29 May 2016
16 November 2015
Timeline of Achievement
OCT 2014
Attended One Young World Summit in Dublin.
NOV 2014
Created a podcast about my summit experience.
JAN 2015
Became an Associate Fellow of the Royal Commonwealth Society.
Invited to Pangea, a youth event in Madrid.
FEB 2015
Created a podcast about my Pangea experience.
Received further funding for my project, Arts In Fife.
APR 2015
Took a selfie with four government candidates to inspire young people to vote.
Spoke on national radio about the importance of politics.
MAY 2015
Became We Inspire Ambassador of the month.
Got my own show on Scotland's only LGBTI radio station, Xpress Radio Scotland.
JUL 2015
Received British Citizen Award (BCA) from the House of Lords for services to the arts.
Became part of two LGBTI campaigns to tackle bullying in education.
Broadcast my bullying in education story on the BBC and STV.
Cast in Outlander Season Two.
AUG 2015
Became one of thirty finalist in Kruger Cowne Rising Star Programme.
Joined Kaleidoscot, writing articles about LGBTI issues.
OCT 2015
Part of a digital exhibition in London to inspire young people to follow dreams.
NOV 2015
Created a podcast about three finalists in Kruger Cowne Rising Star Programme.
Internship at the Podcast Host in Dundee.
1 November 2015
Rising Star Finalists
The Kruger Cowne Rising Star Programme, is a global search for a young icon of the future and aims to catapult them onto the international stage and into space. Unfortunately I didn't make the cut but I did have the pleasure of speaking to the chosen three finalists, Freeman Osonuga, Hussain Manawer and Keren Jackson.
3 August 2015
#SENDMETOSPACE
I am one of thirty finalists in the Kruger Cowne Rising Star Programme. The Rising Star Programme gives one young person the opportunity to travel into space. I want that opportunity.
My experiences on earth have been bitter sweet. It’s been a crazy roller coaster and I'm only 23. I had to deal with lots of bullying, threatening behaviour and feeling like I don’t belong here. I still do not understand why it was okay for a small group of people to make me feel worthless for so many years. Even though all this happened, I still managed to utilise my skills to get out of that situation and miraculously I managed to have faith! I’ve now been honoured for my contribution to the arts by a very elite group of people. It’s such a drastic change of circumstances in a short period of time. I really want to put a positive stamp on the world and express an air of inclusion for those people who at one point or another felt segregated from society. I want to use my creativity to inspire positivity and instigate change.
I applied to the Rising Star Programme because I believe art to be important and I believe sending a creative person to space would be revolutionary for humanity. To get a creative perspective on life. I want the chance to see earth all at once, I really want to understand life and illustrate my ideas and thoughts to other young people and hopefully ignite positivity. Unfortunately not everyone understands science, maths or even space but art is universal. People respond to imagery and writing can be translated into languages and reach everyone, even the blind. I have a scroll of questions about life, earth and wonder about creativities place in our ever changing series of worldwide environments. I don’t know if space holds answers, if seeing the world from above will change anything. I hope to find out if there is space for the arts in space.
What is space to a creative? I am so curious and spend my time forever question what all this is. For me, there is something neurotically fascinating about the solar system. We call it “our” solar system although I don’t believe we own it. We actually spend most of our time impacting negatively on it. The idea that everything and nothing is in it. We are part of it and cannot escape it. How much space is there? I hear we are set to run out of it on earth. I am interested in the idea of that visual. Is space reserved only for science and if so, why? I always see such incredible images of space and wonder why the art in those photographs are secondary to the science in them. Space is beautiful, creativity can illustrate that.
Science and space travel are both about innovation. Creativity is about that too, it is forever pushing boundaries. It seems to me the two fields, science and arts, are not so different, when given the chance both fields can collide in the ultimate display of beauty. People throughout history looking through microscopes, telescopes, camera lenses, all of those people witnessed seeing something new. Something unimaginable and beautiful.
Art comes in many forms and has incredible benefits. The American Journal of Public Health published an entire study on the benefits art had on mental health issues a few years back. For me, art gave me a purpose and an escape from constant bullying through school. It kept me alive and distracted me from the negatives in my life. Art is everywhere in our society, whether we notice or not. Everything we use was imagined, drawn, dreamt up or designed by artists, designers, inventors. Without them you would not have the chairs you sit on, the packaging for your products, the products to put in the packaging. I think we owe creativity some celebration. Young people have art all around them now and they can use it to push for positivity and be inspired. Art now manifests through technology, science, invention, app development, game design… Will.i.am pumped his music out from Mars! When science and art come together, the positive outcomes are endless. Maybe one day we will be able to do something crazy like project artists work on the moon at night? It was always my dream as a child to have an art exhibition on the moon and I don’t think that’s impossible. I really think art and science can work well together to create new concepts and advancements. Maybe sending an artist to space will kick off a new generation of possibilities.
