Participants

30 talented, emerging festival makers gathered for an intense 7 days to critically reflect on the role of festivals in today’s world – and coming from 17 countries: Belgium, Burkina Faso, Canada, Chile, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Palestine State, Philippines, Senegal, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, and the United States of America. 

You can find their bios below. 

A full list of participants for the Atelier Montreal can be found here.

Aguibou Bougobali Sanou (known as ‘Bougobali’) is a dancer, choreographer, musician, storyteller, and Director of the In-Out Dance Festival in Burkina Faso. His work is a mix of West African Mandingo traditional dances, Brazilian capoeira, and theater expressions drawn from his work with influential European stage directors. His training in sacred and profane African traditional dance in his native country combines with other forms of expression to create a unique theatrical statement.

Sanou hails from Burkina Faso, West Africa, and is a dancer, choreographer, musician, storyteller, and Director of the In-Out Dance Festival in Burkina Faso. He is a winner of the highly selective and prestigious US State Department Scholarship Fulbright 2018-2019 where he taught "History and Appreciation of World Dance". He has also developed the African Traditional and Contemporary Dance curriculum at Naugatuck Valley Community College in Waterbury, CT. In 2016, he was a semi-finalist of Africa’s Got Talent. Sanou trained with choreographers and theater directors such as Salia Sanou, Carolyn Carlson, Thierry de Mey, Luca Fusi GM, and Régine Chopinot Alexandre de la Caffinière.

Sanou's work is a mix of West African Mandingo traditional dances, Brazilian capoeira, and theater expressions drawn from his work with influential European stage directors. His training in sacred and profane African traditional dance in his native country combines with other forms of expression to create a unique theatrical statement. Sanou is currently pursuing his MFA at The University of the Arts (UARTS) Philadelphia. He has won several choreographic awards including the bronze medal in the 2013 Jeux de la Francophonie in Nice, France; 2nd prize of SNC 2012; and Delphic Laurel Award in the 2009 Delphic Games in South Korea.

In the past ten years, Sanou has developed a dynamic performance and teaching presence which has led him to work assignments in Mexico, Israel, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Morocco, France, France, and the United States. He has also created a dance program in a prison in Burkina Faso and has worked with more than 70 prisoners in order to help them reenter society. Sanou is a visiting faculty member at Bennington for Fall 2022.

Anahareo Doelle is the co-producer/co-founder of the St. John's International CircusFest, now going into its 5th year. She is a graduate of the National Circus School of Montreal where she specialized in aerial hoops and silks. For the past eighteen years, she has performed in various shows, including places such as Canada, Switzerland, Italy, Norway, Japan, and Germany. She performed and lived in Berlin for seven years before she returned to her hometown St.John’s in 2011 with her husband and family. She is passionate about bringing more circus to the East Coast. In 2022 she was awarded the Arts NL Educator of the year award for her work with her aerial school iFLY Aerial Arts in which she is the director. In 2022 she was awarded the Arts NL Educator of the year award for her work with her aerial school iFLY Aerial Arts in which she is the director.

Bart Huiskens (1993) is a theater programmer at Internationaal Theater Amsterdam (formerly Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam and Toneelgroep Amsterdam). Raised in Rotterdam and moved to the capital of the Netherlands to study Theatre Studies at the University of Amsterdam. During his studies, he got an internship at the Programming Department of Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam, where he could stay afterward and develop himself in various positions as a programmer over the years. His work focuses on Dutch and Flemish theater, and he contributes to the development of ITA's international programming. 

  In addition to his work as a programmer for the seasonal programming, he works for two festivals of ITA: Brandhaarden, an international theatre festival that offers a unique overview of one maker, theatre or theme (directors such as Katie Mitchell, Milo Rau, the Rimini Protokoll collective and city theatres such as the Münchner Kammerspiele, Volksbühne Berlin and the Peter Brooks Théâtre Bouffes du Nord) and Lieve Stad, a multidisciplinary festival that’s an ode to the city and all her different inhabitants.

Beatrice Capitani is an experienced practitioner in the field of international dance projects direction.

