Meet the team

Scott joined Seed as our inaugural Director in January 2020. He is responsible for the project as a whole, reporting to the Consortium. Hailing from Sydney, Scott originally trained as an archaeologist, prior to embarking on a 25 year career in arts management in Sydney. He relocated to South West England in 2018. His previous roles have encompassed a wide range of different artforms, with a strong focus on community arts, placemaking, public events and cultural development. Scott’s passion for the arts is best illustrated by his having stood for a seat in the Australian Senate as a candidate for the Arts Party in 2016.

Scott has a lifelong passion for music, having played guitar since the age of 10. He has played in numerous bands, orchestras and as a solo artist, with an early highlight being jamming with blues legends Son Terry and Brownie McGee at the age of 15. More recently, Scott was a founding member of Bath’s newest community orchestra, Bathtub Orchestra, shortly after his arrival in the UK. He is currently working on recording Clutter, a solo album of original songs he has lying around, some stretching back three decades.

Laura is responsible for Seed’s community engagement and project management including producing projects for Seed across Sedgemoor. Before joining the Seed team in July 2020, Laura worked as a strategic director and freelance producer for creative projects and education including RIO, Bristol Old Vic, BBC New Creatives, InspirED & Arts award.

Laura has 15 years’ experience working in socially engaged arts practice which was ignited through a passion for Drama, musical theatre and photography from a young age. Laura focuses on working with people and the communities they live in, supporting them, businesses, artist and stakeholder to transform ideas into creative projects and develop themselves to learn and grow. Laura loves to take photographs, tell stories and makes creative cakes in her spare time.

Liz looks after social media and marketing at Seed Sedgemoor and provides assistance with project management. Liz joined the team in July 2022 bringing communications and engagement experience from the National Centre for Folk Arts and Glastonbury Abbey as well as local businesses and charities working in culture and development. She has a postgraduate in museum studies and cut her teeth in research policy and grant funding at the AHRC and ESRC.

Liz is passionate about heritage, culture and community. A maker since childhood she is a keen wool spinner, dyer and weaver of wool and an active member of the Somerset Guild. She loves live music and events either out front or helping out somewhere behind the scenes.

Phil helped put the bid together for the Seed project and is now our Community Engagement Ambassador.  Phil was a student at Dartington Hall in 66, worked in rep theatre and as stage manager at the Drury Lane Arts Lab, co-founded Bath Arts Workshop in 69, going on to Tower Hamlets Arts in 75, continuing as a production manager/event organiser in London, New York and Bristol.  In  87 he studied documentary production at Bournemouth Film School, worked as assistant producer at BBC Children’s TV then independent producing and directing. On moving to Somerset, he returned to his first love of community-based work, co-establishing the Somerset Film enterprise and working as its Facilitator from 1995 till 2020. He chaired the UK Community Media Association from 2005-2012.

Phil was weaned by be-bop jazz and the beat poets through the 60s, embraced counter cultural arts and film with a passion and has pursued his creative dreams for fifty plus years, hitch hiking through Latin and North America along the way. He graduated this year from the OU with a BA Hons Humanities in History and Creative Writing and is studying for a Masters in Global Development. He became a dad to Annie in 85 and a grandad to Rowan in 2016. He loves books, films, music and cycling and walking with his partner Eve and friends.

Kim Wide is the Founder and CEO of Take A Part CIO, and its award winning co-commissioning model – the Arts Action Group. Kim built Take A Part from a pilot project initiated in 2006 to become an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation in 2018. She has established Take A Part Carlow (ROI) & We Create (Cheltenham) and the newly founded Call + Response. She has also initiated the South West branch of the Social Art Network and is the founder of Social Making – the UK’s only biennial symposium on socially engaged practice. She was awarded an MBE in the 2020 Queens New Years Honours List for ‘Services to Social Engagement in the Arts’, the first time ever this honour has been bestowed.

Kim hails from Canada (Hamilton, Ontario to be exact). Kim is a keen(ish) runner, walker and cook (but NOT a baker). She runs a book club but rarely reads the books, is a lover of spicy foods and an avid taker of baths. She has never had a cavity, is afraid of heights and her fun fact is that she is the second cousin of Tom Jones once removed. She lives in Bristol with her husband and 4 teen boys so is rather outnumbered!