I want to know, does art have a purpose in the universe? Why is the infinitely possible, seemingly impossible? I want to know why the arts are treated as less important to humanity when in reality they are vital. Why do we get less and less funding, why are we made fun of? I know when men and women were dwelling in cave systems, along with food and flame, they had artwork on the walls. They danced and entertained. No writing, no science, no engineering, no maths, no schools, no governments, no money, no talk of space travel. Art was used by people to make their own discoveries and to document human life throughout history. People were discovering who they were, what they were and why they were through art. Why do so many people laugh at art which has existed for so long, but not at the idea of space travel?
To me, something imagined and created by a fellow artist is so much more beautiful, meaningful and so much more precious and everlasting than something like money, but it still means less. Does money really make the world turn, can that be seen from space? Can science and art come together more often? Can war, pain, destruction, greed and envy be seen from space? Is beauty still prevalent in society, how beautiful is the earth? Does the beauty of our magical space rock outweigh the negative impact we often have on it? I hope it does.
To succeed and head to space with the Rising Star Programme would be huge. The ticket is more than luck, it holds so much responsibility and opportunity. I really want to know what earth is truly like and what viewing it from above means to the average person. There is a chance here to show a generation that the limits placed upon us by societies do not exist. That the impossible can be possible. To be the one person chosen to explore an alien environment and document the experience, it would be my chance to express my voice. I don’t know what I will see there or what I will experience. I am so curious and I want to showcase earth through creativity, arts, writing, poetry, stories. For me, I was inspired by Giorgio Morandi growing up. His life was very structured and he painted the same things every day, same with Gilbert and George who eat the same food every day and wear the same clothes every day. They were and are challenging the rules we place upon ourselves and I also want to shine a light on this, not through repetition but through what has never yet been done. I want to make a young humanity aware of how impactful creativity can be. Maybe sending an artist to space won’t be so crazy an idea in years to come, it just takes one.
I applied to the Rising Star Programme because I believe art to be important and I believe sending a creative person to space would be revolutionary for humanity. To get a creative perspective on life. I want the chance to see earth all at once, I really want to understand life and illustrate my ideas and thoughts to other young people and hopefully ignite positivity. Unfortunately not everyone understands science, maths or even space but art is universal. People respond to imagery and writing can be translated into languages and reach everyone, even the blind. I have a scroll of questions about life, earth and wonder about creativities place in our ever changing series of worldwide environments. I don’t know if space holds answers, if seeing the world from above will change anything. I hope to find out if there is space for the arts in space.
What is space to a creative? I am so curious and spend my time forever question what all this is. For me, there is something neurotically fascinating about the solar system. We call it “our” solar system although I don’t believe we own it. We actually spend most of our time impacting negatively on it. The idea that everything and nothing is in it. We are part of it and cannot escape it. How much space is there? I hear we are set to run out of it on earth. I am interested in the idea of that visual. Is space reserved only for science and if so, why? I always see such incredible images of space and wonder why the art in those photographs are secondary to the science in them. Space is beautiful, creativity can illustrate that.
Science and space travel are both about innovation. Creativity is about that too, it is forever pushing boundaries. It seems to me the two fields, science and arts, are not so different, when given the chance both fields can collide in the ultimate display of beauty. People throughout history looking through microscopes, telescopes, camera lenses, all of those people witnessed seeing something new. Something unimaginable and beautiful.
Art comes in many forms and has incredible benefits. The American Journal of Public Health published an entire study on the benefits art had on mental health issues a few years back. For me, art gave me a purpose and an escape from constant bullying through school. It kept me alive and distracted me from the negatives in my life. Art is everywhere in our society, whether we notice or not. Everything we use was imagined, drawn, dreamt up or designed by artists, designers, inventors. Without them you would not have the chairs you sit on, the packaging for your products, the products to put in the packaging. I think we owe creativity some celebration. Young people have art all around them now and they can use it to push for positivity and be inspired. Art now manifests through technology, science, invention, app development, game design… Will.i.am pumped his music out from Mars! When science and art come together, the positive outcomes are endless. Maybe one day we will be able to do something crazy like project artists work on the moon at night? It was always my dream as a child to have an art exhibition on the moon and I don’t think that’s impossible. I really think art and science can work well together to create new concepts and advancements. Maybe sending an artist to space will kick off a new generation of possibilities.
