Bonnie Hewson

Experience

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  Carmarthenshire Heritage Regeneration Trust

  Sept 2004 - Aug 2005

  Executive Support Officer

  Sole employee of a charitable heritage organisation designing, building and managing projects to help people understand the nature of their local heritage and generate benefit, in meaningful and sympathetic ways, from the heritage assets for local communities. • Planning diverse projects with partners from historic house restorations to digital and oral history projects• Working with the National Trust to maange a £6 million Heritage Lottery Fund grant.• Managing the office and obligations of the charity Show less

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  UCL

  Oct 2005 - May 2009

  Collaborative Doctoral Award Researcher (PhD)

  Working with the Victoria and Albert Theatre Collections to explore the uses, purposes and cultural values of performing arts archives in Britain. Arts and Heritage Research Council funded position to explore intangible cultural heritage issues.• Research (interviews, archival, internet, libraries), survey design, writing and data analysis.• Examination of modern approaches to visitor experiences in archives and museums.• Participation in the filming of live theatre events and interviews.• Presentation of research findings to international academic and theatre archive audiences.• Understanding of the relevance of intangible cultural heritage in the UK.• Self-motivation - managing deadlines and working under own steam.• Advanced use of Word, Excel and Powerpoint as well as statistical analysis tools (SPSS) Show less

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  London Borough of Lambeth

  May 2009 - Oct 2009

  Sustainability Projects Officer

  Working across the Council on the initial carbon footprinting for NI185 as well as working on various other sustainability projects around in-house carbon reduction and awareness raising, and helping with the Green Community Champions programme.• Stakeholder engagement to promote local action, cooperation and social enterprise.• Event planning and coordination.• Understanding priorities and pressures within local government.• Data collection and analysis - managing projects on tight deadlines and prioritizing.• Received Green procurement Training Show less

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  Soil Association

  Dec 2009 - Jun 2012

  Community Supported Agriculture Project Manager

  Managing the England-wide Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) strand of the Soil Association's 5-year support programme, part of the Big Lottery funded Making Local Food Work partnership. Supporting community connected farming enterprises to establish and network. • Bringing a £1 million project to successful completion with all targets exceeded.• Managing a skilled team of 6 people, some of whom worked remotely and part-time.• Working closely with partners and and developing new relationships.• Planning and delivering workshops, presentations and national conferences.• Strategic project planning, seeking out new opportunities and funding.• Managing and monitoring budgets.• Setting up systems and reporting procedures; risk assessment.• Designing project evaluation, including writing briefs and calls for tender.• Contact with the media, liaising with Press team, website development and social media. Show less

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  Sawday's

  Mar 2012 - Feb 2013

  Business Development and Relationships Manager

  Managing partnership relationships as part of a two-person team in an eco-tourism enterprise working with UK landowners (including the National Trust) to set up unique, environmentally sound places to eat, sleep and learn.• Working with stakeholders, including landowners, investors, planners and the project team.• Writing business plans, market opportunity reports, investor documents and ecology briefs.• Conducting detailed site research and evaluations and testing financial models.• Writing, compiling and submitting pre-planning applications. Show less

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  Beacon Farms

  Aug 2013 - Jul 2016

  Founding Director

  Founding Director of this Community Benefit Society focused on the reestablishment of market gardening and mixed farming on Bristol's peri-urban green belt.Responsible for• Incorporating the organisation• Securing expert advise and funding• Developing the business plan• Engaging stakeholders through public meetings• Recruiting advisors, project managers and board members• Developing new projects and commissioning research

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  Wildscreen

  Aug 2013 - Feb 2014

  Project Manager: ARKive: Bringing Nature into Focus

  Building the stakeholder partnership in preparation for a (successful) second round bid to the Heritage Lottery fund for a project combining Wildscreen's online digital ARKive of species with opportunities to learn about and engage with nature, including UK wide mapping of voluntary opportunities in conservation. • Stakeholder consultation and partnership engagement with national conservation and natural history organisations e.g. RSPB, The Wildlife Trusts, The National Trust, The Natural History Museum etc.• Drawing up supporting documents, timelines, budgets and job descriptions.• Seeking tenders and selecting consultants to work up briefs for audience development and technical (web) development aspects of the project. Show less

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  University of Bristol

  Dec 2014 - Mar 2015

  Productive Margins Partnership Research Lead

  Researching and producing a scoping study for the Productive Margins partnership, comprising academics from Bristol and Cardiff Universities as well as Knowle West Media Centre, Co-Exist and the Single Parents Action Network. The research was part of a co-production between these organisations and informed a practical project within Bristol in 2015. The general area of research was "Who decides what I eat?" and looked at global and local factors that affect people's relationship and access to food. The scoping study included academic and other research studies as well as previous practical responses from grassroots and community focused organisations. Show less

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  Bristol Food Producers

  Mar 2015 - May 2016

  Co-Founder

  In collaboration with local organisations and enterprises in Bristol I secured a Green Capital Strategic Grant of £49k to establish Bristol Food Producers.I oversaw incorporation and branding, established membership offers, commissioned research, and developed initial areas of work, including land mapping, enterprise support for growers and collaboration on learning opportunities for new entrants. I secured funding for a project manager, established a board and developed a theory of change to guide the organisation into the future. Show less

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  Power to Change

  Sept 2015 - Feb 2023

  Responsible for six Priority Places at this independent grant giving trust, I manage an £8m place-based funding and support programme. The Empowering Places programme supports community anchor organisations in deprived communities to grow community businesses and make their areas better places to live. I manage a multi-stakeholder partnership consisting of CoopsUK, NEF, CLES, SIB and Renaisi, working alongside the six places to achieve their visions, using a mix of grants, capacity building, peer learning and wider strategic collaboration. I'm also responsible for developing and funding supportive local collaborations in each Priority Place and sharing our learning from our place based working with other funders. Show less Starting in the same year that Power to Change was established I supported the organisation to develop its systems and processes and establish a number of funding and support programmes. I was involved in designing and initiating the Innovation & Infrastructure Fund and the More than a Pub programme, which was co-funded with MHCLG to offer blended grant-loan and support delivered by Plunkett Foundation to communities taking on local pubs. Since 2017 I have managed the Empowering Places programme and related work in six Priority Places as well as developing relationships with other place-based funders and researchers. Show less

  • Democratic Ownership Investment Manager (New Economic Models Workstream)

    Nov 2021 - Feb 2023

  • Place Based Investment Manager (Policy & Comms Team)

    May 2021 - Jan 2022

  • Development Manger (Research & Development Team)

    Jul 2020 - Apr 2021

  • Programmes Manager (Programmes Team)

    Sept 2015 - Jun 2020
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  Farming the Future

  Feb 2023 - now

  Director

  Supporting the development of this ambitious collective of Funders, Advisors, and Food and Farming Practitioners, who are working together to transform our food system at this critical time.