Anastasia has received a university degree in Slavic Linguistics and Philology alongside her music education. She combined teaching at the Druzhby Narodov University (PFUR) in Moscow with her management and consulting career in web-development and marketing. Working for the prominent Russian design agency Art. Lebedev Studio, she has contributed to the digital presence in Russia of several international corporations, such as Samsung, Nokia, Hewlett-Packard, Renaissance Capital and many more.
Having moved to the UK in 2004, Anastasia has been a lecturer for Further Education teaching and developing several Level 2 and 3 courses in Web Design, Graphic Design and Information Technology. Between 2011 and 2017 she had produced a number of performing and educational project in the field of classical music and opera. She was the founder of the music charity OperaCoast. In 2016 she founded Artist Digital, a digital communication agency that supports creative arts in their integration into the digital era. Using the benefits of new media and technology, Artist Digital advocates higher visibility and accessibility of the arts. The agency works with both internationally acclaimed and upcoming artists on their presentations online, digital strategy and development.
Anastasia is also a professionally trained singer and coaches performing artists for the classical Russian repertoire. She has worked with National Opera Studio and Glyndebourne. She was the finalist for the Sussex Women in Business Award 2015 and received the Arts Council England DYCP grant in 2018. She plays the piano and the guitar, speaks English, Russian and has a working knowledge of a few Slavic languages. She is studying French, loves Sussex country walks, travelling and cooking Mediterranean and Caucasian food.
Esther Fox is a programme director, artist and researcher, interested in exploring the synapses between science, art, heritage and ethics. She has exhibited across the UK including being commissioned by the Science Museum London to create a new temporary art work exploring the ethics of genetic screening. Her most recent works investigate the possibilities digital technologies offer in terms of interactive art. Her Virtual Reality artwork Evolution, has been shortlisted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for the exhibition Altered Nature (opening 2022).
Alongside Esther’s arts practice in 2009 she was appointed by Screen South to lead the Accentuate Programme, creating opportunities for deaf and disabled people to participate and lead in the cultural sector. As part of the Accentuate programme, Esther is currently working with over 20 Museums across England, developing a groundbreaking work placement programme, Curating for Change for D/deaf and disabled people who want to pursue a career in Museums. She is also the Project Manager and Co Investigator on a major Arts and Humanities Research Council project, Disability and Community: Dis/engagement, Dis/enfranchisement, Dis/parity and Dissent (the D4D project). Her research interests lie in the ethical problems presented by the current genetic screening debate and the relationship to the troubling legacy of Eugenics.
Esther is on the Board of Trustees at Hastings Contemporary, sits on the Expert Advisory Group for Historic England and is a member of the UN PRPD Partnership Advisory Group.
Basma graduated with a business studies diploma with a focus on marketing from Al Akhawayn University, Morocco, and later on completed an MSc in International Events Management at the University of Brighton. She has taken part in the organisation and delivery of a number of cultural and business events such as Brighton Photo Fringe, academic and business conferences within the University of Brighton, as well as art exhibitions for Pure Arts Group. She is working on the social media management for the clients of Artist Digital (www.artistdigital.co.uk). She is a passionate trilingual professional fluent in French, Arabic and English with a wide spectrum of skills and a willingness to continuously learn and develop. She enjoys working out, attending live shows, watching movies and travelling.
