Bridget McKenzie
Bridget McKenzie is a researcher and creative curator in culture, learning and environment. After 14 years in roles such as Education Officer for Tate and Head of Learning at the British Library, she founded Flow Associates in 2006. In 2019, Bridget founded Climate Museum UK <https://climatemuseumuk.org/>, an experimental museum which stirs and collects the emerging response to the Earth crisis. She is an advisor for Culture Unstained <https://cultureunstained.org/>and co-founder of Culture Declares Emergency <https://www.culturedeclares.org/>. She presents and publishes internationally on possibilities of Regenerative Culture.
Maud Gari
Maud Gari is the General Secretary of LABA, French organisation specialised in European cultural project, of which she is also responsible for communication and marketing. She is in particular in charge of the projects around gender issues and sustainability. Before that, she worked for 5 years as General Delegate for FELIN - Fédération Nationale des Labels Indépendants, and created the European cooperation project dedicated to women entrepreneurs in music : MEWEM Europa, carried out by le LABA and 6 European partners. Besides this, Maud is co-founder and volunteer chairperson of Slowfest, an association based in Bordeaux which experiments and produces Low carbon events in the cultural industry.
Ben Twist
Ben Twist has been director of Creative Carbon Scotland since 2011, combining over 25 years’ experience of producing events and running permanent and temporary venues in the cultural sector with an MSc in Carbon Management and a doctorate in applying complexity theory to social systems in order to bring about more sustainable social practices. He has developed CCS into a leader in both technical support for cultural organisations in carbon management and climate change adaptation, and developing culture’s influencing role in addressing climate change. He has accordingly been asked to speak about this work to groups from Salzburg Global in Austria via the ArtCOP Professional workshop in Paris to the Glasgow Life Green Team Awards and the Sustainable Scotland Network annual conference.
As a theatre director and producer he was the associate director at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh and artistic director at Manchester’s Contact Theatre. He ‘revisioned’ Contact to prepare it for the 21st century and he led the restructuring of North Edinburgh Arts to bring it out of a financial crisis: both are now thriving organisations. As Chair of the Scottish Arts Council Lottery Committee he facilitated and supported organisational change with many cultural organisations and led the distribution of over £150m of National Lottery funds, mostly to capital projects. He has directed theatre and music theatre as a freelance across the UK, Europe, North America and New Zealand. He was Chair of Scotland’s leading chamber classical music group Hebrides Ensemble and Vice-Chair of the Theatres Trust and the Edinburgh Sustainable Development Partnership.
Piotr Michałowski
Piotr Michałowski has more than 20 years of experience as a researcher, expert on territorial development, cultural consultant and manager. Vice-Chairman of the ENCC Brussels, and Consultant, Project Manager & Expert on Creative Economy and Territorial Development at EUROCONSULTANTS S.A. Thessaloniki.
He holds an MA in Cultural studies (University of Wrocław), MSci in Management (Lower Silesian University for Public Services) and second MSci in Cultural Diplomacy (Jagiellonian University in Krakow). He is a graduate of the Polish-American Freedom Foundation’s School of Moderators, of the University of Wrocław in Musicology and of the Wrocław School of Jazz (as a jazz guitarist). He has trained at the National Centre for Culture in Poland and at Stanford University on International Cultural Management, Local Strategic Development for Cultural Institutions, and Creativity and Innovation. He is a certified leader of the Design Thinking methodology. He has successfully coordinated over 100 projects. He has 20 years of experience working for the NGO sector, 15 years – for the public sector, including as Cultural Coordinator at the Municipality of ECoC Wrocław 2016. Since 2013 he runs own CI called “Micro Art Centre '', involved in cultural consulting, management, artistic productions, and international cooperation. He is affiliated with “Teatr na Walizkach '' Theatre and Culture Centre from Wrocław – a member of ENCC network.
Barbara Gessler
Barbara Gessler was born in Belgium (German nationality) she lived and studied in Konstanz, Paris, Buenos Aires and later Bruges. Worked in the European Parliament before joining the European Commission in 1994. Started in the Directorate General's Unit for Audio-visual Policy, and changed to Environment in 1996. From 1998 until 2003, she worked at the representation of the European Commission in Berlin.
