Artsawonder

Gerry McAlinden / Member

admin — Tue, 09 Jan 2024 16:00:21 +0000

As a civil servant, Newry-born Gerry McAlinden engaged with communities from all traditions providing pathways to employment for school-leavers. In the European Commission he supported local communities taking charge of local development: was CEO for the Northern Ireland Centre in Europe in the 1990s. He has led technical assistance teams helping governments to meet EU membership conditions – in the Baltics, Poland, Croatia, Kosovo and Bosnia; and currently in Ukraine and Albania. His experience also extends to partnership-based local development and policy dialogue in South Africa. His PhD thesis explores the people-factor in development policy/practice, how individuals together negotiate and shape policy at each delivery-point, often creating unintended outcomes. So often, music, art and culture lie at the heart of those relationships. Gerry has a long relationship collaborating with Tommy Sands using music, poetry and drama to build bridges where differences divide: with unemployed youths in the ‘70s, or Poets-and-Pints in Newry during the dark ‘80s and again now as part of the Artsawonder collective

Ciara Foster / Treasurer / Trustee

admin — Tue, 09 Jan 2024 15:53:22 +0000

A graduate in International Marketing and Spanish, Ciara worked in the Healthcare Industry in England for almost 15 years. Belfast born, she returned home to Northern Ireland where she ran her own business, a Pilates studio in Warrenpoint for 13 years. She has lived in London, Manchester, Seville and Mexico City and now resides in the beautiful seaside town of Newcastle in Co. Down

Scott Sotomayor / Member

admin — Tue, 09 Jan 2024 15:51:57 +0000

Scott is originally from the USA but has spent the last 10 years living and working in Rostrevor with YWAM An Cuan. He assumed the role of director in 2021. He is married to Yasmine and with her has a young son named Mateo.Over the last decade Scott has worked with young people, worked with refugee communities, and taught in various programs around the world. YWAM being a Christian faith based org, Scott is passionate about connecting people with the message of peacemaking found in the story of Jesus and inspiring people to love their neighbours with kindness and generosity.

Mary Verner / Member

admin — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 18:07:41 +0000

Mary Verner is manager of a small Northern-Ireland based translation agency. She has worked with people from every nationality, ethnicity, religious, cultural and political background and is committed to the ethos of good communication as a means of crossing barriers and building understanding. She is currently Secretary of Artaswonder.

Catherine Sands / Chairperson / Trustee

admin — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 18:04:48 +0000

The French born linguist, founder and director of the Expression International language school in Rostrevor for 20 years and awarded Northern Ireland Business Woman Of The Year Award in 1992 for her leadership and organisational skills. Those organisational skills are now serving the Artsawonder Collective.

Muhammad Al-Hussaini / Member

admin — Sat, 30 Dec 2023 12:49:39 +0000

Muhammad Al-Hussaini is an imam and Senior Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life, and was Lecturer in Islamic Studies and Jewish-Muslim relations at Leo Baeck Rabbinical College. He is a journalist at the Church of England Newspaper, and writes the regular exegetical columns on the Hebrew Bible and Greek New Testament. Muhammad was educated at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Al-Azhar, as well as the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has a great love of the Irish language, trad fiddle and sean-nós song.

Sorcha Turnbull / Member

admin — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 16:13:10 +0000

Sorcha Turnbull has worked on various community projects to maximise PR opportunities on a voluntary basis throughout the years. Her background is in sales, marketing and advertising as she spent many years working for a publishing company in the UK. Passionate about projects that inspire social change or have a positive social impact on local communities. she has worked on PR campaigns using social media, press and advertising for many events including one of Ireland’s largest folk music festivals Fiddlers Green International Festival.

Bruce Victor / Member

admin — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 16:12:36 +0000

Bruce is a physician, specialising in psychiatry, ultimately becoming a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine of the University of California, San Francisco. He has published and lectured about psychopharmacologic, psychodynamic, forensic, and even transpersonal aspects of psychiatry. He is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland. He is currently a Visiting Scholar at the University of Cambridge. Bruce is also a musician, and he and his wife, Marla Fibish play together as Noctambule. With Marla playing mandolin, mandolin, and button accordion, and Bruce playing guitar, cittern, and bouzouki, they play both traditional and original music. They have produced four albums and have toured throughout the United States and Ireland. Bruce is currently serving as the Director of Programmes in Artsahealing.

Jonny Clark / Member

admin — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 16:11:25 +0000

Jonny was director of an ecumenical Christian charity called Youth With A Mission since 2007. He was centre director of their large residential centre in Rostrevor called An Cuan since 2010. Jonny has recently taken on a role at Corrymeela as Programme Manager for Public Theology. Much of his work in the last decade and a half has been peace building in Ireland and also using the An Cuan centre to stimulate movements of reconciliation in Lebanon, Bosnia, South Africa and a variety of other countries. Jonny also is the producer of the documentary about the Troubles called “Guardians Of The Flame” and the accompanying podcast with over 40 interviews with activists, peace builders, politicians, musicians and theologians. Aside from all of this, his expertise has been in facilitation, inter-faith dialogue and community building.

Tommy Sands / Member

admin — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 16:10:02 +0000

Tommy Sands has for many years been involved in the Irish peace process as a songwriter, performer, and mediator. His songs, which have been translated into many languages, appear in schoolbooks around the world and have been recorded by Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, and dozens of others. He has performed all over the world from New York’s Carnegie Hall to the Olympic stadium in Moscow. At the Good Friday Peace Agreement talks in Belfast his appearance with a group of Catholic and Protestant children prompted Deputy First Minister Seamus Mallon to pronounce it a ‘defining moment’ in the peace process. Tommy, who received an honorary doctorate at Nevada University for his work with gang kids in prison, is currently involved with his unique Artsawonder project in Ireland, bringing together Muslim, Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish communities to create relationships between diverse groups.