Trustees
Katie Cohen
Chair
Katie recently moved from Holloway after 10 years living in the area. She has spent much of her life in North London, with an interlude in Hebden Bridge West Yorkshire. She is interested in people and is an anthropology graduate.
Katie has spent time working in both China and Australia in Educational settings and enjoys travelling a great deal. Art is another fascination for Katie both as a spectator/participant and as a creative.
She currently works at the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs UnLtd which supports people to bring about positive change in their communities. Rowan Arts is a fine example of such projects hence her motivation to get involved as a trustee. Katie now lives in Walthamstow with her husband and two young, energetic kids.
Helen Carpenter
Vice Chair
Helen has always been interested in local identity, innovation, change processes and bringing people together from different backgrounds. She did a degree in languages (French and Spanish), and later ended up also grappling with learning Polish (her husband comes originally from Poland).
She has over 20 years working experience working with charitable foundations, cultural regeneration and sustainable tourism. This includes running the agency Discover Islington in the 1990s and then her own company, Urban Explorers.
From 2003-7 she co-ordinated the Welcome To Your Library project connecting public libraries and refugees and was awarded an MBE in 2008. She was brought up in north London, has lived in the Holloway area for 25 years and is happy to call herself a real London fan. She especially enjoys exploring unlikely places on foot.
Bridget Jackson
Treasurer
Bridget is both an artist and a qualified accountant. She joined the board of Rowan Arts because it offered a great opportunity to link her interests in the arts with her financial knowledge. She is particularly keen to support an organisation which uses the arts to connect people to the area in which they live and to the people who live around them.
Bridget works for the National Audit Office which scrutinises public spending on behalf of Parliament. She has also worked in a number of galleries, both on a paid and voluntary basis. Having studied Fine Art at University, Bridget continues to make and exhibit her own work which explores the idea of painting as an object rather than an image.
Harriet Carter
Harriet joined the board of Rowan Arts in 2006 because she wanted to participate in an organisation that delivers a sense of community - which she missed, having grown up in small leafy village in Essex where life revolved around the village green. She currently lives in Vauxhall with her husband, but feels a part of many places in London, including Holloway, London is both her home and a place for continual exploration.
Harriet's first degree was a BA (Hons) in History from the University of Sheffield and her second was a Graduate Diploma in Law from Westminster University. She works at the London School of Economics which, like Rowan Arts, supports life long learning and encourages a sense of curiosity - plus, as she says, it is always good to see careful administration rewarded with delivering a wealth of positive activity!
Rosy Day
Rosy has spent the last ten years in the public sector, doing a number of senior roles, primarily at the Cabinet Office and Ministry of Justice. Prior to that she spent eight years working in television, initially researching and later producing science and history documentaries. She has a BA (Hons) from Cambridge University in Social and Political Sciences.
Zena Gani
Zena has lived and worked in the Holloway area for a number of years and is part of the Holloway community. She is Deputy Head at Grafton Primary School with responsibility for Key Stage 1. She came to London from Guyana as a teenager, gained a B.ed (Hons) degree and has always worked with children supporting and helping to shape creative and enquiring minds through an inspiring curriculum.
Creativity unlocks potential and is the forefront of learning and teaching and this has inspired her to be part of Rowan Arts.
As well as class teaching, Zena is a teacher governor, member of the HSA, mentor to work experience students, volunteers, student teachers, and NQTs (newly qualified teachers).
She is a member of the Ramblers Association and often goes rambling around London and the outskirts. She has recently started knitting but is finding it challenging to complete projects.
Tina Speed
Tina is currently Participation and Learning Manager at the London Sinfonietta, devising a nationwide programme of events and experiences inspired by contemporary music. She was previously Events and Projects Manager at spnm, producing new commissions and facilitating collaborations between emerging composers, professional artists and arts organisations and has also worked at Greenwich+Docklands Festivals on large scale, cross-art performances and participatory events.
Tina studied music at Brunel University, and has a special interest in experimental music, cross arts collaborations and mass participation.
Loan Tran
Loan Tran was born in Saigon, Vietnam and came to live in England in 1962. She has a BA (Hons) in English Literature from Sussex University.
In 1989 she trained in Rolfing, a method of deep tissue manipulation, and lived and worked in Paris for 11 years. Whilst there she co-founded and co-managed Access Point, a centre for complementary health between 1991-1995, before moving back to England in 1995. She has worked as an actor and Rolfing practitioner.
She is inspired by Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who teaches mindfulness, and the power of both the arts and therapeutic experiences to help people feel a sense of connection and enlivement.