During her year of personal leave from 2003-to 2004, she advised the umbrella organisation of German cultural organisations Deutscher Kulturrat on European affairs. Until 2009, she was Head of the Regional Representation of the Commission in Bonn. She returned to Brussels as Head of the Press Unit of the European Economic and Social Committee until mid-2011. Until 2016, she ran the Culture Unit at the Education, Audio-visual and Culture Executive Agency which implements the EU's funding programmes in these areas. Since 2017 she is responsible for the Creative Europe Culture sub-programme at Directorate-General Education, Youth, Sport and Culture.
Vittorio Bianco
Vittorio Bianco coordinates European projects for Rete delle Case del Quartiere and for several other non-profit organisations.
With a major in Natural Sciences, he started his career in Legambiente, the main environmental organisation in Italy, with a focus on urban ecology and sustainable development. He then expanded his field of activity to other aspects of sustainability in the urban context such as social inclusion, culture, health, and solidarity economy.
Throughout his career, he has been promoting cooperation between non-profit organisations and private and public bodies participating in bottom-up participatory processes that gave birth to several local networks.
Vittorio has been Vice-President of Mirafiori Community Foundation and of the Agency for Local Development of San Salvario, and is currently co-coordinator of Hub Multiculturale Cecchi Point – Casa del Quartiere Aurora. He is also the co-founder and CEO of Bici-t, a start-up offering sustainable mobility services.
On an international level, he has experience in European programmes such as European Voluntary Service, Horizon 2020, Life+ and Interreg, and worked in the Sino-Italian Cooperation Programme for Environmental Protection with Venice International University, the Italian Ministry of Environment and several ministries and city administrations of the People's Republic of China.
Masquerade as vittorio.bianco
Irina Suteu
Irina Suteu Designer, teacher, and Noa’s mum, Irina is in charge research and development for Non Riservato network and was part of the board of directors from 2018 to 2021. Her research and practice focuses on cultural innovation projects that have as a core mission disciplinary, cultural, and cognitive diversity. She collaborated on research and educational projects with many private and public institutions among which, Fondazione Cariplo, Comune di Milano, Unicredit Pavilion, Fabbrica del Vapore; National Film Board of Canada, Azure Magazine e Festival de Metis. She was visiting professor at Tsinghua University Graduate School of Design Management at Shenzen, China and Institute Without Boundaries in Toronto, Canada. Since 2014 she is a senior lecturer in interaction design at Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti (NABA) Milano, Italy.
Théo Majcher
Théo Majcher graduated from the European Studies Institute of Paris 8 with a Master's degree in Cultural Policies and Management in Europe. He soon focused his research on the issue of European identity in the field of arts and culture and on the role of European cultural networks. In 2017, he collaborated with ENCC (European Network of Cultural Centres) in Brussels and took part in the organisation of the European conference Record (Rethinking research, rethinking cultural centres) in partnership with Aarhus (Denmark), European Capital of Culture in 2017.
In 2018, he was invited to speak at the University of Clermont-Ferrand on the topic of European funding for culture. In 2019, Théo Majcher worked with ETC (European Theatre Convention) in Berlin, where he was in charge of Artists in Residency, an international residency programme for emerging artists. He also assisted in the organisation of the International Theatre Conference on the theme of participatory theatre in partnership with the Stadtschauspiel in Dresden (Germany).
Théo also works as an actor, writer and dramaturg and co-founded the European theatre company ALTER EGO (X) (Annecy, France) that same year. He is in charge of the Laboratory Department (international artistic cooperation, touring abroad, etc.). Since January 2021, he has been working with other international structures to help with the preparation of European applications (Erasmus+, Creative Europe).
Jennifer Tharr
Jennifer Tharr represents the Bundesverband Soziokultur (German Association of Socioculture) in the ENCC. She is also the Project Manager of NEUSTART - Programme for Corona-related investment in cultural institutions (www.neustartkultur.de) and START – Create Cultural Change (startgreece.net).
