Team

Trustee Board

Ian Harrower (Chair)

Ian has been a freelance festival and event producer for over twenty years. Projects include 'Previously'... Scotland's History Festival, The Big Tent, Scotland's Environmental Music Festival, The Royal Highland Show and Gardening Scotland. He has served on the board of The Cockburn Association, Fife Young Carers and Young Enterprise Scotland.

Christine South

Christine left her home town of Linlithgow to study History and History of Art at Edinburgh University. After moving to London, she followed a diverse career path, starting in the civil service, teaching English in Turkey and working in publishing. She gave it all up to follow her dreams of working in the theatre and toured with classical and contemporary theatre companies for four years. In 1995, she started working with the Red Cross Movement, moving from the British Red Cross in London to work for the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Geneva for over twenty years. This included working in partnership development and resource mobilization, organizational development and capacity building, monitoring and evaluation and mainly in disaster response. She also carried out field missions to Kosovo, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Malaysia, Liberia, Ethiopia, and Madagascar. Now retired, Christine and her husband have moved to Cupar in Fife, where she is pursuing her love of music and culture with the Cupar Choral Society, the St Andrews Chorus, various art classes and as a regular visitor to local theatres, including the Dundee Rep and the Byre theatre.

Jenni Gudgeon

Jenni is a writer, photographic artist, and librarian. She has over twenty years of experience bringing local communities together in the Howe of Fife, including the Smart Communities Fife organisation, the Dunshalt Community Association, Open Studios North Fife, and, most recently, the opening of the Dunshalt Community Shop.

Anna Chworow

Anna is an Accountant and the Deputy Director of Nourish Scotland. She has a wealth of experience in the third sector, particularly around strategic development. Anna has previously sat on the Board of Take One Action Film Festivals and held influential roles within the International Association for Community Development, LifeMosaic and The Project Trust.

Sandra Cunningham

Sandra is a Professional Coach specialising in Leadership and Relationship Systems Development and working with senior leaders, executives, and entrepreneurs. With an international consumer marketing, branding, and communications background, Sandra has worked with some of the biggest brands in the food and drink sector. She now lives in Fife and is passionate about career change, life transitions, and nature-based development.

Amber Shaw-Smith

Amber has considerable commercial customer experience working within the hugely competitive Airline Industry and Human Resources for Harrods in Knightsbridge, London. Born in California, Amber married a Scotsman and is now the mother of two children and living in Fife. Part-time, she has been designing websites for local businesses and has recently qualified in Data Visualization, Responsive Web Design, JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures, Front End Development Libraries.

Heids & Herts Advisory Panel

Professor Karen McArdle, FRSA

Professor Emerita at the University of Aberdeen's School of Education.

Karen has been engaged with the learning of adults in a community context for more than thirty years. She has worked in both Australia and the UK and most recently was involved in research in the context of health and wellbeing during Covid 19 pandemic in Fife, Scotland. Karen has just completed her third book, which concerns how to gather evidence of the impact of work in a community setting and has begun her fourth book on the theory and practice of work in the community. She is a mentor to the Education Institute of Scotland's (EIS) awards for action research for educators and is particularly interested in the Arts and health and wellbeing. She currently teaches at the Centre for Medical Education at the University of Dundee in research methodology.

Monica Ferguson

Chief Executive & Artistic Director of The Stables in Milton Keynes.

Monica is responsible for the artistic and business development of The Stables in Milton Keynes, founded by Sir John Dankworth and Dame Cleo Laine in 1969. The Stables delivers over 350 concerts of all music genres and over 250 music education projects each year. Monica is also the festival director of IF: Milton Keynes International Festival. A dedicated arts professional, Monica is passionate about finding new ways of engaging people in the arts. She enjoys the challenge of turning organisations around and building sustainability.

Graeme White

Global Head of Inward Investment, Strategy and New Investment, Scottish Development International.
Graeme specialises in International Trade and Development, International Negotiations and Business Development, and Global Marketing and Promotion. He has worked for over eight years at Scotland's trade and foreign direct investment agency and previously held the role of Head of Tourism – Tourism Inward Investment and International Development.

Mark Turner

Creative Director, producer of screen content, script and pitch writer.

Mark was part of the creative teams that delivered the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games opening and closing ceremonies. He is an award-winning documentary filmmaker with recent board experience on Plus Perth & Kinross – a mental health charity and social movement.

Peter McCaughey

Lead Artist / Director Wave Particle

Peter is the Lead Artist developing and delivering Art & Living: Laurieston, an award-winning 10-year art strategy for Laurieston, South Glasgow; he is Vice Chair of the Board of WASPS Artists Studio, has served as Vice President of the Scottish Artists Union, is a Senior Lecturer in the Sculpture and Environmental Art Department of the Glasgow School of Art and teaches Mapping tactics across the UK and Europe as Lead Artist of WAVEparticle Peter has curated and delivered artwork for temporary installations and permanent commissions, as well as leading on community animation, place-making and master planning projects across the UK.

Gill Musk

Gill works in Fife Council's community planning team and coordinates partnerships on health inequalities and community wellbeing. Her previous roles include development manager at the International Association for Community Development and the Ecology Centre in Kinghorn. Gill's background is in languages and intercultural skills. She has volunteered as a befriender and mental health advocate.

David Venters

Head of Technical and Operations – Byre Theatre, University of St Andrews

David has a BSc in Audio Engineering from the UHI Millennium Institute. He is an experienced sound engineer, working in various settings and with artists such as Mick Taylor (The Rolling Stones), Jefferson Starship, and The Proclaimers.

During his time at the Byre Theatre, he has provided technical support to a wide array of events, such as live music, theatre productions, pantomimes, festivals, and corporate events. This has included working in a variety of roles, from sound engineering for high-profile acts such as PJ Harvey to providing Production Management for the yearly pantomime.

David took up the post as Head of Technical and Operations at the Byre in May 2019, managing the Technical Team and overseeing all aspects of production, venue management, health and safety.