Festival managers coming from all over the world who are interested in different aspects of festival management are selected. The Training up-skills and informs you about the state of play of the world today and offers a time out to reflect critically on the role of festivals in today’s world, infused by people of different backgrounds and perspectives who can challenge and provoke our thinking or the way we do things. 

We are delighted to announce that 59 participants from 40 countries in all continents have participated in this Online Training. Please find the participant list here. You can find their bios below.

Aktina Stathaki is an arts programmer, researcher and theatre maker. She is the founder and artistic director of Between the Seas, an international platform based between Greece and NYC nurturing, presenting and promoting the work of emerging contemporary Mediterranean performing artists. She ran Between the Seas Festival in New York from 2011 to 2019. In 2019 she founded 1927 arts space in Athens, Greece, an independent gallery, residency and performance space dedicated to work in progress and the bridging of research and artistic practice. Parallel to her independent work, Aktina has worked in managerial, producing and consulting positions at The Joyce Theatre (New York), Women’s Project Theatre (New York), The International Theatre Institute (Shanghai), and has served as a special advisor to the Greek minister of culture in charge of international relations. She is a graduate of the National Greek Theatre, holds a PhD in theatre and postcolonial studies from the University of Toronto and most recently she took part in the Mellon School for Theatre and Performance at Harvard University. She is the recipient of a Time Warner Fellowshio and a United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Fellowship.

"Looking always forward."

Andreea Ogararu is looking forward to learn as much as possible. Even though she has some experience in organizing events she is quite new in the industry of Festivals so she is eager to acknowledge as much as possible.

Angeliki Georgokosta is the Special Projects Manager of El Sistema Greece (ESG) - a nonprofit organization that is offering 65 hours of free music education to over 550 students in 5 different locations in Athens on a weekly basis. The students of El Sistema Greece, form orchestras and choirs which have performed among others at Eleonas and Skaramagas Refugee Camps, Odeon of Herodes Atticus for the Hellenic Festival, and made regular appearances at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC). 

Prior to joining the ESG team, Angeliki developed Off The Grid - an initiative funded by the Robert Bosch Foundation, aimed at the development of local, early stage musicians and bands. She has also been an Αdministrator at Nozstock (UK) festival 2015 & 2016 and has worked at organizations such as Salzburg Global Seminar (AU) and Bios (GR).

She is an MA Creative Producing graduate from the Central School of Speech and Drama (UK) and she holds a Theatre Studies degree from the University of Patras. Since 2017, she is a founding member of the cultural manager’s network in Greece, Culture for Change (C4C).

Born in Armenia, Ani Hovsepyan has been involved in the festival management for already 10 years. At present she holds the position of Administrative Assistant and Project Manager at the "Yerevan Perspectives" International Music Festival, that opened a new page in the history of the independent Armenian Republic. Established in 2000, the "Perspectives" Festival received the title of one of the leading music festivals in Europe. The Festival program presented top class orchestras and musicians of our time such as Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Berlin Staatskapelle, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Israel Philharmonic, Mariinsky Symphony and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conductors Lorin Maazel, Michael Tilson Thomas, Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Valery Gergiev, Christoph Eschenbach, soloists Pinchas Zukerman, Evgeny Kissin, Ivo Pogorelich, Sir András Schiff, Maxim Vengerov, Yefim Bronfman, Joshua Bell, Mikhail Pletnyev, Plácido Domingo, Andrea Bocelli, Renée Fleming, Dmitry Hvorostovsky, among other finest conductors, soloists, choirs and quartets of the world. The Festival presents high class performers of sacred, classical, contemporary, jazz and pop music during three seasons of the year: Spring, Summer and Autumn. Jazz legends George Benson, All Jarreau, singers Joe Cocker, Lara Fabian, Patricia Kaas, Goran Bregovic were also presented by the Festival.

Ani Hovsepyan holds BA and MA degrees in Languages and Intercultural Communication. She participated in a number of mobility projects, trainings, seminars and conferences in various higher educational institutions, non-governmental organizations throughout Europe. With advanced academic and professional background, she has a great experience in managing different projects, educational programs, as well as national and international projects. From 2017 she has been delivering course “Career Management” for the BA 2nd year students and “Managerial Competences” for the MA students at the Brusov State University, Chair on Education Management and Planning. 

