OUR NETWORK OF COLLABORATORS
Vicky SPANOVANGELIS
Artistic Director & Founder of Nomads & Urban Dwellers
BSc. Arch (UCL), MA Dance (Trinity Laban),
MA/Dip. Arch (RCA), RIBA (UCL) ARB
Architect, Choreographer, Researcher
Vicky Spanovangelis is a London-Athens based architect, choreographer, dancer, (Bartlett UCL, RCA, Trinity Laban London). Vicky has exhibited internationally, and directed design projects, artistic research collaborations and performances in the UK and abroad, in Greece, France, Germany, USA. Her doctoral research focuses on choreography & architecture as creative practice. Vicky teaches and lectures in higher education on multi-media performance, dance on screen and site-specific environments, previous teaching experience include Trinity Laban London, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, London, American College, Greece, Jacksonville University, USA, and most currently at the University of Stockholm. Sweden, Lithuania Music & Theatre Academy, Lithuania, and Estonia Academy of Music & Theatre, Estonia, and the University College London. In 2003, Vicky founded and is artistic director of ‘Nomads & Urban Dwellers’ a creative collective working at the intersection of body, film, movement, and space, cultural heritage, and digital technology with special interest in museum event architectures.
Research
Vicky’s creative practice and research expertise includes architecture & choreography as interdisciplinary practice, cultural heritage practices of dance-ancestry, autoethnographic performance with contemporary-folk-dance fusion, screen media & interactive technology for performance space, kinaesthetic approaches to space for dancer-actor training.
Credentials
BSc. Arch, Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, RIBA Part I
MA/Dip Arch. Royal College of Art, RIBA Part II
MA Dance, Trinity Laban London (2 years)
Professional Practice Certificate, Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, RIBA Part III
ARB Member, Architects’ Registration Board, UK
RIBA Chartered Member, Royal Institute of British Architects, UK
PhD Candidate – University of Winchester, UK
Academic Board Member (Architecture & Media-Technology), The Makings of the Actor
Valia Loutrianaki
Education & Creative Learning Programmes
Valia Loutrianaki is a classical philologist (DEA, Paris IV-Sorbonne) and a doctoral candidate in the Department of Education (EKPA-FPY) with a research field in "Rhetoric as a method and subject of teaching in secondary education" and supervised by Prof. Ev. Frydaki. In 2010-11, she conducted a design study approved by the Pedagogical Institute on a sample of 160 students, based on the innovative "Teisias" program for the cultivation of oral speech and creative thinking. In 2011, she was selected by the Pedagogical Institute (4th place in the evaluation of 168 candidates) as a trainer for the "New School" Study Programs.
Since 2015, he has been a member of the teaching staff of the two-year Master's Program in "Rhetoric, Human Sciences and Education," teaching courses on "Interdisciplinary Approaches to Rhetoric with Other Arts and Sciences," "The Art of Storytelling," "Design, implementation, and evaluation of experiential education programs" (Department of Primary Education – National and Kapodistrian University of Athens).
She is an active member of the European Community for Democratic Education and the pedagogical team of the Greek branch - EUDEC Greece, which designs and implements the program "School Partnership for Democracy in Education," approved by the Institute of Educational Policy.
She has designed an annual Oral Communication program for the three grades of junior high school at Arsakeia-Tositsia Schools as part of the Modern Greek Language curriculum, as well as a program for cultivating creative thinking in elementary school. Also, the annual programs "Games of Speech and Thought," "Reading and Oral Expression Club," "Imagination Workshop," "Ideas Office©," and "Leadership Workshop: Thought – Speech – Action" / "Little Leaders©."
Since 2020, she has been collaborating with ActionAid Hellas in the implementation of the European programs #ClimateofChange and #YouLEAD. She was responsible for organizing events in which 800 schoolchildren and 200 university students participated, contributed to the preparation of and accompanied the Greek delegation to Brussels for the final competitions (members of the delegation took 1st place) between 12 countries.
In 2022, she undertook the organization, in collaboration with the University of Piraeus, of the European Rhetoric Symposium, which concluded the work of the "Teachers4Europe" program ("Setting an Agora for Democratic Culture"), with the participation of 5 countries.
