Participants

The Atelier addressed early career artistic directors, programmers and curators working for art organisations or festivals, as well as those working in a programme related department in a festival. Participants leave the Atelier with extended programming skills, a broad new personal and professional network, and inspiration for new (collaboration) projects. 

You can find testimonies from participants of previous editions of the Atelier here. 

Participants had the chance to compare their artistic views with colleagues from various cultural and professional contexts and backgrounds encouraging a global discussion about the social and political responsibility of festivals and festivals makers, as well as analyzing these views within the local context of the Atelier and their own festivals.  

They joined a unique global network of young festival makers that counts today 700+ alumni from 86 countries to date, after 15 Ateliers for Young Festival Managers since 2006 in Görlitz, Varna, Singapore, Izmir, Ljubljana, Edinburgh, Poznan, Beirut, Gwangju, Budapest, Chiang Mai, Merano, Johannesburg, Gothenburg, Valletta, a tailor made edition in Greece, one for festival and cultural managers in Shanghai and 4 editions of the Festival Production Management Training (2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019).

You can find the participants' list here !

El Gouna Film Festival – Syria/Egypt

Khawla Abou Saada holds a Master's Degree in Mental Health of Children and Adolescents from the Damascus University and she has worked in the field of education for several age groups for over 6 years.  Among the others, she dealt with young girls, abused children and Iraqi refugees.  In her recent work she assists administratively and artistically the director of El Gouna Film Festival, Egypt. To know more about Khawla, click here.

Danish Egyptian Dialogue Institute - Egypt

She is a cultural manager and curator based in Cairo, Egypt. Since 2018, she has been working as a project manager at the arts and culture program of the Danish Egyptian Dialogue Initiative (DEDI) – an intergovernmental body established in Cairo to promote cultural, political, and social understanding between Denmark and Egypt, and Europe and the Arab Region. To know more about her, click here.

Krakowskie Biuro Festiwalowe - Poland

Cultural manager, concert and cultural events producer. She graduated from the Jagiellonian University with the master’s degree in musicology. In March 2019, she’s been elected as a member of the Board of Directors and subsequently to the Executive Board of REMA — European Early Music Association. To know more about her, click here.

Bleach* Festival – Australia

Claire Carlin has over 10 years’ experience working in events having been involved in the development, organisation and delivery of an eclectic mix of events in a variety of different industries including universities. She has a passion for large scale, site specific work and the challenges they can present - Claire is always keeping it real and making it happen! Find out more about her here.

H.C. Andersen Festivals – Denmark

She is Program and Fundraising Manager at the H.C. Andersen Festivals, which entails taking part in the development of projects for the festival and working closely with the festival’s Cultural Committee and Educational Committee who select projects for the festival. You can read her full bio at this link.

Festival Internacional de Música Electroacústica – Argentina

Juliana is a producer specialized in the cultural management and entertainment industry. She works in pre-production and production for live events, classical music, advertising, films, and television.  She develops content for individuals, companies and governments, building and leading dynamic and large production teams. You can find out more about her at this link.

Cappella Pratensis Foundation - Italy

Peter while at University developed an interest in vocal music and started performing with various specialised ensembles. He now works mainly with Cappella Pratensis (Stratton Bull), but he is also active in teaching: he gives lessons, conferences and courses in history of music, notation of early music and ensemble singing. To read about his career and passions, open this link.

Laura H Drane Associates Ltd – Wales

Laura is an independent creative producer, facilitator and consultant working for different clients including Nesta, IETM, British Council, the national arts companies of Wales and BBC. She is also company  producer for award-winning artist collective Light, Ladd & Emberton, and currently part-time interim Senior Producer for Cirque Bijou with responsibility for the UK’s integrated disabled professional circus company, Extraordinary Body. To read her full bio, open this link.

Sydney Opera House - Australia

Alice Farley is a producer, project manager and early-career researcher who has worked in the arts industry for almost a decade. She is currently completing a Master of Fine Arts (Cultural Leadership) at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) and she is also undertaking a month-long international placement at The Momentary in Arkansas, USA. To find out more about her, click here.

ZEIT ONLINE GmbH – Germany

Ruth Fend has acted as Project Lead for Z2X Festival for New Visionaries by ZEIT ONLINE since June 2019. She also provides editorial content about the festival’s output and its participants on ZEIT ONLINE as well as the project’s own website z2x.zeit.de. After the big festival she focuses on project development and stories emerging from the community. You can find her full bio at this link.

