BOARD OF TRUSTEES
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  • Victoria Todd - Chair
    • Victoria is currently the Managing Director of the One to One Children's Fund. Previously she worked as director of the National Campaign for the Arts in 1998 and developed the organisation as a strong, active and vocal advocate for all the arts. Prior to that, she worked for the United Kingdom Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, the Tate Gallery and UNESCO. Her responsibilities have included coordinating local, national and international projects, as well as lobbying for changes in government policy at a parliamentary level. Victoria is an Honorary Fellow of Trinity-Laban London and a member of their board of trustees. She is also on the board of directors of the London Studio Centre.

  • Anu Kapoor - Deputy Chair
    • Anu graduated in business management before qualifying as a solicitor in 1991. After practising law in a corporate context for a number of years, she specialised in employment and immigration law, and in September 1999, set up her own solicitor's firm. She works with human rights organisations, minority community groups, businesses and individuals such as asylum seekers. Anu has been a member of Akademi's board since 1996 and is its Treasurer.

  • Richard Blurton
    • Richard works at the British Museum where he is a curator for the South and Southeast Asia collections in the Department of Asia. He has curated many exhibitions there over the last 20 years, most recently on the paintings of Rabindranath Tagore, and on the narratives of Bengal. He is the author of Hindu Art (1992) and Bengali Myths (2006) amongst other publications and currently works on a research project in Arunachal Pradesh.

  • Ajay Gupta
    • Ajay has served on Akademi's board since July 1997. With an MBA in International Marketing and Finance, he is a member of the UK Chartered Management Institute and the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Commerce. Ajay is currently marketing leader for a reinsurance company with $8 billion in annual revenues and has experience of working with diverse teams and global markets. For many years, he was an insurance underwriter in the City of London, specialising in the area of financial risk. Ajay brings a passion for the arts and a focus on business and leadership excellence to Akademi.

  • Rachel Harris
    • Rachel is currently dance education officer at the South Bank Centre. After gaining a degree in music, dance and drama, Rachel went on to train in South Asian dance and completed an MPhil in the development of bharatanatyam in England. She has worked in a wide range of environments, choreographing and teaching in schools, community, special needs, site-specific, public and professional contexts and has collaborated with many cultural organisations. Rachel has acted as assessor for ACE London and is currently on the dance panel for the Olivier Awards.

  • Hanna Madalski
    • Hanna is a communications professional, with a diverse international background, specialising in public relations and public affairs. Having obtained a first class honours degree she has worked in the European Commission and currently works for Tetra Strategy. Hanna formerly trained as a dancer, bringing a real passion for dance, and is a Dance UK member.

  • Caroline Miller
    • Caroline is Director of Dance UK, the national voice for dance. Dance UK produced the Dance Manifesto in partnership with the National Campaign for the Arts, which was presented to David Lammy, the Minister for Culture in 2006. Caroline has been an arts publicist for 14 years and has held the positions of Head of Publicity at the international publishers Phaidon Press, and Press Manager for Sadler’s Wells and the Royal Festival Hall.  She has was also the press officer for the ICA and began her career as the marketing officer for Colchester Arts Centre.

  • Bavaani Nanthabalan
    • Bavaani is the headteacher of Torriano Junior School in Camden. With an MA in Curriculum Studies,and a recent outstanding Ofsted inspection, she has worked with Ofsted, HMI and Camden in sharing good practice on leadership and raising achievement through assessment and tracking of pupil progress. A trained Carnatic vocalist and bharatanatyam dancer, she was a member of the Singapore National Dance Company. Bavaani has had a long partnership with Akademi, as a perfomer in its early dance dramas and later as a dance teacher and workshop leader.

  • Nasreen Rehman
    • Nasreen has served as a trustee of the Runnymede Trust, a race relations think tank, and is currently on the board of SLIP (Securing Livelihoods in Pakistan), a charity supporting two villages in the earthquake affected region of Pakistan. She is also a founding member in Britain of Muslims for Secular Democracy. Since 2000, she has been writing plays and screenplays in Urdu and Punjabi.

  • Fiona Sheridan
    • Fiona is Global Head of Marketing for Consumer Markets and Industrial Markets at KPMG. She has instigated and delivered a wide range of global marketing programmes, a number of which focus on India. She has 14 years marketing and communications experience gained in a variety of financial, legal and public sector organisations.



AKADEMI PATRONS
Anish Kapoor
Girish Karnard
Swaraj Paul (Chief Patron)
Ravi Shankar
Alistair Spalding
Kapila Vatsyayan



AKADEMI STAFF
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  • Director - Mira Kaushik OBE
    • Born in Belgrade (former Yugoslavia), Mira was educated at the University of Delhi, India and moved to London in 1982.

