Since doing his Sutton Trust US Programme back in 2012, Jack has progressed on to a career in academia and is currently a member of our Alumni Leadership Board. Jack’s been working on a creative project entitled “A Collection of Anecdotes” looking at what social mobility means to different people and bringing this to life in a collection of images. Read on to understand a bit more about Jack’s story, and how you can help him grow this collection.

Tell us a bit about your background?

“I grew up in a rural town in the Midlands with my parents and twin brother. My brother and I did everything together so it feels more natural for me to describe my childhood with ‘we’ and not ‘I’.

We did every sport going, we didn’t excel at any of them but we loved every minute. My passion for sports has stayed with me and I’m always looking for my next sporting challenge. So far my highlights have been the London Marathon and the Henley Swim Marathon.

We lived in a one-bed bungalow. We didn’t have a lot of space but it was our space, our art was on the walls and I was even allowed to do drawings on our bedroom walls. This experience and my amazing art teachers have embedded art into my way of thinking and expression.”

What are your memories of the programme and what you got out of it?

“My highlight was discovering London. I had only visited the capital for a school trip to watch a West End show and even then we just got dropped off outside the theatre and picked up again after the show. London has now been my home for the last 10 years and the Sutton Trust programme was the first time that I realised what the city had to offer me.”

Can you tell us how your career has developed since the programme?

“I really enjoy the freedom and discovery that is possible in academia. I’m currently a researcher at the Marshall Institute at the London School of Economics. My current project investigates new models of non-profit funding that attempt to take relevant lessons from the venture capital world.”

A Collection of Anecdotes – an overview by Jack Winterton

Our current visual imagery of social mobility oversimplifies a complex moment in our lives. Several metaphors dominate discussions on social mobility, namely, climbing a ladder and breaking a glass ceiling, these are not our images and they are poorly equipped to reflect the lived experience of social mobility in the UK.

What is your image of social mobility? If you were to capture your experience of social mobility on one piece of A3 paper, what would it look like?

Social mobility is a complex, often painful process of grappling with everyday questions of identity, family, status, money and thinking about hopes and dreams of the future. The journey might be fraught with difficulty because of deeply entrenched inequalities in British society. Alongside these difficulties, there might also be moments of joy, self-discovery and connection. There is an urgent need to add detail to this imagery and the Sutton Trust alumni are well placed to complete this work.

How can you help?

Imagine a gallery space with a wall full of framed images that tell our stories that, when viewed collectively, add new detail to the UK’s understanding of social mobility. Why is it called ANA? Ana means a collection of anecdotes; by reading across multiple anecdotes you begin to build a narrative, identify threads that connect anecdotes together or see distinction that pull some stories apart.

We are a diverse group, that word is thrown around a lot, but we actually are from every part of the UK, with different cultures, languages, struggles and experiences of social class and social mobility. I’m not prescriptive about what should be included in a piece. I have a few questions that I want alumni to respond to in an artistic way and I’m happy to work with anyone as they develop their ideas. Each piece will be displayed in an A3 frame and you can be as creative as you would like with your art.

What kind of art? You choose, it could be a poem, a drawing, a photograph, a collage. It just has to fit on one piece of A3. I recommend that the topic is focussed. By this I mean that you pinpoint one small idea: a feeling, a snippet of a conversation, a particular interaction, moment in your life, rather than a broad comment on social mobility generally but I’m happy to be convinced otherwise, just reach out.

We will exhibit these pieces at the alumni awards event in September and I have big plans for the project after that. Please reach out to me on [email protected] with an idea.

Want to inspire students with your story? Get in touch with us at [email protected] – we’d love to hear from you.

Browse our library of alumni stories and continue to be inspired!