Embedded Artists 2026-27 Announced
We are pleased to introduce our first Embedded Artists – Gail Sneddon and Mele Broomes. We look forward to working with Gail and Mele, and the specific artistic perspectives they each bring through their practices, which are shaping dance in Scotland.
Gail Sneddon is an award-winning dance artist based in Moray, who creates immersive, sensorial worlds where dystopia, wonder, and escapism collide, often exploring themes of personal and collective loss, resilience, and our relationship to changing environments. Her practice is rooted in choreographic exploration, walking as a way to work things out, and world-building. She is developing two new works, The Shape of Grief and HEL.
Mele Broomes is a multidisciplinary artist working across dance, experimental vocal performance, and choreography. Incorporating vocals and melodies, Mele transforms performance into a hybrid of theatre and live music. She has recently launched a new performance company, moniqux ensemble, and is co-founder of Project X and Body Remedy.
“I’m delighted to take on the role of Embedded Artist with The Work Room. I’ve been part of the membership since its early conception, and it’s been wonderful to watch how it has grown and continues to support dance artists across Scotland. As a dance artist based in the North East, my work is rooted in place, connection and care. Through this opportunity, I’m interested in how we gather and how we stay connected across a dispersed network, and how we create more sustainable and equitable conditions for artists to make work.” - Gail
“The Embedded Artist role means a lot to me. It’s my first time being on payroll, working in the creative industry, which has eased a lot of pressure and given me space to focus on my practice. I’m excited to hold space with members through movement and physical conditioning, supporting strength, energy, and wellbeing within our practices. I really value time spent in embodied practice, and sharing what I can. It feels like a real privilege.” - Mele
Background
The Work Room (TWR) was founded in 2008, by artists whose practices and perspectives reflect the diversity of what dance and human experience can be. Our working context has changed significantly since then, and our membership of independent dance artists has expanded exponentially. Over the next three years, the Embedded Artists project will support us in how we evolve our artists-led organisation for the current times.
Each year, we will recruit two Embedded Artists as part of our staff team. These part-time roles will have time to sustain artistic practice, alongside contributing to how The Work Room operates as a network of artists. They will do this through activating connections and cultivating a more reciprocal and equitable organisational model. The Embedded Artists approach recognises that in dance those who are most critical to the artform - literally putting their bodies into the work - are living with the most precarity. It is a response to the lack of career development and stability, particularly for those who are ‘mid-career’ or have been working freelance for a significant time.
This new programme has been made possible through funding from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s Arts Fund, to build The Work Room’s organisational capacity towards supporting and influencing a more equitable dance sector in Scotland. The Embedded Artists roles are offered as flexible contracts of employment for the equivalent of 2 days a week for one year.
We will be opening recruitment for the next two Embedded Artists in Autumn 2026, for posts running January – December 2027.
Biographies
Gail Sneddon trained at Trinity Laban Conservatoire before touring as a dancer with Nigel Charnock, Athina Vahla, and Ersatz. She later completed a Master’s in Performance Design and Practice at Central Saint Martin’s School of Art and Design.
Her work spans performance, design, and direction, with collaborations including Mute Records, National Theatre of Scotland, Candoco Dance Company, Claire Cunningham, and Cora Bissett. She has held leadership roles at The Beacon Arts Centre, Dance North Scotland, and Barrowland Ballet, and recently founded Company Hame, a platform for collaborative, place-responsive work connecting people through shared creative practice.
She is currently developing two new works: The Shape of Grief, a project exploring lost mourning rituals and the ways we carry grief, shaped by research into procession and Scotland’s historic coffin roads; and HEL, an dance film set in a disused multi-storey car park in the Scottish Highlands, exploring youth culture and the mythology of the underworld.
Mele Broomes is a multidisciplinary artist working across dance, experimental vocal performance, and choreography. Her recent work, through warm temperatures, has been presented at Lublin International Dance Festival, Actoral Festival in Marseille, and Dance International Glasgow, and was originally commissioned to open the 20th anniversary of Edinburgh Art Festival.
She has recently launched a new performance company, moniqux ensemble, which creates collaborative work across dance and music. Their debut work, Dictations, The Heart of the Sea, reflects the company’s commitment to performance as a space for exchange and reflection, shaped by lived experience and cultural plurality, and developed through an ongoing dialogue between movement, sound, and social context.
She is also co-founder of Project X Dance and Body Remedy and has stepped back from both organisations to focus on her solo practice and the development of moniqux ensemble.