SASKIA COBURN – (she/her) director of strategy, consultation and bid development
A literature graduate from Warwick University, Saskia spent 20 years in the world of West African music and dance, simultaneously working part time and latterly freelance for national charities developing and delivering their arts strategies; finally working as Strategic Director for Groundwork West Midlands.
Sasolo was founded in 2011 when she left her choreographic career and became a full time consultant, focusing on the emergent arts ecology that she had grown up in herself.
Determined to help individual artists to access the support available, the consultancy grew organically, each success bringing another client to her books. She has worked with 1000’s of clients over the last 10 years, from established musicians to graduate writers, large scale festivals to bedroom producers. A fiercely passionate advocate for artists, she has experience of all corners of the national picture. She can explore and communicate the thoughts and ideas of the individual, creating shape and structure, raising money to fund those ideas.
Saskia has kept her own practice and has received several ACE grants over the last few years exploring dance and poetry – her two creative passions. When expanding the business, she looked for people with razor sharp intelligence, creative empathy and great writing skills and is delighted to have welcomed seven people to the team in the last few years. All are outstanding consultants with nuanced, yet diverse appreciation of the arts themselves.
MEZ PACKER – (she/her) strategy, consultation & bid development
Mez has worked for SASOLO for almost 3 years and in the media, arts and higher education sectors since 1988. She began as a print journalist and moved to digital in 1993 when she made some of the UK’s earliest websites. Mez understands how to communicate brand profile across multiple platforms.
She was a digital producer and broadcast journalist for the BBC and has supported hundreds of clients through the process of creating and maintaining an online presence. Mez is also a published novelist and a qualified HE professional (Assistant Professor at Coventry University) and thus an experienced trainer and workshop facilitator; able to work with small or large groups in a face to face or online environment. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has a PhD in Creative Writing.
LARA MONRO – (she/her) mentoring and bid development
Lara has 10+ years of professional experience in the arts and larger cultural fields. She has worked for commercial galleries including White Cube and The Dot Project as well as non-profit arts organisations and larger corporate businesses: Open Space, Second Home, Condé Nast, Terracotta Prints, and Work Show Grow.
Lara has been a freelance journalist and content/copywriter for 10+ years, working with commercial clients that include Bonhams Auction House, AnOther Magazine, The Earth Issue, HERO, and Table. She is also Editor at Large (London) for Autre Love: an LA-based International arts & culture publication and established Words with in 2020. She uses the online platform to interview womxn artists and creatives whose work and ideas inspire her.
As a result of working with hundreds of artists and multiple arts organisations over the years, Lara began bid writing in 2021. She regularly offers her services as an Access Support Worker through arts organisations and funding bodies that include A-N, Arts Council England and Creative Scotland to support the application process for individuals who identify as Neurodivergent.
ALEX ETCHART – (they/them) mentoring and bid development
Alex Etchart (they/them) is an Anglo-Uruguayan social artist using theatre, music, film & education to amplify queer, latinxs, decolonial & environmental communities & campaigns across the UK & internationally. As a multi-instrumentalist composer raised in the South American folk tradition, they mix folk, jazz, classical & electronica to unearth invisibilised hxstories in collaborative songwriting workshops.
Their award-winning magnum opus Sex Worker’s Opera was based on experiences of London-based sex workers & over 100 stories sent in from 18 countries across 6 continents. Co-created with Siobhán Knox, it toured to 9 countries, selling 97% of all tickets to standing ovations every night, achieving huge press coverage & performing at the International AIDS Conference and Amsterdam Pride. The group are currently working on a feature length film script in collaboration with the Sex Worker Theatre collective in Cape Town, South Africa.
Alex’ first short film ‘Johnny Barnes’ (2022) is being used in secondary schools & KS3 teacher training to engage young people around non-binary hxstory via storytelling. They produced radio and international street theatre with Teatro di Nascosto’s artists living across the Middle East. Alex co-leads Sam Lee’s Fire Choir alongside Blythe Pepino and Ben See. ‘Glitchy, witchy, bilingual & queer’ their new band ‘Vientos’ paints a cinematic dancescape of queer love in the London Latinx diáspora through rich folk ballads & soulful dubstep wobbles.
