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Meet The Team

Catherine Bescond-Sands

Chairperson

Catherine Bescond-Sands is 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.

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Mary Verner

Secretary

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.

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Gabriel
Scally

Trustee

Gabriel Scally was born in Belfast and studied medicine at Queen’s University. He then trained first in general practice and then in public health. Gabriel’s career has involved working in N Ireland and England, both in the NHS and the civil service. Inquiries into health service failures have been an important part of his recent work. He has a professional interest in arts and health and has a strong personal interest in traditional ballads and singing.

William Graham

Trustee

Semi-retired political journalist based in Rostrevor, Northern Ireland and a member of the Artsawonder Committee. He is a former political correspondent for the Belfast Telegraph and The Irish News and was a special correspondent for the LA Times (in Ireland) and for the London Times. Currently he devotes most of his time to voluntary community work.  He is Chairman of Light 2000 community group which focuses on environmental issues and he is also a member of Kilbroney Community Association.

Jenn
Clark

Trustee

Jenn Clark is the American born co-leader of YWAM in Ireland and hostess at An Cuan, Rostrevor which carries on the traditions of The Christian Renewal Centre.  It is a beacon of light for Protestants and Catholics and synonymous with reconciliation and spiritual renewal since 1974.

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Jonny
Clark

Member of Collective

Jonny has been the director of an ecumenical Christian charity called Youth With A Mission since 2007. He has been the 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 of Collective

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.

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Bróna McVittie

Member of Collective

Pioneering her own brand of cosmic folk, Bróna McVittie both deftly reimagines traditional folk and crafts her own nature-inspired songs. Her debut solo album We Are the Wildlife, released in January 2018, earned her a string of four star reviews from MOJOUncutThe Guardian and The Independent. Her second album The Man in the Mountain, released in September 2020, immediately scored the much-coveted Folk Album of the Month spot in The Guardian. Later that year Jude Rogers ranked it 4th in her 10 Best Folk Albums of 2020. In her words “You’re put in the place of a bird navigating wide open landscapes, absorbing light, space and air. This is music that takes you on its wing, and gives you fresh visions”. Bróna is also leader of the Mourne Community Choir, mentor to a number of student musicians and is currently based in her hometown of Rostrevor. 

Ian
White 

Member of Collective

With 35 years of technical work experience in the field of violent conflict management and resolution, Ian has a well-tuned approach to many different contexts where violence and conflict restrict development. He works in Ireland, North and South, as well as having extensive experiencing of engaging non state armed actors in locations such as Israel and Palestine, Sri Lanka, Haiti, Liberia, Afghanistan, Thailand and Nepal. This has given him the privilege of a rich and varied experience in this field which has informed his process approach to what often involves building capacities and improbable relationships. 
Having founded and established a number of key civil society agencies and bodies in Ireland and internationally, he has a working knowledge of strategic planning and organisational development. He has worked in partnership with a wide range of voluntary and statutory organisations throughout his career including governmental and international agencies.

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Bruce S. Victor
M.D.

Member of Collective

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.

Sorcha Turnbull

Member of Collective

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.

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