Manuela Benini is a creative director, mass movement choreographer and environmental activist who specialises in developing, directing and delivering large scale projects all over the world.
Her unique creative process draws inspiration from co-creation, public engagement and uses outdoor arts as a tool for transformation.
She has worked in carnivals, outdoor spectacles and toured as a choreographer/performer for more than 20 years, having travelled extensively all over the world to develop outdoor arts internationally.
In the UK, she is currently the Co-Artistic Director of Hackney Carnival and Artistic Director of Hi! Street Fest with EEA and Historic England.
In 2022 she worked as the Artistic Director for Carnival of Lights with Chichester Festival Pier and Movement Director for From Tiny Acorns with EEA and Mandinga Arts as part of the Queen Platinum Jubilee Pageant.
Manuela is the Director of Transform Project developing carnival arts with participants with limited or no access to the arts in India, Brasil and Greece.
The Red Dress is a lifelong dance and photography project, where she performs in landscapes all over the world to raise awareness of human rights violations and climate change causes.
Manuela’s past collaborators/clients include: Sadler’s Wells Theatre, University of Oxford, Complicite Theatre, South Bank Centre, Walk the Plank, Arts Shape, Nutkhut, Akademi, City Arts, Glastonbury Festival, Intercultural Roots to quote a few.