Welcome to Discover 2026

I am Arunima Kumar, a choreographer, performer, producer and the Founder and Artistic Director of Arunima Kumar Dance Company (AKDC). My work is rooted in Kuchipudi, one of India’s classical dance traditions, and explores contemporary themes of identity, migration, belonging and cultural connection through movement.

Over the past two decades, I have created and produced performances, participatory projects and educational programmes across the UK and internationally, working with artists, communities, festivals, cultural organisations and educational institutions. I am passionate about making dance accessible to wider audiences and creating opportunities for meaningful cultural exchange.

Alongside my artistic practice, I lead AKDC’s strategic development, partnerships and community engagement activity, championing South Asian dance within the wider cultural landscape. My work combines artistic excellence with a commitment to inclusion, participation and social impact.

I am increasingly interested in developing collaborative work for public and outdoor spaces, exploring how dance can transform everyday environments and bring people together through shared experiences. I am excited by opportunities to expand my practice, collaborate, watch exciting work , and create ambitious projects that reach audiences beyond traditional theatre settings.

Arunima Kumar profiles:

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I am a puppeteer, maker, and facilitator. In 2020, I founded Swallow’s Wings Puppetry, a grassroots community arts organisation dedicated to celebrating West African culture through puppetry, storytelling, and making.

I have toured extensively in both rural and urban communities, enriching my practice through engagement with a wide range of audiences and venues. Alongside performance work, I facilitate puppetry workshops in schools, community centres, libraries, museums, and cultural organisations across the UK and France.

I trained as a puppeteer with the Curious School of Puppetry and the Little Angel Theatre.

I am also an Associate Artist with Magic Me, an amazing pioneering organisation in intergenerational arts practice, and with the extraordinary Puppet Barge Theatre.

Currently, I am undertaking an MA researching West African puppetry and its potential contribution to primary school education in the UK.

I am guided by the words of one of my heroines, Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, who said: “It’s the little things citizens do. That’s what will make the difference.”

Carolene Yawa Ada’s profiles:

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I am the Founder and Artistic Director of In My Shoes Theatre Group, a disability-led theatre organisation for young adult artists from the age of 18 years. I am experienced in facilitating, directing and producing inclusive theatre and participatory arts projects, alongside supporting the development of disabled and neurodivergent artists through collaborative and artist-centred approaches.

I am committed to equality, access and disability-led practice. I am passionate about using theatre as a tool for empowerment and social change. I am committed to creating platforms where voices too often left unheard can be celebrated, and where every individual’s unique stories and talents are given space to shine. Founding In My Shoes Theatre Group has been a long-held dream, fuelled by my dedication to promoting access and equal opportunities for disabled artists in the arts.

Emily Skeldon’s profiles:

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I am a Brazilian artist based in the UK, working across theatre, performance, and creative projects with communities. Initially trained as an anthropologist, I started my career in the performing arts through devising and contemporary theatre-making, later moving towards multidisciplinary practices including installations, interventions, social experiments, and co-creative and participatory work.

I am particularly interested in the connections between micro/macro and local/global issues and how “reality” can find its way into performance (and vice-versa). I recently collaborated with Royal Academy of Arts, Migration Matters Festival, ARK Margate and Torriano Meeting House.

Gustavo Dias-Vallejo’s profiles:

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My name is Keilah (pronounced key-la!) and I am an early-career creative producer, focused on creating and supporting arts, cultural, and community projects that centre creativity, participation, and joy.

I bring broad project management and events experience, both in and out of the arts sector, giving me a well-rounded bank of experience to draw on as I start to explore outdoor arts.

This includes my current role in Nottingham Playhouse’s Participation team, focusing on young people and families programmes, as well as previous audience development and engagement work, and currently being a Trustee for oracy-focused children’s theatre company, Speech Bubbles CIO.

