Artistic Directors of the Future
Dedicated to creating change at leadership level in mainstream theatre
Kate was born Baghdad Iraq and raised in East London, Kate’s traditional Arab name is Inaam-Catherine bint Suhail bin Mohammed bin Salih al-Hashemi.
She trained in Technical Theatre and Stage Management at RADA before studying Arts Admin at Birkbeck College, University of London. Kate then spent over ten successful years as a Stage Manager for a variety of organisations including Birmingham Rep, the RSC, Unicorn Kids Theatre and in the West End.
Having moved into administration Kate worked for English Heritage, Soho Theatre Company and Theatre Royal Stratford East, before undertaking senior management contracts with Colchester Arts Centre, Talawa Theatre Company, Oval House, Daily Life Ltd, Jacksons Lane, Discover Centre for Children, Eastern Angles, Shape East Architectural Centre and Hoxton Hall. Current clients include Culture&, Greenwich Dance and tiata fahodzi.
Sandra leads the training and develops programmes, events and membership services for Artistic Directors of the Future.
Sandra is also the Artistic Director and founder of High-Rise Avenue (https://www.highriseavenue.com); a multi-disciplinary production company, which produces exciting new theatre shows written and directed by people of colour and adapts them for film and television. The company was previously led under the name of Writers Avenue, a theatre company that developed and showcased new writers and produced showcases predominantly at Soho Theatre and the Pleasance.
From 2015-2020 she worked as a talent agent and ran her own agency, The Artist & Creative Avenue (ACA), which primarily represented people of colour and international artists based in London, LA, New York, Italy and Germany. Sandra facilitated job opportunities within theatre, television, film and commercials, including National Theatre, Donmar Warehouse, Soho Theatre, Old Vic, Warner Brothers, BBC, Sony and Netflix.
Luke was born in Worcestershire, studying Fine Art at Cardiff Metropolitan University, where he was a part of and held his own exhibitions. Graduating in 2018, Luke moved to London in October of that year.
He found himself working for the Royal Academy of Arts in their Digital and Collections sector, completing an extended Diploma in Cultural Heritage with Culture& alongside.
He then went onto working as a Youth Collective Member at the British Museum, creating workshops primarily as well as working freelance shortly for Art Night London as an Artist Invigilator.
Luke then moved into Interiors as a Gallery Assistant, followed by working for independent event agencies across London, where he has been working as a Brand Ambassador, Promoter and Exhibition Curator/ Invigilator.
Luke continues with his artistic practise and ideas for new exhibition work.