EFA Jubilee Gala: 23-26 May 2012, Bergen/Norway

Steve Austen
Felix Meritis Foundation, Permanent Fellow; Access to Culture Platform, WG Audience Participation

Steve Austen started his career as an art entrepreneur when he set up the Shaffy Theater in 1968. The Shaffy became the Amsterdam podium for innovative theatre performances. Austen left in 1978 and re-organised the Lantaarn-Venter-complex in Rotterdam. In 1981, he became the manager of the Theater Instituut Nederland. Seven years later, he became the Manager of the Felix Meritis, an independent European centre for art, culture, science. Since 2001, he has been involved in large international projects such as A Soul for Europe.

Joanna Baker
Edinburgh International Festival, Managing Director

Joanna Baker has been the Managing Director of the Edinburgh International Festival since 2006. She joined the Festival in 1992 as Marketing and Public Affairs Director and over the past 20 years has played a major role in helping to establish collaborative working initiatives in Edinburgh and further afield, including Festivals Edinburgh, an organisation which represents Edinburgh’s 12 major Festivals  and which she chaired for its first three years, and TAB, an audience development agency for the cultural sector.. Between 1983 and 1992 she worked for Welsh National Opera, Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet and the National Theatre in London. Public/voluntary appointments include serving as a member of the Scottish Arts Council from 2000 – 2006, chairing its Dance Committee from 2000 – 2004 and serving as Vice Chair in 2005/2006. She is a member of the Court of Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh and on the boards of Festivals Edinburgh and the Festival City Theatres Trust. She is a former board member of Scottish Ballet and of BAFA (the British Arts Festivals Association).

Gunnar Bakke
City of Bergen, Responsible for cultural affairs, business development, sports and church affairs

Airan Berg
Mannheim 2020, CEO Project Management

Airan Berg (born 1961 in Israel) studied theatre arts at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. His first professional job took him to New York, where he assisted Harold Prince on a Broadway musical. He returned to Europe in 1986, where he worked as an assitant director at the Salzburg Festival and the Burgtheater in Vienna. He directed his first production at the Burgtheater in 1989 and moved to the Schiller Theater in Berlin, as a resident director. In 1992 he travelled around the world for one year, spending most of that year on Bali, studying masked dance and shadow puppetry. In 1993 Airan berg and Martina Winkel co-founded Theater Ohne Grenzen and the international puppetry festival for adults "Die Macht des Staunens" in Vienna. From 2001 to 2007 Airan Berg was artistic director of the Schauspielhaus in Vienna. Productions by Theater ohne Grenzen and the Schauspielhaus were presented at numerous festivals around the world. From 2007, Airan Berg worked as artistic director for the performing arts at Linz09, the European Capital of Culture in 2009, where besides developing various festival formats and commissioning numerous new works and productions, he was the source of inspiration for two important and successful projects: Klangwolke, a huge participatory performance with over 1000 volunteers and ‘I like to move it move it’, the creativity and education project, in which 30 artistic teams worked with over 2000 pupils and 700 teachers in about 100 schools in Linz and Upper Austria. From 2010-2011 Airan Berg  was member of the VIA2018 artistic team, where he developed a large scale creativity and education project for the Maas-Rhein region as well as artistic director for special projects for Idans Festival in Istanbul. In that capacity he, together with South African designer Roger Titley, devloped iKEDi,a particiaptory project that took place in the streets of Istanbul. The project was also transferred to Burgos for the White Nights in 2011. In the same year Roger Titley and AIran Berg also developed a large scale public participation project with original designs commissioned by Helsinki International Festival. The project took place in cultural centers and public spaces throughout the city and culminated in a parade through the center of the city during the night of the arts. As of January 2012 Airan Berg is CEO Project Management of Mannheim2020, an urban development project through arts and culture. (Photo: Nick Mangafas)

Lluis Bonet
University of Barcelona, Professor of Economy, Director PhD-Master Programme on Cultural Management

Professor of Economics, and Director of the Doctoral and the Graduate Program on Cultural Management at the University of Barcelona. President of the Jury of the Cultural Policy Research Award. Former-President of the European Network of Cultural Administration Training Centers (ENCATC), and former Vice-President of Abacus (the largest Spanish Cooperative Corporation on education and culture). Board member of the Association of Cultural Economics International (ACEI). Researcher in cultural economics and cultural policies. Winner of the 2002 CAC Research Award with “The Audiovisual Industry facing the digital age”.

