Who We Are

We are a group of people from of a variety of nationalities and cultures, who are painters, sculptors, designers, architects, performing artists, musicians, photographers, producers, and others.  Though we are spread across the globe, together we are making a difference to the lives of those making the brave choice of following their passion and dedicating their career to the Arts.

Scott Breton

Co-Founder 

His Role in TIAC:

Scott came on board early in the life of TIAC as one of the cofounders.  He has been part of the team developing the large ethos and direction of TIAC, working on the financial structuring and ongoing management, and specifically has been managing and working on an exciting new project to support the aims of TIAC online. 

Get to know him:

Scott grew up on a farm in Queensland, Australia.  After completing a science degree he committed fully to pursuing art, continuing a classically leaning arts education and practise begun much earlier. In 2012 Scott won the A.M.E. Bale Travelling Scholarship, Australia’s largest national prize for developing the careers of representational artists, which allowed him to do further study with contemporary classical artists in the US and Europe.  Scott now uses a range of traditional drawing, painting and sculpting media as well as digital counterparts to these, and is interested in the relationship between the modern human experience and the timeless human condition.

Lynn Guo

Co-Founder

Her role in TIAC : 

As a co-founder and artist,  Lynn started TIAC with a group of same-minded talented individuals who have come together to make a difference for themselves and others.  The mission and goals of TIAC has been set since day one: to provide a range of services, support and opportunities to help those pursuing careers in the arts to fulfil their potentials.  

Get to know her : 

Lynn was born in Inner Mongolia, in a beautiful little town near the border between China and Mongolia. Due to the impact of the Chinese Cultural Revolution and subsequent suppression of the arts, art was one of the abandoned subjects of her parents’ generation, she was encouraged to pursue a more formal education and worked in the corporate environment. Her passion for fine art developed from a very young age though it wasn’t until years later after emigrating to Australia and pursuing formal art educations and mentorships in Italy , that her attraction to art was fully explored and realised. Lynn has been working as a professional painter, art teacher & entrepreneur since then. Lynn thinks she gets the best job in the world that through working in TIAC she is able to travel and connect arts, culture, wellbeing and philanthropy, best of all is to work with the most wonderful minds all the time. 

Ana Blanco

COO

Her role in TIAC:

Ana first joined TIAC in 2017, when she worked as Communication Specialist for the Spanish Masters Workshops program. In February 2018 she moved to Florence to join TIAC team as Chief Operations Officer. Ana connects TIAC offices at the operational level, and manages TIAC Florence operations and communication. Based in Florence, she travels between offices and connects TIAC to artistic communities around the world.

Get to know her:

Ana was born and raised in Albacete, a small city in Southeast Spain. As a kid, her dream was to travel the world to find the most beautiful place on Earth. This dream took her to study a bachelor degree in Chinese-English Translation and Interpreting at University of Granada, Spain. After graduation, she moved to Beijing, where she stayed for more than three years. In 2016 Ana was granted a Fulbright Scholarship to study a master degree in Arts Administration at the City University of New York. She is a Latin dance amateur and a foodie.

Zhang Meng

Chief Creative Director

His role in TIAC:

Meng joined TIAC from the very beginning playing different roles throughout the years. His current position is Chief Creative Art Director. As one of the founders of the Turandot Art Studio, Meng travels between China and Italy frequently to straighten the bonds between the two countries. His main goal for the near future is to market the project in a successful way to guarantee its growth.  

Get to know him:

Meng was born in Rizhao, a small town on the sea side of the East of China. As a child, he was influenced by his father who is a caligrafo. When he was 11 old he began his drawing learning process. After High-school, he moved to the north of China and to study oil painting at The Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. After University he moved to Italy to “become a real artist” and to start his own career. He enrolled at Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze to continue his studies, years during which he met Lynn Guo and Liu Shiyu. In 2013, the three artists decided to work together and created an association called ICACEA, TIAC’s predecessor. 

Qin Chuan

General Director in China

His role in TIAC:

Qin Chuan joined TIAC in 2016. His is currently responsible for resource development, marketing and project development TIAC ’s headquarters in China.

Get to know him:

Qin chuan was born in Ji'nan, Shandong, China. He was a naughty and smart child since he was a child.When he was at school, he liked scribbling on textbooks and drawing caricatures. He discovered at an early age he could find his own happiness in drawing. After school, he enrolled at China Central Academy of Fine Arts to study painting, and he insisted on doing art work after graduation. Qinchuan combines his work in TIAC and painting, which he would never give up to.