      With a background in literature, film, theatre and television, her professional experience includes TV and audience research for the BBC, translation, broadcasting, working with the Asian Women's Voluntary Organisation and coordinating the Festival of India at the Commonwealth Institute.

      Since her appointment in 1987 as director of Akademi (formerly known as the Academy of Indian Dance), the organisation has excelled as a strategic arts development body of global importance through its work with audiences reaching millions.

      Recent key achievements include the BA Honours course at the Contemporary Dance Trust, the production of site specific shows: Coming of Age and Escapade at the South Bank Centre, Waterscapes at Somerset House, and more recently, Sapnay, Awaz/Voice, Dreaming Now and Bells at Trafalgar Square.

      In 2007 she was awarded an Honorary Order of the British Empire for services to dance.

  • General Manager - Monique Deletant
    • Monique joined Akademi in April 2006 as General Manager. Since graduating from the University of Cambridge in 1996, she has worked both in the world of arts and government. Following her first job as a researcher for an MP, she left to study technical theatre and worked in stage management on a number of productions. In 2001 she joined the Department of Constitutional Affairs as Manager of the Civil Justice Council (a Non Departmental Public Body).

  • Education Manager - Christina Christou
    • With over a decade of experience in the arts management sector, Christina's past professional roles include working for Arts Council England on professional development for artists; and managing an arts training organisation in Higher Education at the University of Liverpool. A music graduate, she has also worked on programming arts venues and has been instrumental in developing new buildings and spaces for the arts on various capital projects.

  • Administrator - Robyn Stocker
    • Robyn joined Akademi in February 2008 after working in the financial and legal sectors. She graduated with a degree in Law and completed the Legal Practice Course before deciding to venture into the Arts. She also has a background in dance, having studied ballet and contemporary dance as a young girl and also joined the Street Jazz dance team at university where she took part in various performances. She now continues to enjoy Salsa and street dance in her spare time and also participates in the Radio Lollipop scheme, which runs activities for children in the paediatric ward of Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital.

  • Marketing & Communications Officer - Gene Dugan-Brause
    • A graduate of the University of Essex with a master’s degree in literature, his past experience in arts marketing includes the post of Assistant Director of Plymouth Arts Centre in Devon, and Co-Director of Out North Contemporary Art House in Anchorage, Alaska. In the US he served as a board member of the National Performance Network and an advisor for the National Dance Project’s regional initiative for choreographers. Gene was a marketing volunteer at the 2006 Melbourne International Arts Festival, and for the past year he has been an Education Assistant at Benjamin Franklin House in central London.
  • Dance Development Officer - Lui Sit
    • Educated in Australia, Lui Sit has over 10 years of experience in events organisation and professional development programmes. She has worked in a range of industry sectors including tertiary education; film & television; local government; environmental lobbying and multi-arts agencies. She has over twenty five years experience in a range of dance forms including contemporary, classical, jazz, African, Latin, and more recently, belly dance, hip hop and burlesque. Lui has been running Akademi’s Dance Development programme since the end of June.

  • Education & Community Programme Co-ordinator - Penny Homer
    • Penny graduated from Nottingham University with a Bachelor in Music in 2003. In her spare time, she also sings in a band and a choir.

  • Projects Assistant - Lucia Vivanco
    • Lucia is a Music Educator and performer born in Lima, Peru. She has recently finalised an MA in Cross Sectoral and Community Arts at Goldsmiths College. In addition to her work in Akademi she is Music Consultant for young people with special needs at Stony Dean School in Amersham.

  • Website Co-ordinator - Glyn Ley
    • Glyn joined Akademi as Administrator in May 2006 after working in the retail sector in I.T. and administration. A Film Studies graduate, he has recently completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Arts Management at City University in London. Glyn now lives in South West England and works for Akademi remotely, running Akademi's website and the SADA website, www.southasiandance.org.uk. Away from Akademi, he runs the website www.2012artsnetwork.org.uk, which aims at encouraging conversation and collaboration amongst arts organisations on the London 2012 Olympic Games.

  • Information Systems - Belinda Cussen
    • Before joining Akademi in 2002, Belinda worked for a large database development company, Oracle Corporation Inc. She went on to set up her own business developing large 'mission-critical' database systems for major corporate clients including BUPA and the Forestry Commission. Based in New Zealand, Belinda works for Akademi remotely, delivering IT solutions.

  • SKiL Consultancy LLP. HR Consultant and Advisor - Sarah Robson
    • Sarah has over 15 years' experience in human resources, gained in a wide variety of organisations, including manufacturing, oil, publishing and the not-for-profit sector. She has been a consultant for two years.

  • Accountant - John Googe
    • John has been providing accountancy services to Akademi since 1995. He also assists a wide range of other charity clients, including Charities Evaluation Services, Maria Assumpta Centre and the Historic Chapels Trust.


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