Julia Evangelista - Founder and Director
Julia has over thirty years’ experience of working across a diverse range of art forms from acting and dance to commedia dell’arte. Her experiences living and working in two very different cultures – Brazil and the UK – have given her a unique set of tools for engaging people in different forms of cultural participation.
As a theatre practitioner and creative educator, Julia has collaborated with well-known UK and Brazilian based arts and educational organisations such as Eastside Educational Trust, Theatre Centre, The Barbican Centre, People’s Palace Project, Stone Crabs Theatre Company, Galpao Aplauso, Nos do Morro and Afroreggae.
Today, Julia specialises in a diverse range of creative skills, such as storytelling, Forum Theatre, collaborative performance making, improvisation, creative writing and mask performance. Alongside her creative work, Julia has engaged in academic research, completing a Masters in Applied Theatre at Goldsmith University and is now in her final year of a PhD at The University of Warwick on the role of culture and the arts in promoting well-being by disrupting stigmatising discourses and challenging entrenched stereotypes about what people are capable of. The findings from her research have played an integral role in the principles that underpin SeeThrough’s philosophy.
Karol Silva - Associate Artist
Karol is a Brazilian artist specialised in puppet and performance making. She holds an MA in Theatre Practice at the Royal School of Speech and Drama.
Karol has led puppetry making workshops for all ages over 10 years in UK and International projects in other countries in Europe and in Africa.
She has collaborated with many well known organisations such as: Little Angel Theatre, Shunt, Puppet Revolution, International Women Space, Hoxton Hall and The Old Vic. In addition She is an assistant creative director at Creation Myth Puppets.
Karol has been collaborating with SeeThrough’s projects since 2015 in targeting both young people and older people. Among many project such as Crafting Communities 1 and 2, Karol has been key in making the CarnivALL project a success. Karol has both the generous nature and skills necessary to motivate and challenge our project participants in becoming great team workers, confident and competent artist, independent of their age or abilities. Karol shares SeeThrough’s philosophy of inclusion and diversity.
Romain Malan - Associate Artist
Romain is a French versatile professional musician. He is the director, founder and conductor of the World Orchestra, an international ensemble of musicians performing peace and charitable causes. He graduated at the Royal College of Music (Cello) as well as completed a MA in Participatory and Community Arts. he is a current choir/music leader for Islington Centre Refugees and Migrants and Core Arts (for adults with mental issues).
Romain has been collaborating with SeeThrough Theatre Company since 2014, working alongside Julia in delivering music/performance for the older population suffering form physical and mental issues.
Romain is part of the ongoing project Cabaret of Memoirs funded by Age UK, in which the older participants engage in singing and performing in order to help combat isolation and loneliness and to improve mental health and well-being.
Betina Fernandez - Associate Artist
Betina is a French-Uruguayan professional samba dancer and costume maker. She has graduated at Central Saint Martins College as Set Designer and has been painting for more than 20 years. Betina has engaged in teaching dance and craft to older and young people; and has created a very successful project called Paracarnival in which she creates carnival with people with physical disabilities.
Jorge Goia - Associate Artist
Jorge is from São Paulo, Brazil, and has been living in London since 2004, teaching Capoeira Angola to adults and children in schools, youth clubs, community centres and social projects. He has a PhD in Social Psychology, from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) and his field research was about the body awareness and relational skills CA can develop, and it took place in the Portuguese and Brazilian Department, King's College London. He’s also lived in the West Bank (Palestine), where he worked as Capoeira head-trainer and Monitoring and Evaluation officer in a psycho-social project at refugee camps using Capoeira to relieve trauma among children and young people.
http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/03/palestinian-children-learn-the-brazilian-way/