I want to know, does art have a purpose in the universe? Why is the infinitely possible, seemingly impossible? I want to know why the arts are treated as less important to humanity when in reality they are vital. Why do we get less and less funding, why are we made fun of? I know when men and women were dwelling in cave systems, along with food and flame, they had artwork on the walls. They danced and entertained. No writing, no science, no engineering, no maths, no schools, no governments, no money, no talk of space travel. Art was used by people to make their own discoveries and to document human life throughout history. People were discovering who they were, what they were and why they were through art. Why do so many people laugh at art which has existed for so long, but not at the idea of space travel?
To me, something imagined and created by a fellow artist is so much more beautiful, meaningful and so much more precious and everlasting than something like money, but it still means less. Does money really make the world turn, can that be seen from space? Can science and art come together more often? Can war, pain, destruction, greed and envy be seen from space? Is beauty still prevalent in society, how beautiful is the earth? Does the beauty of our magical space rock outweigh the negative impact we often have on it? I hope it does.
To succeed and head to space with the Rising Star Programme would be huge. The ticket is more than luck, it holds so much responsibility and opportunity. I really want to know what earth is truly like and what viewing it from above means to the average person. There is a chance here to show a generation that the limits placed upon us by societies do not exist. That the impossible can be possible. To be the one person chosen to explore an alien environment and document the experience, it would be my chance to express my voice. I don’t know what I will see there or what I will experience. I am so curious and I want to showcase earth through creativity, arts, writing, poetry, stories. For me, I was inspired by Giorgio Morandi growing up. His life was very structured and he painted the same things every day, same with Gilbert and George who eat the same food every day and wear the same clothes every day. They were and are challenging the rules we place upon ourselves and I also want to shine a light on this, not through repetition but through what has never yet been done. I want to make a young humanity aware of how impactful creativity can be. Maybe sending an artist to space won’t be so crazy an idea in years to come, it just takes one.
19 July 2015
Bullying in Education
When I was at school in Scotland, I was bullied severely for being gay. I never dreamed I would EVER share my story with the world but after making a radio programme about this topic, I began to think I could do something useful to help other people who are bullied. I joined two high profile campaigns to share my bullying story and ended up on the BBC and ITV. My story was published in a document sent to the Scottish Parliament to try and persuade the government to tackle homophobia in schools.
"I was bullied throughout my time
at high school for being gay. I was outed before I even had time to figure
myself out. The bullying was all day, every day. At lunch times I would have
younger kids throw food at me and shout abusive comments at me. People would
occasionally follow me home shouting abuse and try to beat me up. The police
were involved a few times. I had very few friends so high school was
lonely. I was made to be an outsider and
felt so insecure about myself.
When I went to teachers about the
abuse I was suffering, nothing was done. I was sent to a therapist and nothing
happened to the bullies. By sending me to therapy, my school made me feel even
more insecure, as if I was in the wrong. They pawned me off on someone else and
swept it under the rug, something that happens a lot in Scottish schools.
Teachers need training, they are not trained to support LGBT issues.
I made numerous attempts on my
life as a teenager, my mother was the only other person who knew about it. Art
club was my saviour, it gave me a place to hide and be invisible for a
lunchtime. When I left school I thought, why should I be invisible? I'm great
the way I am! I embraced myself and became a widely successful person recognised by the Queen, Commonwealth and more recently the House of Lords. I
used my personal skills to make my life better and threw myself into the arts.
I still occasionally experience
bullying in my adult life. I am still made to be this outsider and I still spend the vast
majority of my time alone. I think gay equality has a
long way to go here, especially in small towns, closed mindedness is such an
issue. Many people believe that now gay marriage is a thing, that’s it,
that’s equality achieved. That is not the case! There is a lot more to it! I
recently created a radio programme for Xpress Radio Scotland about LGBT
bullying in education because it is still such a major issue. I spoke to
experts who agree more needs to be done to protect and inform young LGBT
people."
9 July 2015
British Citizen Award
I was so thrilled to receive a British Citizen Award for services to the arts. I received a medal at the House of Lords in London. It was such an exciting day and made me feel so good about the work I am doing! I will continue to use my creativity to create positive change!
27 June 2015
1 June 2015
LGBTI Radio
I am now a presenter at Xpress Radio Scotland! Xpress Radio is Scotland's only LGBTI radio station and aims to raise awareness of LGBTI issues and solutions. I have my own series called Talking Points exploring a diverse range of topics.
Show topics include: Bullying in Education, LGBTQI Middle East, Hate Crime, Children's Radio Foundation, Gay Marriage Ireland, Hunting vs Poaching, Suicide Prevention... +
27 April 2015
Young People - Vote for Change
I took an impartial selfie to reach out to local youth and encourage them to vote in the General Election on 7th May 2015. I made a podcast discussing the idea behind the image.
Thanks to: Alex Stewart Clark, Conservative - Jane Ann Liston, Liberal Democrat - Melanie Ward, Labour - Peter Grant, Scottish National Party.
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