Your Committee
We are all volunteers at Room to Be, each of us keen to make a difference and take worthwhile action in our community for people and for the planet. We are a friendly bunch of queer folk looking to create safer spaces and new opportunities for the LGBTQIA+ community in Dundee, to build partnerships and strengthen allyship.
We all help one another on the committee, but we coordinate through teams. Our Green Team focusses on the garden, nature, climate and sustainability. Our Creatives work on the arts programme. Our Inclusivi-T team is working on strengthening allyship and our own intentions around diversity, equity and inclusivity.
Together we are building a lasting, sustainable grassroots project with diversity, acceptance and wellbeing at its heart.
Chairperson
Project Lead
(He/Him / They)
Emile
Emile is a professional writer and gardener who cares deeply about people, community, SOIL, plants, compost, wildlife, sustainability, the environment, words, literature, music and the arts. He compulsively likes to learn new things and is almost always on a new course.
Emile believes that societal change is best impacted through local community activism. Positive personal change can grow from being a seen and valued member of a safe community. These are the basic building blocks that created Room to Be.
Secretary
Creative Team
(She/Her/They)
Mel
Textiles artist, surface designer, fabric fanatic and colour and pattern enthusiast, Mel is qualified in Photography and Fine Art and holds her certificate in Counselling Level 3. Her professional background is in inclusive educational provisions, resource development and the delivery of courses with differentiated learning objectives. She is currently studying for an MA in Participatory Arts.
Mel cares deeply about inclusivity and safer spaces for marginalised members of society, and is a strong proponent of making, creating and crafting as a means of improving wellbeing.
Treasurer
Creative Team
(She/Her)
Caitlin
Caitlin loves being able to show up for her queer community and be involved in a range of artistic adventures. Growing up queer in rural Scotland, she knows the importance of having support from like minded people when every stage of your life looks a little (or a lot) different to what was expected of you. But, she also finds a sense of ease and comfort in being part of nature, therefore Room to Be was a magical hybrid of needs when she moved to Dundee and the R2B community has since become incredibly important to her.
Caitlin loves to yap and be yapped at about favourite books, films, music and TV shows. So please come with any and all recommendations.
Green Team and Inclusivi-T
(They/Them)
Sam
Sam is an avid reader, tinkerer and houseplant gardener with a background in technology and youth work. They love to listen and learn, and they're keen to help improve accessibility, inclusivity and safety in physical and digital spaces. Sam is also passionate about degrowth, permaculture and permacomputing.
Creative Team
(She/Her)
Anna
With a passion for nature, Anna is an artist based in Dundee and Angus, taking inspiration from formations present in the natural world and the ways in which making connects her to the environment. After graduating with a degree in Textile Design, she has evolved into a multi-disciplinary artist, specialising in drawing, painting and ceramics as well as textiles.
While she develops her personal practice, Anna’s role at Room To Be involves working with Mel and Caitlin to co-produce programmes of creative engagement and design arts and crafts workshops that inspire others to make cool things, express themselves and connect with nature.
Whatever skills you might bring
(unknown)
There is a space on our committee and it could be you shaped
What does being on our committee look like?
As far as committee's go, this one is pretty chill. You learn the basics of what committee life is like without any of the stress, unpaid pressure and narky toxicity that can come with it. Sure there's policies and governance and risk assessments and meetings that have an agenda. But there's also a lot of fun to be had in planning the timetable and coming up with ideas which we then hunt funding for... or better yet figure out how we can achieve it for free.
If you have a particular skill, there's plenty of room for you to use it. Provided its in line with our constitution... naturally.
Representing the wider membership
(Various)
The Steering Group
Our Steering Group consists of four members who are interested in representing the wider membership and have more of a say on the direction and programming of Room to Be. They join the committee three times a year at the General Meeting
Our Network and Allies
As the saying goes, it takes a village; and Dundee is a city that definitely feels more like a village. It has great community spirit and many interlacing networks whose members are full of creative zeal and passion for positive change. Room to Be would not exist without the support of our allies.
The Dundee Changemakers Hub
Changemakers is a social justice and climate action hub and network inspiring and supporting change for a more resilient and sustainable Dundee. Room to Be has accessed funding through Changemakers for projects delivering on our climate action framework.
Grow Dundee
Grow Dundee is a community garden network facilitied by the MAXwell Centre, offering our members great gardening and growing opportunities across the city. They are a network of growers with a big heart and a green vision for the future of Dundee.
Creative Dundee Amps
A number of our creatives at Room to Be are members of this amazing network of artists, writers, designers and musicians. They make up a community that sets out to cultivate creativity in the city and impact collective change.
Cake or Dice
Cake or Dice is an amazing safe space and board game cafe in the centre of Dundee that prides itself on inclusivity and fearless queer allyship. They have been integral support to Room to Be from the very beginning and one of our meet-up venues.
Boomerang
Community Centre
The Boomerang Community Centre welcomed us from the word go, offering us our first growing space in the city. We managed to secure a microgrant through Changemakers to build a planting and seating area and have also worked in partnership with RSPB's Wild Dundee to create a wildlife habitat.
Dawson Park
Community Garden
The Community Garden up at Dawson Park is a very special place with a vibrant volunteer community. Room to Be have been offered their own small garden to design and maintain and are active in gardening in the wider community space, growing crops, tending ornamentals and learning about design. This opportunity was provided by the garden staff team within SAMH (Scottish Action for Mental Health).
The MAXwell Centre
The team at MAXwell have become dear friends of ours at Room to Be offering amazing opportunities and gardening support through their Grow Dundee network, tool library, plant swaps and training events. If you are looking for midweek gardening options, we have Room to Be members that are a part of their volunteer garden task force. Whilst not queer specific, MAXwell work hard at providing safer spaces where all are welcome.