As co-director of Sibling Arts CIC they have raised over £850,000 for frontline, marginalised women, queer, trans, migrant & disabled artists, from the arts, feminist, LGBTQ+ rights & public health spheres, including over £300k in core funding. They have been invited by funders to inform access, grantee-centric objective setting and movement-wide funding priorities. Their holistic, process-oriented, trauma-informed pedagogy innovates collaboration processes that devolve power to constituents over the art, production, representation & meta-narrative. Last year a PhD was published on theirs and Siobhán Knox’ work by Dr. Imogen Flower at Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
They have produced projects with Arts Council England, Performers’ Rights Society, Royal Opera House, Open Society Foundations, Mamacash, Funders Concerned About AIDS, Aidsfonds, Amnesty International, American Jewish World Service, Feminist Review Trust & run workshops with Dutch Ministry of Justice, Cambridge University and grassroots organisations like Sisters Uncut, SOAS Detainee Support, Dhiverse (LGBTQ+ Sex Ed) and Latin American women’s refuges.
MARIANA PINHO – (she/her) development support
Mariana is the oil that keeps the Sasolo engine running!
An amazingly well informed & laser focused support to Saskia, she works across bid development, artist liaison and administrative flow, she keeps the team up to date with work system developments.
Mariana is an established and highly respected dance artist from Brazil, with a suite of experiences gleaned from high profile performances and national residential/peripatetic teaching portfolios; she has developer her place in the international ecology as an ambassador of Brazilian dance and culture. She has collaborated, and worked to integrate practice and performance modalities with a range of African diasporic performers.
Originally part of the world renowned ‘GRES Mocidade Independente and Porto da Pedra Samba Schools’, she took annual pilgrimages to Olinda, Salvador, Rio and other cities to develop her specific knowledge and skills. Specialising in dance, inc.: Samba, Samba Reggae, Samba de Roda, Orixas, Coco, Ciranda, Maracatu and Quadrilha, since 2009 she has delivered her work through her own award winning organisation, Gandaia Arts.
Over 15 yrs of living and working in the UK, she has connected private, charity and third sector orgs with Brazilian interests to the cultural ecology, to embed her work in the fabric of UK carnival and festival culture. She has championed the evolution of culturally nuanced and authentic dance modalities that represent Brazil; working with native practitioners in her homeland and here, developing work in Brazil to premiere here in the UK.
Her accomplishments include:
Supporting UK based Brazilian inspired groups to develop their dance and costume: LSS,Sol Samba, Daka Doum, Norca Arts, Mafua etc.
Producer of 2 editions of ‘European Maracatu Encounter’
Creative director for London School of Samba, SouthBank Centre, UKCCA and more
Choreographer for Young Vic’s “Festa” with 70 performers
Coordinator of Horniman Museum partnership
Consultant for Festa Julina.
Yana Fay Dzedze – (she/her) mentoring and bid development
Yana Fay Dzedze, is an interdisciplinary artist, writer and creative doula. She cradles and champions creativity and unhindered self-expression and supports change-makers, artists and mystics to revive a sense of emotional well-being. Yana helps people to develop a deeper sense of intimacy with themselves, and their projects – to bring a fuller version of themselves and their art to the world. As an advanced Emotional Clearing Facilitator (Spiral Modality) emotional intelligence sits at the heart of all Yana brings and she devotes to the idea of subtle revolution; made of many small acts of commitment to a better world that amount over time.
English-German, and born to travelling parents, Yana’s life has been steeped in cultural diversity from the moment she was born. Having grown up on the UK Global Music scene, Yana spent several years supporting independent artists and events organisers with promotion material. For several years she filmed, photographed and designed for musicians and dancers’ live shows – The likes of Seckou Keita, AKA Trio, Afriquoi – WOMAD, Musicport, Tribe of Doris.
Yana has spent the last decade refining her practice as a facilitator and space holder. She has curated innumerable online courses, masterclasses and digital offers that have supported thousands of individuals worldwide, to feel more aligned and ignited in their artistic and business pursuits. Themes have included: Womb work, relationships and communication . Now living between Totnes, UK and Johannesburg, South Africa, Yana lives with her Xhosa husband and their daughter.
Samantha Sun – (she/her) mentoring and bid development
Samantha Sun is a Hong Kong-Chinese Canadian living in the UK. She is an artist & academiqué with an insatiable appetite for ambitious creative projects. Her education includes: a BA in Fine Art from UAL & Masters in Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship from London School of Economics . She combines her eclectic experience in visual arts, professional circus, cabaret & nightlife with her current work as a founder to enrich her consulting, problem solving & leadership work. These are the skills she brings to bid writing.
