Time to tell you more about our team – this time, it’s the turn of Jo Verrent the other half of the curation team as our Push artists and the Unlimited Festival wows The Metro.

We caught up with Jo this morning on the cusp of staging Unlimited Voices, a series of talks and debates that she’s  hosting as part of the festival event programme inbetween working on Push Me with the crew shooting our 1/2 hour documentary as part of our commission for The Space.

Jo’s work is about seeking to reframe the perception of diversity, through myriad events and opportunities – speaking, training, writing, curating, researching and reporting.  Her passion for creativity, belief in equality and love of all things different is tempered with wit and wisdom, and her pragmatic approach is based on her own experience of being hearing impaired since she was twelve.  Jo believes that ‘different’ is delicious not divergent; that it adds vibrancy and texture.

I don’t understand why so many people see difference as problematic and troubling when it can be such as positive source of creativity.

In Push Me,  Jo has been putting her energy into learning new skills – writing marketing copy for a different audience and in a different ‘voice’ from the one she usually uses and project managing. She’s certainly not afraid to push on the values she believes are important to share and show through the project.  It’s been quite a year, beyond Push Me.  Jo was awarded a Clore fellowship and has busy developing her thinking and reach into new and often uncomfortable territories.  Having known and worked with Jo, she relishes a challenge and her ability to lay her heart and head on her sleeve has been a revelation to many who have been following her blog over the last few months.

One thing I have found in this busy year is that I have a lot of energy – more than I thought. I can dig deep and keep on digging when the need calls, providing I balance that out with other more grounding and real experiences.  Jo goes camping quite alot where she spends time with lots of other people creating communities.

I find it exceptionally grounding to do very basic, elemental things – create a fire, cook food, see the sky. It really recharges me ready for the next onslaught – whatever it might be.

In terms of PUSH ME, what matters to Jo is how the artist’s work is framed and seen not just now but in the future and I’m in no doubt she’ll be pushing to the last to achieve just that.

Why don’t you come and see Push Me artists in the Unlimited Festival on the Southbank?  Book your tickets. now