After a professional dance career, since 2012 she became a Certified EU fundraiser and a Social finance & impact expert. Her focus is on original marketing ideas for the dance field, crafting unexpected matches between contemporary dance research and wide audience engagement. She combines artistic vision with a practical attitude to achieve her goals. She's a team player with past working experiences as a project manager during tours in the U.S.A., Germany, France, England, Holland, Korea, Russia, Switzerland, Belgium, Perù, etc. She built and grew strong and successful Local Administration Liaisons, engaging cities and communities using dance as a medium. She's an EU-certified Project Manager, especially in Creative Europe, Erasmus+, Horizon andCerv programs. Since 2019 she's been General & Admin Director @ MILANoLTRE International DanceFestival and International project director Teatro Elfo Puccini.

She's a Talent Manager and recruiter with a master's in Management, strategy, and impact finance for the social enterprises and the 3rd sector of the Università di Bologna, interested in public/private bodies co-programming and social impact investing. Training and education is always been her main focus of collaboration, having the chance to collaborate with important Universities and International Professors, in order to set International internships in the field of Performing Arts Management and develop Dance realities Implementation programs. she trained, adviced and mentor students from Università di Bologna, Università Ca Foscari di Venezia, Simon Fraser University, Teatro La Scala academy, Università Cattolica di Milano, Università Statale di Milano.

With Simona Bertozzi/Nexus (selected by Aerowaves in 2008) she had the opportunity to be the lead managing director of an International artists factory, connecting different audiences and targets. With Simona, she wrote the project LOTUS, winner of the prize Migrarti Spettacolo 2017, promoted by the Italian Ministry of Culture. The project involves sixteen young dancers from ages 8 to 16 coming from the association Tamil in Italy. The structural base of the project is the creation of a dialogue between the Bharatanatyam dance, a classical Indian dance that represents the Tamil culture, and the Western contemporary dance vocabulary. The following year Nexus wrote the project POEM OF YOU, winner of the prize Migrarti Spettacolo 2018. The Marewa’s, the group of young dancers involved in the project, is made of young refugees asking for Visas permits, from the center and north Africa.

Carole Demers  is based in Quebec and has been a circus performer for the greater part of her life. Her Russian Bar trio, The White Crow, won several prestigious circus competitions including Festival du Cirque de Demain à Paris (Gold), Monte Carlo International Circus Festival (Silver Clown), and International Circus Festival of Budapest (Silver Trophy). Her impeccable performance and exquisite artistry lead her to work in three different Cirque du Soleil Shows, traditional (Roncalli, Knie) and contemporary circuses (Cirque Eloize, EOS), and the hit film "The Greatest Showman" starring Hugh jackman.

Carole holds a Bachelor’s degree in Science of Education and is now completing a Master's degree in Creative Project Management. Since 2018, Carole has been the Artistic Coordinator and Programming Assistant at the St. John’s International CircusFest and she also coordinates artistic projects for other cultural organizations.

Danielle Lynch is an Irish-based festival maker, researcher-in-training, and currently a member of the festival assessment and evaluation advisory team for a funding agency. Previous roles include working in the areas of marketing, funding, and programme development at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Edinburgh International Science Festival, and most recently as Head of Development at St. Patrick’s Festival, Dublin. She has also guest-lectured on several modules at BA and MA level at TU Dublin. She holds a BA in Visual Arts Practice, and an MA in Arts, Cultural, and Festival Management from Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh and is currently a 3rd year PhD Candidate at TU Dublin researching in the area of festivals.

Danielle enjoys working with others to develop programmes that are engaging, collaboratively driven, thought-provoking and that create meaningful connections. In her practice as a festival researcher, she is training to develop academically robust work that bridges the gap and holds importance for both industries and for researchers.

After 10+ years of doing back-to-back festivals in the UK and Ireland, Danielle is taking a breather to explore themes related to festival making and finishing a Ph.D. before jumping into the next chapter of festival life.

Elad Schechter is a Jerusalem native dancer and choreographer. A graduate of the Jerusalem High School for the Arts served in the IDF Theatre department and danced in many professional companies, such as ‘Charleoi Danses, Brussels’, ‘Vertigo Dance Company’ ׳Kibutz Contemporary Dance Company’ and more. In 2012 he founded the c.a.t.a.m.o.n Dance Group in Jerusalem. Schechter has been creating works since 2009. He is the recipient of the silver medal at the international choreography competition of Beijing in July 2011. Alongside his artistic work, Schechter is developing Jerusalem-based projects that aim to develop dance, art, and culture scene in the city. Elad founded ‘From Jaffa to Agripas’ festival – Dance in Machne Yehuda market curated and developed ‘Alliance House’ – A home for creative communities, for ‘New-Spirit’ organization and curating ‘Dance in Masie’ – The complete dance series in Jerusalem at ‘Beit Masie’ Theater, between 2012-2016. Schechter is an LGBTQ activist in Jerusalem and is a father to his son and daughter that are being raised in shared parenthood alongside two women.

