UKCI - Key Persons
Dan Brown has held education associate positions at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre. He was workshop director in Leeds for the Television Workshop. Having taught Drama to children of all ages, he is now also a teacher trainer for local authorities and universities in the UK. Dan first came out to Beijing in June 2015 to work on the foundations of teacher training for UKCI, for which he now acts as course and training consultant.
Ian Kellgren is CEO of UKCI. He is an award-winning theatre director and media entrepreneur. His previous experience includes: director and literary manager at the Royal Court, London; Artistic Director of the Liverpool Playhouse, and of Durham Theatre Company; Executive of the National Council for Drama Training; CEO of Drama UK; and Chair of the Television Workshop. He is a foreign expert in international training programmes for the Beijing Institute of Education and guest professor at Shanghai Institute for Visual Arts.
Jane Deitch was Head of Casting for BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) Television Drama Series from 1999 to 2006. She now has her own casting company which works across all media - films and television and theatre. Jane was originally a Drama teacher. She works with UKCI recruiting tutors, teachers and other experts to send to China.
Jane Harrison was the Principal of ArtsEd, the top provider of musical theatre training in the UK. She masterminded a major capital project, resulting in the creation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation Theatre; and boosted the acting course, which received an industry award for its innovative acting training Her early career was in acting and directing and she has taught and directed at all the major UK drama schools. Jane been a consultant for organisations such as Drama UK, City University, Birkbeck and the British Council; and travelled to Jiaxing in 2016 to be part of a UKCI teacher training forum.
John Abbott is the author of several seminal books on drama training published in the UK, including 'The Acting Book 'and 'The Improvisation Book'. These grew out of his experience as an actor and teacher. His acting including everything from long running television series to working with the Royal Shakespeare Company. As a teacher, he was Head of Acting at ArtsEd London where he pioneered ways of unlocking the imagination and teaching stand up. He has been a principal tutor of teacher training for UCKI in China.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Creative Education at the Warwick Business School
Jonothan Neelands is Professor of Creative Education at the Warwick Business School and Chair of Drama and Theatre Education at the University of Warwick. He is an experienced and creative workshop leader and drama practitioner. He has an international reputation and is regarded as a pioneer of drama in education. Jonothan has had a number of his books translated into Mandarin and ran the first UKCI teacher training workshops.