Good Luck Paula Dower!

Operations Director, Paula Dower takes on a new role after 20 years at DASH.

It is with great sadness, but immense gratitude that we are bidding farewell to our Operations Director Paula Dower, after 20 years DASH. Paula has played a key role in the ongoing development and success of DASH over the last two decades, securing over £1 million of funding over this time to support disabled artists, developing training, and running the charity operations with one hand alongside artistic projects such as Art Express, Processions, and the Future Curators Programme with the other.

Paula is bringing her vast experience to a new role in the charity sector as Head of Fundraising and Development for RSVP.

The DASH staff team and board would like to say a BIG and heartfelt thank you Paula for all of her endeavours over the last two decades, we wish her every success in her new role.

Farewell from Paula

My DASH journey began in 2004 when I became the General Manager, but my two day a week job quickly turned into three after taking on the Information Officer post. There were three staff: Mike Layward, Tanya Raabe-Webber and me. Looking back, I was so naïve about the fight for Disability Rights and Equality, but I had fantastic teachers in Tanya and Mike. We had a tiny office on the outskirts of Shrewsbury, so we got to know each other very well.

By 2009 DASH had moved premises twice, an increase in funding meant we could rent our own ‘Space’ with an office and huge open plan area for workshops, training and events. That’s when I first got the fundraising bug, with various pots of local money the new home of DASH was supplied with all manner of art materials, tables, chairs, a gallery hanging system, lighting, projection equipment, a kitchen, and of course an accessible loo! (Check the newspaper article in the Archive from 2009).

Sadly, the investment in the premises was short-lived, as a reduction in funding in 2011 meant we could not keep the Space and so we moved to The Hive in the centre of Shrewsbury, where we were made to feel very at home by the Hive team. We felt we had lost a lot, but it was time to regroup and reimagine DASH. This is when I became Operations Director and my role expanded to formally include fundraising for DASH. The artists commissioning programmes were still being funded, led by Mike, but I felt that we may lose our roots in Shropshire, so I created and fundraised for Art Express

I have worked on many collaborative projects during my time at DASH, but one of my favourites has to be the PROCESSIONS project in 2018. DASH was one of 100 organisations invited by live art organisation Artichoke to produce a banner to celebrate the centenary of the first votes for women. The Shropshire banner was created by over one hundred women and girls, who called themselves the Shropshire Subversive Stitchers, they proudly paraded their banner shouting “WE ARE HERE!” in Cardiff on 10th June 2018. It was a fantastic day, and I was so happy to have been able to provide the opportunity for their voices to be heard.

In 2021 I began my Senior Leaders Masters Degree Apprenticeship at the University of Wolverhampton. My dissertation project was titled “Barriers to Boards: Understanding the lack of representation of disabled people as board members in visual arts organisations in the UK,” aligning with DASH’s work to place disabled people in leadership positions in arts and culture. I achieved a Master of Business Administration with Distinction and became a certified fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.

It is now 2024 and after 20 years at DASH I have chosen to move to pastures new. I am delighted and excited to be taking the position of Head of Fundraising and Development at RSVP, a charity that is incredibly important to me. It has been a fabulous journey at DASH, working with a team that is understanding, flexible and supportive. I have met so many wonderful people in my time and learned so much. I will always be grateful for the sharing of knowledge, support and kindness so many of you have given. I will always support DASH and wish everyone the very best of luck for the future.