Frances Davis (she/her) is an arts-worker based in Central Sutherland. Her practice takes form in various ways – in work as a curator, artist, researcher, and educator. Recent projects have focused on how we live and work in the context of climate breakdown and include: Let’s Talk About the Weather, a collective weather report of a changing climate drawing on the embodied experiences and observations of people across Caithness and Sutherland; a residency with environmental scientists focusing on the affective experience of doing climate change research; and research and writing on the weather in artists’ moving image. Previously, she was curator at Timespan, a cultural institution in the north of Scotland, and she is currently a Teaching Fellow in Contemporary Art Theory at the University of Edinburgh.

Jamie Dunn is an arts journalist and editor based in Glasgow. He’s currently the film editor of The Skinny, Scotland’s largest arts and culture magazine, and his writing also appears in publications like Sight & Sound, Cineaste and The Guardian. He’s chaired sundry film events for the likes of Glasgow Film Festival and Edinburgh Film Festival, and is a member of both the Critic Circle and GALECA, The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics. And, like everyone it seems, he appears on a podcast; in this case The CineSkinny, a film podcast he co-hosts with colleagues from The Skinny.

Dr Sonya Dyer is an artist from London, working primarily in moving image and sculpture.

Sonya’s practice explores where the centre is located in fictional narratives of the future. She explores how subjectivities and alliances are formed across cultures and temporalities, creating radical futures through unexpected connections. Her work has recently been exhibited in galleries including Primary, Nottingham, Somerset House, London, Whitechapel Gallery, London and Herbert Museum and Art Galleries.

Sonya is an alumnus of the Whitney Museum of American Art: Independent Study Program and is a lecturer in the Department of Art at Goldsmiths College, University of London.

Born in Hawick, Irene has more than 30 years’ experience in commissioning, curating, financial management, fundraising and strategic development. Following an MA in fine art and critical theory, Irene led various initiatives including the flagship Northumberland programme for Arts Council England, ‘Year of the Visual Arts’, a £1.5m public art commissioning project in Barrow-in-Furness, and spent seven years as executive director of Eden Arts in Cumbria. This was twinned with board member support for several arts and cultural sector organisations overseeing HR, finance and succession planning before joining Alchemy in 2019.

Matt Hickman is an award-winning songwriter, filmmaker and creative from Ayrshire, best known for his work with the Scottish indie-soul outfit Brownbear. In recent years, Matt has devoted a lot of his time and expertise to equalities work in Scotland, following on from his social justice work and campaigning for rights as an artist. He was previously the Engagement Lead for Culture Collective, and is now co-lead for We Are Here Scotland’s ‘Creative Balance’ project, researching the barriers facing mental health and wellbeing for Black & POC creatives in Scotland.

Amadu Wurie Khan (PhD) is Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Officer at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. As a refugee-background activist, educator and creative, he occasionally serves as visiting artist, lecturer, trainer, consultant and public speaker on decolonising and inclusive arts education, creative industry practices and climate/environmental justice. His current creative research and practice is exploring how folktales and other oral artforms and traditions constitute communities’ responses to and social action on climate change and environmental justice. Amadu also employs storytelling for research, knowledge exchange and engagement, and for campaigning, advocacy and activism with and among civil society, mainstream service provision and disadvantaged grassroots communities in Scotland and Sierra Leone.

Alice is an arts professional working across research, programming and operations in visual arts and festivals. Having obtained an undergraduate degree in History of Art and English Literature and an MA in Arts, Festivals and Cultural Management, Alice currently works as Programme Coordinator for Art Walk Projects and Operations Manager for Collective. Her research and programming interests include Scottish queer and social histories, participatory projects, and Fair Work in the cultural sector.

Tabi Mudaliar is a producer and writer. Her portfolio contains feature and art film, cultural events, radio productions, and arts projects. A Chair of Alive Community Radio, Director of DG Unlimited, and Network Coordinator for the DG Creative Wellbeing Network, Tabi is an established and well-known contributor and advocate in the creative and cultural landscape of the South of Scotland. She is a passionate advocate for true diversity and inclusion in Scotland’s creative sector, particularly for the underrepresented and the economically excluded. 

Sarah Perks is Professor of Curating in the School of Arts and Creative Industries at Teesside University / MIMA (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art), also leading the Centre for Culture and Creativity. An interdisciplinary curator and filmmaker, Sarah uses relational curatorial strategies to build engagement and empathy for nature recovery and other challenges, designing collaborative and future visioning projects that investigate equitable and non-hierarchical human and non-human partnerships. Previously Sarah was Artistic Director at HOME and Cornerhouse in Manchester, collaborating with international artists, curators and filmmakers including David Lynch, Rosa Barba, Phil Collins, and Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige. sarahperks.co.uk – formsofcirculation.com 

Ingrid Pollard is a photographer, media artist and researcher. She is a graduate of the London College of Printing and Derby University. Ingrid has developed a social practice concerned with representation, history and landscape with reference to race, difference and the materiality of lens based media. Her work is included in numerous collections including the UK Arts Council and the Victoria & Albert Museum. She lives and works in Northumbria, UK.

Ren Scateni is a writer and film curator whose practice embraces experimental and artists’ moving image works exploring the interstices of political, disruptive, and liminal identities. Their writing has appeared in ArtReview and ArtReview Asia, Hyperallergic, MUBI Notebook, and Sight & Sound among others. He was Head of Programme at Encounters Film Festival and has curated programmes for national and international art centres and festivals, including the Barbican, Filmfest Dresden, and Short Waves.

Dr Anthony Schrag is an artist and researcher at Queen Margaret University where he is Reader in Cultural Policy and Arts Management. He is the Programme Leader for the MA Arts, Festivals and Cultural Management as well as the MA Applied Arts and Social Practice. The central focus of his work examines the role of art in participatory and public contexts, with a specific focus on social conflict, agonism and ethics. He is a full member of the Centre for Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, leading the Practice Research Cluster, Finding and Using Creative Knowledge.

Rhea Storr is an artist filmmaker and researcher with an interest in the in-between, the culturally ineffable, translation, format and aesthetics, especially as it relates to Black cultural representation. She is a former co-director of not nowhere, an artist workers cooperative, and a former resident at Somerset House. Previous screenings/exhibitions include Artist Film International and Art on the Underground,  New York Film Festival, CPH:DOX and London Film Festival. In the past, she has also been a programmer for Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival. She is the winner of the Aesthetica Art Prize 2020, the Louis Le Prince Experimental Film Prize and the Royal Photographic Society Award for Creative Contribution to Art in Moving Image.

Ed Webb-Ingall is a filmmaker and researcher working with archival materials and methodologies drawn from community video. He collaborates with groups to explore under-represented historical moments and their relationship to contemporary life, developing modes of self-representation specific to the subject or the experiences of the participants. He is a co-founder of the London Community Video Archive and is currently writing a book with the title BFI Screen Stories: The Story of Video Activism. Previous solo exhibitions have been at The Showroom Gallery (2015), Focal Point (2018), South London Gallery (2019), and Grand Union (2023). Group exhibitions include MK Gallery (2019), Invisible Dust (2019) and Brent Biennial (2022). Forthcoming exhibitions include Devonshire Collective (2023) and PEER (2024).