An Experiential Interdisciplinary Conference
‘Blue Dialogues:
Artistic Practices for Developing Ecological Empathy
and Ocean-Connected Identity’
With Rebecca Katsaris, Marina Katsaris, Mélissa Garcia Carro, Antonia Kattou and Christina Charalambidou.
Blue Dialogues is an interdisciplinary initiative exploring how the Creative Arts can inspire emotional connection, environmental awareness, and a sense of belonging to the sea. Through music, storytelling, visual arts, and movement, participants engage in ‘blue dialogues’ that nurture empathy, imagination, and a deeper understanding of our relationship with the marine world. This experiential conference is designed for professional educators (public and private), student-teachers, artists, pedagogues, and other professionals working with children, youth, or adults in non-formal educational settings, such as museums, galleries, and environmental centers. The event empowers participants by providing practical, hands-on tools and resources to cultivate marine environmental awareness, while fostering wellbeing, empathy, and a deep emotional connection with the Ocean — the Mother of All Things.
Led by professionals across artistic disciplines—including music, visual arts, creative writing, theatre, storytelling, movement, and dance—participants explore innovative pedagogical approaches highlighting the role of the Creative Arts in addressing urgent marine environmental challenges and promoting Mediterranean Sea Literacy (MSL).
All workshops will draw inspiration from the permanent Collections of the A. G. Leventis Gallery, with facilitators integrating selected artworks into their sessions.
The conference is one of the actions of the environmental educational project entitled ‘Empowering Marine Environmental Awareness in Cyprus’, a project supported by the Cyprus Environment Foundation and funded by MetLife Cyprus.
This project is part of the award-winning initiative ‘Increasing Marine Environmental Awareness Through The Creative Arts’ and it is carried out by the talented team of external creative collaborators at Enalia Physis Environmental Research Center. It aims to foster a strong marine identity through the Creative Arts. Through interactive workshops, storytelling with live music performances, specialized training for educators, conferences, and activities organized for MetLife Cyprus members, the project engages not only children aged 3–12 but entire communities, providing a holistic and immersive learning experience.
This conference has been endorsed by the Ocean Decade Coordination Team, within the framework of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, led by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO and participants will receive a Certificate of Participation co-signed by Enalia Physis Environmental Research Centre and the Cyprus Environment Foundation.
Aims of the Day:
· Immerse participants in ‘Blue Mind’ states—moments of calm focus, openness, and creative flow—through embodied and sensory experiences inspired by the marine world and the Gallery’s permanent Collections.
· Offer experiential tools that nurture empathy, marine identity, and wellbeing through the arts, connecting artworks, cultural heritage, and the marine environment.
· Illuminate the relationship between the sea, human emotion, imagination, and artistic expression, using the A. G. Leventis Gallery’s Permanent Collections as points of reflection and creative stimulus.
· Foster dialogue and collaboration across disciplines—educators, artists, researchers, and facilitators—by engaging with both the marine environment and the permanent Collections of the A. G. Leventis Gallery as shared sources of inspiration for understanding and action.
Date:
Saturday, 20 June 2026
Time:
10.00–15.00 | Intermission of 30 minutes at 11.30
Venue:
A. G. Leventis Gallery
Limited availability. | Free entrance, pre-registration is required.
The conference will take place in English.
For more information and reservations:
| +357 22 668838 (Monday –Friday, 09:00–13:00 & 14:00–16:30)
| education@leventisgallery.org
Conference Schedule:
— 10:00 – 10:20 | Introduction
“Entering the Sea of Awareness”
Led by Rebecca Katsaris – Educator, Educational Programme Designer, Project Coordinator.
Rebecca welcomes participants with tales and wonders of the Sea, inviting them to witness its living stories beyond graphs and data. She introduces the role of the Arts in shaping environmental understanding, illustrating how storytellers, guardians, scientists, musicians, dancers, and visual artists can transform knowledge into empathy and action.
— 10:20 – 11:30 | Session 01
“Stories of the Self, Stories of the Sea: A Journey Into Empathy”
Led by Marina Katsaris – Drama Educator and Storyteller.
Led by Marina, this session invites participants on a gentle, flowing journey that weaves together self and ocean through breath, movement, and narrative. Beginning with the setting of personal intentions to connect with oneself, others, and the sea, participants move through soft, embodied warm-ups that awaken sensory awareness. Storytelling prompts open space for sharing personal connections with nature, while movement and sound exercises draw inspiration from ocean life—waves, currents, and marine creatures. The experience culminates in the co-creation of a collective “Ocean Story,” followed by symbolic gestures of care and moments of silent reflection, nurturing empathy, presence, and a deeper relational bond with the sea.
— 11:30 – 12:00 | Break
— 12:00 – 13:00 | Session 02
“From Body to Musical Instruments: Exploration, Improvisation and Composition”
Led by Christina Charalambidou, PhD – Music Educator & Researcher.
Participants immerse themselves in playful musical activities progressing from exploration to improvisation and composition. Using melodic and percussive instruments, they co-create rich soundscapes inspired by water and the deep sea, bringing the marine environment to life through imaginative musicking.
— 13:00 – 14:00 | Session 03
“Water as Movement”
Led by Mélissa Garcia Carro – Dancer & Choreographer.
Movement becomes a language for the ocean. Through guided improvisation and choreography, participants experience the fluidity of water, the rhythm of currents, and the interconnected pulse of life beneath the waves, fostering bodily empathy and awareness of the marine environment.
— 14:00 – 15:00 | Session 04
“Sound, Stone and Marine Memory in Cyprus”
Led by Antonia Kattou – Composer, Performer, Researcher, and Sound Artist.
This session offers an embodied blue dialogue grounded in deep listening, sound, and the geological memory of Cyprus. Through the resonance of lithophonic stones from Cyprus, participants explore the island’s emergence from the sea, tracing connections between marine processes, geology, and cultural imagination. Listening becomes a sensory, a pedagogical tool and an ecological awareness. Drawing inspiration from the Cypriot landscape and the A. G. Leventis Gallery collections, the talk weaves sound, stone, and sea into an experiential narrative that nurtures Mediterranean Sea Literacy, and a renewed sense of belonging to the Ocean as origin, archive, and living presence. The session includes a practical component, in which participants engage in the collective performance of a text–graphic score using lithophonic stones.
— 15:00 – 15:30 | Final Session ‘Blue Reflections’ / Open Space Session
Participants are invited to:
· Write one ‘blue intention’ — a small act that brings ocean awareness into daily life.
· Share one word reflecting their experience in a circle, affirming collective presence.
· Place intentions in concentric circles, mapping the ripple effect of shared commitment.
Reflection: Through shared emotion and attention, participants deepen their sense of connection, wonder, and responsibility—the essence of marine empathy.
Facilitators / Speakers:
— Rebecca Katsaris is an educator and educational programme designer. She studied Early Childhood Education and Psychology at the University of Cyprus and the University of Granada, Spain. She holds a Master of Research (MRes) in Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Cultural Studies from Birkbeck, University of London. She has worked as an educator in Cyprus, Spain, the United Kingdom and Colombia, and has designed and implemented educational and intercultural programmes in collaboration with cultural, educational and environmental organisations in Cyprus and abroad.
Since 2018, in collaboration with drama educator Marina Katsari, she has co-created the approved Philosophy for Children (P4C) programme Little Philosophers. During 2020–2021, she curated the publication of children’s environmental storybooks for the Enalia Physis Environmental Research Centre. Since 2022, she has been coordinating the programme ‘Increasing Marine Environmental Awareness Through the Creative Arts’, officially approved by the Ministry of Education, Sport and Youth of Cyprus. The programme has received significant European and international recognition, including the MakeEUBlue Award 2025, inclusion in the UNESCO–IOC Blue Thread community, the patronage of BlueMissionMed, and a distinction at the 2025 Sustainable Development Awards, within the framework of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The programme is implemented under the auspices of the Enalia Physis Environmental Research Centre, through the Cyprus Environment Foundation.
In parallel, she leads the project ‘Empowering Marine Environmental Awareness in Cyprus’, part of the ‘Increasing Marine Environmental Awareness Through the Creative Arts’ initiative. The project is implemented under the auspices of the Enalia Physis Environmental Research Centre, through the Cyprus Environment Foundation, with funding from the MetLife Foundation and MetLife Cyprus, and includes the present gallery symposium. The overarching aim of her work is to cultivate a strong marine identity and ecological empathy through the Creative Arts, addressing children, educators and wider communities.
— Marina Katsaris works at the intersection of drama education, storytelling and pedagogy, approaching narrative as a space of listening, relationship and embodied knowledge. She is a graduate of the Department of Education at the University of Cyprus and holds a Master’s degree in Drama and Theatre in Education from the University of Warwick.
She has taught Creative Drama at the University of Cyprus, as well as Children’s Literature and Creative Storytelling at the European University Cyprus. As an external collaborator of the Cyprus Pedagogical Institute, she designs and delivers professional development programmes for Early Childhood educators. She also teaches in the postgraduate programme of Global College, focusing on Creative Arts and Facilitation.
Her practice centres on storytelling as a living, collective act. As a storyteller and drama educator, she designs and implements Ministry-approved educational programmes for museums and cultural institutions, including the Cultural Foundation of the Bank of Cyprus, CVAR, and the House of Dionysos Archaeological Site in Paphos. She also facilitates experiential storytelling workshops for adults. She was a founding member of the storytelling group ‘Paramythies’, delivering storytelling shows with live music in public schools, galleries and museums.
Collaboration with musicians and artists lies at the core of her work. She has co-created music–storytelling performances for children and families, where voice, music and the body foster imagination, empathy and critical thinking. Environmental awareness performances such as ‘Here Only Monachus’ hold a special place in her practice, engaging with the sea and biodiversity through sound and narrative.
She also coordinates the educational programme ‘Young Philosophers’, co-created with Rebecca Katsari, combining Philosophy for Children (P4C) with drama and drama education techniques. Since 2022, she has been a core member of the programmes ‘Increasing Marine Environmental Awareness Through the Creative Arts’ and ‘Empowering Marine Environmental Awareness in Cyprus’, contributing her expertise in storytelling and drama as powerful tools for cultivating care, empathy and connection with the marine environment.
— Mélissa Garcia Carro works in the fields of dance and pedagogy, approaching the body as a carrier of memory, embodied knowledge and relationship with place. She trained in contemporary dance and ballet at the National Conservatory of Toulouse and completed her studies at the Laban Trinity Conservatory in London, continuing her artistic research at the National Centre for Contemporary Dance (CNDC) in Angers.
Her artistic practice unfolds through deep listening—to the body, space, materials and other bodies. Movement operates as a sensory and pedagogical mechanism that activates presence and cultivates ecological relationships between humans, environment and exhibition space. Through this process, she creates experiential landscapes that invite audiences into shared attention and collective awareness.
Alongside her artistic practice, her pedagogical path—shaped by AMI Montessori training and experience in special education—intertwines organically with her creative work. Dance is approached as a practice of care and coexistence, a space where embodied knowledge is transmitted through relationships, play and collective creation.
Collaboration lies at the heart of her work, understood as an open, dialogical process in which movement becomes a means of connection between bodies, places and narratives. Since 2024, she has been collaborating with the project ‘Increasing Marine Environmental Awareness Through the Creative Arts’, contributing a movement-based artistic approach that focuses on water, the sea, the body and the dynamic relationships between them.
— Antonia Kattou is a composer–performer, researcher and sound artist based in Rotterdam. Her work spans acoustic and electroacoustic composition, improvisation and semi-improvisation, field recordings, analogue electronics, post-folk and storytelling. Through sound, she explores nostalgia, memory and interdisciplinarity as living, embodied processes.
Her artistic practice is articulated as an act of deep listening to place and material: voices, landscapes, traces and sonic residues form acoustic environments that move between the person and the collective. Sound functions as a relational medium and a narrative tool, opening spaces where past, present and imagination coexist.
Her works have been commissioned and presented at international festivals and academic contexts, including PLUG Contemporary Music Festival, Intersections at the University of St Andrews, Art Making in the Anthropocene, Festival Interrupted and the CoMA Festival of New Music. Her music has been performed in the UK, Cyprus, Germany, the Netherlands and Greece by internationally active ensembles and soloists.
Since 2022, she has been developing collective and hybrid musical practices through collaborative projects such as the duo Ichomagnetic Thoughts, the solo project Mystiki Fleva, the duo AINO (with Sonia Killmann), and Antonia + orkest / + the orkestra—a modular orchestra of free jazz, experimental electronics and post-folk from the wider Mediterranean.
She studied Music at Royal Holloway, University of London (BMus Hons) and holds an MMus in Composition (summa cum laude) from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where she studied with David Fennessy and Alistair MacDonald with the support of an RCS Trust scholarship.
She is a PhD candidate in Theory and Philosophy of Education at the University of Cyprus, supervised by Marianna Papastephanou. During 2024–2025, she was an Erasmus+ trainee and project leader at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, where she also studied with Yannis Kyriakides.
— Dr. Christina Charalambidou is a music educator and researcher. Her scholarly and artistic work focuses on music pedagogy and research, with an emphasis on contemporary pedagogical and artistic approaches to music. Her work bridges music pedagogy with creative practice and participatory learning. She is a Visiting Lecturer in Music and Music Pedagogy at the European University Cyprus and the University of Limassol.
At the level of practice, her pedagogical and research work focuses on music education in infancy and early childhood, as well as on the education of university students and music educators. Her work also explores creative and collaborative forms of learning that promote participation and active learner engagement. A particular area of interest is marine environmental education through the creative arts. A central pillar of her work is the Strategic Informal Approach (SIA), which she developed as part of her doctoral research and applies in both educational and research contexts. Within this framework, she participates as a researcher in the European project ‘Co-Connecting Early Childhood Music Education’ (2025–2028), which aims to highlight good practices in inclusive and collaborative Early Childhood Music Education. She is an active member of international and European music education networks and has developed collaborations with academics, educators, cultural organisations and environmental institutions in Cyprus and internationally, including the Enalia Physis Environmental Research Centre.
She designs and implements educational programmes that connect music with creativity, sustainability and intercultural understanding, with a particular focus on marine environmental education through the Creative Arts. Since 2022, she has been involved as a creator and facilitator in the environmental education project ‘Increasing Marine Environmental Awareness Through the Creative Arts’, which has been awarded the MakeEUBlue Award 2025 and a Sustainable Development Award in the framework of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, as well as in the project ‘Empowering Marine Environmental Awareness in Cyprus’. These projects are implemented under the auspices of the Enalia Physis Environmental Research Centre, through the Cyprus Environment Foundation.
Furthermore, she maintains an active artistic practice through the organisation and artistic curation of educational concerts for children and families and is the founder of Baby Maestro Cyprus. Her work bridges theory with educational and artistic practice, highlighting music as a collective, creative and socially situated experience.
