Trustees

Julian Al Cantara

An Honours graduate in Economics from Bristol University and a fluent Spanish speaker, Julian Alcantara has worked across many aspects of the film business for over 20 years.

A veteran of both Polygram Films and Universal Pictures, Julian ran the Universal Pictures’ international production and acquisitions arm, managing an extensive slate of over 25 films ranging from big budget studio projects to small Oscar-nominated foreign language films in addition to the release of all of Working Title’s films.

In addition to the mainstream Western film industry, through his work as an independent producer and adviser, Julian has developed an in-depth knowledge of both the Indian and Chinese film industries and has also travelled and worked extensively in the Middle East, both in and outside the film arena.

He has been a keynote speaker and panellist at numerous film festivals and film industry events round the world and has also acted as adviser to the Shanghai International Film Festival and the Mumbai International Film Festival.

Julian is one of the founding partners of Random Character Pictures along with two-time Academy Award nominated producer of Star Wars, Gary Kurtz, and is also a voting member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).

Sheila Atim

Sheila Atim is a multi-award winning actor-musician and writer based in London. Her work ranges from major UK theatres and the West End to international screen projects for BBC, Netflix, Amazon and film. Sheila has a keen interest in all artistic media and is a passionate advocate of programmes and initiatives which aim to provide access to the arts for all.

William Britain

William Britain is a Chartered Accountant and retired from Deloitte in 2020. Since then he has become more involved in voluntary activities particularly as Chair of the Highgate Society. He takes a keen interest in both music and education feeling strongly that young people gain enormously from developing their skills as musicians and performers. While it is wonderful when a student goes on to work in performing arts, sometimes it turns out that other paths are better suited. Whichever is the case, great personal benefits are always gained from the performing arts learning experience. He is delighted to be involved with the Kieran Taylor Scholarship Trust.

Celia Greenwood

Celia Greenwood is co-founder and former CEO of Wac Arts, which began life as Weekend Arts College – WAC. Trained as a Drama specialist at Central School of Speech and Drama, she has worked creatively with young people for more than forty years. She is committed to the right of every child and young person to access high quality arts education and to building inclusive pathways to vocational training.

Martina Laird

Martina Laird has worked extensively in the industry as an actor and teacher. Theatre work includes The Royal Shakespeare Company, The Royal National Theatre, The Almeida, The Royal Court, The Tricycle, The Globe, Theatre Royal Stratford East and the Donmar Warehouse. She was nominated for a Best Actress Evening Standard Award for her role in the play by Trinidadian playwright Errol John, Moon On A Rainbow Shawl. Having appeared in many television series, Martina is best known as the popular character Comfort Jones on BBC’s flagship drama Casualty. In her five years on the show, she also won two acting awards for her work from the Michael Elliott Foundation and the BFM (Screen Nation) Awards. She has directed fringe theatre as well as many student productions and is Associate Director on Get Up Stand Up, the West End Bob Marley musical.

Steve Medlin

Steve Medlin is currently the Artistic Director at Collage Arts. A founder member of Unclassified Arts he works extensively as a physical theatre performer and movement director across theatre, TV and film. He has worked as an actor and trainer with BBC Academy, as associate director with Eclipse Theatre and was head of drama, then course leader, on the professional musical theatre course, as well as coordinator of the senior program, at Wac Arts.

Danny Sapani

Danny Sapani is a British born actor of Ghanaian descent, whose work spans film, television, and theatre. A graduate of Weekend Arts College and The Central School of Speech and Drama, he is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Sembene in Penny Dreadful, Tony Morecombe in Misfits as well as roles in Doctor Who, Star Wars, The Last Jedi, Black Panther, Jadotville and Trance directed by Danny Boyle. He has also worked in India starring in Tezz, Singham 2 and Tarakasura. Recently he appeared as Jahan Zakari, Prime Minister in the critically acclaimed TV series Mother, Father, Son, and as Jamie in Killing Eve. He is currently working on Showtime’s series adaptation of the Xbox game Halo playing Captain Jacob Keyes.

Martha Stylianou

Martha Stylianou trained at the Laban centre and The London School of Contemporary Dance. She has over 30 years experience in the dance world as both practitioner, teacher and assessor. Martha was the course coordinator for the Wac Arts Diploma on Musical Theatre until 2017 when she left to open her own Pilates studio, specialising in injury prevention and rehabilitation. She remains active within the dance community through her work as a creative consultant on various dance projects.

Ché Walker

Ché Walker is an award winning and internationally acclaimed playwright, director, actor and teacher. His work has been widely performed from fringe venues to the Globe Theatre and adapted for film for Netflix distribution. As director he has thirty one professional theatre credits both in US and London and as an actor forty professional TV and film credits and fifteen professional theatre credits. Ché is associate teacher at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), where he also sits on the audition panel. He has taught acting at LAMDA, RCSSD, East15, Webber Douglas, WacArts, and at Stella Adler Los Angeles for four years. He has thirty years experience as an acting teacher.

Camille Curtis y van Dyke

Camille is a passionate leader with over 20 years of working with young people, education and the creative arts. She has a successful track record of training, engaging, nurturing, mentoring and providing opportunities for young people who wish to pursue further education, internships or employment in the creative industries.

She wants to have impact... to initiate change for the greater good and to have a wider reach throughout the UK