ABOUT BOX CLEVER

Tara is a former consultant now working in casting. She aims to make the acting world more accessible by championing open auditions and trying to promote casting calls amongst actors of diverse backgrounds. Before that, she joined Boxclever as an actor, touring London primary schools. 

Based in North Northumberland and Edinburgh, Jane is a museum practitioner and collections manager for The Gefrin Trust, whose mission is to preserve a nationally important archaeological site at Yeavering, Northumberland and to inspire people with its story. She is also curator and manager of a small community-led museum in a remote rural area. A qualified solicitor, Jane practised law for nearly three decades, for half that time as the managing partner of a City law firm.

Corinna Brown is an East London born performer with a background in dance and a BA in Acting and Stage Combat from East 15 Acting School. She began her training in Ballet, Tap, Jazz and Hip Hop before discovering acting at the Anna Fiorentini Theatre and Film School. Early screen credits include My Murder (BBC Three) and Even More Evermoor (Disney Channel).

Her theatre credits span Coppelia: A Mystery at the New Vic (★★★★★ The Guardian, The Stage), Macbeth (Edinburgh Fringe), The Tempest (RADA) and Sleeping Beauty (Hackney Empire). She has also worked as a stunt performer across games, film and TV, with credits including Dashcam, The Kitchen, Snow White, and Vikings: Valhalla (Netflix).

Corinna plays Tara Jones in Netflix’s Heartstopper and is passionate about creative facilitation, regularly leading acting and dance workshops for Hackney Empire, Diverse Voices and The Royal Court.

Based in Nottingham, Ellen has over 10 years experience working with young people in various education settings and predominantly working in the charity sector. Ellen is Head of Student Opportunities at IntoUniversity, an education charity. Her role focuses on raising aspirations and widening access to careers, including the Arts, for young people who face disadvantage. 

Mark has over 20 years’ fundraising experience in the charity sector. He is currently Director of Income Generation at Contact. Mark was Director of Development at the London’s Air Ambulance Charity for six years before joining Contact, leading on income growth. Previous roles include Assistant Director at Centre of Cell, an education centre based at Queen Mary, University of London, and Development Manager at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

Richard is the Chief Executive of two City of London based educational charities, the Portal Trust and the Aldgate & Allhallows Foundation. He has a Master’s degree in Management from the Bayes Business School; he is a member of the Court of City, University of London; a member of the London College of Fashion’s Making for Change (Social Enterprise) Advisory Board and an adviser to the Schools Funding Network. Richard received the Freedom of the City of London in 2002 and is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Educators.

Andrea Gillie is a Drama and Arts facilitator, teacher, director and actor. She is currently working on community projects with Good Wolf People at Croydon MIND, Stanley Arts and care homes in Croydon and as an actor and facilitator for Coddiwomple Theatre in Surrey. Previously she has been a Head of Drama in Croydon secondary schools, a director and leader of various Youth Theatre groups and an actor, touring small and middle-scale theatre.

Marylka is an experienced charity fundraiser with a background in arts management. Her previous development roles include fundraising for City of London Sinfonia and the Unicorn Theatre, along with house management at Croydon’s Fairfield Halls and Warwick Arts Centre. She is currently Head of Fundraising for SATEDA, a charity tackling violence against women and girls.

Kate is a practising barrister of 20 years standing, specialising in child protection work, mostly representing young people and children in care proceedings and deprivation of liberty cases. She is a member of 1GC Family Law. She was a long time governor at St Mary Magdalene Academy Islington.

Iqbal trained at the National Studio, Leicester Haymarket Theatre, Middlesex University and The Academy Drama School. Box Clever is delighted to welcome him in this capacity as he is a creative, versatile and dynamic director with critically acclaimed performances for both the National Theatre (Harold Pinter’s A Slight Ache and Landscape and Ayub Khan-Din’s Rafta, Rafta) and the RSC (Much Ado About Nothing, Othello and Tartuffe). Iqbal was Artistic Director on the 2022 Commonwealth Games an is Associate Director at The Birmingham Rep.

Amit trained as an actor at Rose Bruford, specialising in Physical Theatre, and began his career with Box Clever, performing, directing and developing workshops. He went on to train with theatre and dance creators such as Lindsay Kemp and the David Glass Ensemble and worked as a facilitator in South East Asia, making theatre with street children over a four-year period.

In 2001, Amit co-founded Gecko, now an award-winning international physical theatre company with patrons Dame Arlene Philips and Dominic West. Gecko is recognised worldwide for its bold physical storytelling and its national and international creative engagement programmes. Amit has created eight shows with the company, most recently Kin, commissioned by and performed at the National Theatre.

Jessica’s life-long passion for the arts, and the importance of sharing that passion with others especially young people, has influenced both her education and her career. From a 2.1 degree in performing arts from Manchester University followed by a PGCE in drama , her dedicated teaching career, at Walton Academy in Grantham where she is now Principal, has focused on ensuring that the arts, particularly drama, and the opportunities they provide, play an important part in the lives of her students.

Rob is an employment solicitor by background. He is now an independent employment and workplace mediator, investigator and consultant, based in Northumberland and operating nationwide. He also acts as the internal Ombudsperson for a global international organisation.

Tara is the founder of Tara Maitrī, a social media consultancy that uses mindfulness to make social media a better place for young people. Previously she was the Social Media Content Editor at the National Theatre, where she oversaw all of the NT’s social media output. Her main brief in this role was to use digital marketing to help make the National Theatre more accessible to younger audiences. Prior to that she held a number of roles at the BBC, including Marketing Coordinator at BBC News where she created multiplatform marketing campaigns for the EU Referendum, 2016 US Elections and 2017 General Election.

Cath is Executive Headteacher in a Multi Academy Trust in East London and works across schools in Tower Hamlets and Greenwich. Previous roles have included the Headteacher of The John Roan School in Greenwich and of Bow School in Tower Hamlets. She was the first Executive Director of the Tower Hamlets Education Partnership, is a governor of a primary school in Tower Hamlets, Chair of the Board of Bow Arts Trust and a Trustee of the Hackney Historic Buildings Trust.