Lucas Dols
He studied double bass and bass guitar at the conservatory of Amsterdam. During his studies already, he built up a successful career as a pop and jazz musician with his band Room Eleven.
As a double bass player, he performed with jazz artists like Benjamin Herman, Yuri Honing, Anton Goudsmit and Hans Dulfer.
He was also the bass of the improvisation trio Tin Men and the Telephone.
Luas played in music theatre productions by Orkater and created performances with actor Bram van der Vlugt.
Several years after his study at the conservatory, he felt restricted in his personal growth. He started to look for other ways to use the power of music in the world. He worked with music in refugee camps and marginalised communities in Lebanon, Jordan,, Rwanda, Tanzania, Iraq, Egypt, India, Ukraine, Serbia, Greece, Turkey and the Westbank.
He follows courses in non violent communication, the Art of Hosting, Rock & Water and registered himself with Knowmads, an alternative, creative business school in Amsterdam, that focuses on social entrepreneurship… (Read More)
Maite van der Marel
She trained as a music teacher at the Rotterdam Conservatory. She wanted to teach children and young people more than just to play something from a sheet music. That’s not what she had in mind. One day a teacher at the conservatory – while she was doing her master’s degree – spoke the liberating words: “we’ll make something ourselves”. He posed questions: “Who are you? What do you want to make?” It was a wonderful discovery to find out that you can design lessons from your fascination and imagination. The effect of that is vast.
Later she took part in the project with English workshop leaders and Dutch kids. That was also a revelation. Within a week, they made a performance in which the young people were really able to speak up themselves. Based on that experience, she immersed herself in the philosophy of underlying creative work, she studied the technique of the process of creative music making and continued her master study in the UK, where people do projects throughout society: in prisons, in hospitals, always with the aim of giving a community of voice. She eventually graduated as a master based on the ideas of Peter Renshaw, a renowned ‘creative learning consultant’ in London.
More information on Maite van der Marel’s website.