Ani Hovsepyan is a PhD researcher at Brusov State University, Chair on Education Planning and Management. Her educational background was reinforced by PhD research project at the City College, the University of Sheffield International Faculty for the period of two years.

Antoniya Kisheva comes from Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria and has her educational background in International Communication and Social Anthropology. In the past 15 years she has had the opportunity to work and study in the USA, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany and Sweden. Antoniya has been involved in the organization of several festivals and volunteered at many more. Since 2012 she has been living in Vienna, Austria.

An Art and Culture professional with a focus on community engagement and inclusivity. Aysha Alkooheji's interest in community engagement started when she noticed the vast difference between her creative experience and the international one. She believes in the need to bridge the gap between the two worlds and to engage and introduce the local creative scene to the international one. After joining the creative workforce, she has built connections with a network of local and international arts and culture organizations.

She currently works as the Program Manager of Community and Continuing Education Classes at Virginia Commonwealth University, College of Arts, Qatar. Through her job, she manages Art, Culture, and Design educational programs for the local community. Prior to that, she worked at several cultural institutions such as Al Riwaq Art Space and Qatar Museums.

She is strongly invested in her educational development. She has been selected by a number of local and regional organizations such as Goethe Institute for SAWA Museum Academy, the American Embassy for MEPI Leadership program, Cultural resources for IMKAN Cultural Leaders program, and the British Council for Gulf Festival Academy. She recently obtained an Executive Certificate in Arts & Culture Strategy from The University of Pennsylvania and she is currently pursuing her Masters in Arts and Culture Management.

Baqa'eddin Mhaidat is currently a project coordinator for children choir project called “I’m my voice”, implemented by Tajalla for music and arts, the project works on collecting heritage songs from the elderly and sang by the children to be revived.  Based in Amman, Jordan and working in the Jordanian cities.

Baqa’eddin has graduated from the University of Jordan in 2009 with a bachelor degree in Pharmacy, and then worked in the field of pharmaceuticals for almost 10 years. During his work, he experienced and then started to research the negative impact of the pharmaceutical industry and the positive impact of music and festivals on humans. This discovery made him take the turn to change his career towards allowing more people to experience human interactions with music, arts, and festivals.

Educated and trained in the areas of Banking and Finance, Wealth Management and Strategic Planning, Benis Cheng had served in Private Banking for over 10 years prior to becoming Co-founder and Program Director of BEYOND Bollywood in 2015. Due to her enthusiasm in Bollywood dance, she ignited her passion and mentally awaked to use performing arts as a medium of the transformative impact and led to the existence of BEYOND Bollywood.Currently, under the umbrella of BEYOND Bollywood, Benis has been lending her expertise and be a leading role of curator, producer, stage manager, art administrator, tour manager, strategic planner and super connector in different arts projects in which she focus on curating, conceptualising and executing the multi-format, cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary dance collaborations among artists through contributing to curate the Indian Film Festival, Artist Talks, explore and organise overseas cultural exchange, Arts and Cultural program on radio , dance education, dance-theatre production and performance. 

Brenda Tenório, born in Recife 18 years ago, is a political science student at Universidade do Minho. She is passionate about environmentalism and free speech, and very keen to getting involved in social projects and dreams that someday she can organize one herself! 

Carlota Monteiro Machado, born in 1991, has a degree in Theatre - Set Design, from Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema, in Lisbon, and currently attends the 3rd year of the degree in Arts and Cultural Management at Goldsmiths University of London. In 2018, she initiated a master’s degree in Theatre Studies at Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa that is currently on hold.

She began her professional activity in 2012, volunteering and working as a production assistant in various international Festivals and main theatre venues in Lisbon. She has worked as a freelance producer in live performance events and film and television productions, in Portugal and London. She is working for Companhia de Dança de Almada since 2018, as production director of Quinzena de Dança de Almada - International Dance Festival.

Carolina Castro holds a bachelor’s degree in Social Communication Sciences (UBA) and since 2019 she is taking Master’s degree in Arts and Curatorial Studies (UNTREF).

Since 2006 she works as a creative producer, cultural manager and PR and communication consultant in scenic arts. From 2013 to 2019 she was the Communications Coordinator of the Young Art Biennial of Buenos Aires.