Musician, Artist related to ICORN – Zimbabwe

Cris Gera is a Sweden based Zimbabwean singer, whose main goal has always been doing music for the people and use music to educate, preserve and present music as a communal and spiritual expression of life and diversity in the world. His specialty is Afro Jazz and Afro Pop/Soul but he has also done part traditional Zimbabwean genres and even gospel productions. Click here to know more about him.

Première Theatre Festival – South Africa

André has been creating theatre since high school when he was involved in youth theatre festivals. In 2017, he completed his PhD in Drama at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. He is an avid theatre director and writer and enjoys working with upcoming artists. André is always looking for opportunities to promote a spirit of creativity among young theatre makers. You can know more about him here.

Art of Festivals – Canada

Fanny Martin is the founding Director of Art of Festivals, a ‘think-and-do’ not-for-profit consultancy that helps festivals, arts organizations and artists to create outstanding experiences by optimizing their systems and amplifying their artistic and social impact. Her work focuses on shaping cultural strategies, designing arts-based learning programs and creating experiences with artists, educators, academics, technologists and citizens that disrupt and enchant the everyday. Click here to know more about her.

Let’s light up Gaza – Palestine

He worked in the field of contemporary visual arts, documentaries, video, art and photography. He produced many short and long films and participated in the Cannes International Film Festival within the Palestinian wing film. His works have been highly appreciated in Europe and beyond, as he was awarded at the Arab European Festival in Germany, at the Arab Film Festival in Italy and at the Casablanca Film Festival. Click here to know more about him. 

Taiwan Philharmonic - Taiwan

Yu-Fen HUANG is currently the manager of planning & production / secretary of Music Director from Taiwan Philharmonic. Her educational background includes music and cultural management: she studied music since 7 and she holds a MA degree of International Cultural Policy and Management from University of Warwick, UK. To know more about here, you can click this link. 

Music Biennale Zagreb – Croatia

Margareta Ferek Petric studied composition at The University of Music and performing Arts in Vienna. She is the winner of different awards including the croatian   ̏Josip Stolcer Slavenski Prize“. Her music is being regularly commisioned and performed by renowned instrumentalists, diverse festivals and is being broadcasted in radio stations around the world. You can find her bio here.

Henriette is a Creative Producer, multi-disciplinary artist and  academic, holding a PhD from the University of Melbourne and an M.A. in Theatre, Film & Media Studies (University of Erlangen).  With a background in writing, broadcasting and the performing and visual arts, Henriette is a passionate investigator and communicator of ideas. Henriette is currently Creative Producer at Castlemaine State Festival, Australia’s premier regional multi-arts festival. To know more about here, click here.

Irtijal – Lebanon

Born and raised in Lebanon, Gaêlle Khalifé has been working as a production manager and programmer since 2015. She began working at one of Beirut’s most distinctive theaters, “Metro al Madina". She is currently helping manage the Lebanese experimental duo “Two or the Dragon” and has joined the IRTIJAL team in early 2019 as an assistant managing director. You can find her full bio at this link.

Royal Court Theatre – UK

Currently Daniel is the International Producer at the Royal Court Theatre in London. The Royal Court is a leading force in world theatre for energetically cultivating undiscovered, emerging and established writers. Daniel is also a member of Bootworks Theatre Company, a group of artists who work in a range of disciplines and contexts making a varied spectrum of works. Curious to know more about him? Open this link.

Crack Theatre Festival – Australia

Morgan is a creative producer, theatremaker, and game   developer based in Naarm (Melbourne), Australia. His practice as a producer centres on developing arts festivals and non-traditional theatrical performance, creating spaces that encourage artists to support each other as they develop their practice and new works. Curious to find out more about him? Open this link.

Cinesthesia & Eye's Walk Digital festival – Greece

Filia Milidaki is a psychologist, senior market researcher, dancer, founder of Social Cooperative Enterprise “Cinesthesia”. Her curatorial experience started in 2014 with Eye’s Walk Digital Festival, at the island of Syros. Eye’s Walk Digital festival is an innovative festival that connects the unique architectural legacy of a city, the public space and the local community through Video installation, Digital technologies and Performing arts. Here Filia’s full bio.

Klaipeda City Municipality Etnoculture Center – Lithuania

She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Lithuanian Philology & Theatre directing (lecturers Vytautas & Velta Anužiai) from Klaipėda University and a Master‘s Degree in Sciense of Literature. Since 2018 she works as Manager of Culture at Klaipėda City Municipality Center of Ethnic Culture. To know more about her, click here. 