Eva van Netten - artistic director of Welcome to the Village festival.

 Most of the time busy programming, producing, and coordinating different cultural projects, such as Welcome to the Village. Always this with a queer and activistic point of view, to realize projects that widen perspectives, create new borders (or rather take out borders), and to challenge the norm.

In the nightly hours, the festival office is swapped for a studio and a boxing gym. Making loud music with BlackboxRed as a guitarist and singer and training regularly in the gym for fun. I love black coffee and discuss topics on gender, feminism, and the future of the world.

Francesca Massaioli, 24 years old, is a young multidisciplinary performer based in Turin, Italy. She first graduated in Natural Sciences then changed direction and graduated in Contemporary Dance and Performing Arts, but without abandoning the previous path, in fact, she is currently attending a master's degree in Global Change Ecology and Sustainable Development Goals. She feels that art and nature cannot be separated. She was fortunate to grow up immersed in the world of dance and art in general, which she therefore feels is a very familiar language. In recent years she has worked as a co-organizer for the INTERPLAY Festival in Turin and Danzare il Tramonto in Bologna. She has a desire to renew, to find new ways and new forms, new ecosystems.

Fuyuko Mezawa Dance company Baobab was Born in 1988 in Tokyo. I lived in The Netherlands and Luxemburg for 10 years in my childhood. I had practiced dance such as Classic ballet, Jazz dance, and Street dance in my teenage. After coming back to Japan, I learned Contemporary dance at Oberlin University and became a member of Dance Company Baobab choreographed by Wataru Kitao. After graduating, I started working in actors’ agency. And I change my career to be an administrator of an international dance program in public theaters and festivals. Now, I organize the international choreographer's showcase in YPAM(Performing Arts Market in Yokohama) and other dance programs for teenagers. She is a member of Asia producers’ platform.

Now I prepare to establish my own company to produce dance programs and studio in Japan. I want to be one of the international presenters.

Guilhem Caillard Specialized in the organization of cultural events, Guilhem Caillard is the Managing Director of the CINEMANIA Film Festival (Montreal, Canada) since 2014. This event is now considered the most important festival entirely dedicated to French-language cinema in North America (the 28th edition held in November 2022). In this capacity, Guilhem plays a leading role in defining the organization's strategic orientations and uses his skills in developing new markets to lead fundraising campaigns. His knowledge of film history and contemporary production accompanies him daily in the artistic choices of the festival.

Guilhem is also an essayist in the arts and culture sector, as well as a film critic for several specialized journals and magazines, such as Séquences (Quebec) and Cineuropa (Brussels). He previously wrote for the Montreal editions Panorama-cinéma, Hors-Champ, and 24 Images and also contributed to the programming of the Cinémathèque québécoise as curator and associate programmer of a cycle of films on American twilight westerns. He is often invited to participate in professional juries at international festivals, such as Istanbul (Turkey), Thessaloniki (Greece), Rotterdam (Netherlands), and Moncton (Canada). Guilhem holds a bachelor's degree in performing arts, then two master's degrees: in film studies (specialization in film history), and in cultural development.

Horacio Pérez (Santiago, 1982) is a curator, creative producer, cultural manager, and artist, currently based in Chile. His professional work is related to artistic exchange, programming, international distribution, and the networking of performing arts. He has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Theater Department of Universidad de Chile, and a Master of Arts in Arts Politics from New York University.

He has worked in Chilean festivals and institutions like the Theatre Department of Universidad de Chile, PLATEA: Programmers Week of Santiago a Mil International Festival, and Teatro Nacional Chileno, among others, and as a director, actor, and professor in Santiago. He has also worked abroad at Próximamente festival at KVS (Brussels) and The Public Theater (New York) and has been selected to participate in international experiences of professional development like Producers Academy and Critical Collaborations.

He is currently the creative producer and tour manager of Chilean companies Bonobo and Teatro La María, showing their work in countries like Japan, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, the United States, Brazil, Uruguay, and Chile.

 Ireri Mugica born in chilanga. Ireri continuously finds her passion by finding ways for 'impossible projects' to happen. After ten years of dancing professionally in Mexico, Ireri has been fully immersed in performing arts management & production, fostering international cooperation and artists' mobility, having a successful career developed among leading public and private cultural and artistic institutions in Mexico, with a broad experience in planning, designing, evaluating and executing high-impact artistic projects. She has proved experienced in leading performing crews at international festivals like Festival Internacional Chihuahua (Mexico), Festival TNB (France), TanzPlatform Festival (Germany), and Festspiele Ludwigshafen (Germany). She is currently developing platforms focused on boosting social learning processes and connecting diverse individuals, like Stotans where she is the founding partner of a plural and inclusive troupe committed to transforming Mexico and strengthening social tissue. She is the international manager and producer of Barcelona International Dance Exchange and Cia Sebastián Garcia Ferro, both based in Barcelona. For the for last the last two years she has been consulting and advising independent artistic projects in Mexico, as well as mentoring a new generation of performing arts managers. She is an expert on international cooperation in culture and cultural policies. She has been an ISPA Global Fellow since 2020, Emerging Leader cohort 2020 of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals, and one of the 8 Mexican Creative Leaders 2021 of the British Council. She joined Festival Morelos Danza in 2020 as a producer and an international manager.

Executive Director of BLOK, Jaash is a percussionist and original member of Toronto's "Lemon Bucket Orkestra" who have garnered worldwide acclaim over a dozen years of international touring.

Together with Artistic Director Mark Marczyk, they created BLOK Music, a non-profit organization and presenter of eastern European music and culture. They curate year-round programming including concerts, a recurring YouTube series, and a yearly festival in downtown Toronto.

Due to recent events, they have been focusing on fundraising events and online campaigns for Ukrainian relief, and continue to work with artists, agents, labels and managers worldwide.

Jaukje van Wonderen studied Arts, Culture and Media at the University of Groningen. During her studies, she specialized in cultural policy, cultural sociology, and cultural management, as well as in theatre and film studies. After working for the same university for seven years (as coordinator of the film archive and as program producer at the Honours College), she decided the arts needed to be more central in her life. Four years ago, she decided to jump into the deep end, resigned and started to build her practice as a freelance creative producer/festival manager.

In the past years, she gained experience by working with several festivals and various artists. Only in a time span of two years, out of nothing she has built a theatre company and a dance company, both with an annual turnover between 100k and 250k euros, making her the co-founder of both the Profound Play Foundation and the X_YUSUF_BOSS Foundation. Furthermore, she advised various artists on their way to independence and gained experience at, among others, Jonge Harten Theater Festival (as business director) and Noorderzon Festival of Performing Arts & Society (as business manager).

In the past months, Jaukje has been studying corporate structures outside the cultural field to gain new knowledge and experience. In addition, she made some first steps to exploring the performing arts field in southern Africa and temporarily worked remotely from Cape Town on two new projects: developing and transforming the strategic policy for the 2turvenhoog festival (Almere/Haarlem) and setting up a new theatre company for two independent performing artists.

Currently, she decided not to work for a couple of months to take - inspired by a colleague - a wellness leave to slow down after two years of running too fast, and to - however scary it is - work on her own dreams.

Joon Suh Park is a program manager of Jarasum Jazz Festival, based in Seoul and Gapyeong, South Korea. He majored in cultural anthropology and worked as a researcher/coordinator in the same field, field working with immigrants and North Korean defectors in Korea.

The most important moment that inspired him to work in the music industry was actually the very festival he is now part of. He is now a programmer and organizer devoted to jazz, improvised/experimental music, gugak (Korean traditional music), world music, and more, who is trying to make the South Korean music scene a more diverse, sustainable environment.

Kevin Becerra creates containers for conversation, connection, and impact. He currently works as a Creative Producer at ArtsEmerson where he curates, produces, and facilitates encounters between artists and audiences. He is passionate about advocating for the continuation of presenting international theatre in the US, despite growing challenges

Originally from California, he trained as a dramaturg at the University of Arizona before embarking on a career as a producer of new works. His career has taken him to theatres in Washington DC, San Francisco, Atlanta, and Boston. He was selected for the Mayor of Boston’s council for young professionals in 2015, the Association of Performing Arts Professionals Emerging Leadership Institute in 2018, and is currently affiliated with the Latinx Theatre Commons and the International Presenting Commons.

