About: Team

Team

Malcolm Hamilton

Malcolm loves working to a brief, finding clever, playful ways to engage people in a project. Malcolm has developed his practice through years of making outdoor theatre, play interventions and community engagement. He was a Leverhulme Arts Scholar attached to Bristol Old Vic in 2017 and has studied a wide breadth of play theory and is constantly experimenting with play interventions for adults and children. He is a certifiedLEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® facilitator and is particularly interested in using this method in housing consultations. He is driven by finding clever, playful mechanisms to connect people to ideas and each other. His main play are is his allotment, though he has recently taken up fishkeeping. He loves exploring, playing board games badly and delving into local histories.

Nia Evans

Nia has joined the team to lead on operational management and community engagement. She brings combined experience in public events, projects, partnerships and participatory arts practices to our interdisciplinary approach. Nia is building on Play:Disrupt‘s established methods to grow our relationships with community and organisation partners to activate wide representation and impactful, transparent engagement. She also ensures that the qualitative and quantitative data we collect during our work is properly stored, analysed and compiled into accessible, evidence-based reports.

Jenny Male

Jenny is currently on maternity leave until the end of 2024, with her role covered by Nia. Jenny manages the nuts and bolts of the company, helping to put the ideas into action. With a background in visual arts, Jenny has worked for both commercial and non-profit organisations including Society of London Theatre, National Campaign for the Arts and TRG Arts where she project managed consulting relationships with theatres around the country. Jenny is also Co-Director of Caraboo Projects in Bristol, where her focus is development and fundraising. She is currently playing with tile making and lino printing. She is passionate about working with artists and creatives to realise exciting projects which explore and question the world around us.

Associates & Collaborators

Kerry Russell

Designer

in bristol studios

Kerry is Director of In Bristol Studios, and Chair of Phoenix 52 & Studio Meraki.

She is passionate about delivering artistic experiences that support communities to find the ‘spark’ that gets them engaged, creatively producing events, parades and site specific installations that always have local stakeholders at the heart.

Liz Beth

Neighbourhood Planning Consultant

Liz Beth works as an independent Consultant and is a chartered Town Planner and accredited NPIERS Examiner.  Recent work has focused on Neighbourhood Planning with Parish Councils and Forums, and Community Engagement.  She has worked in the public and voluntary sectors during her career. 

Besides development management and policy experience, she has project-managed regeneration and environmental improvement schemes, cycle route development for Sustrans and public art projects.

Dr Lynn Love

Digital Game Designer 

Abertay university

Lynn Love is a designer and lecturer in Computer Arts at Abertay University.

When not teaching, Lynn researches social play and as a member of Abertay Game Lab creates interactive games and installations that aim to bring people together through play.

She almost always has chalk in her pocket, just in case, and is a little obsessed with projectors.

Katie Storer

Storyteller & Theatre Maker

Katie designs and facilitates workshops with people of all ages and backgrounds across the UK for 10 years, specialising in theatre, imaginative play and group cohesion

She has worked with companies such as; The Bristol Old Vic, Travelling Light Theatre Company and the Creative Youth Network, amongst many more. She is Co-creative Director of the Adventure Bureau and brings a a wealth of knowledge in designing and delivering sessions to help spark imagination, promote group cohesion and nurture their personal journey.

Jonny Cotsen

Access Consultant

Jonny is a Cardiff-based artist and leader for Wales’ deaf community. He’s passionate about creating opportunities for deaf artists and socially disadvantaged local communities. A qualified graphic designer and high-school teacher, Jonny shifted his professional career to performing and arts-inclusion consultancy. Jonny’s recent career highlight is performing ‘Louder Isn’t Always Clearer’, a critically-acclaimed inspirational story of his own deaf experience.

Sarah Lambshead

Social Value Expert

S2 ASSOCIATES

Helping construction businesses understand the social challenges they have the solutions for.

Working with grassroots and community organisations to understand how they can maximise the Social Value offering from the private sector.

Passionate about people and the communities we live in, I work to help businesses find their strategic vision for their purpose beyond profit. Acting as a guide, interpreter, connector & storyteller we explore how having a social innovation approach ensures place-led, citizen-led social value and delivers positive, systemic impact on diverse groups in society.

Besides development management and policy experience, she has project-managed regeneration and environmental improvement schemes, cycle route development for Sustrans and public art projects.

Thomas Sale

Urban Designer

Tom’s dedicated to working collaboratively with people to improve their built environment, with an ability to build strong relationships with communities, stakeholders and uphold inclusive principles. His projects span both UK based public play spaces and street space designs to international placemaking projects in Yangon, Myanmar. The Myanmar based Alley Garden projects he delivered whilst working at the participatory practice Doh Eain was selected as a featured project in the City At Eye Level Asia book by STIPO in 2019.

His multi-disciplinary approach aligns with the fields of participatory design, inclusive placemaking and livability. With a particular interest in the neighbourhood scale, active travel and community-led processes. He believes that engaging and co-designing with the public can be playful, fun, inclusive and meaningful. 

Amy Rose

Artist

Co-Founder Playing out

Amy is a socially engaged artist with specialisms in play, participation and performance.  Her work draws on a toolkit from popular theatre forms (clown, improvisation, puppetry, street theatre, storytelling etc) alongside research, collaboration and facilitation skills to co-create innovative, social and civic solutions.

She is co-founder of Playing Out, a national support organisation and movement to restore playable streets and neighbourhoods.