Arts for Action

Based in the UK, Arts for Action delivers arts and communication projects for justice and international development in South Asia and Southern Africa, as well as creating interdisciplinary dance-theatre performances with a collaborative, international focus.

Founder and Artistic Director Melissa Eveleigh has been making theatre and applying arts for development in diverse contexts for 17 years. Trained at The London Institute of Performing Arts (LISPA) and living and working for 14 years in Malawi and Zimbabwe, Melissa co-founded and led award-winning Arts and Development NGO, Nanzikambe Arts, in Malawi in 2003. She established a national programme for the arts and developed a network of practitioners using social research, interactive theatre, and local media for positive change. She has directed multiple large-scale cross-cultural collaborations, productions, and performances. Since May 2018 Arts for Action has been working as part of the Rohingya refugee response in Bangladesh, specialising in interactive facilitation training, social research, communication strategy development, development of issue specific resource guides, and protection specific awareness raising. This has included a focus on access to justice, protection from sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA) and WASH education. In the last year Arts for Action has also established an extensive network of practitioners, both in the UK and in Bangladesh, as well as a creative ensemble.