Lecturers, guest speakers and moderator

Born in Neustadt/Waldnaab (Germany), Ulrich Fuchs lives in Marseille. He studied German language and literature, politics, history, sociology and theatre studies, obtaining his PhD in 1982 at Free University in Berlin. He had been entitled of several teaching posts in European universities since 1984 . From 1984 until 2003 he worked as a dramatics advisor at the Bremer Theater, and from 2000 to 2004  he was Manager of the Music and Cultural management course at the College of Bremen. Since 1998 he has been active in various capacities for the senator for culture in Bremen. From 2003 until 2005 he took part of the team for preparing Bremen’s application to be European Capital of Culture 2010 as a project manager. He held the position of deputy managing director and program director of Linz 2009 – European Capital of Culture 2009 (2005 - 2010) and of Marseille-Provence 2013 – European Capital of Culture 2013 (2010-2014). He has been a panel member of the European Commission selecting and monitoring the European Capitals of Culture since 2014.

Gundega Laiviņa runs New Theatre Institute of Latvia, a project based organization working in the field of contemporary performing arts. Since 2009 she has been artistic and managing director of Homo Novus, International Festival of Contemporary Theatre. Gundega studied music, theory of culture and social anthropology. In 2011 and 2015 she was a curator of Latvian National exposition at the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space (exposition The Submission awarded with golden medal for the total performance design in 2015); from 2010 till 2014 she was a member of the artistic board of Riga – European Cultural Capital 2014, being specifically responsible for site-specific initiatives and projects involving communities.

Throughout her career Nele Hertling has built many collaborations, created festivals and established organisations in Europe representing turning points of changes in society at their respective times. She was the General Manager of Berlin - European Capital of Culture in 1988. One year later, she reactivated the Hebbel-Theatre in Berlin, and acted as its Artistic Director until 2003. Later on, she was the Head of the Berliner Künstlerprogramm des DAAD until 2007. Nele Hertling organised contemporary dance festivals in Berlin: Dance in August (1988), International Dance festival (1999), and, together with Thomas Langhoff, she created the programme of Theater der Welt (1999).  Vice-president of the Academy of Arts in Berlin until 2015, she is a founder and member of many international associations devoted to the support and promotion of art such as the European House for Culture and “A Soul for Europe”.

Hugo De Greef (Belgium), co-founder, board member and general coordinator of The Festival Academy, and former EFA Secretary General - will act as moderator throughout the readings. Hugo De Greef is continuously engaged for better conditions of art and artists around the world. To mention just a few highlights in what has been a distinguished career in the cultural sector: Hugo De Greef co-founded the Informal European Theatre Meeting (IETM), the Flemish Theatre monthly ETCETERA, the international publication THEATERSCHRIFT, the Philosophy Festival, the European House for Culture in Brussels, and in 2013 the School of Gaasbeek, a new workplace and residency for artists near Brussels. Hugo De Greef has been the General Manager of the Kaaitheater in Brussels for 20 years. He was the General Manager of the European Capital of Culture in Brugge 2002 and Artistic Director for Brussels 2000. From 2007 to 2010 he was the General Manager of the Flagey Arts Centre in Brussels and in 1998/1999 he was the Artistic Advisor of the Flanders Festival. 

To see a summary of Hugo's work history, please click here.