She has presented more than 100 speeches and experiential workshops on rhetoric and creative thinking at scientific conferences and as a guest of university departments, school counselors, philology associations, Cultural Affairs Offices, parents' associations, and other bodies (see related publication: http://www.kathimerini.gr/44668/article/epikairothta/ellada/o-teisias-3anafernei-sta-sxoleia-th-rhtorikh-paideia).
Dr. Dimitris Chalkiotis
General Director & Co-founder of GR company - Professor of Education,
Strategic Development Lead
Dr. Dimitris Chalkiotis holds a degree from the Pedagogical Academy of Mytilene, a Diploma of one-year postgraduate studies at the Institute of Education, University of London, specializing in Comparative Education and Economics of Education, a Master of Arts from the University of London in Educational Management and Economics, and a PhD from the Department of Early Childhood Education, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), with his doctoral dissertation titled “The Funding of Universities in Greece and Its Impact on Their Efficiency” (2003).
He has an excellent command of English and a good knowledge of Italian.
He currently serves as Special Advisor to the President of the Hellenic Gaming Commission (Independent Authority) and has previously served as Consultant on Intercultural Education at the Institute of Educational Policy of the Ministry of Education.
He is also a Tutor–Advisor at the Hellenic Open University (2000–present) and a certified trainer at the Training Institute of the National Centre for Public Administration and Local Government.
He has held the positions of Secretary-General for the Aegean and Island Policy, Director of the Andreas Papandreou Foundation, Special Secretary for Hellenic Diaspora and Intercultural Education at the Ministry of Education, Advisor to the Minister of Education, and Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
He has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Foundation for Culture and of the National Committee for the Protection of Human Rights.
He is the author of two chapters in university textbooks, as well as numerous articles in both foreign and Greek scientific journals, and has presented papers at many international and Greek conferences.
Within the framework of co-financed programs, he has served as Project Manager in the 2nd Community Support Framework (1996–1999) and in EPEAEK (Operational Programme for Education and Initial Vocational Training, 2007–2013).
His research interests focus on Educational Policy, Educational Administration, Economics of Education, and Adult Education.
Dr Olu Taiwo
Professor of Performance Arts - Technology & Interculturalism Collaborator
Dr Olu Taiwo: Reader/associate professor at the University of Winchester. Olu teaches in Acting, Street Arts, Visual Development and Contemporary Performance in a combination of real and virtual formats. He has a background in Fine Art, Street Dance, African percussion, physical theatre and the martial arts. He has performed in national and international contexts pioneering concepts surrounding practice as research. This includes how practice as a research strategy can explore the nature of performance and the relationships between ‘effort’, ‘performance’ and ‘performative actions’ as they occur in different arenas. Consequently, his aim is through the use of practice, to propagate 21st century issues concerning the interaction between the body, identity, audience, street and technology in an age of Globalisation. His interests include: Practice as Research, Visual design, Movement, Theatre, Street Arts, New technology, Trans-cultural studies, Geometry, Philosophy and Religious studies. Dr Olu Taiwo is also an Honorary Associate Professoer at UCL.
MARIAH SAYER
Brand Consultant & Creative Collaborator, Nomads & Urban Dwellers
Founder, Kallos Acupuncture
Mariah Sayer is a brand consultant and creative collaborator whose career spans design, culture, and wellbeing. With over twenty years of experience across the creative industries, she is recognised for bringing clarity and refinement to projects that bridge aesthetics, identity, and human experience.
Her early practice was rooted in scenography and interdisciplinary design, leading to commissions that reimagined healthcare and cultural environments through light, texture, and space. She later expanded into international communications and branding, serving as Head of Marketing at Phoenix Worldwide Entertainment and conceiving design concepts for Vision RT’s UK headquarters and its international hub in Dubai. These roles strengthened her ability to translate vision into identity, ensuring coherence between message, space, and audience, while working across both European and global contexts.
Alongside her consultancy work, Mariah is the founder of Kallos Acupuncture, a practice that unites beauty, performance, and holistic wellbeing through natural therapies. This dual expertise enables her to collaborate with diverse partners and communities that value innovation, cultural dialogue, and human-centred practice.
Her ongoing focus is the integration of creative strategy and holistic design, contributing to intercultural and interdisciplinary projects that resonate across cultural and community contexts, while fostering connections between creative industries and wellbeing practices.
Credentials
MA Scenography (Dance)
MA Networked Media Environments
Dip. Ac (Cosmetic), MAA
Web & Social Links:
www.kallosacupuncture.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariahsayer/