Speaker – Denis de Rougemont Labs – DEI: is it a mission-critical competence? on Monday, 13 May 2024 | 11.00 – 15.00

Ceyda Berk-Söderblom is a Helsinki and Lund-based arts manager, curator, festival programmer and entrepreneur specialising in change management with 20+ years of experience. Before settling in Helsinki in 2015, Ceyda worked for more than 13 years as a Festival Coordinator at the International Izmir Festival (a member of European Festivals Association) and Programmer at the Izmir European Jazz Festival (a member of European Jazz Network) in Turkey. She is the co-founder and Artistic Director of MiklagårdArts, a facilitator of transcultural and transnational artistic interventions and an advocate for internationalisation in the Finnish art scene. She is a public advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in arts and culture, focusing on policies, practices, norms, and institutions. In 2020, she worked as an expert in a working group on cultural policy, immigration and cultural diversity appointed by the Ministry of Education and Culture in Finland to prepare cultural policy guidelines and an Art, Culture and Diverse Finland report. She works as a Senior Project Manager and Researcher at Trans Europe Halles and leads the Cultural Transformation Movement project and its consortium that are committed to make social justice a priority in arts, culture. Ceyda has an M.A. in arts management, majoring in cultural diversity and social inclusion. Ceyda is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) and holds a “Bene Merito” honorary distinction from the Republic of Poland.