Jan Briers
Flanders Festival, Representative

As Representative of the International Flanders Festival (Brussels/Ghent), Jan Briers is responsible of some 350 events in 36 cities and smaller towns. As President of the Federation of Music Festivals in Belgium, he enjoys a marvelous partnership between 280 festivals throughout Belgium. As Vice-President of the European Festivals Association (2004-2011), he was first of all interested in festival matters like co-production, co-promotion and co-sponsoring. During this time, he acted as co-founder of AAPAF (Asian Association for Performing Arts Festivals) and was involved in the organisation of a first joint conference between EFA and ISPA (International Society for the Performing Arts) in 2007 at the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Flanders Festival. Jan Briers studied Press and Communication at the Brussels University and became journalist at the International Press Centre in Brussels. In 2000 he created the structure for the new concerthall in Bruges, the Concertgebouw. Other Associations in which he is a member of the board, president or vice-president include: The Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, The Music Centre of Flanders/Belgium, the International Filmfestival of Flanders, The Bijloke Concert Hall Ghent, Audiences Europe Network, De Warande Business Club Brussels, The Argos Film Institute. www.festival.be

Darko Brlek
European Festivals Association, President; Ljubljana Festival, Artistic and General Director

Darko Brlek graduated at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana and pursued advanced studies at Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Graz. During his studies he received many awards, among others the Prešeren Award of the University in Ljubljana, for his creative achievements he later also received the Bettet Prize and the Zupančič Award. He was a director of the Slovenian National Theatre – Opera and Ballet in Ljubljana. He has been the artistic leader of the Ljubljana Festival since 1992; in 1995 he also became the director of this public institute. From 1997 on he was the Vice President of the European Festivals Association; in 2005 he was elected its President. He was among the founders of the Cultural Chamber of Slovenia and its first president. He was a member of the National Council for Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, since 1996 he is a member of ISPA (the International Society for the Performing Arts) seated in New York, he was re-elected as the president of the expert council of the Slovenian National Theatre in Maribor and as a member of the Broadcasting Council of the Republic of Slovenia.

Jurriaan Cooiman
Culturescapes, Artistic Director

Born in the Netherlands in 1966, Jurriaan has lived in Switzerland since 1994. He has been the head of Performing Arts Services, a production agency that organises theatre and dance productions, tours, etc., and has worked in collaboration with, amongst others, the Od-theater, Circle X Arts, Sankai Juku, Werkbühne Berlin and Goetheanum. Jurriaan is the driving force behind CULTURESCAPES and has organised festivals with many well-known composers, for example Gubaidulina, Kurtag, Firssowa, Hosokawa, Kancheli, Silvestrov and Lampson. In September 2004, he successfully graduated from the University of Basel having studied Cultural Management at post-graduate level. Since 2008 Jurriaan Cooiman is a member of the European Cultural Parliament.

Colm Croffy
Association of Irish Festival Events, Chairman

Colm is Executive Director of the Association of Irish Festivals and Events (AOIFE). He serves as a Director of the International Festivals and Events Association (IFEA) and serves as the Hon. Treasurer of International Festivals and Events – Europe. Formerly Co-coordinator for Ballinasloe Fair and Festival - one of the largest festival and heritage events in the West of Ireland, he now is involved with The Rose of Tralee – one of Ireland’s longest running televised festivals based in Kerry in the South West. Colm started his career as an Arts Officer for the University of Limerick, went on to be the Director of the Mary from Dungloe Festival in Donegal and then the Chief Executive of Ballinasloe Chamber of Commerce. Since 2001 he has been a consultant specialising in media, marketing and event management. He was elected Chair of AOIFE in 2001 and subsequently took on executive roles leading to him becoming Operations Director in 2003 and Executive Director in May 2008. He has been involved in the strategic growth of the Association as an all island network of community and professional festival events which enjoys one the highest active memberships of any European Festival network. AOIFE partners the Government and other stakeholders in developing world class festivals and events in Ireland. He was involved with the Irish Government‘s Task Force on the Tourism Industry and has been key in championing the role of the Festival and Cultural Events Sector within Irish Tourism, Arts and Community policies. He also serves on the board of the Voluntary Arts Network (V.A.N.) which supports voluntary participation in arts and cultural activities across the U.K. and Ireland. In 2003 he was awarded the Industry’s highest honour - the IFEA Miller Hall of Fame. Colm Croffy has spent over 12 years working in events and festival management crossing the educational, arts, business and cultural sectors and toured and lectured extensively in Irish, British and European Festival and Tourism industry circuits. He has been engaged by the International Network of Event Professionals, the British Arts Festivals Association, the Festivals of Wales, and the National Outdoor Events Association as well as participating in the Draft Working Party for a European Code of Safety and Practice.