Lily Sutherland (she/her) serves as Executive Producer at Fall for Dance North, Toronto’s Premier International Dance Festival. She comes from an extensive background in performing arts, with over eight years of experience working in areas of production and performance for dance, theatre, and arts festivals in Canada, including Hamilton Festival Theatre, Luminato Festival Toronto, and the Toronto Fringe Festival, among others. She began her career as a producer of the Youth Infringement Festival in Ottawa, ON, where she also completed a degree in Theatre with a specialization in Acting, from the University of Ottawa (2014). Since returning to Toronto, she has produced new work and toured nationally with indie theatre company Passing Through Theatre (co-founded in 2015), studied clown and movement at Ecole Philippe Gaulier in Paris, France (2017), and remains a practicing independent artist and producer.

Marie-Hélène Julien holds a BA in Theatre studies. She has been working in the performing arts field for more than 20 years. She had long been a dance fan, and after working 10 years as an assistant to the artistic director for a major theatre company in Québec City, she moved to work within the dance community. She occupied a wide range of positions at La Rotonde, a specialized dance presenter based out of Québec City, over the past 13 years. Her goal was to grow in the organization and become a general manager and programmer, and that's what she did!

Marie-Hélène has many diverse interests that go from live arts to figure skating - the sport she practices with her coach at least twice a week - with a strong passion for sommellerie and the spirits industry, especially for whisky. She has a degree in distillation from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling in London, UK, and acts as an adjudicator for the Canadian Whisky Awards. Fun fact, she's also sommelière in residency at La Rotonde and she has been coming up with wine pairings for the shows for 8 years now.

Mohamed Harb an artist, filmmaker, and Gaza native, Mohamed Harb reflects the stories of Gaza through the visual arts.

Since 2003, he has served as a member of the Palestinian Association of Fine Artists and works as an artist and filmmaker at the Palestinian Space Channel in Gaza. To promote his art, he has participated in many local, regional, and internationally held in Europe and the Arab world.

Harb had witnessed many challenging events in Gaza including the uprising, blockade, and war and he still lives under the harsh conditions in Gaza. His art is influenced by the grey reality of the Palestinian issue which he tries to characterize by colors. Nevertheless, all of his work investigates the hidden human body.

Since 1995 Harb has been working in plastic and other fields of art. Recently, his interest peaked in photography, video art, and documentary film direction within the plastic artistic vision he has a deep imagination in light formation art and image creation through a combination of art and technology. Through this process, Harb has become one of the most important contemporary artists in the field of visual arts and is very active in organizing exhibitions and workshops in Palestine and abroad. Mohamed was also nominated to participate in the September Academy at Darat al Funan in Amman –Jordan 2003.

Harb obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Al Najah University, Nablus in 2001. He also graduated from the School of Visual Arts in Marrakech, Morocco in 2011-2015, and has been working in the field of film directing since 2005. He has produced many art exhibitions and workshops as well as long and short films locally and internationally. He took part in the “Cannes International Film Festival” within the Palestinian pavilion of the film Repatriation Room 2019. The film was nominated for the Robert Bosch International Prize in Germany as "Best Documentary Project on Human Rights. “Harb" has been recognized through many local and international awards and several grants for his innovative work not only in project implementation but also for the use of IT and video techniques.

Over the past three years, he has been working on several projects including the artistic (A Biography of Gaza ) one of which has recently been screened in many projects in Arab and European cities.

Like many other artists, Mohamed Harb is still looking forward to reflecting on the reality of his dream to build a better life in Gaza, far away from grey colors. Currently, he is working as founder and general supervisor of the "International Video Art Festival -Gaza", for the third year. 

Ndèye Mané Touré, holder of a master’s degree in business administration at the African Institute of Management (IAM Dakar) is at the head of MAKEDA Production, has assumed the production of LI BËT MËNUL WOON GUISS, a retrospective exhibition on the history of Senegalese cinema in the 1960s and 1970s (2021). She has been responsible for the production administration of the film Twist à Bamako (2020) by Robert Guédiguian and the series Black and White (2019) by Jacques Kirsner. She also manages and produces the artist SARRO with two albums and several national and international tours.