Annie Qiu

Regional Director of TIAC Singapore

Her role in TIAC

Annie is taking charge of operations and business development of TIAC Singapore. She is an accomplished leader with big organization savvy and entrepreneurial spirit.

Get to know her

Annie was born in Shanghai, China. She started her career as a teacher, and then worked for international companies like Microsoft and PayPal about 15 years. In recent years, her career focus has been to lead start-up companies to expand business in Asia. She is also a certified trainer of the Dale Carnegie Course in her spare time. Her wish is to facilitate people to achieve their best.  Since joining TIAC, Annie found her creative spirit and professional abilities well merged, and she is passionate to contribute so much more to making art society a better place. 

Jason Balducci

Administration Assistant and Project Coordinator

His role in TIAC:

Jason first joined TIAC in 2016, when he worked as Assistant during the summer workshop with the Spanish artist Golucho. He then officially started to work as Admin Assistant and Project Coordinator for the following activities, events and daily organization of the Studio/Office in Florence. Jason is the reference point in Italy for local connections and activities, expanding and connecting always more the TIAC spirit and Interests to the International audience. 

Get to know him:

Jason was born in Rome and raised in the countryside of Central Italy. Always interested in every form of art, he developed through the years a passion towards painting. He finished his studies in Fine Arts in Spain and he is currently living in Florence. His works tries to evoke the feelings he receives and the memories of each of the subjects, through colors and shapes. Questioning himself every day, making mistakes and trying new paths, he believes in human innocence; everyone owns an inner beauty which deserves to be recognized and appreciated. For him Art in general is the best expression of the human being and an universal language that breaks all the possible barriers. Lately his direction is shifting to Music, practicing various instruments, especially percussions, looking for a different way to express and combine this language with painting.”

Wu Dihua

Turandot Art Studio Didactics Director

Her roll in TIAC:

Dihua first joined TIAC in 2013 as a design teacher to help those who wanted to pass the admission exam of the Italian Academy of Fine Arts. Currently she is the Didactics Director of Turandot Art Studio, responsible of organizing the teachers and arranging the courses of the program.

Get to know her:

Dihua was born in 1990 in Luoyang, an ancient city of China. She loved arts since she was a child and her dream was to become a designer. She took painting classes  at primary school  and at the age of 18 she moved to the Dalian city to study Interior Design and Architecture at the Dalian Polytechnic UniversityAfter she finised her studies in China, she moved to Italy to study decoration at the Florentine Academy of Fine Arts

She enjoys watching movies, playing video games, and swimming.

Massimiliano Giunta

Project Coordinator

His role in TIAC:

'Massi', as he is called at TIAC, belongs to the team in charge of Turandot Art Studio, the educational programs dedicated to the Chinese students coming to study in Italy through the Marco Polo program. He also collaborates in the organization of events, exhibitions and Master Workshops, which are the milestones of The International Arts & Culture Group.

Get to know him:

Massi was born and raised in Prato, a small city very close to Florence. He's always had a strong passion for languages which is why he studied Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of Florence where he specialized in English in 2012; he then moved to Bologna to for his specialization where he studied Chinese and Anthropology at the University. He would love to go to China and he's practicing and improving his level of Chinese in order to be ready for a possible new chapter of his life in Eastern Asia.

Zhang Haijiayi 

Turandot Art Studio Operations Director 

His roll in TIAC

Leonardo first joined TIAC in 2013 as student assistant for the summer and evening workshops program. In June 2016 he officially joined TIAC team as project coordinator, and operation director of Turandot Art Studio program. He works in TIAC Florence center, but he also assist Turandot Art Studio program in China . 

Get to know him

Leonardo was born in Qiqihaer in the north of China. He lived there until he he was 13 years old. In 2007 he moved to Beijing to study art in middle and high school. After graduating in 2012 he decided to go to Italy to study art. He studied very hard to enter in the Public Academy of Fine Art of Florence, and the same time he participated in evening workshops to expand his knowledge. 

He loves cooking Chinese vegan food, nature, skiing, meditating and animals.

Zhu Cheng

Administration Director & Project Co-ordinator in  China

Her role in TIAC:

Zhu Cheng first joined TIAC in January 2018 during the first edition of the Old Masters Techniques Workshop in China, where she was in charge of coordinating the staff and taking care of promotion. In the future, Zhu Cheng will be responsible for the overall preparation of the workshops in China.

Get to know her:

Zhu Cheng was born in Hunan, China, a place where people like spicy food, and their character is very similar to chili. She moved to Shenzhen, Guangdong, at an early age for primary school. Her personality has different sides, which reflects the evolution of the environment where she grew up. When she was young, she loved art, therefore she chose to go to Central Academy of Fine Arts without hesitation where she specialized in art management.

Alma Mayo

Project Coordinator

Her roll in TIAC:

Alma first joined TIAC in 2016 as Golucho´s assistance in his first master workshop with TIAC. In February 2018 she started an internship in TIAC working as Project Coordinator organizing Golucho´s master workshops, the upcoming Carniello University project and developing TIAC´s office management.

Get to know her:

Alma was born in Spain in 1993 in a city in the east coast. Her father is a devoted artist and contributed to her lasting interest in the art world. She attended a multicultural school from a young age and finished her basic education in an art school. At the age of 19 she moved to the Netherlands, where she is currently studying Liberal Arts and Science at University College Tilburg. Liberal Arts and Science bachelor provided her with a multi-disciplinary perspective, which she feels is applicable in the art world. Her studies encompass disciplines such as: Ethics, Art, History, Cultural Psychology, Humanities, Business and management, group dynamics and advertisement. Liberal Arts and Science gave her the ability to understand the world from different disciplines and think out of the box. 

Alma loves traveling, cooking vegan food and doing sport as yoga, slackline and climbing. 

Zhou Wei

Project Coordinator

His roll in TIAC:

Zhou first joined TIAC in 2016. He is the project coordinator and PR of the Turandot Art Studio, and the assistant of the chief executive officer.

Get to know him:

Zhou was born in China in 1989 in a small city called Pingxiang. Zhou loves dogs, playing computer games and going to the gym. Before he came to Italy, he studied landscape design at Huangzhong University of science and technology. After he graduated, he worked at China Urban Construction Design & Research Institute for 5 years in Beijing and Shenzhen. However, while working there he realized that he needed more preparation. This urge for knowledge brought him to Italy to study architecture at Florence University.

Anna Rosa Paladino

International Social Media Manager

Her roll in TIAC: 

Anna first joined TIAC in 2017 to take care of Social Media. She started working only for a few hours as an experiment which increased once the Team realized the importance of investing on Social channels. She’s now working every day as TIAC’s Social Media Manager, producing inspiring content  for Instagram, Facebook and TIAC’s blog.

Get to know her:

Anna Rosa Paladino, aka Viola Panìk, was born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1983.

She discovered her love for The Stage when she was a child, reason why she attended several acting courses since she was 10 years old. In 2001 she enrolled the Catholic University Andrès Bello of Caracas to get a Master Degree in Social Communication Degree and Audiovisual Arts. At the same time she makes an audition to join the UCAB Theatre group in the which remains active until 2006. At the age of twenty-five, she decides to make a change in her life, and in 2009 she leaves Venezuela and heads to Europe landing “by chance” in Florence. In 2012 she discovers Burlesque and starts a whole new artistic journey of study. In 2013 she travels to London to attended the advanced course of Burlesque at The Cheek of it! Burlesque School, where she also gets the Burlesque Teacher certificate. Anna has been performing and teaching Burlesque in Florence and Europe for 5 years now, splitting her time between Tiac, classes and international performances. 

Ji Ping

Turandot Art Studio Didactics Co-ordinator 

Her roll in TIAC:

Ji Ping has  worked as teacher in Turandot Art Studio for 4 years. She recently was promoted to join in the operation team.

Get to know her:

Ji Ping was already a Graphic Design teacher in China before moving to Italy. She loves teaching and painting. Every day she has the habit of painting something, no matter what or at what time. 

Ren Mao

Chinese Social Media Manager

His roll in TIAC:

Ren joined TIAC in late 2017 as the Social Media Manager of TIAC’s Chinese channels.  He is in charge of producing content mainly for the WeChat platform in order to keep TIAC’s Chinese audience updated. He also takes care of the video productions and photography documentation of TIAC’s events.  

Get to know him:

Ren mao was born and raised in Baoding, a small city in the center of China. In 2011 he enrolled at the painting program of the Renmin University of China. In 2015 he moved to Italy to continue his studies at the Fine Arts Academy of Florence.