbeing, making intoBodmin a hub for cultural enrichment and community engagement.

• 

  Anita Roy Chair of Transition Town Wellington
  

  Anita Roy

  Chair of Transition Town Wellington

  Find Out More

  Anita Roy is chair of Transition Town Wellington. She moved back to the UK in 2015 after spending twenty years living and working in Delhi. She is a writer and editor, and now works part-time as a cloudmaker making acoustic sound absorbers out of upcycled sheep’s wool. Her books include Gifts of Gravity and Light, A Year in Kingcombe and the children’s novel, Gravepyres School for the Recently Deceased. She is also a regular country diarist for the Guardian.
  Transition Town Wellington’s newly established forest garden on Fox’s Field has been featured in the Guardian, Permaculture Magazine and Resurgence & Ecologist. It has led to the creation of a 65 acre green corridor which the group is helping to manage. TTW is an entirely volunteer-led, not-for-profit community group.

• 

  Laura Baldwin Co-founder of Portland 4 the Planet
  

  Laura Baldwin

  Co-founder of Portland 4 the Planet

  Laura is an Olympic sailor, coach, co-founder of Portland 4 the Planet and a member of the Stop Portland Waste Incinerator campaign. An environmental activist and climate science communicator.
  Portland 4 the Planet is a platform for anyone doing anything positive for the planet on Portland. So far, they have planted 3000 trees, organised an eco fair and clothes swaps, give talks in schools, businesses and the community, hosted people’s assemblies, established a community allotment that is set to expand in 2024 along with the opening of a ‘Lottie Larder’ for allotment growers to swap seeds, seedlings, produce and knowledge, passing on excess produce to the Portland Community Fridge.