Marcus J Wilson
Director, Pooka & Co Ltd
Marcus is director of Pooka & Co – a Scottish web design and development agency working with cultural and third sector clients.
Prior to this he worked in marketing and development in the cultural sector across the UK for 15 years – including work with theatres in London, festivals in Yorkshire and development agencies in Scotland. He is a former Broadband Britain award winner for web development, and has advised the Scottish Executive and Creative Scotland on major online listings and cultural ticketing projects.
He is a skilled trainer and project manager.
Alison F Bell
Fibre Artist, Researcher
Alison is a fibre artist/researcher and studied at Glasgow School of Art and Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in the 70s. Her interests concern the ways in which creative process has the potential to reveal a deeper self-understanding. In 2018 she gained a PhD from the University of the West of Scotland: “Exploring the embodied experience of ageing through creative practice”. She also lectured in Critical Theory at the university from 2007-18.
Prior to this, she lived and worked on the Isle of Arran for 25 years, where she ran her studio – Arran Fine Art Silks.
She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, has published in academic journals, won many awards and has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally. She served on the Board of Craft Scotland, was a Specialist Advisor (Crafts) to the Scottish Arts Council and was Chair of Arran Visual Arts.
Pamela Conacher
Pamela has over 35 years experience supporting the development of creative careers, enterprise and the creative economy in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and beyond. She achieves this by nurturing creative talent and businesses through general and specific support, including mentoring, training, advice, networking, project development and consultancy.
She provides advice to organisations and individuals to develop and support creative talent in the wider rural economy and believes in the sustainability of rural communities through a strong and professional creative economy.
Through her previous posts with HI~Arts and HIE/XpoNorth and as a founding director of Emergents CIC, Pamela is currently a freelance consultant working with a wide range of organisations including Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Creative and Cultural Skills, High Life Highland, Craft Scotland, British Crafts Council and Business Gateway. Pamela is also an advisor for RIO (Really Interesting Objects) and a Director of Glenuig Community Association and GlenuigNet CIC.
Helen Voce
Independent Project Manager, Programme and Event Producer
A supporter of creative people and creative industries, Helen’s professional specialism and personal interest is contemporary craft and design. Working locally, nationally, internationally and voluntarily, she designs, facilitates and produces opportunities, initiatives and spaces in which creative practitioners, micro-businesses, projects and organisations can realise their full artistic and business potential.
Current clients and roles include Tashkeel (Dubai) facilitating the Tanween Design Programme for emerging designers based in the UAE, Fife Contemporary as Deputy Chair, and Make Works Scotland as Co-Project Lead. Previous clients include Cove Park and Creative Scotland. Previous roles include Events Programmer at Cultural Enterprise Office, Craft Development Officer at Dumfries and Galloway Council where she jointly managed the ERDF funded Art & Craft Sector Trade Development Project supporting the development of craftspeople and visual artists, including Spring Fling, and the Crafts Council, where she worked primarily in the Business Development department.
Carol Sinclair
Ceramicist
Carol is a ceramic artist and graduate of Grays School of Art. She has been running her own studio for the last 28 years, formerly in Edinburgh before moving to Forfar in Angus in 2017.
A keen collaborator Carol has been involved in a number of artist led initiatives, most recently as part of the Smart Plastics Group. She is currently a Director of Really Interesting Objects CIC and has been a supporter of Applied Arts Scotland since its inception in 1990.
Carol has been working as a creative business adviser and trainer for the last 17 years, with clients including Cultural Enterprise Office, NESTA and the British Council, with international projects in Iceland and Thailand. Carol currently represents craft on the Creative Industries Advisory Group to the Scottish Government, was a specialist adviser for the Scottish Arts Council (now Creative Scotland) and member of Creative & Cultural Skills Council employers groups, Scottish and Crafts.
John O’Neill
Accountant, Financial Advisor
John trained as an accountant with Ernst & Young (now EY) in Glasgow, remaining with the firm for 10 years. He then moved to EY in Los Angeles to broaden his experience.
Upon returning to the UK John he took up the role of finance director in a TV commercials production company.
In 2004 he set up his own practice – The O’Neill Partnership – acting as an accountant/advisor to businesses in the small and medium sized market. He currently acts for a range of clients, in predominantly the creative sector, advising for example on tax, accounting and cash flow.
Ann Marie Shillito
Jeweller, Researcher
Ann Marie, Anarkik3D‘s co-founder/CEO and continues her contemporary jewellery practice using digital technologies. Her practical knowledge guides Anarkik3D a haptic (‘virtual 3D touch’) 3D modelling software for applied artists.
Anarkik3D spun out from Ann Marie’s AHRC funded Tacitus Research Project (Edinburgh College of Art/Edinburgh University) investigating haptics for more intuitive digital 3D interaction.
She has taught at honours degree level, is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths (by redemption), Honorary Research Fellow, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and author of ‘Digital Crafts: Industrial Technologies for Applied Artists and Designer Makers’.
As an established older applied artist she remains curious and adventurous, unafraid of change, and loving using digital technologies.
Barbara Shearer
Jeweller
Barbara is a Scottish maker of contemporary jeweller. With a professional background in Environmental Management Barbara strives to minimise the hidden costs to the environment, by using recycled silver and recycled or ethically sourced gemstones, without compromising the sense of quality in her jewellery practice.
