The founders

Malakaï Sargeant
Co-Executive Director

Malakaï is a writer, producer and theatre-maker working to stretch the limits of performing arts, enabling the socially and politically disenfranchised to make a mark within the sector and beyond.                     

His work often focuses on conceiving and delivering long-term projects in communities with little opportunity to access to the arts. He is currently devising a creative learning programme for the 2019 UK tour of Time Won’t Wait’s Custody, as well as producing the community engagement programme Encountering 10001 Nights for Iris Theatre’s Arabian Nights at Hoxton Hall. He is also the Assistant Producer for London’s Free Open Air Theatre, leading on fundraising and audience development.

Malakaï has been commissioned as a writer by the likes of Nationwide, the Royal Court Theatre, Apples & Snakes with the RSC and Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Other work has been published online and in print, including by FWRD Magazine (2017), Barbican Centre (2017), and forthcoming in Wasafiri and Unbound (2018). He is an alumni of the Barbican Young Poets and is co-founder of poetry movement Veranda.    

Malakaï is directing S+K's current full-length show, VOID and is executive producing SKFEST 2018.

malakai@sandkproject.com | @MalakaiSargeant

Steven Kavuma
Co-Executive Director​

Steven co-founded The S+K Project with Malakaï Sargeant in September 2014 after being frustrated about the lack of representation and inclusivity in the arts industry.

Since then, he has gone on to work extensively to change the face of theatre in the UK, and has worked with numerous arts organisations and charities, lobbying theatres to be more representative on and off stage. His passion for this is poured into the project he founded – The Diversity School Initiative – a non-profit campaign organisation set up to address under-representation and diversity in UK drama schools. 

​Outside of his activism, Steven also writes and directs plays, and has recently completed his BA in Applied Theatre & Writing for Performance at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. He is also known, largely on Twitter, for moaning about Liverpool FC’s consistently poor performance.

Steven goes back into rehearsals as Assistant Director for An Octoroon at the National Theatre in summer 2018. He is also directing an interpretation of "HOME", to be showcased at SKFEST 2018, and is available for freelance directing work September 2018 onwards.

steven@sandkproject.com | @_StevenKavuma

Ailbhe Treacy
Producer
 
​Ailbhe is a theatre producer and filmmaker from the backends of Ireland. She works hard to bring the arts to the people who need it most, with a specific interest in the diversification of UK theatre through the creation of work that partners with community groups, academic researchers and charities.

In her theatre work, she has collaborated with Southwark Playhouse, Trafalgar Studios, The Pleasance and Theatre Delicatessen. In film, she has worked for companies like Rolls Royce, Nationwide and ITV. Her most recent production, Land of the Three Towers, is a vibrant ensemble piece tackling the UK housing crisis. She is also Executive Producer of COMMON.
 
Ailbhe spends a large portion of her time explaining her name to strangers (it's pronounced Al-vah). She leads on producing all of our projects, including the VOID London and nationwide tour, and developing partnerships with venues to host Bring Me In and the consultancy package around the event.

ailbhe@sandkproject.com | @ailbhetreacy

Myah Jeffers
Literary Associate

Myah is a playwright, dramaturg and photographer who is particularly keen on discovering and cultivating exciting and diverse new writers; in a bid to increase authentic representation within the theatre industry. She is currently the New Work Coordinator at Talawa Theatre Company, as well as the Resident Photographer & Creative Director for poetry platform, Heaux Noire.

Myah's work, in both the fields of theatre and photography, focuses on amplifying the voices of those who continue to be marginalised in today's Britain. She has created and presented work for the BBC, Theatre Royal Stratford East, The Birmingham Rep, Camden People's Theatre, The Roundhouse, The Midlands Arts Centre and Battersea Arts Centre.
She has a slightly worrying obsession with camera lenses and road bikes.

Myah has worked closely with Rumi Woolf to develop VOID, and she is leading on producing intensive workshops for SKFEST 2018.

​myah@sandkproject.com | @MyahIsMyName

David Gilbert
Lead Outreach Coordinator
 
David is a London-based freelance director and theatre-maker from Zimbabwe.

He was awarded the Regional Theatre Young Directors Scheme 2017, a three-month placement at Cambridge Junction working on a range of productions by companies including Unit, New International Encounter and Dancing Brick. During 2017 his solo scratch performance It’s a O was also shown at the Union Theatre and Cambridge Junction. He was also Assistant Director to Justin Audibert on Dennis in Penge by Annie Siddons at Oval House.

He has directed a site-specific R&D performance of new play Yellowbone by Samantha Dube at the award-winning Josh Hair & Beauty Salon in Croydon, and was awarded a bursary by TYA England in 2017 as Research Artist to visit Assitej World Summit in Cape Town – The Cradle of Creativity – a Children and Young Peoples’ Festival. David is a recent Frantic Assembly Learn and Train Associate.

David is responsible for planning, leading and evaluating all of our participation projects, and is currently working to create links with, and provide opportunities for, marginalised individuals in our new home in Tottenham.

david@sandkproject.com

​Amber Evans
Assistant Outreach Coordinator
 
Amber is a facilitator, director and soon to be a graduate of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, with a degree in Applied Theatre.  A large amount of Amber's work revolves around working in communities to make long-term, meaningful relationships to enable the creation of high-quality artistic work.

Previously she has co-directed site-specific street theatre and has worked as a movement director to develop pieces of new writing.  She has also been involved in planning and delivering various multi-sensory creative projects and immersive workshops for isolated individuals.

Currently Amber is collaborating with artists of various disciplines to create her first body of work that explores notions of online identities, with a sharing lined up for Summer 2018.  

Amber leads S+K's participation projects with David, and is working with Ailbhe on an intergenerational project to be piloted during SKFEST 2018.
​
amber@sandkproject.com 

Facilitators
Monaé Robinson | ​Gabriel Akamo | Amina Jama

Danni Ebanks-Ingram
Marketing Coordinator
​
​Danni is a Birmingham-based artist engaging in social and political subjects through a multidisciplinary practice and a freelance digital marketer.

Most recently Danni performed a solo piece of performance art entitled 'Paris Hasn't Stopped Burning' as part of Fierce Festival and PILOT Nights in Birmingham. ​She has also been commissioned by Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, where they created a piece of movement in response to 'The Past Is Now' exhibition.

 Currently, Danni is producing a project titled BBQ which aims to archive the experiences of Black British Queer folk.

​Danni takes a lead on planning, developing and implementing all of S=K's marketing, branding and communications,
​
danni@sandkproject.com | @zazoothunder

Sofiya Ali
Marketing Assistant
 
Sofiya is soon to be an English Literature graduate from Kingston University, and she is an English tutor from West London.

She's been involved with various charity work over recent years that aims to connect the experiences of the Somali diaspora, and she was recently appointed as the head of media and publicity for SYFI – a youth-oriented charity based in London.  

Sofiya is also an avid writer; she has blogged and written think pieces on being a millennial and the intersections of identity, politics and contemporary digital culture. 

Sofiya assists Danni on digital communications, and sh stage manages and live streams S+K events, so if you see her on her phone she's not being rude.

sofiya@sandkproject.com | @smhsof

Oriste-Etemi Olugbo
Resident Photographer

​​​Oriste is a freelance events, fashion, music and portrait photographer. His work ranges from quiet poetry nights to not so quiet corporate events, with clients including names such as G-Shock and Puma. 

He is also the co-director of up-and-coming media company Highgrade Vxsuals, an organisation aiming to bring high quality and conscious visual content to young people across the UK. ​

ete@sandkproject.com | @highgradevxsuals