Since 2013 -together with director and playwright Mariano Tenconi Blanco and musician Ian Shifres- she forms part of Compañía Teatro Futuro, a structure of permanent production which has already premiered 8 plays in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Perú, Colombia, Ecuador and Spain.

Co-Founder and Production Director at NUNC, Casper Grey is an all-round Curator and Creative Producer across a ltitude of reputed festivals internationally such as TIFF Festival, Unseen Amsterdam; FIBER Weekends, Guitar Masters, TOBACCO Playground. Lecturer at InHolland University of Applied Sciences, Hyper Island Stockholm, and Berghs School of Communication.

Daniël de Keizer (1985) is music promotor/programmer at Flemish Arts Centre De Brakke Grond, a networking organisation and venue for Flemish arts in Amsterdam. Here he works with festival, venue and media partners to promote up-and-coming Flemish artists and help build their careers. Alongside his role at De Brakke Grond, Daniël founded the music consulting company Eighty5ive, where he is an agent for Dutchartists, manager, and consultant within the music and cultural field.

With over 10 years experience in festivals, community engagement and international programming, Emma Hay brings global perspectives to local endeavours. Collaboration, innovation and generosity are central to her approach across her work in strategic organisational development and the delivery of high-quality artistic programmes. She lives and works in Edinburgh.

Georgemario produces works between the realms of fine art, music and graphic design. He studied these subjects with various artists active on the islands of Malta, both as an apprentice and in local institutions as part of formal education programs. This led to further education in the United Kingdom where he was awarded with a Master of Arts Distinction from the University for the Creative Arts. In recent years self-initiated projects were exhibited outside conventional institutions, creating a series of installations and happenings in selected spaces. The work often generates dialogue and interaction within the community. At times the community is central to the work itself. The current focus of the work is to discuss how art can be actively engaged with the subject being explored. A wide repertoire of work was exhibited and performed in various spaces; physical and virtual. He participated in numerous collective exhibitions locally and abroad. Through the years independent research has been more integral in the creative process of the work. Currently he is continuing with his research at the Mediterranean Institute at the University of Malta specialising in Ethnography and Ethnomusicology studies.  

Isabel Gollin is a dynamic cultural operator with a solid background in cultural studies (Catholic University Milan), project management (IED MI) and contemporary art and curatorial practices (XAC - Contemporary art and Curatorial practice, School for Curatorial Studies Venice). She has recently completed my studies in Commissioning and Curating Contemporary Public Art  (Valand Academy of Gothenburg).

Isabel has acquired numerous curatorial and organizational experiences for street art interventions, site-specific artistic performances, photographic and visual art exhibitions. Recently responsible for the development and management of artistic residences. Curator of the project New narratives through street art of the central areas of Sardinia, which aims to work on local identity in the global era, finding the points of contact or distancing between tradition and innovation, emigration and immigration, amid past and future. On the other hand, to embellish the city and stimulate the aesthetic and critical sense of the community.

She is a founding member of the Save Industrial Heritage association, since 2011 involved in the construction of events aimed at promoting and enhancing the Italian industrial heritage.

In her teenage years, Iuliia Kuznetsova has developed her passion for arts and multidisciplinary cultural events. As a result she performed a lot on stages of various festivals even before she graduated from school. While she was doing her bachelors in international relations, she was often volunteering at different events. Thus, over the years she has gathered experience in practically all spheres of festival production — managing open calls, communicating with external partners, moderating workshops, coordinating teams of artists and volunteers etc. She has been a part of small events with a hundred visitors and also of big famous ones like Berlinale, of festivals that took place in theaters, museums, abandoned factories and of course in the woods, the ones that were dedicated to film, music, politics or to all the above. So now she is deeply in love with the festival production and is very excited to see what the future holds for this industry.

Jaukje van Wonderen (35) finished a MA in Arts, Culture and Media at the University of Groningen, with a specialisation in film studies, comparative arts, arts management, -policy and -sociology. Before she started working as an independent creative producer/festival manager, she worked for 6 years as an innovator, producer and organizer within the Honours College of the university. Working as a creative producer on the one hand and project-based as a festival manager, she feels both roles inspire each other greatly.

Being a creative producer entails being part of artistic processes, making connections between artists with shared visions in order to let them exchange and collaborate, and directing the artists to translate their ideas to the stakeholders. Whereas working for the festival focuses more on business/financial management and strategic advice.

As a creative producer for X_YUSUF_BOSS she works closely with artistic director Mohamed Yusuf Boss, a choreographer/dancer/theatre maker, and for Profound Play with artistic director Jasmin Hasler, a maker of theatre for the youngest (0-4 years). Both are based in the north of the Netherlands, are closely rooted in the region, but also tour nationally as well as internationally.

Recently she started working for Noorderzon Festival of Performing Arts & Society as their business manager. Occasinally she works as a strategic adviser for 2turvenhoog festival, the most adventurous art festival for everyone from 0 to 6 years and adults. 

John Namai  or Titi - as he is artistically known - is a professional storyteller with passion for traditional storytelling and its use. He is a renowned artist in Kenya that has performed across continents, in Europe, Asia, America, Australia as well as in several countries of Africa, often invited to represent.

He is a founding member of Zamaleo Act, an Eastern Africa Centre of Artistic Excellence specialized in participatory educational theater, and of the annual Sigana international storytelling festival, which has been running for over a decade. Together with the organization TICAH (Traditional indigenous culture and heritage), he has been using storytelling to disseminate knowledge at the National Museums of Kenya. He has also been behind the production of Re imagined storytelling festival - , that draws on age-old African traditions of storytelling in order to revive the art, re-imagining African  folktales to keep oral traditions increasingly under threat in the internet and Smartphone age. The festival has shed light on the important role of folktales today as a powerful tool of examining and criticizing history. HE has also been part of the Story, story Come! Production of narratives that speak to issues that are fundamental to Africa's development in a way that is unconventional but true to the past traditions of oral storytelling. He has been coordinating and leading various research projects within the continent and abroad. He is currently lead historian in the @ 100 Africa story project on social media that seeks to tell the historical excerpt  about Africa to an online audience. Recently, adapting to covid-19 restrictions, he has been active hosting and organizing storytelling festivals online.

Kathleen Treier (°1984) studied Germanic Languages (Dutch/English) and Theatre Studies in Antwerp and Thessaloniki. After her studies she started working for and with Flemish companies tg STAN and Berlin. In the Netherlands she worked with theater maker Emke Idema and collective Schwalbe. Since September 2015 she is the director of Het TheaterFestival in Flanders, which alternately takes place in Antwerp, Brussels and Ghent.

Born in Poland, grew up in Soviet Union, Ukraine, moved to Germany with 5 and was constantly moving within, studied visual arts in the Netherlands. 

Works and lives in Berlin. Calls herself a conceptual documentary painter. 

Found her new passion in experimental curating.

Project Manager & Producer from Latvia, Madara Enzele has a degree in Production of Audiovisual and Performing Arts, and has developed a career around  project management, festival and film production, specifically working as casting director and manager for feature films. Currently, she is working as a producer for open-air culture and music festival “Komēta”, managing and programming independent cinema “Kino Augusts” and managing projects in Kaņepes Culture center, one of the most significant cultural venues in Riga, Latvia . In all of her work she advocates for human rights, inclusion and representation of different minorities, and is interested in practices where culture and art can be used for urban and society development. 

Magdalena Żelasko is cinema enthusiast, film festival organiser (LET'S CEE Film Festival), film distributor (CEE FILMS), EU expert (EU Youth Cinema) and film curator. Originally from Cracow/Poland, has been living in Vienna for about 25 years now. The certified marketing and advertising expert with a diploma from the Business School in Cracow studied Slavic studies, journalism and communication sciences at the University of Vienna, which she soon after rounded up with a Ph.D. in 2005. She has worked as a manager for several international companies and as a well-published journalist for various Austrian and Polish media. The university lecturer with focus on culture and communication, documentary photographer and charity activist for human rights and integration projects is also organiser and participant in panel discussions and events across these areas.

Born and raised in France, Mathis Dupas has taken the decision in 2017 to leave his home country to study abroad. After a year spent in Seoul where he finished my political science bachelor degree, he decided to pursue a master degree in European Studies at Aarhus, Denmark. 

Freshly graduated, it is now more than 2 years that he is also involved in one of the cultural institutions of the city: FEUM. The latter is a non-profit organisation standing for electronic music in Denmark through the creation of events. Started with volunteering, he is nowadays part of the ‘core’ leading and running the organisation. Since FEUM is invited to participate in well-known festivals in Denmark, it is also time for the organisation to create one centered around its passion: electronic music.'

Among Matjamela’s many success at the Lab, he founded the Ramolao Makhene Theatre in honor of the late actor, a space dedicated to producing the best of community theatre arts annually, achieved full accreditation for the theatre school bringing the school on par with some of the leading training institutions in the country

Over the last 10 years Matjamela has worked across the country with different institutions and organizations including recently as the Resident Director for Development for the Playhouse Theatre Company. He is the founder and director of Ruban Noir Pty Ltd, founded in 2012, a company with a focus on assisting previously disadvantaged artists to gain access to the professional stages with a particular focus on women development and stories from Africa and the Diaspora. He assisted in developing the artistic program at the Steve Biko Centre in 2012 and later appointed CEO Masumpa Heritage Hub in Umtata in the Eastern Cape (2015-17)

Matjamela first trained at the Market Theatre Laboratory, then interned with the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres. Motloung’s training involved working with The Royal National Studio (UK) Peter Brooke Company (FR). Over the last 20 years Matjamela has worked extensively with managing community arts programs, training actors for both TV and Stage and producing theatre plays.

Matjamela is now back in his home community of Polokong in the Vaal Triangle where is sharing his extensive experience in using theatre as a tool for social change, having developed training programs to deal with diverse social problems in communities across South Africa. 

Milica Popovic has a degree from Specialist's studies Field Of Study Maritime Management from University of Montenegro as well as a degree as a Bachelor of Information Technology Field Of Study Information Technology from University Mediterranean.
Employed in the Cultural center since 2016. Worked as a program and festival organiser and manager and now as an agency and marketing consultant and project manager. She has been participating in numerous projects and training courses. At the moment she is also taking part in developing a strategy for the development of a cultural program for young people, as well as a local action plan for improving the quality of life of LGBT people in the municipality of Kotor.

Born in the capital of Romania, but moved to the more natural surroundings of Transylvania, Paul Dărășteanu has worked in education for more than 9 years now. To be even more satisfied with his work, he started a NGO, active in domains like outdoor inclusive education, heritage and ecology. Being well-connected with the German community of Sibiu, he also was active in the Holzstock Festival, an event by and for young people, in the heart of a medieval fortified church.

Raminta Masiulyte is part of the performing arts festival Midsummer Vilnius, based in Vilnius, Lithuania - the only place you have to be in July.

By day, Raminta works as a project manager. By night, you will find her rushing to see three gigs per night.

Romi Cruanas is a transdisciplinary artist and arts worker based in Ireland since 2007, She holds a BA in Drama and Theatre Studies from TCD and is now pursuing a MA in Playwriting and Dramaturgy at NUIG. Her upbringing as a bilingual child and passion for languages and diversity made her an advocate for equity and social cohesion through arts. She made the difficulty of not fitting in into her strength. Newly appointed curator of Mother Tongues Festival, Co Founder of Rather Gather Inclusive Arts Collective, she also collaborated for years with the Five Lamps Arts Festival, she was selected as one of the artists part of the New Voices of Ireland Series as well as Dublin Theatre Festival’s Next Stage in 2019. In 2020 she has been awarded an Irish Arts Council Bursary.

Ruhi Jhunjhunwala is an arts administrator and cultural manager from India with extensive experience in the performing arts sector; and specialises in managing festivals and international collaborations. Her previous roles include being programme coordinator at Ranga Shankara Theatre, an iconic space in Bangalore (India), and festival manager of the Attakkalari India Biennial, an international contemporary movement arts festival. Ruhi received the Charles Wallace India Trust award in 2017 to study MA in Performance and Culture Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London and now works as an advisor on The Performance Theatre, a leadership forum that uses the arts to challenge global CEOs and business leaders to think differently about sustainable and inclusive growth. 

Sarafadeen Bello is a Design Architect and creative from Nigeria. He received a Diploma in Architecture from Ivanovo State Polytechnic University, Russia and works as a Design Architect. He is an avid community volunteer and has volunteered for several organisations and festivals such as the Lagos Comic Con 2016, Open House Lagos festival 2017, United Reels for Africa (Ur4Africa), Lagos Food Bank etc.

