Our Board of Non-Executive Directors furthers the work of Glasgow Women’s Library by playing an active part in strategy development and the meeting of the our mission and aims.
The current members of the Board of Directors are:
Helen Anderson
A Glasgow native, Helen studied East European languages and Theatre before moving into a career in the arts. Her fundraising and development career began over 10 years ago in the fiercely competitive cultural charity fundraising sector; with 7 years spent at strategic and executive level at organizations across the UK.
She shares the Library’s vision of bringing the truly transformative, creative and imaginative work of GWL to as wide an audience as possible and looks forward to working together with the team, sharing information, building opportunities and growing in knowledge, aspiration and strength.
Ashley Lennon
Ashley trained and worked a journalist, before moving into public relations. As an Account Director at one of Scotland’s largest PR agencies she handled media relations for a range of public, private and voluntary sector clients. She is currently Communications Manager for national not-for-profit organisation, Momentum. With experience in designing communications strategies as well as public relations and marketing, Ashley is looking forward to using her skills to help Glasgow Women’s Library to raise its profile as it moves into the next exciting stage of its development.
Ashley is also a graduate of the prestigious M Phil in Creative Writing at Glasgow University. She writes fiction, teaches Creative Writing and is passionate about the role that literature and lifelong learning can play in helping people to transform their lives.
Susan Garde Pettie
Susan writes:
Drawn to the power of stories to change hearts, minds, and lives, I studied Film & Video Production. Working in the cultural industries, after graduating, my interests turned to group dynamics and small business. This thread led me to Iceland and a desire to understand the conditions that foster an equal, creative, productive, and resilient culture. The promise of the Parliament and a desire to engage in sustainable community development returned me to Scotland. After a period of self directed study I set up ‘Prophet Scotland’ as a culture change agency, through which I work with communities of place and interest supporting their path towards greater flourishing.
I joined the Library in 2003 looking for more ‘me’ time. Writing reviews for publisher donated books exercised my creative writing while expanding my understanding of the global women’s movement. Gender equality to me means a society where everyone fulfils their potential regardless of the biological nature of their birth. Glasgow Women’s Library supports women to express their voice and fulfil their potential; it collects, curates and encourages women’s stories, giving us a fuller picture of our world. The Library is a cultural focal point for a transforming society and a centre for learning life changing literacies.
GWL is also learning to lead its way through this transforming society. I am inspired and encouraged by the vision and dedication of the women who work and volunteer for the Library. As I am they are all passionate about our ambitions for social enterprise and financial sustainability, for museums accreditation, for national status, for a fit for purpose permanent home and for women’s place in a flourishing Scotland.
Zoe Strachan
Zoe writes:
I’m the author of three novels: Ever Fallen in Love (due to be published in July 2011), Spin Cycle and Negative Space. I also write short stories, essays, journalism and various pieces for radio. Recently I’ve been working on drama, writing plays for Oran Mor and the Citizen’s Theatre/Glasgay, as well as libretti for Scottish Opera. As I’m lucky enough to travel quite frequently through my work, I hope to find opportunities to represent Glasgow Women’s Library internationally. I have a strong commitment to education and have taught creative writing in many different contexts. Through my job as a part time tutor on the prestigious Creative Writing programme at the University of Glasgow, I helped to organise the ‘Women Writers Unite’ series of events at GWL.
As a reader, writer and researcher I have a passion for libraries, and I also have experience in museum work – both in terms of designing and delivering education programmes and producing interpretation materials – so I’m keen to be involved in GWL’s continuing accreditation in this field. Most of all though, I’m excited to be joining the GWL Board at a time when we’re developing and expanding at such a pace. We have a wonderful resource in both our collections and the people with whom we work; our members, volunteers, staff and friends. I believe we can look forward to increasing recognition for our investment in women’s creative and cultural capital at local, national and international level. The future is very bright for Glasgow Women’s Library!
J.A.M Gray
She writes:
Since graduating from Glasgow School of Art I have worked as a Project Manager, Artist and Designer for short films, festivals, corporate and educational events and workshops. In 2009 after completeing a Masters in Interdisciplinary Design at Edinburgh Napier I took up my current position at The Edinburgh Mela, managing a diverse year-round engagement programme and helping to produce different aspects of the Mela festival . As Engagement Project Manager for the Edinburgh Mela I work closely with BME communities and organisations, schools, community centres and further education colleges and universities. I deliver campaigns in collaboration with a variety of organisations and charities, as well as overseeing the Edinburgh Mela Artist Residency programme Shared Territories.
My work outside the UK has included touring with the Glasgow-based AV performance group Pointless Creations, collaborating on audio-visual installations and performances across Europe. A year-and-a-half British Council funded project in Valencia, Spain, involved delivering visual art and performance workshops and activities for groups of immigrant youth, refugees and asylum seekers and the local gypsy community as part of a national campaign for integration within diverse community groups . I have also worked as a volunteer in Khartoum, Sudan, with the charity Sudan Volunteer Programme where I was involved in teaching English and facilitating a variety of workshops for young people.
I am passionate about engaging with communities through the arts, helping to give diverse communities a voice and fervently believe that the arts can be an invaluable catalyst for change. I look forward to being part of the GWL team and relish the opportunity to be able to input into all aspects of the library’s development and in particular the education and outreach programme.
Maud Anne Bracke
Maud writees:
I was born in Gent, Belgium, and spent most of my childhood near Brussels – with a few years in New York. Interested in people’s life stories, and the profound though not inescapable ways in which the past shapes us, I decided to study History. Thoroughly enjoying this, I embarked upon a PhD – a comparative study of Italian and French communism, for which I moved to Florence, Italy. Spending five years there of exciting encounters and intense transformation, I became increasingly aware of the deep ways in which all social reality is political, and specifically started to be drawn to gender politics and history. Moving to a completely unknown Glasgow in 2005 to take on a lecturing job at the University of Glasgow was at first challenging, then became delightful. I live in Partick but escape to the countryside when I can, and haven’t lost the travel bug.
My academic work focuses on Italian 1970s feminism – the subject of my current book project – women and work, and ‘1968’. Joining the Glasgow Women’s Library for me is an opportunity to assist in developing ideas and projects around historical research, as well as raise the Library’s local, national and international profile in this and other areas. Glasgow Women’s Library is in many ways unique, and I am excited and grateful to be part of it.
