Who We Are
The organisation's co-founders came to theatre via unconventional routes: Tom Gilder worked professionally as an app developer and as an audio producer for the BBC before turning those skills towards sound design and technology production for theatre. Emily Matthews worked as a visual designer and behavioural scientist, and leverages her insight into human motivations when writing and interpreting characters.
Tom and Emily each discovered their acting abilities at a later stage in life - before their meeting on stage in Helsinki in 2022, Tom studied improv and was cast in a number of roles based from open auditions. Emily was member of an independent theatre group in the UK and had won awards for her acting in international festivals.
Realising how powerfully their on-stage presence worked together, they founded Unqualified Arts as a way to combine their skills, partnering with other individuals and organisations to create more opportunities to bring engaging English-language shows to audiences.