Presently, he serves as a volunteer designer at UR4Africa and program mentor in a youth-led community organisation. He was a participant at the Young Critics programme in Nigeria organized by the International Association of Theatre critics, British Council Nigeria and the Guardian Nigeria in 2017. He is also an essayist and has won several competitions such as  the Ships and Ports Essay Competition in 2016, placed third in the Design Youth Tourism connect essay competition in 2017 and Shortlist – Ken Saro Wiwa book review prize by the Lagos Book and Arts festival (LABAF) in 2019.

He is passionate about the arts, festivals, architecture, volunteering, youth empowerment and development in Nigeria and across Africa. He strongly believes in the power of arts for social change.

Sepehr Sharifzadeh is a Tehran based independent producer, curator, and festival organizer, He has studied M.A. of Puppetry at the University of Tehran with his Thesis on "Standardization of Puppet Theater Festival based on PMBOK method" and has co-founded the first International Theater agency in Iran; aiming to facilitate the cultural exchange between Iran and the world through performance. He is working as an artistic adviser, curator and board member with several independent festivals in Iran. In 2018 He worked as the project coordinator of the "Welcome to Iran" festival in BOZAR and co-programmed "The first showcase of Iranian performing arts" during the Fadjr Theater Festival in Tehran at 2019.

He recently co-founded the "Re-connect Online performance Festival" in light of Coronavirus global pandemic.

A graduate from LASALLE College of the Arts with a BA(Hons) in Arts Management, Sharon Ng has been managing arts and films projects for ten years. 

The General Manager of Singapore's first independent cinema, Sinema, Sharon was also project manager for Singapore National Youth Film Awards (2015) as well as the organiser for film festivals and projects like the 48 Hour Film Project Singapore 2014 and Shnit International Short Film Festival (Singapore). 

Fluent in Chinese and English, Sharon enjoys the challenges of producing independent films and advocating societal issues through films and arts for global audiences. 

She is currently promoting poetry events, and she is also part of the Chinese Film Festival and Japanese Film Festival teams in Singapore. 

Tamara Nassar has six years of experience in administrative work and is currently a program coordinator in Sareyyet (First Ramallah Group) which is an esteemed community organization in Palestine. She has a BA from Egypt in hotel management and holds a degree in office management and event management. From a young age, she has enjoyed volunteering in performing arts, theater, and music festivals held in her hometown and within her work. She became a festival assistant in the Ramallah Contemporary Dance Festival that is annually held by Sareyyet.

Wendy O’Neill has a strong track record working in roles that generate change. Passionate about the capacity of the arts to shape ideas and experience Wendy embraces the diversity inherent in this arena to plan, program and advocate for universal access.

This creative challenge is embraced by Wendy in her roles as Creative Director Alter_State and Creative Producer Access & Inclusion at Arts Centre Melbourne where she seeks to enrich the performing arts through diversity, inclusion and artistic collaboration.

Community engagement and social justice are strong threads linking the work to which Wendy is drawn. An experienced programmer and advisor Wendy has developed State-wide policy and led numerous sector capacity building projects in arts, culture and disability. Wendy developed ADAPT (Arts and Disability Action Plan Training) program for Creative Victoria and the Office for Disability, leading the pilot and two-year Sate-wide roll out across Victoria’s arts sector.

For almost a decade Zane Estere Gruntmane (32) has been working with cross-sectoral project management for various cultural events in Latvia and internationally. She has a strong commitment to create, present and experience contemporary art. Her's curiosity and reliability in the field have been leading Zane to work with wide spectrum art forms and creative projects holistically, contributing in a creative way in all stages of the process. Furthermore, Zane's passion relies on innovative approaches of collaboration and partnership building at the international level, practices in creation and sustainability, audience development and community engagement. An artistic platform "Pigeon-bridge" (www.pigeonbridge.com) is one of the most relevant projects in which she combined production, curatorial and artistic interests. Since 2019 Zane Estere has found hers Home in Portugal and continues the professional development as a creative knowledge producer while building bridges of international partnerships and networking for the Aveiro 2027 (www.aveiro2027.pt) - the city's candidacy towards the nomination of the European Capital of Culture in 2027. Since 2018 she is a member of the Advisory Committee of IETM (www.ietm.org).