Hugo De Greef
Flemish Ministry for Environment, Nature and Culture, International Cultural Advisor; European House for Culture, Co-Founder

Hugo De Greef is the advisor for international cultural policy to the minister of Culture of the Flemish Community. Before assuming this post, De Greef was General Director of Flagey Art Center (since 2007) and the Secretary General of the European Festivals Association EFA (2004-2008). These are the latest positions held by De Greef in what has been a distinguished career in the cultural sector. To mention just a few highlights: he was the Founder and Director (1977-1997) of Kaaitheater (Brussels), a Co-Founder of IETM (Informal European Theatre Meeting), Co-Founder and Board Member of the Felix Meritis Foundation (Amsterdam), as well as the Flemish Theatre monthly magazine Etcetera, the international publication Theaterschrift and the Festival of the Philosophy (Brussels), he was a Co-Founder of the organisation Vlaamse Theater Circuit (VTC) and its successor, the Vlaams Theater Instituut, a founding member and Vice-President of the Vereniging van Directies uit de Podiumkunsten (VDP; Association of directors of the performing arts) as well as a founding member and administrator of the Vereniging Internationaal Cultureel Beleid (VICB) in Amsterdam and of the Theaterfestival. Furthermore, De Greef was the Artistic Advisor with the Festival of Flanders in 1998/1999, for two cultural capitals of Europe he was the Art Director for Brussels 2000 (January-May 1998) and the Intendant for Brugge 2002 (1998-2003). Since January 2003, he has also been the President of PARTS, a dance school in Brussels founded by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker.

Nadin Deventer
Jazzwerkruhr/Jazzplayseurope, “EFA 60 Years On” Strategy Group

Since 2007 Nadin Deventer, born in 1977, is the director of jazzwerkruhr, regional network and laboratory for the jazz musicians from the Ruhrgebiet in Germany. The European enlargement of jazzwerkruhr’s activities is a matter close to her heart since she is a European citizen with conviction: She has studied European Studies in Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin (Master of Arts) as well as jazz singing at the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in the Netherlands. After one-year flying visits to each the German Bundestag at the Committee on Cultural and Media Affairs as well as to Brussels as dramaturge at the international music festival “Festival van Vlaanderen Brussel”, she has been living in the Ruhr metropolis since 2008 – not least because of the European Capital of Culture initiative RUHR.2010. From 2009 - end 2011 Deventer was working as project manager in the team of Ruhr.2010 itself in the ‘city of creativity’ and as a freelance member of the redaction of the 2010lab.tv, a European cultural web tv. Her milestone so far is the 3 years-development and implementation of No Blah-Blah!, her ambitious and innovative capital of culture music program for RUHR.2010: 250 musicians from all over Europe brought together in 15 challenging projects touring throughout Europe in more than 60 concerts and 25 cities by mobilising 46 very divers regional, national and international partners in 2010. At the same time in 2010, Deventer also worked for the Ruhrtriennale, an international renowned Theater, Opera and Music Festival; is since 2011 advisor and member of the Strategy Group of the European Festivals Association in Brussels as well as for the No Borders Orchestra in the Balkan States, Belgrad. In December 2007, she set up with “jazzplayseurope” a first international artistic cooperation between in the meantime 7 European neighbouring countries (DE/BE/F/NL/LU/PL/SK). Eventually, the “bundesjazzwerkstatt”  is a national cooperation network of musicians initiatives and the major international jazz festivals from various german metropolises like Hamburg/Berlin/Munich/Cologne/Mannheim/Ruhr/Dresden.

Kathrin Deventer
European Festivals Association, Secretary General

Kathrin Deventer is Secretary General of the European Festivals Association (EFA). With a political science background – following work experience in Genoa, European Capital of Culture 2004 – Kathrin started working for EFA in 2004 and became Secretary General in 2008. She is co-founding member of the European House for Culture in Brussels set up in 2008, contributes to the Platform on Access to Culture in particular through the working group on “Audiences/Participation” and the cultural dimension of citizenship. She is a Strategy Group member of A Soul for Europe, engaging in its Brussels related activities (Advisory Board, Parliamentarian working group, amongst others).

Trude Drevland
Mayor of Bergen

Bernard Faivre d'Arcier
Les Biennales de Lyon, Chairman of the Board

Bernard Faivre d'Arcier, a civil administrator, left the state administration school, ENA, in 1972, to join the Ministry of Culture. From 1980 to 1984, he served as director of the Avignon Festival. Mr. Faivre d’Arcier was then cultural advisor to the prime minister from 1984 to 1985, and, in 1986, he launched the television channel La Sept, the French arm of the Franco-German channel Arte. In 1989, he organised events celebrating the bicentenary of the French National Assembly and was also from 1989 to 1992 the head of Theatre and Performance Art Department at the Ministry of Culture. From 1993 to 2003, Mr. Faivre d’Arcier was the director of Avignon Festival once more. From 1993 to 1998 he was also the director of the Centre National du Théâtre and was Commissioner for the Hungarian cultural Season in France in 2001 and the Polish cultural season in 2003. For the past years, he has worked as a consultant with Festivals, municipalities and governments under the name of BFA-Conseil. He is currently Chairman of the Board of  “Les Biennales de Lyon” a double-face event devoted to dance and visual art. And chairman of “Metz-en-scene”, a large regional institution devoted to music.

Michael Haefliger
Lucerne Festival, Artistic and Executive Director

The son of tenor Ernst Haefliger, Michael Haefliger was born in Berlin in 1961 and took a degree in violin at Juilliard, where he studied with Ivan Galamian and Dorothy Delay (1978-83). He then studied management at the School of Business, Law, and Social Sciences of St. Gallen University, earning an Executive MBA. A scholarship later enabled him to attend the General Manager Program at Harvard University. At first, Haefliger pursued a solo career as a concert violinist, which took him inter alia to the festivals in Lucerne, Interlaken, and Spoleto. In 1986 he became a co-founder of the Young Artists in Concert Festival in Davos, which he headed as executive director until 1998. He was also artistic director of the Collegium Novum in Zurich, where he mounted a Sofia Gubaidulina retrospective as well as the cycles "Music from USA" and "Vienna x 3." On 1 January 1999, he became the executive director of LUCERNE FESTIVAL, at that time still known as "Internationale Musikfestwochen Luzern." Since then he has instituted many new ideas and enlarged the annual programs of the three festivals: Easter, Summer, and Piano. He has given special attention to contemporary music, emphasizing it by retaining composers-in-residence on an annual basis. By appointing artistes étoiles, he now offers outstanding performers an opportunity to help design the Festival's program every summer. He also co-founded the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA with Claudio Abbado and the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ACADEMY with Pierre Boulez. In January 2000 the World Economic Forum in Davos named Michael Haefliger a "Global Leader of Tomorrow." He has also received the European Cultural and Innovation Prize (2003) and the Tourism Award from the Lucerne Tourism Forum (2007). He is currently a Board member of the Stiftung Avenir Suisse, Davos Festival and the Pierre Boulez Foundation, as well as the Chairman of the Jury for the Credit Suisse Young Artist Award.

Per Boye Hansen
Bergen International Festival, Artistic and Managing Director

Per Boye Hansen first worked as a journalist in Oslo. He then studied theatre at the University of Oslo and took a diploma at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik, Ruhr in musical theatre direction. From 1984 to 1989 he was an assistant director at the opera in Cologne and at the Salzburg Festival. In 1983, he founded Oslo Sommeropera, of which he was the artistic director until 1992. During this period, he staged a number of opera productions. In 1990, he founded Oslo Arts Management AS, which he owned and managed until 2000, when he joined Andreas Homoki as "Operndirektor" at the Komische Oper Berlin. In 2005, he became director of the Bergen International Festival. He was attached to the Komische Oper as artistic advisor and was advisor for long-term artistic planning at the opera in Zürich. Per Boye Hansen is chairman of the Ibsen International Award. From 1 August 2012 he is appointed director of the Norwegian National Opera. (Photo: Magnus Skrede)

Katherine Heid
RESEO – European Network for Opera and Dance Education, Network Manager; Access to Culture Platform, WG Audience Participation

Katherine Heid is network manager of RESEO, the European Network for Opera and Dance Education, since 2009. Katherine graduated in psychology and political sciences, specialising in intercultural psychology and creativity. She then worked for the events department of the Franco-German Youth Office in Paris for six years, focusing especially on cross-cultural projects in the fields of film and music. She then pursued her career at the German Youth Ministry in the department for international youth policy, and for IJAB, the German International Youth Work Service. Katherine subsequently worked for the Council of Europe, where she was responsible for activities in the framework of the “all different – all equal” campaign, as well as youth conferences and practical seminars concerning human rights, refugees issues, diversity and interreligious dialogue, before being appointed to her current position. Her work for RESEO now links this background in international youth work, human rights and politics with her practical experience in the field of arts, as a former professional dancer.

Stefan Herheim
Stage Director

Stefan Herheim was born in Oslo in 1970. He initially studied the cello, while also working as a production assistant at the Oslo Opera and Opera School. He undertook a number of tours with his own marionette company before studying opera production with Götz Friedrich at the Academy of Music and the Performing Arts in Hamburg, graduating four years later with a production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. Since then he has worked in countless theatres in Germany, Austria, Estonia, Sweden and Norway. Among his productions are Falstaff at the Oldenburg State Theatre, Tannhäuser and Don Carlo at the Landestheater in Linz, Così fan tutte at the Folkoperan in Stockholm and I puritani at the Aalto Theatre in Essen, for which he received the 2003 Götz Friedrich Foundation Prize for Opera Production. For the Munich Biennale Stefan Herheim has directed two world premières: the collective composition Über Frauen - Über Grenzen and André Werner's Marlowe: Der Jude von Malta, based on Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta. The 2003 Salzburg Festival opened with his controversial production of Die Entführung aus dem Serail. He made his Vienna Volksoper début in the spring of 2004 with Madama Butterfly, following this up with Handel's Giulio Cesare for the Norwegian National Opera. As a visiting lecturer he has taught opera production at both the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music and the Oslo Opera School, as well as taking part in international opera schools. He made his Staatsoper Unter den Linden début with La forza del destino and will return in 2009 to direct Lohengrin. Plans include productions in Riga, Graz, Hanover, Copenhagen and Brussels.

Peter Inkei
Budapest Observatory, Director

Péter Inkei, 1945, is the Director of the Budapest Observatory: the Regional Observatory on Financing Culture in East-Central Europe. A non-profit organisation, it conducts comparative projects on issues of cultural policy and planning. Dr Inkei has done consultancy in various fields of cultural policy, among others for the Council of Europe, and the cities of Košice and Lódź. He is the author of the Hungarian entry of the Compendium of cultural policies; served on the Board of Cultural Information and Research Centres Liaison in Europe (CIRCLE) as well as the LabforCulture of the European Cultural Foundation. Previously, had held various positions in the civil service, including deputy state secretary for culture. Péter has also worked in publishing: was general director for publishing at the Ministry of Culture, founding director of the Budapest International Book Festival (1994) and has been deputy director of the Central European University Press since 2001.

Åse Kleveland
Bergen International Festival, Head of the Board

Ruggero Lala
Felix Meritis Foundation, International Programme Officer; A Soul for Europe, Strategy Group Member

Ruggero Lala is international programme officer at the Felix Meritis Foundation and course coordinator at The Amsterdam Maastricht Summer University (AMSU). He has been working on various international co-operation projects of Amsterdam-based organisations. He holds a Masters degree in International Law and International Relations. Ruggero Lala is international programme officer at the Felix Meritis Foundation and course coordinator at The Amsterdam Maastricht Summer University (AMSU). He has been working on various international co-operation projects of Amsterdam-based organisations. He holds a Masters degree in International Law and International Relations. Ruggero Lala is International Programme Coordinator at the Felix Meritis Foundation and Director of Programmes at The Amsterdam Maastricht Summer University (AMSU). He is a member of the “A Soul for Europe” Strategy Group and has been working on various international co-operation projects of these organisations. He holds a Masters degree in International Law and International Relations.

Tony Lankester
National Arts Festival Grahamstown, CEO; AFRIFESTNET, Treasurer

Anna Lewanowicz
Krakow Theatrical Reminiscences, Festival Director

Anna has just been announced the director of the international theater festival ‘Reminiscences’ in Krakow; previously - co-founder and managing director of ‘Brave Festival - Against Cultural Exile’ in Wroclaw, dedicated to support vanishing traditional arts in different cultures; producer of the international theater festival ‘The World as a Place of Truth’, the highlight of the  Grotowski Year’s Programme in 2009;  member of the programming group of the IETM Plenary Meeting in Krakow 2011 (International Network for Contemporary Performing Arts); founder and chairman of Art and Social Change Foundation ‘Plan C’; member of Polish grass-root movement Citizens of Culture; interested in culture management, strategies of culture development, in “mingling” art and culture with other sectors and different areas of our life. www.krt-festival.pl www.fundacjaplac.pl

Valeria Marcolin
International Development Strategy Advisor for no-profit; Cultural Manager; “EFA 60 Years On” Strategy Group

Valeria Marcolin works as consultant for different cultural organisations in Europe, specialised in international relations and networking, fundraising and project development. Presently, she advises the French NGO "Culture et Développement" on improving organisational changes and developing new strategies. Her responsibilities include: project management, prospect activities, dialogue with political institutions of different levels and business representatives, guiding of working groups, writing of project, advising on communication, media and partnership strategy. She was the Secretary General of the European network Union of the Theatres of Europe after acting as its Communication and PR Manager. From 1998 to 2004, she worked in Italy and France under the direction of the Italian stage and film director Maurizio Scaparro on the organisation of cultural events (theatre and film festivals, tours, public debates). She is an active member of European networks and initiatives such as "A Soul for Europe" and the European House for Culture. Amongst others, she has being collaborating with the European Festivals Association, Federculture - Italian Federation for culture, tourism and sports public services, Projeto Axé (NGO, Brazil, Italy), Associazione Italiana Editori and several theatre companies.

Miguel Ángel Martín Ramos
European Academy of Yuste Foundation, Counsellor; Access to Culture Platform, Spokesperson

Miguel Ángel Martín Ramos is currently, and since 2000, Counsellor at the European Academy of Yuste Foundation in Brussels (Belgium). He is also Advisor in European Cultural, Education and Social Policies for the Office of the Region of Extremadura in Brussels since 2000. He has been working for a Consulting Company on European Development Projects in Brussels under the program Leonardo Da Vinci. He has published articles on European Union Policies and has attended many seminars and congresses and presented several working papers and communications. Since 2006 is a member of the Administration Board of the International Jean Monnet Association. Since 2009 he chairs the Working Group on Language Diversity and Social Inclusion at the European Platform of the Civil Society to Promote Multilingualism. He also represents the European Academy of Yuste Foundation at the European Foundation Centre, the European Disability Forum, The European Policy Centre, the European Group on Active Citizenship, the United Nation Alliance of Civilizations initiative, and at the European Platform of the Civil Society to promote Access to Culture, were he is Spokesperson since July 2011.

James McVeigh
Edinburgh Festivals, Head of Marketing and Innovation

James McVeigh joined Festivals Edinburgh as its first Head of Marketing and Innovation following senior management roles with a number of organisations including Salisbury International Festival, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society and Arts Council England. Festivals Edinburgh is the high-level organisation created by the Directors of Edinburgh’s 12 major festivals to lead on their joint strategic development and maintain their global competitive edge – placing the highest quality artistic programming at the core of an operation which reaches audiences of over 4million while generating £260 million for the Scottish economy. James also sits on the board of New Media Scotland, the national development agency that supports forms of emergent artistic practice and seeks to innovate and challenge, aesthetically, technically and conceptually.

