Kelly B Jones is pretty well known in Bangkok’s acting circles; in recent years, among many roles, she played the lead in Culture Collective’s play Death of Miss America and was in two feature films by Asylum Films, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and Troy 2, which is due to to come out at the end of October. But Guru, enamoured also by her ability to juggle different roles outside the world of acting, decided to sit down with the talented actress and voice-talent to dig deeper into her quest for making the planet more eco-friendly, one school at a time. Her current position as Director of IPC Green International Preschool and Nursery, Bangkok’s first eco-friendly school, is testament to this journey we all need to start walking, together. Read on to find out more about how Kelly balances her calling for acting with her passion to make the world a greener place.
Tell us about yourself.
My mother is Thai and my father was Welsh -- hence my very welsh middle name, Bronwen. I was born in Singapore and grew up in Hong Kong and Bangkok. My family's background is in film production, namely in advertising. So naturally, my background and studies involved media and film-making, but I veered more towards the acting and creating side of it. I have done various jobs in my life as a way to find my true calling, from writing for magazines, managing a casting company and managing/opening a theatre to teaching drama and musical theatre to children. Acting was always something I was passionate about, but with the scarcity of international work available in Thailand, I had to do it in the background almost as a hobby and continue to have a "day job".
What are your main passions in life?
My main passion is anything to do with the arts. This stemmed from my father's love of literature, particularly plays. I love acting as well as watching and participating in performance arts and film-making. I particularly love creating a character and allowing that character to completely engulf me. I used to put on little performances for my family as a little girl, usually funny impersonations.
Another passion of mine is sustainability -- living as sustainable a life as possible; recycling or reusing things -- for example, making art with rubbish. And last but not least, my passion is my daughter, as well as children in general. I am so intrigued by their innocent perspective of the world, their lack of insecurities and their undeniable confidence. They are, put quite simply, "love". At some point when we grow up, we seem to lose a lot of that.
We heard about what you're doing at IPC Green International Preschool and Nursery. Please tell us more about your role with the school.
I am a part owner of the school and am currently managing the school as its director, to help get it off its feet.
Why did you decide to take on this role?
The role of owner was actually placed upon me by the passion and drive of my husband, Nick, who is an engineer. He worked endlessly to design and construct the eco-friendly buildings of the school and put most of our savings into it. The role of director came upon me by one of our partners who runs the Sukhumvit campus. He positively believed in me and supported me in that role. Though it has been challenging at times, I have become a better person because of it.
What sets this apart from anything that you've done before?
Well, having worked in media and arts management most of my life -- working in an education management role was slightly unfamiliar to me in the beginning. However, I managed to gain very significant experience over time at the original IPC Sukhumvit campus with such a wonderful and supportive team, which prepared me for the role of running IPC Green. I also realised that there wasn't that much of a difference. It's also different from anything I've done before as I feel it tackles environmental issues on a larger scale, in contrast to my own personal eco-consciousness acts throughout daily life. By being involved with IPC Green, I feel we are actively changing the future well-being of our planet -- something that I am truly concerned about, especially more now ever since I had a daughter. I would sometimes have nightmares of what the future might look like for her; what the world would be reduced to if we didn't do anything about it today.
Tell us more about the school.
IPC Green International Preschool and Nursery is a second branch of the original IPC International Kindergarten located on Sukhumvit 31, which was established over 34 years ago. The only difference is that IPC Green has a focus on the environment and is a green (eco-friendly) school. It uses renewable solar energy, the buildings are made from re-modified shipping containers and insulated with green construction materials, the waste water is treated with special tanks underground and there is an on-site organic farm intended to feed the students as well as teach them about farming their own vegetables. IPC Green uses the well-known EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) from the British curriculum, but integrates additional environmentally-conscious activities into its lesson plans. Schools in general use a lot of energy, tremendous amounts of paper and waste a lot of food. But we will always need schools. So why not make them all green. That is one of the goals of IPC Green; to teach by example and hopefully inspire all schools in Thailand (and hopefully the Thai government too) to follow suit.
How do you balance time between being an actress and being a director of a school?
To be honest, in the very beginning, I couldn't. I wanted to completely focus on opening and setting up the school so I put a big pause on it and I'm glad I did. The team and I worked endlessly to get the school up and running. As time went by, I slowly got back into acting with small voice acting jobs here and there, such as voices to characters in a video game or animated series.
Who has been your inspiration thus far?
My mother and my late father have always been an inspiration to me. My dad was creative to his core and tried many forms of career that honoured that. My mum is passionate and strong-minded, she always believes in helping others and the earth. Frankly, she is almost a guru when it comes to recycling, reusing and also organic farming. If there was something my parents wanted enough, they would make sure to go and get it, remaining true to themselves at all times. Another inspiration of mine may sound cliché: Meryl Streep. I adore her acting ability and how she remains true to acting as a pure art form and not some ego-driven quest for fame. Her award-worthy versatility and her consistent humbleness never cease to impress me. There are very few actresses like her, especially nowadays.
Tell us a quirky fact about yourself that not many people know.
I study Astrophysics courses online in my free time. I have always been intrigued by the stars and planets in our universe. Although the maths isn't always easy, I find each and every discovery so mind-blowing. It is a reminder that we are so tiny in this giant universe (or multi-verse!). I highly recommend it to everyone. It was the beginning of my understanding of how everything and everyone is so intricately connected to each other in this world, but I'll save that journey down the rabbit hole for another time.
IPC Green International Preschool and Nursery is located on Soi Navasi 5, Ekamai-Ramintra. For more information on the school visit www.ipcgreen.com. For information on Kelly, visit http://fb.com/KellybjonesBKK.
