What do you do with DaDa?
Christine has just joined Dada as a trustee but has been a customer of DaDa festival for over 10 years and volunteered back then too. Christine says that being introduced toDadafest has shaped her career and has led back to this point where she feels able to give governance and guidance.
She says “When I volunteered at the very start of my career in social care, working with Dada showed me what great support can look like, how environments form inclusion, and how working together creates stronger inclusive communities.”
Tell us a bit about your background
After finishing art school, Christine wondered how to make money like most working-class artists did in the mid-noughties and found herself working in a job she never expected. For Christine it was with people with learning disabilities.
She says “I feel really lucky that I found myself working for an organisation with great values similar to mine or moulding me into the person I am now. I have spent 16 years continuing to work with people with learning disabilities, either in direct support, administration roles, leadership or advocacy, and the passion for supporting people to live their lives to the fullest has never left me.”
Christine’s current role is working for Options for Supported Living as the Community Engagement Development Manager, and she loves being out and about meeting people. Christine also volunteers to help run Arena Studio and Gallery in the Baltic triangle where she has her own studio space and takes time to be creative and support local Liverpool artist.
What do you like to do outside of work?
Christine loves a good gig or festival. She says
“I’ve served my time camping so I prefer the warmer city festivals with a hotel room. This also means I can travel and see friends and family too. Craft beer is a passion and has been known to be included in my day job creating Options 30th Birthday Beer with a group of equally enthusiastic beer lovers at Options, designing and making the beer with a local brewer and bar. With any of the time left, I spend in my studio painting, drawing, and scribbling down ideas.”