Jelle Meander
Poet

Simon Mundy
Poet and novelist, festival director, broadcaster and cultural policy advisor; “EFA 60 Years On” Strategy Group

Simon Mundy is Senior Associate Fellow in the Conflict, Security and Development Group at King’s College London. He has worked as an adviser for UNESCO, the Council of Europe and the UN Mission in Kosovo as well as many non-governmental organisations like the Ford Foundation, the European Cultural Foundation and the International Music Council. He was the Director of the UK's National Campaign for the Arts from 1989 -1993 and a co-founder and first President of the European Forum for the Arts and Heritage (now Culture Action Europe). He has directed festivals in Scotland and the Netherlands and written several books on musicians (including biographies of Elgar, Purcell and Tchaikovsky). Three books of his poems and two novels have been published and among his other books are Making It Home: Europe and the Politics of Culture, and the Council of Europe's Short Guide to Cultural Policy. He is Vice-President of the Presteigne Festival, a Trustee of the European Baroque Orchestra and on the board of several other arts organisations and was also Chairman of b10c, the visual arts and new media network for Wales, for six years. He has broadcast on BBC Radio for more than 30 years and written on the arts for most of Britain's major newspapers.  He is a Full Member of the Welsh Academi.

Doris Pack
European Parliament, Chairwoman Culture Committee

Graduated from teaching college (1965). Taught in primary schools (1965-1974). Senior Adviser in the Ministry of Education Saarland (1983-1985). Member of Bübingen council (1967-1974). Member of Saarbrücken city council (1974-1976); Member of the Bundestag (1974-1983 and 1985-1989). Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and of the WEU Assembly (1981-1983 and 1985-1989). Member of the European Parliament (EPP-ED Group) since July 1989. Chairwoman of the Committee on Culture and Education. Member of the Delegation for relations with South-East Europe. Chair, Franco-German Foundation for Cultural Cooperation. President of the open university association (VHS) Saar. President of the European children and youth book fair. Vice-President of the European Movement on the Saar (since 1998); Member of ZDF Television Council. Federal Order of Merit (1985). Order of Zvonimir (Croatia) (1995). Federal Order of Merit, First Class (1996). French Ordre international de mérite (1996) and Etoile civique en or (2004). Order of the Republic of Albania (2002). Austrian Order of Merit (2006). Honorary doctorate from the University of Zadar, Croatia (2007). Tolerance Award of the Parliament of Vojvodina (Serbia) (2008). Award of the Town of Pogradec (Albania) (2009).

Odile Quintin
Former Director General and Special Advisor European Commission; Sciences Po and ESCP Europe Paris, Professor

Odile Quintin, a French lawyer, was Director General for DG Education and Culture at the European Commission from 2006 until 2010. With the Slovak Commissioner, Jan Figel’, she had responsibility for policies on education, training, youth, culture, sport and citizenship. In this role, she played a major part in increasing the recognition of these fields at Community level. In addition, within the scope of the portfolio of the Romanian Commissioner, Leonard Orban, she also had responsibility for policy on multilingualism. She entered the European Commission in 1971. Over the first eleven years at the Commission, she held various positions at DG Agriculture and then at DG External Relations. In 1982, she joined DG Employment, where she spent a large part of her career. She successively occupied the posts of Head of Unit, Director of the European Social Fund, Director for Employment and the Labour Market, and finally, Director for Social Dialogue. From 2000 to 2005, she worked as the Director General for DG Employment.

Kerstin Schilling
Cultural Manager and Communication/Marketing Specialist

Kerstin Schilling, born in Berlin in 1962, graduated in marketing and communication and cultural management. After six years experience as an advertising manager in an international publishers house she started as a freelancer for cultural festivals and projects in Germany and France (p.ex. Biennale Théâtre Jeunes Publics Lyon, Literatur Express Europa 2000, Festival for Children and Youth Theatre Berlin, “Zirkus um Zauberflöte” (the opera in a circus), “Luther Rufen” (an open-air play about Martin Luther)). From 2003 to 2011 she worked as Head of Communication/Marketing at Berliner Festspiele. She left the institution at the end of last year and is now looking for new challenges in the field of organization, communication, sponsoring. Kerstin Schilling is regularly teaching at several universities in Berlin, moderating discussions about social media and publishing articles. In 2004 her first book was published: “Insel der Glücklichen – Generation West-Berlin” about the life and character of West-Berliners.

