Meet Our Team
Bridget McKenzie
Founding Director
Bridget’s main role in Flow is to generate ideas and lead on research, drawing on 28 years experience in delivering and evaluating innovative education in arts and heritage. She founded Flow UK in 2006, subsequently supporting its establishment in India and internationally. Previously she has been Head of Learning at the British Library, Education Officer for Tate, lead consultant for Clore Duffield’s Artworks Awards and Co-ordinator of Young at Art for the University of the Arts. She has been involved in a number of climate and culture initiatives since 2007, including the Happy Museum Project, Art Not Oil, Culture Unstained, Museums for Future, and Lost Species Day. In 2018, she initiated Climate Museum UK and then in 2019, co-founded the Culture Declares Emergency movement. She presents and publishes internationally on the possibilities of Regenerative Culture, and has developed the Culture Takes Action framework. She is a Fellow of the RSA and a member of the Museums Association.
See more on https://linktr.ee/BridgetMcKenzie
Bridget says: “I get motivated when I help other people get into flow, and I’ve seen first hand the power of challenging creative activities of getting people into that state. It’s a fine balance of holding people’s hands while not spoon-feeding them.”
Susanne Buck
Director
Susanne has 18 years experience in the museum sector designing, facilitating, marketing and project managing engaging and educational experiences for a broad range of visitors. Previously, she spent six years as the Education and Audience Manager for the British Music Experience, and seven years working for various museums including the Science Museum developing content and visitor programmes.
Alongside her consultancy work she is an associate lecturer for Central St Martins’ MA in Creative Practices for Narrative Environments, and Ravensbourne College’s MA in Service Design Innovation. She also teaches professional development courses in Experience Design for University of the Arts London and on commission for private clients. She volunteers as a Cultural Heritage Industry Advisor for Creative and Cultural Skills and holds an MA with distinction in Narrative Environments from UAL Central St Martins
Susanne says: “Narrative plays an important part in my work, whether it’s telling the story of an audience’s experience, or using storytelling as a tool to shape that interaction. It’s in the connections between people, places, objects and ideas that these stories unfold.”
Alex Flowers
Director
Alex has over 15 years of experience in working in the museum sector, delivering programmes and projects which engage visitors, learners and the curious with culture. As a consultant he works with organisations to understand audience engagement, interpretation and experiential design. This is supported with an expertise in the affordances of digital platforms and a broad view of how digital skills, strategy and practice are embedded across organisations. At the V&A he led the Digital Programmes team for eight years, delivering a programme of events, workshops, London Design Festival and creative digital commissions. Alex designed and led an international training course as part of the V&A Learning Academy, provided in-depth advice and practical support for organisations establishing digital learning programmes and engagement. His independent creative practice which develops interpretation and digital applications for artists, museums and galleries, including immersive installations, sound design and practical fit-outs.
His research and work in digital projects and museum education has taken him to a number of organisations including Museum of London as a member of the Learning team, ArtUK, MO Museum and and Brighton Festival. He is a visiting lecturer at University College London and Central Saint Martins and Creative Industries Advisory Board Member at London South Bank University. Having studied at University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Alex went on to gain an MA in Museums and Galleries in Education at UCL Institute of Education.
Pigalle Tavakkoli
Experience Design Associate
Pigalle has 15 years expertise as a Senior Experience Designer, developing immersive story worlds which merge live and digital platforms. She specialises in a multi-disciplinary approach, facilitating collaborations between scientists and artists. She has produced events, programmes and communication campaigns for organisations such as the V&A, National Portrait Gallery, Science Museum, and held roles as Creative Producer for Science Gallery London, and Head of Experience at Guerilla Science. She is also a Founding Member of the World Experience Organisation, a global network of pioneers and thought leaders, and the School of Experience Design.
Since 2012, Susanne and Pigalle co-developed and teach the UK’s first short course in Experience Design at the University of the Arts. She is also an Associate Lecturer at London College of Communications, London College of Fashion, GCU London, and facilitates bespoke training for scientific organisations, creative agencies and brand clients.
Pigalle says: “”Engage with the audience’s intrinsic values, motivations and beliefs, as well as their demographics and habits. This is not just about getting to know them, but also putting yourself in their shoes to unlock their engagement.”
Anna Husband
Associate
Anna has worked in cultural and heritage learning and interpretation for twenty years, managing, producing and evaluating audience-focused provision. After teaching in primary schools in Sussex, Anna worked in Learning teams at the Natural History Museum, Brighton & Hove Museums and Galleries, and the London Transport Museum before joining the National Maritime Museum as Head of Formal Learning. As a consultant she works closely with organisations to develop strategy and policy, manage projects and partnerships, and create activities and resources.
Anna is especially well known for working with young audiences and for curriculum-linked provision, and has particular expertise in sensitive histories, people-centred social history, and local heritage. She is passionate about museums and galleries – and about using their collections in creative ways to ignite imaginations, instil wonder, unlock hidden histories and enrich learning. For everyone.
Ruth Colmer
Associate
Since completing a PhD in psychology in 2008, Ruth has sought out opportunities to use her knowledge and research skills to contribute to positive change in the world. She has conducted research with Syrian refugees exploring mental health and well-being in their community and the potential value of technology in addressing mental health needs; met with rural communities in northern India to explore community-led solutions to addressing malnutrition; and facilitated discussions with young people in deprived areas of the UK to talk about their experiences of and attitudes towards their community and their place within it.
Whilst working at the Institute of Development Studies, Ruth was the lead researcher for a collaborative impact evaluation to explore the impact of research funded through the ESRC-DFID Joint Fund for Poverty Alleviation on policy makers, practitioners and other groups outside of academia. Ruth’s publications include a review of the potential value of technology in addressing refugee well-being and a critical review of the achievement gap in UK mainstream education. Ruth is an associate lecturer with the Open University.
Mark Stevenson
Change advisor and co-founder
Mark was co-founder of Flow in 2006 and remains an advisor. He is a writer, speaker and broadcaster in constant demand as a consultant working in the areas of institutional innovation, engineered serendipity and learning. His first book An Optimist’s Tour of the Future was published in early 2011 by Penguin and Profile Books to rave reviews and has now been translated into 14 languages. His next We do things differently hit bookstores in early 2017. Mark holds a first class honours degree in Information Technology, is a fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and sits on the advisory boards to Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Earth Challenge, the crowd-investing company Trillion Fund and Pearson College. In his spare time he likes to write comedy. See his personal website here.
Mark says: “Most of our learning environments have the hallmark of a factory – scaled for the efficiency of rote learning, and standardised compliance. That’s profoundly inappropriate for the age we’re entering, but also offers a huge opportunity for organisations who want to leap ahead of the crowd”
Sophie Perry
Associate
Sophie is trained as a biologist and began her career working in conservation studies and writing and researching science for The Guardian and The Observer. Since, she has opted to move towards more interactive and imaginative ways of exploring science.
This new direction has seen Sophie working on as many cross-disciplinary projects as possible, to ensure that science’s process of discovery is inclusive and embraces diversity. Her work as a Flow Associate focuses on projects that merge