Regina Angelica Bautista a scholar, dancer, educator, and arts administrator engaged in dancing within the fields of anthropology, social and cultural development, dance studies, and arts management to know more about the power and palace of arts in society, as well as the different kinds of knowledge involved in art-making. Her practice involves teaching dancers from different regions in the Philippines, often from the lower-end income bracket, to think about how their dancing, dance-making, and thinking about dance, can empower them and contribute to sustaining their lives. She wishes to explore further how her experience and expertise can elevate dance performance and education as a tool to empower individuals for nation-building.

Regina received her MA in Dance from York University, Toronto, and BM Dance from UP, cum laude. She was a member of Ballet Philippines’ junior company BPII and danced with the Filipino-Canadian troupe Hataw. Currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of the Philippines (UP), she works as a full-time lecturer for performing arts and research coordinator at Guang Ming College, Manila, and a part-time lecturer for dance at the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde. She is also contractually engaged to manage the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Choreographers Series as a way to put into practice, through curation and production, her advocacies and beliefs about dance and social transformation.

She has presented research papers at international conferences in dance, and her essays have been published in the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Encyclopedia of Philippine Art, academic journals, and online websites. Casting my research net beyond dance, She has also been engaged in research projects on health equity, the creative economy, virtual ethnography, and dance history.

Shamisa Debroey - Somewhere between colorful and simplicity, and between introvert and outspoken, is the work and career of Shamisa Debroey (1989). She studied Illustration and literature at Saint Luc Brussels, where she graduated with her first graphic novel 'The Wanderer'. Since graduating she has received the African Artist Award and the Aspiring Talent Award for her literary work.

Shamisa has always felt the need to connect deeply with others. Working together with fellow writers, poets, dancers, and musicians she discovered the many layers of creating 'an image'. In the last ten years, she has developed a practice of illustrating life, writing her own poetry, and curating and working as an outside eye for illustration-based performances.

Her work as a multidisciplinary artist has brought her across the globe, finally halting her at DE SINGEL. As a junior theater and dance programmer, she creates spaces for other multidisciplinary artists. She specializes in young and developing artists and feminist and queer-positive art. Currently, she combines her work as a programmer with that of an illustrator, crossing both parts of her interests with kindness and lots of colors.

Her latest book ‘The very best invention of the world’, is a children's book published in Dutch and soon available in English and French. And she is the curator of 'Radiant Readings' a new slam poetry line at DE SINGEL.

Sophie Sohyun Kim is an executive manager of Busan International Dance Market (BIDAM) and producer/dancer of vertical dance company Project 3N. After majoring in film studies, international studies, and education at university, she started her career at Busan International Short Film Festival (BISFF) program team, then found her passion out of the screen but more on stage by working with dancers. She has organized and managed SHIN Dance Theater (local dance specialized black box theater) for 6 years and BIDAM for 8 years, planning and operating international residency programs, festival programs, international cooperation projects, and international tours. She is interested in the potential of new genres of dance, and the collaboration of technology and art. Also, the artistic relationship between environment and human beings interests her which led her to currently study art therapy for her master's degree.

Suze van Bohemen is a programmer, project manager, and advisor with a focus on, and a love for film and interdisciplinary audiovisual projects. With her creative skills and strategic experience, she aims to make the cultural industry more transparent, inclusive, and sustainable. At International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) Suze is responsible for RTM, a program with films and filmmakers from Rotterdam, and multiple projects in which young emerging filmmakers and programmers can develop their skills and are introduced to the international film industry. Next to her work for IFFR Suze advises the municipality of Rotterdam on film subsidies and takes part in juries like Rotterdams Open Doek, a monthly screening of regional talent.

Tabitha Surita works and lives in Singapore where she works full time as an Arts and Festival Manager. One of her biggest assets is her obsession with being organized and meticulous. This has helped her multitask and manage two separate art companies concurrently - The Storytelling Centre Ltd and Moonshadow Stories Pte Ltd, whilst being the Festival Manager for StoryFest Singapore for 5 years. Tabitha has assisted Singapore Arts Industry veteran, Kamini Ramachandran in programs over the years such as AWLI 2019 - 2021, Aliwal Arts Night Crawl 2019 - In Search of The Gelam Tree, TEXTURES 2019 - A Night of Terrifying Tales, TEXTURES 2020 - O/AURAL WAVES, Feed Your Imagination (FYI) - Stories From Our Shores by Esplanade to name a few.