NextNOW Fest – USA

Megan Pagado Wells serves as Associate Director of Programming of the Artist Partner Programs at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland, College Park. In this role, Megan leads the curation and management of The Clarice's NextNOW Fest, performing arts experiences during the campus-wide Maryland Day festival and community events at MilkBoy ArtHouse. Read her full bio at this link. 

BOZAR – Belgium

Frans is a music journalist and band manager in Latvia and he became hooked to organising festivals when it was his full time profession at the Centre for Fine Arts (BOZAR) in Brussels. As a production officer there, he organised electronic music events and festivals, hip hop concerts, multidisciplinary contemporary artistic programmes and many other festivals. His new upcoming challenge is the organisation of Yo!Fest in 2020. To know more about Frans, click here.

C.A.T.A.M.O.N. Dance Group – Israel

A Jerusalem native dancer and choreographer. A graduate of the High School for the Arts in Jerusalem, he served in the IDF Theatre department and danced in many professional companies such as ‘Charleroi Danses, Brussels’, ‘Vertigo Dance Company’ and more. Alongside his artistic work, Schechter is developing Jerusalem based projects that aim to develop the dance, art, and culture scene in the city. Find out more about him at this link! 

Festival International des Arts de Bordeaux (FAB) – France 

Trained in the field of international cooperation, Pascal began his career in the cultural cooperation sector, in Mali first for the « Festival du théâtre des réalités » and then in Haïti as project manager for the Institut français d’Haïti and the PAP Jazz Festival. Since two years and a half he is the production manager for the FAB in Bordeaux. Click here to know more about him. 

Artist related to ICORN - Afghanistan

Maryam is a cultural activist and festival organizer who started her career in Afghanistan, working with “a night with Buddha” festival. The festival is organized with the aim of protecting and rebuilding the sculptures, which were part of the international world heritage, destroyed by the Talibans. She currently lives and carries out her activities in Norway. To know more about her, open this link.

Première Theatre Festival – South Africa

Elana-Marie graduated from Stellenbosch University’s Drama Department in 2006. She specialized in stage management and design. She has worked on numerous professional productions – both in South Africa and internationally. In 2018, she and André Gerber founded the Première Theatre Festival to serve the budding theatre-making community of the university. To know more about her, click here.

Soundfestival – Scotland

Kadri Soerunurk is a Coordinator at sound, new music organisation based in North East Scotland that organises the annual soundfestival, new music festival. Born and raised in Estonia, Kadri moved to Aberdeen, Scotland, in 2010 to study Events Management at Robert Gordon University. Alongside her studies, Kadri gained experience by volunteering at various charity events and festivals and working part-time at Belmont Filmhouse. Click here to access her full bio. 

La Brèche festival – France

Antoine Thiollier has always conducted projects in the performing arts and his original career led him to very various experiments and role. Passionate about music and singing, he founded and directed, with Romain Louveau and Dounia Acherar, La Brèche festival, with the aim of renewing the approach the repertoire and the creations in chamber music. Find out more about him here.

Vintess Innovation Entertainment - France

Vivian is the Founder of Vintess Innovation Entertainment in France. She began her career as an event promoter with a focus on African Music and Cultures in Europe, creating social awareness through cultural exchange, educating and supporting young talents in communities. Her job is not limited to promoting events, as she is also a singer. With her activities and passions, she fights for human rights and for a peaceful word. Here Vivian's full bio.

ZEIT ONLINE GmbH - Germany

Natalie Wübbolt, born 1990 in La Laguna, Tenerife, has been project lead of Z2X – The Festival for New Visionaries by ZEIT ONLINE since 2017. After studying anthropology as well as language, literature and culture at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, she was deputy editor-in-chief of the online magazine ZEITjUNG.de. To know more about her, click here.

The Esplanade Co Ltd – Singapore

Lynn has always been drawn to stories that speak of the human condition and remind us of our shared yet beautifully varied humanity. She has worked in the arts over the past decade in various capacities and is presently a programmer and producer with the Theatre and Dance team at the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, Singapore, where she has had the privilege of working with some of the best artists in the world. To know more about her, click here.

THE A.S.K. – China

Jingyi joined The A.S.K (Art Space For Kids) three years ago. At first she was a tour manager and assistant producer, working with 20 art companies from 10 countries (most of them Europeans), touring to 16 different cities all around China under The A.S.K.'s nationwide tour network. Since 2019 she became a programmer and producer, programming for 6 A.S.K theatres and other 28 theatres in China. You can read her full bio at this link.