Sam also works for Considered Capital: an alternative funding school for “wonky” businesses looking to raise equity/debt funds outside of the extractive model of venture capital. She is the co-founder of 2 “wonky” businesses: ELSC Productions CIC and The Scene London LGBTQ+ Nightlife Forum – social enterprises smashing stigma, improving working conditions, saving independent venues, & engaging with community.
Watch her TedxTalk here:
Hosted by TedxLSESU. With over 69,000+ views, it is one of the most viewed Tedx Talks of 2022.
“This talk makes the case that the fight for Sex Worker justice is a fight for the freedom, dignity, and humanity of all.”
Fleur Williams – (she/her) mentoring and bid development
Fleur Williams operates as a freelance bid writer, funding and development consultant, creative mentor, and writer, specialising in identifying diverse revenue channels for both artists and non-profit organisations.
In addition to her role as a mentor and bid writer at Sasolo Arts, Fleur currently holds the position of Company Manager at Diverse Artists Network. In this capacity, she is actively involved in nurturing local talent and providing support to 120 underrepresented artists in Bristol and the South West through mentoring and development initiatives. Fleur brings a wealth of experience from her past roles with prominent south-west arts and cultural organisations – Bristol Refugee Festival and Trinity Community Arts, where she undertook responsibilities in community development, impact assessment, evaluation, and fundraising.
Fleur’s collaborative spirit extends beyond the Arts and Development sector, encompassing over 6 years of engagement with various charity and non-profit organisations, including Babbasa Youth Empowerment, Jacari (Joint Action Commission Against Racial Intolerance), City of Sanctuary, and numerous freelancing projects. Notably, in 2023-2024, she successfully raised £568,875 for Babbasa Youth Empowerment CIC.
Fleur’s expertise has positively impacted over 30+ with their DYCPs, benefiting underrepresented artists. She has also provided crucial development support to grassroots organisations e.g. Team Love, First Gens, Pangea Presents, Vocalise etc resulting in fundraising efforts exceeding £200,000. Committed to breaking down barriers, Fleur leads free fundraising workshops aimed at supporting individuals with limited access to funding, demystifying jargon that often proves challenging.
In acknowledgment of her unwavering commitment to shaping the future of fundraising and development in the arts and cultural landscape, Fleur is part of the 2023-2024 YAF x RAISE Evolve Programme cohort. An initiative, led by the Young Arts Fundraisers and the CIOF Cultural Sector Network. Aside from her work she holds a BA in Religion and Philosophy, and an MSc in Migration and Anthropology, delving into the theoretical, policy, and practical aspects of migration.”
Simone Waller – (she/her) mentoring and bid development
Simone, a highly accomplished individual, is a valuable part of the SASOLO team, serving as a bid writer and consultant. With a Master’s degree in Performance Making from Goldsmiths College, UCL, she brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her role. Simone is also a founder member of 11:18, a site-specific performance company, where she has played a pivotal role in co-producing and project managing three ACE supported original projects. Her contributions extended beyond project management as she actively devised and created work in collaboration with 11:18’s members.
Simone’s journey in the arts began with training at The London School of Contemporary Dance, leading to a successful career as a professional dancer and actor in West End Theatre and Television. Transitioning into arts management and production, she has worked with esteemed organisations such as the National Youth Theatre, Northern Ballet, Yorkshire Dance, and many more. Her role involves managing and producing projects and artists that enrich the arts ecology of the region.
In addition to her managerial responsibilities, Simone remains deeply involved in creative endeavours. She continues to choreograph, direct, and devise professional and community projects, showcasing her versatility as a multi-disciplinary practitioner. Her commitment to community engagement is evident through her roles as an associate artist with Dark Horse Theatre and Hoot Creative Arts, as well as her involvement in lecturing for institutions like E15 and Guildford School of Speech and Drama.
Simone’s dedication extends beyond her creative pursuits; she is also actively engaged in supporting the arts through her role as a freelance grant assessor for the Leeds Cultural Investment Programme and as a dance consultant to the Leeds Dance Partnership. Her passion lies in facilitating and supporting work that inspires creativity and provokes meaningful discourse about our society. With her diverse skill set and unwavering commitment to artistic excellence, Simone continues to make invaluable contributions to the cultural landscape.