Erik Söderblom
Helsinki Festival, Director

Erik Söderblom, b.1958 in Helsinki, studied piano and cello since childhood. He studied opera directing with August Everding at the Hochshule für Musik and continued his studies at the Theatre Academy of Helsinki, graduating from the directors class. He has worked as director of Turku City Theatre. In Helsinki he started up the Q-teatteri ­- today recognized as one of the artistically leading ensembles in Finland. On his initiative was founded the Baltic Circle network and festival for free theatre groups around the Baltic See. Söderblom was the first artistic leader of this festival. In recent years he has returned to opera and is considered to be a leading Finnish opera director especially praised for his work with contemporary opera. Erik Söderblom also has a role as an important pedagogue. In the years 1998-2002 Söderblom was leading a famous music theatre class at Turku Polytechnic. Between 2001 and 2009 he was Professor of acting at the Helsinki Theatre Academy. He also functioned as Vice Rector for the same university between 2005 and 2009. He is the Director of Helsinki Festival since 2009.

Kjersti Stenseng, State Secretary for Minister of Culture

Philipp Thomaschke
Festival Mitte Europa, Deputy Artistic Director

Philipp Thomschke, born 1971 in Dresden, son of the reknown German Opera Singer Thomas Thomaschke and Art historic Ivana Thomaschke- Vondráková. He studied Law a the University of Cologne. He devoted himself mainly to the international media law at the prestigious law firm in Cologne Pohl. Philipp Thomaschke is co-founder of the German-Czech Cultural Project Festival Mitte Europa, Bayern - Böhmen – Sachsen, which was one of the first cultural and unifying reactions to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990/91. Every year the festival organises in June and July 80 events with classical music, jazz, klezmer, folk music, visual arts, theater, workshops and symposia in over 60 towns in Saxony, Bavavaria and Czech Republic. The Festival turned into one of the most important cultural festivals in Europe. Currently, Philipp Thomaschke is PR Manager and Deputy Artistic Director of the Festival, whose artistic director he will take over from 2013. He also engages strongly in the promotion of young artists, cross-border cooperation and convergence of the Eastern and Central European cultural space.

Xavier Troussard
European Commission, Head of Unit Culture policy, diversity and intercultural dialogue

Xavier Troussard has a Postgraduate degree in European Law at the College of and a Master’s degree in Law and General Administration at the University of Rennes (France). He works for the European Commission since 1989; first as administrator and later as Deputy Head of Unit of the Audiovisual Policy Unit. As of 2005 he works for the Directorate General Education and Culture; first as Adviser for horizontal and international aspects of culture and since 2007 Xavier Troussard is Head of Unit "Culture policy and intercultural dialogue".

Jan Truszczyński
European Commission, Director General for Education, Training, Culture and Youth

Jan Truszczyński has been Director-General of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Education and Culture since May 2010, when he came from the position as Deputy Director-General in the same Directorate-General. He joined the European Commission in January 2007, when he was appointed Deputy Director-General for Enlargement, with responsibility for enlargement strategy and communication. From 2001 to 2005 Mr Truszczyński worked in the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, first Undersecretary of State, then Secretary of State. In this capacity, he was Poland's chief negotiator during its EU accession negotiations. Prior to that, Mr Truszczyński was Ambassador of Poland to the EU in Brussels from 1996 to 2001.

Mike van Graan
Arterial Network, Outgoing Secretary General

Mike van Graan is the Secretary General of Arterial Network, a pan-African network of artists, cultural activists, creative enterprises and others engaged in the African creative sector and its contribution to human rights, democracy and development on the African continent. He serves as the Executive Director of the African Arts Institute, a South African NGO based in Cape Town that houses the Secretariat of Arterial Network, and whose two-fold mission is to help develop leadership for the African creative sector and to build regional markets for African artists and their creative works. After South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994, he was appointed as a Special Adviser to the first minister responsible for arts and culture where he played an influential role in shaping post-apartheid cultural policies. In 2011, he was appointed as a UNESCO Technical Adviser to assist governments in the global south to develop cultural policies aligned to the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. He is also considered as one of South Africa’s leading contemporary playwrights, having garnered numerous nominations and awards for his plays that interrogate the post-apartheid South African condition.