1. A Life in the Day: Vanessa Paynton, Creative Learning and
Engagement Manager
Vanessa Paynton is the recently appointed Creative Learning and Engagement Manager at the
MacRobert’s Art Centre in Stirling. Here she talks about her new role, her three little people and
what it’s like to juggle work and family life.
My life isn’t terribly glamorous. I live in a small village with my husband and three little people;
although my husband works away a lot so most of the time it is just me and the kids. My mornings
consist of getting my children organised and off to school in time. Two of them are at high school so
they leave fairly early to catch the bus, and my youngest is still at primary school, so when he gets
ready he just scoots off down the hill to school and I’ll drive to work.
I’m usually there early enough to get myself a space, but sometimes it can be an absolute disaster.
My office hours tend to vary between 8am and 10am, which is the luxury of working in the Arts –
you can be quite flexible.
I tend to find that two days are never the same. My job is all about creative learning and
engagement, and the engagement part is all about looking at those audience groups who aren’t
currently using us and encouraging them to work with us.
When I took up the post here it was a new position so I have the freedom to shape what goes on,
which is really quite nice. At the minute I am just finding my way in this role, given that I have only
been her for 12 weeks! I worked previously for a small organisation called The Village Storytelling
Centre in Glasgow, which only had 5 members in the team, so coming here was a big shock as it was
a much, much bigger organisation.
I like to see it as a big machine working here. There are so many different roles and forms of support
to keep the company working and the building running. However, once you get past all the work
needed to maintain everything then it gets interesting. That’s where I come in. At the minute I am
just talking to lots of people and finding out what they are interested. I am also understanding what
we currently do here, which is great cause I get the chance to see a lot of things, whether that’s
classes or the shows that are playing. I got to see a dance performance recently called No Man is an
Island, it was fantastic. It had 2 male dancers, one who lay on the floor and moved about and the
other who spent the duration of the performance dancing on top of his partner, he didn’t touch the
floor once, it was mesmerising!
I also get to go meet a lot of different people and see a lot of places across the country and find out
what projects they have, and attempt to form partnerships with them. I love working at the
MacRobert as it is very much grounded in Stirling and the Forth Valley, it is already connected to so
many great organisations throughout Scotland.
There is a lot of talking, and a great deal of listening to this job. We are currently planning what to do
with ourselves from August onwards. At the minute it looks like a lot of fundraising is on the cards,
but its fine as I was used to doing so much fundraising in my last job at the Village Storytelling
Centre. I must admit, when I worked there I got sick of the continuous fundraising! I was responsible
for people’s wages and getting the money to support the group and each year we would start with
£0 in the bank and would have to fundraise over £250,000,000. I was fed up of it in the end.
I have also set up a creative learning strategy which sets out a plan for the next 3 years, so right now
I am prioritising that and finding the funds to make the bits of that happen. I really do enjoy working

2. here, it was certainly a much needed change of scenery, quite literally. It’s such a beautiful place to
work. I still haven’t got over the fact that I can go a walk at lunch time and feed the ducks, I don’t
always do it mind you, but it’s a joy!
I work full time here and tend to finish up and head home between 4pm and 6pm. When I get home,
I have that exciting routine of having to feed people. My husband who is useful when he is here
helps take it in turns, but mainly it’s down to me. So much of my time is spent trying to make sure
that I cook something everyone will eat – I have the pleasure of having one carnivorous child and
two vegetarians, so you can imagine how interesting meal times are.
I decided after years of working hard, particularly in my time at the Glasgow Film Theatre, that my
evenings would be for me, to spend time with my kids and doing things I enjoy. I found when I
worked at the GFT much of my time was spent checking emails and working ridiculous amounts, I
didn’t mind as much because I was young, but after a while I realised it wasn’t how I wanted to be. I
enjoyed my work there but decided to take a number of years off to focus on my children. I became
a full time mummy instead!
Nowadays, I get to spend my evenings with my family. With the weather being so glorious at the
moment, we tend to go out a lot, whether for a walk or a bike ride. Sometimes I’ll even take them to
the MacRobert to see a performance or something in the cinema. If we are not caught up in other
stuff, some nights can be nice adult nights, like watching a movie or going out for a meal – that is
when we aren’t taxiing our children around! We do maintain a pretty good balance, there is usually
some time for me to do something I like, I enjoy reading and also doing the odd yoga class. I still
have my five diaries to juggle, which might seem like a lot but its fine, I like being busy, but I love
having the time to be with my family.
At some point everyone goes to bed. In the olden days this was a luxury because the kids went to
bed early and my husband and I would have time to ourselves, but nowadays they just seem to go to
bed later and later. Which is still nice, but now instead of watching a movie, my nights consist of
reading a book or watching the drama unfold on News night Scotland. Not what you’d call exciting!