Giorgio Bacchiega
Giorgio Bacchiega is a lecturer at the Catholic University of Milan. He is also a Director at Milan's Urban Peripheries Research Centre for Consulta Periferie Milano, a network-centric platform formed by 36 cultural, charity, trade, visual and performing arts organisations, cultural centres and local newspapers active in the peripheries of Milan with the purpose of drawing constant attention and find original solutions to the problems of the multifaceted peripheral landscape of Milan in cooperation with academic, political and societal forces.Giorgio is also a member of the Research and documentation team for Amateo, which represents a unique, privileged opportunity for gaining information, debating and finding original solutions to complex social problems through participation.
Maria Lodovica Gullino
Maria Lodovica Gullino is Full Professor in Plant Pathology, Director, Agroinnova, University of Torino and Immediate Past President of the International Society for Plant Pathology.
Lorenzo Ricca
Lorenzo Ricca is co-founder of the online radio community RBL.MEDIA and manager of the cultural centre Imbarchino in Torino. He guides the development of cultural and media projects that enable communities to act in a sustainable and impact-oriented way, where music always finds his role.
Menno Weijs
Menno Weijs is Programme Manager at the European Cultural Foundation. This independent foundation based in Amsterdam has promoted European solidarity since 1954, by developing and supporting cultural initiatives that let us share, experience and imagine Europe. Menno is responsible for a portfolio of projects and programmes fostering an inclusive European public sphere, including digital infrastructure and the media space.
WORKSHOP 1 - by La Venerie
"Youth as a critical element for local development".
The workshop, organized by Thibault Janmart and Virginie Cordier from La Venerie (Belgium), addresses two main questions of this conference edition, namely:
→ How to build a “new normal” based on sustainability as a common starting point?
→ How to activate public space to create systemic change and transition?
During the first part of the workshop, Thibault and Virginie will focus on examples where youth groups played an essential role in their territory and how they emerged after the crisis.
The second part will be an interactive animation to share experiences in a creative way.
WORKSHOP 2 - by Margarita’s VTC Art Department
Margarita’s VTC Art Department proposes an artistic laboratory where the participants will explore through experiential activities the relationship between the body, the memory, and the public space. The participants will be invited to remember, navigate and create a personal psychogeography route in a common blank art space. Each participant is free to choose materials and techniques of its preference that correspond to the senses and emotions in order to create, in a specific or more abstract way, a new kind of map tailored-made for each personality. The personal and common space meet, finding new ways of coexisting and interacting which benefit the individual but also social practices.
The goal is to re-explore the time and space aside from the predefined and rational ways, giving the opportunity to re-create a new imaginary space as a personal journal.
WORKSHOP 3 - by Le LABA
"What tools can improve our sustainable events?
Come and try a new self-assessment tool, created in the framework of the European project Future Festival Tools by cultural and environmental organisations "
Le LABA presents the project "Future festival tools », supported by Erasmus+ project that gathers 7 seven European partners, amongst which are Julie’s Bicycle in the UK, Green Operations Europe in Germany,
Green Events International BV in NL, working together to bring their expertise to create a set of knowledge tools that will transform the European live events sector to be future-ready. Future Festival Tools will enable the new generation of event professionals to create a greener future for the sector.
Website: https://www.futurefestivaltools.eu/
The self-assessment tool for events has been created, based on several existing tools, to understand and assess their impact in 6 key areas: Energy, Materials, Food, Water, Transport, and Strategy.
WORKSHOP 4 - by Migrants Music Manifesto Project (MMM)
Through music, the Migrants Music Manifesto Project (MMM) aims to dispel prejudices and alert the population to the positive contributions of migrants and refugees in Europe. Lou Pohin from LE LABA and Pierre Vachaudez from the ENCC will present you the project and the tools it developed, navigate through the website, and discuss with participants wishing to renew and share their know-how in the promotion of minority cultures. By filling in this form, you can pick and register for the workshop that you would like to attend.