Tabitha has expanded her skills from literary arts to dance, where she was an Assistant Producer for the Scarlet Mela Festival of the Arts, where the inaugural was held in March 2022. Tabitha also volunteers at the Singapore Drama Education Association to expand her knowledge about the Arts industry that she may not already be exposed to in her present roles. Tabitha was a Committee Member for the Singapore Drama Educators’ Association (2021-2022), before being elected as Vice-President (2022-2023). Prior to her working experience in the Arts industry, she interned at The National Gallery of Singapore during The Children’s Biennale 2017 and Yayoi Kusuma exhibition.

Tabitha’s favorite childhood story - Harry Potter has sparked her zeal for reading, where books have become a huge passion, and she aspires to learn as many languages as possible, to be a future polyglot. She strives to continue expanding her love for details, as an arts manager, festival manager, or producer to other arts companies, in hopes that they find structure whilst being creative.

Tamar Zehava Tabori (she/her) is an emerging dance and film artist, currently residing on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples; the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations. She began dancing at a young age and graduated with a BFA in Contemporary Dance from Montreal’s Concordia University. As a student under Concordia’s expansive Fine Arts umbrella, interdisciplinary collaboration became a central element of her practice. Weaving together convergent streams of arts and media in the realization of cohesive performances, both live and digital, has allowed her to continue reaching beyond her technical limitations and working with artists across disciplines. These creative unions generate conversations between art forms, rather than about art, and this principle of ongoing exchange is a prominent through-line of Tamar’s projects. 

 She is interested in the documentation of dance, having done archival work for a handful of Canadian dance organizations. Tamar maintains an active engagement with the dance community, locally, nationally, and internationally, using digital platforms as sites of creative exchange and connectivity. She has been involved in various interdisciplinary dance productions across Canada, performing on stage and on screen, and has received commissions for both production and instruction roles. Her experimental short films have been screened at over 15 festivals worldwide.

 She is currently the Associate Artist for Company 605, and Associate Artistic Director at F-O-R-M. As an artist, she seeks to intrigue and engage, exploring the tension between the ephemeral dancing body and the ostensible permanence of digital landscapes. As an arts administrator, she pursues finding harmony between creating and supporting the intersection of dance and film.

Thobile Maphanga is a Durban-based dance practitioner, writer, creative collaborator, and emerging festival curator from South Africa. She is passionate about the arts and more specifically how we use the arts to negotiate our collective and individual being. As someone who has worked in various parts of the arts industry, she is always eager to learn and share knowledge about how we improve the industry as we all know that art has such a vital role to play within society.

As a contemporary dance scholar, Thobile is currently reading for her master’s in performance studies. Her current preoccupation is with Black female narratives and how Black women are writing themselves into history now. Her dance career has spanned two decades, working with various South African Companies and choreographers. She has collaborated with local and international artists to produce independent work and was a co-founder of The Rickshaw Collective. She currently sits on the Flatfoot Dance Company board, and is a curatorial mentee for JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience under the mentorship of Artistic Director Dr. Lliane Loots and holds a position on the JOMBA! Masihambisane Dialogues steering committee. Her dance writing has been featured in the JOMBA! Khuluma, UK’s Hotfoot Online, and the USA’s In Dance Magazine.

Vanessa Rigaux lives in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She has a degree in Theatre Performance and a Masters of Arts in Media Studies. She is the Artistic Director and co-founder of le festival des Clowns de Montréal (Montreal Clown Festival) and works at Centaur Theatre, a leading Montreal English Theatre in the Marketing Department as Digital Media Manager. Vanessa brings passion, creativity, and humor to the various projects she collaborates on as a producer, festival manager, or arts marketing consultant.

 She has trained in Clown with Philippe Gaulier and John Turner as well as numerous teachers in clown, mask, and movement. She is an interdisciplinary artist who has created videos, installations, performances, and disruptions in remote locations, outdoor spaces, galleries, and theatres across Canada. She is originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba, a place that has inspired her artistic growth through its cold winters and hot summers.

Virginie Mont-Reynaud is a great lover of arts and literature, Virginie Mont-Reynaud was born in France but grew up in Montreal. She has accumulated more than 10 years of experience in the management and administration of cultural events. She has worked for several cultural organizations, such as the Montreal Comic Arts Festival, Opera outside the box, and the Festival des arts de ruelle.

She has been involved with MCAF for 10 years now. She started as a volunteer during the event and then joined the organizing committee. She is now the director of programming and logistics.