Culture, Arts and Refugees
Noel Bridgeman
 | Noel BridgemanCreative Projects Coordinator, Paragon International |
Biography
Noel Bridgeman is 38 years old and was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He grew up in Glasgow having attended respectively, a mainstream primary and a Comprehensive secondary school. Further education to degree level was taken when he reached 30 years old since he preferred to go straight into work on leaving school.
He has worked (chronologically) as an illustrator for the UN Association, a self employed music writer and performer, an Immigration and Nationality Officer with the UK Passport Agency in both Glasgow and London, a career and support nurse and most recently, for the last six to eight years has been in work as a community arts practitioner and arts events coordinator in Glasgow. He has a BA Hons in Community Arts from Strathclyde University.
PLN Experience
My main work at the moment is as a project coordinator with Paragon and I create, devise and deliver programmes for the company, which primarily seek to provide music creation and performance activities for people who do not have this facility available. We work across the age range and we ensure that our work is available to as broad a section of society as possible.
I came to the PLN programme in the spring of 2007 and attended every meeting held in Development House over the twelve months. It has been a very interesting and valuable experience for me. Being able to work through ideas with UK people who are involved in arts practice in the Refugee and Asylum (R/AS) sector was informative, challenging and, ultimately, it provided for me the opportunity to frame my own practise within a cross agency matrix in both Scotland and the UK. It has stimulated in me the desire to further develop this enquiry into the cross agency provision that serves both R/AS and all other groups in society with whom they are in contact.
The PLN network development gave validity to my enquiry that helped to produce serious, committed attention and contributions from key players in both social and arts provision here in Scotland. It helped me to see that while the UK network was the main focus of the PLN programme, the need to formulate a coherent Scotland-wide network is also there. The links made with others in the UK will hopefully provide the platform for strong connections to be formed that benefit all connected with tackling the changes faced by all of us in a constantly changing cultural and social landscape.
Study Visit Report
Click here to read Noel’s Study Visit Report