Tina Dugard
TD: Tina Dugard
INT: Interviewer
INT: Say who you are and your role.
TD: I’m Tina Dugard, I am the Admin Manager and the Course Administrator and Registrar here at Rosetta Arts. I’ve been working here since March 2019. It seems a lot longer for some strange reason. Em, and I came here when the last charity I worked for lost finding and broke down.
INT: Can you tell me about your connection with Rosetta and how did you become involve?
TD: I’ve always, sort of, known Rosstta Arts awas around. I actually live near Rosetta Primary school, so it’s been on the periphery of my brain for a very long time, but I have never done any courses, never attended anything, as when my last job came to an end, I wanted to do something radically different – as cancer care is emotionally draining, tends to be a 24/7 job. I managed that charity and I was disillusioned with the whole funding scramble and always having to run to keep up. I wanted to take a step back being in my 50s and I didn’t want all the stress anymore, and wanted something that was creative, had a good atmosphere to it, but where I was I was still looking after my community, still providing opportunities and still supporting.
I’ve worked in the vol sector since 1991 after I finished a business admin course, and wouldn’t go back to any other scenario. I was looking for something part time here. The funny thing was, I saw the job advertised in the December and when I went to look and submit the form, it had expired. Then in Feb next year I was still looking on Indeed for jobs. It came up again so I made sure to get my application in this time. And the rest is history!
INT: Can you say a little bit about your connection to Newham as well?
TD: My connection in Newham is that I was born and grew up in. I’m 57 years old. I live in a house that is not far from the maisonette I grew up in. I am hyper local! I’ve chosen to always work within the borough as well.
I’m not a big fan of shovelling around on public passport, but it does mean I’ve got good networks. Everyone in Newham’s voluntary sector knows everyone. It’s led me to have some useful connections and knowledge of whose doing what and where; where venues are; different segments of the community tend to concentrate in certain areas, e.g., African-Caribbean people tend to circulate in hairdressers, beauty parlours, and that sort of thing so we put our brochures and leaflets in at area, so I brought that local knowledge to Rosetta, em I just feel like I am still investing back into my community, even though not as intensively than I did before, but I’m enjoying it more than my other jobs.
INT: Can you describe the changes that you have seen in Rosetta or Newham since you got involved?
TD: Well, there have been so many changes in Newham. All the new builds, all the more affluent areas that have gone up, hopefully, for the better. As someone who has had most of my family move out, not always for the better, the whole landscape of Newham is changing and organisations, like Rosetta, are having to keep up with that change and getting different people through the door to make sure everyone has had an opportunity – which is something Rosetta has worked very hard on. We want everyone through the door – rich, poor, black, white, purple, female and everything in between – an open-door policy. For me, Rosetta has changed in the for years that I’ve been here. I’ve replaced Trish, though she keeps coming back, and there were 4 staff. Now we have so many projects going on and so many different activities going, and to the credit of Sanaz and the Board of Trustees, where whereas other organisations I have worked for, have gone down during COVID, Sanaz and the board have diversified what we have been doing. We have taken all our eggs out of the one basket; we have worked with others; we’ve picked up commissions; picked up projects; worked in partnership with other creative organisations. It could have gone ither way, there’s been a lot of hard work put in at the managerial level and we appreciated it because we’ve come out having jobs. And seeing the organisation change and develop and come through the door and developing themselves, people change and develop. We have a lot tutors who were previously students. Seeing that developmental pathway is invaluable to me because you see people come from almost nothing … seeing them build confidence from, like can’t draw, but I gonna give it a go anyway, then to see them work their way up the qualification ladder then you end up giving them a call and saying come and teach this class; come and get your foot through the door; do a teaching qualification with us. So, seeing that development from people who think they can’t creative and having them build confidence over 3 or 4 years and have them start passing that onto other people is brilliant!
INT: What is your vision for the future – in the organisation, in arts or in Newham?
TD: Well, what I’d like to see from Rosetta is that it continues to develop, reach different segments of the population; to help more people reach their creativity; to help bolster more people’s well-bring, to build their confidence and their skills.
I would like us to be able to have a building of our own because, at the moment, we are restricted by what we do. I’d like us to be more accessible because there is limited accessibility because of the state of this building, so to have something of our own that we can manage, so it’s like not being able to use a room. The photo studio was out of use for 2 years as we didn’t have the where for all to manage getting the drop ceiling replaced. We had to wait on Newham to do it. And it really effected the delivery… we don’t need to be tied to summer holiday time, which is our peak activity times, so to have a building more central in the borough is important as many people don’t know where this is as it’s a bit off the beaten track and a multi-use space… it would inspire more people to take up art. In the arts world in general, I’m not an artist, but I’d love to see a better pottery space expand. I’d love to see Rosetta get more people through the door so that more people would enjoy it.
