Lecturers, guest speakers and moderator

Kristine De Mulder (Belgium) was Director-General of Europalia International until the end of 2016. In this role, she was responsible for the business and artistic leadership of a series of major art festivals dedicated to Italy, Russia, Europe, China, Brazil, India, Turkey and Indonesia. Being an art historian, archaeologist and interior designer, De Mulder has built a career which is rich in cultural and communications experience: in the academic field, but as well in the media and the financial world. Kristine De Mulder is member of the Boards of Directors of some of the major cultural events in Belgium, such as the Festival van Vlaanderen, the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition… In 2012, she was made baroness by King Albert II for her cultural engagement.

Grzegorz Reske (Poland) is a performing arts curator and producer. Reske works as curator for Konfrontacje Teatralne (2013-2017), and since 2015 he has been appointed as main selector for Kalisz Theatre Meetings, where he assist as well in reconstruction of festival structure. Most recent professional activities include collaboration with TR Warszawa, which he supports in development of international relations and collaboration. Since 2013, Reske is associate curator at the East European Performing Arts Platform. He currently works on a book: „I will kill you, darling; or: how to stop a successful art project”.

Erik Söderblom (Finland) Opera, theatre, festival director and pedagogue Erik Söderblom is one of the most powerful forces in the Finnish performing arts’ scene. From 1988 to 1990 Söderblom worked as Director at the Turku City Theatre, afterwards he co-founded the Q-teatteri, now one of the leading theatre companies in Finland. In 2009 Söderblom was appointed Artistic Director and Chief Executive of the Helsinki Festival, concluded in October 2015. In 2016 Söderblom was invited to become a member of the Artistic Committee at Tampere Theatre Festival, the most prominent performing arts festival in Finland. Söderblom has, in addition to his artistic achievements, contributed to Finnish theatre as an important pedagogue. 

Hugo De Greef (Belgium) is a co-founder, board member, and the General Coordinator of The Festival Academy. He will act as moderator throughout the readings.

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

Positions were correct as of February 2017.