Natalia Kaliada

co-founder and artistic director of Belarus Free Theatre, theatre-maker, writer, and director

Natalia Kaliada MBE is a co-founder and artistic director of Belarus Free Theatre (BFT) and an award-winning theatre-maker, writer, and director. As an internationally renowned diplomat and human rights campaigner, Kaliada has pioneered a unique method of transversal lobbying and campaigning, uniting artistic, geopolitical, environmental, and human rights concerns in order to bring systematic change to different societies. Forced to leave her home in Minsk due to her work as a political campaigner, she was granted political asylum in the UK in 2011. Kaliada originated the Free Belarus Global Artistic Campaign, which has received the support of numerous leading contemporary artists and politicians. In 2000 and 2001 she received two Meritorious Honor Awards for Personal Bravery and Courage from the US State Department. In 2020, together with Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright, and Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Kaliada created the Women 4 Women Alliance to honour and amplify the voices of the women of Belarus bravely resisting the dictatorship. Kaliada is a committee member for the Magnitsky Human Rights Award, which recognises work in human rights and anti-corruption. In June 2023, she was awarded the MBE for Services to Theatre in the King’s Birthday Honours.