Kate Stafford, Artistic Director

Bilimankhwe Arts was set up in 2005 by Kate Stafford, who had previously founded Nanzikambe, an award-winning theatre company in Malawi in Central Africa.

Nanzikambe is chichewa (Malawi local language) for chameleon; Bilimankhwe also means chameleon, a creature central to Malawian culture, appearing in many traditional folk tales. It also changes its outward appearance to fit in with its surroundings - echoing the methods used by Bilimankhwe Arts in creating art from bringing cultures together, collaborating to find a new form of expression.

The bilimankhwe also moves slowly and carefully - pang'ono pang'ono - to make sure that the ground is secure before moving forward, which is perhaps something worth emulating!

Nanzikambe is now run locally in Malawi: Bilimankhwe Arts was set up as its sister company , to work on inter-cultural collaborations both across continents and within the local community in North London.

Bilimankhwe Arts is a registered charity with a board of Trustees. Current trustees are:

Tracey Clark-Edwards (chair)

Matthew Rich

Lord Toby Harris

Ann Ward (secretary)

Lawrence Harrison