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)
Emile Mackie
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 Kalkan
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 safe 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 Gibson
Caitlin is super busy... that's why she hasn't written her bio yet. But I mean, let's be honest, the world isn't going to fall apart if she never gets round to it. All I will say is, Caitlin has the most wickedly contagious laugh. When she is present, the smiles will follow.
Green Team and Inclusivi-T
(They/Them)
Sam Milne
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 Rooney
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