I am especially interested in the intersection of arts with place-making, and how outdoor and rural theatre can be used to connect communities, and develop a sense of belonging, inclusion, and representation within its audiences. I love immersive and participatory projects that put its audience and participants at the heart of stories and allow them to feel part of the experience.

I am keen to explore these ideas in non-traditional theatre settings that allow people who may not usually have access to cultural opportunities the chance to access and enjoy arts in spaces they know and trust – outdoor work is perfect for this, so I am excited to learn more and explore work in this area and generally be part of work that brings joy to people.

Keilah Chambers-Turner’s profiles:

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You may know me as a viral poet, (I Want My County Back- 4 million views) or from my poetry performances supporting punk legend Dr. John Cooper Clark.

With work rooted in word-witchery and the working class, I explore the synergy between poetry and movement and story in a way that makes the ugly beautiful and the mundane fantastical. I’m a newly disabled, working class, interdisciplinary GRT artist. Winner of BBC Radio 3 ‘New Voices’ and European Slam Finalist, as seen and heard in The Guardian/ BBC Breakfast/ Radio 4 Women’s Hours/ Radio 3. Published poetry collections include The Lolitas and The Uniform Factory (Verve Poetry Press) Bird St. (The Secret Writers Club) and ‘The Pleasure Dome’ (Burning Eye)

My theatre work for children includes ‘The Sleepover: a re-imaging of the Princess and the Pea,’ ‘The Woman Who Turned Into An Eyeball’ and ‘Robot Aliens Stole My Ipig.’

Louise Actually’s profiles:

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I am, an English Literature and German Cultural Studies graduate, and I also hold a Master’s degree in German Translation. I am a mum of two and currently work as a Production Assistant on the York Health and Arts Mela, a role I feel is closely connected to the cultural life of the city I have lived in for over 40 years.

I am an avid reader with a strong interest in languages, literature, and cultural exchange. My academic background has fostered a lasting interest in how language, translation, and storytelling move between cultures, and how meaning is shaped and shared across different contexts. I also have a strong personal interest in museums, galleries, and world cinema, which continues to inform my curiosity about visual culture and global artistic expression.

As a family, we are actively engaged in arts and culture, and this shared interest has further deepened my appreciation of creative experiences in everyday life. My interests also extend into cultural practice through cooking, which reflects and connects to my mixed Ugandan and Asian heritage. Food, like language and art, is an important way I stay connected to identity, culture, and shared experience. I also enjoy spending time outdoors, including walking and exploring, which helps me stay connected to place, landscape, and everyday cultural life.

I began my journey with the York Health and Arts Mela as a trainee, where I gained hands-on experience across festival production. Through this role, I developed a strong practical understanding of how community arts festivals are planned and delivered. I have since progressed into a Production Assistant role, supporting the planning and delivery of a large-scale community arts programme across both indoor and outdoor spaces.

I am now looking to continue developing my practice within outdoor and community arts, building on my experience to contribute to culturally rich, inclusive, and socially engaged creative work.

I am The Psyber Giantess, an interdisciplinary performance artist, producer, filmmaker and facilitator. Originally from Uganda and Ghana, I am based in Stoke-on-Trent and the Midlands. My work brings together movement, theatre, live art, sound, visual storytelling and participatory practice to explore themes of embodiment, transformation, disability, neurodivergence, migration, grief, belonging and access.

As a Black, queer, neurodivergent artist with African roots, I am interested in the body as a site of memory, resistance and storytelling. My practice is shaped by personal and collective experiences, often combining movement, costume, sound, text and imagery to create immersive and reflective experiences.

Alongside creating performance work, I facilitate workshops, collaborate across disciplines and support community-based creative projects. I have worked with organisations including B-Arts, Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage, Certain Blacks, Urban Wilderness and Appetite Stoke.

I am increasingly interested in performance in public and outdoor spaces, and in creating work that invites audiences to encounter art in unexpected places and ways.

The Psyber Giantess’s profiles:

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Image: Where Her Light Gets In (2024), painting by The Psyber Giantess.