Leonie Bell - The importance of energy

Creative Chit Chat - Dundee

This week I'm joined by Leonie Bell, Director of V&A Dundee. She has had a fascinating career working in many high profile roles across Scotland's creative and cultural sector. We talk through her career, why she deliberately seeks out positions of responsibility, that she may not quite be equipped to deal with and why this is a real positive. From an upbringing in Newport and becoming immersed in pop culture, then a move to study in Glasgow: a city of possibilities with anarchy, artist run spaces and self-organised clubbing. We discuss the role creativity has in her career "Quite often my creative outlets have come with the people I've associated myself with. If I've got any creative skills it's that I can gather and synthesise different bits around me." Collaboration is a real constant in Leonie's career when developing teams, working with communities and delivering projects. From being Programme Director at the Lighthouse at a young age to working on cultural elements of the Olympics and Commonwealth Games then moving to Creative Scotland and later Scottish Government, Leonie talks about gaining huge experience in a short space of time and hitting each challenge head on as it comes. With such a quick rise to positions of massive responsibility we discuss how confidence and over-confidence can be toxic and dangerous. Leonie introduces me to the idea of identifying those who have 'energy'. Those are the ones you want to surround yourself with. As we meandered through Leonie's journey it became clear to me that the V&A Dundee role was a natural fit. Even if she didn't recognise it at that time in her life. It's funny how we can go on our own journeys with our head down and a little bit of perspective by stepping back can make all the difference. She describes feeling tiny the first time she sat in the 'big chair' at V&A Dundee but immediately set about the challenge at hand in the same way she approached every other role. I would have loved to have had another hour with Leonie and delved a lot deeper into some of the topics. We did manage to cover a lot of ground and reveal some insight into what has driven Leonie's life personally and professionally. We have already seen real change at V&A Dundee since Leonie's appointment and I look forward to seeing more in the coming years. It's an exciting time for Dundee and its creative sector I just hope we can harness the full potential.