The ENCC is very happy to present its new Advisory Group, a team of seven experts active in the cultural sector who will provide support on content to the ENCC office on different strategic areas (such as EU advocacy/cultural policy, sustainability, diversity and inclusion, ethical digitalization, territorial development through culture) in order to further contribute to answering the needs and supporting the development of its members and the cultural sector.
This group is composed by both ENCC members (as to increase participation and connection with the reality of members) and topical and cultural policy experts who have been involved in the network and who provide external views and additional knowledge.
Meet the experts:
Béatrice Minh
Béatrice Minh is the associate network coordinator of La Concertation asbl, a non-profit organisation gathering several associations from the sociocultural and artistic sector in the Brussels-Capital Region.
With an academic background in Languages and European Studies, Béatrice has many years of experience as a project manager both in research centres and in the nonprofit sector.
Over the years, she has developed expertise in fields related to cultural rights and communication. She is particularly involved on topics with a strong imprint on positive social change through partnerships and cooperation.
Within the ENCC, she represents La Concertation (which joined the network in 2020) and is looking forward to becoming an active contributor on topics such as diversity, sustainability and ethical digitalisation, as well as sharing expertise with her fellow colleagues.
Kay Sentance
Kay Sentance is a socially engaged artist based in Oxford, UK. She facilitates intersocial events in non-art spaces such as working launderettes, takeaway restaurants or horse box trailers. Recently this art practice has evolved to include creating homes and exploring the changes in rural and urban living.This is in contrast to her experience of working in/with arts institutions (Modern Art Oxford), artist-led Organisations (Ovada), Oxford University and others.Through these experiences she has become acutely aware of the importance of good governance and leadership in the cultural sector. This involves reviewing policies, good organisational practices as well as funding and, importantly, promoting diversity and establishing meaningful change that embraces all members in society through the arts.
Kay has been a ENCC member since 2016. Being based in the UK, she sees the ENCC as a vital link, a life line, to what is happening on the continent.
Leen Vanderschueren
Leen Vanderschueren has a bachelor’s degree in Fashion design from the KASK Royal Arts Academy and a master’s degree in History of Art from the University of Ghent, Belgium.
With her thesis focusing on the boundary between film and fine arts, she started working for the Flemish Film Fund (VAF) in 2014. Her work there was related to public activities such as film festivals, cinemas, educational or youth initiatives and talent development.
Since 2019 she has been the coordinator of the network of cultural centres in Flanders and Brussels, formerly known as VVC. Together with her small but brave team and board, she is working on the renewal of the organisation, which recently culminated in a change of name into cult!. Her aim is to strengthen this network structurally, make it futureproof, and take it to an international level.
Leen brings into the ENCC her knowledge of the functioning of cultural centres and her understanding of the Belgian context.
Milan Vračar
Milan Vračar studied Management in Culture and Media, with a focus on international theatre festivals. He is an independent cultural producer, an experienced and certified youth worker, as well as the president of the Association Kulturanova.
Over the years, Milan has been involved in many international projects and has collaborated to many events in Novi Sad and Serbia, as well as producing and coordinating innovative art initiatives.
He has held several university lectures in Serbia and in Europe and has collaborated with many institutions such as the Swiss Development Cooperation, the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Council of Europe.
Milan has worked as a marketing manager in a cultural centre of Novi Sad and coordinated the candidacy of Novi Sad for European Cultural Capital.
In 2017 he co-founded the independent cultural centre and coworking LAB.
He is also a board member of OPENS - the body that coordinates the title of Novi Sad being European Youth Capital.
Milan brings to the ENCC his expertise on diversity and community outreach as well as his knowledge and experience in the Balkans.
Dagna Gmitrowicz
Dagna Gmitrowicz is a senior trainer in the field of non formal education. She has been conducting international and national trainings, seminars, and facilitating conferences since 2001.
She is the creator of innovative educational tools like Colours of Feelings and Needs Deck, and long term curriculum empowering learners in defining and achieving their own goals. Dagna is a member of several international trainers' pools, among which trainers of Polish pool of trainers of European Solidarity Corps , TOSCA, and IT'S up to me training for trainers.
She is a member of the International Society for Self-Directed Learning and the founder of the ARTE EGO foundation. She contributes expertise on learning, inclusion and creativity.
As a certified art therapist, curator and professional painter, she empowers participatory art and is searching for beauty and balance through visual expression.
Dagna is a passionate supporter of the ENCC’s BECC programme.
Piet Forger
Piet Forger studied Law and Cultural Studies at the University of Leuven.
He has been the head of the Department for Culture at the city of Leuven, Belgium, since 2015. Before that, Piet was the director of several cultural centres and of the umbrella organisations of all cultural centres in the province of Flemish Brabant (Vlabra’ccent) and in Flanders (Fevecc/VVC). For more than 5 years he was the Deputy Director of CultuurNet Vlaanderen (now called ‘publiq’), an expertise centre at the Flemish level that focuses on cultural communication, participation and audience development.
Besides this, Piet was a member of the National Advisory Board Body for the Minister of Culture in Flanders for more than 10 years. For almost 15 years, he was also the president of the boards of fABULEUS, a high-level theatre and dance company working with and for young people, and Artforum, an art education organisation. He is currently a member of the board of several art organisations in the city of Leuven, such as Museum M, arts centre STUK, music centre Het Depot, independent arts centres OPEK.
He is the initiator and vice president of Vitamine C, a network in Flanders, Belgium, of people working in the cultural field who stand up for art and culture as vital vitamins for young people.
Piet has been connected to the ENCC since 1996 and has participated in many of its activities.
Raluca Iacob
Raluca Iacob is a cultural manager and a public policy specialist. She is the president of the MetruCub Association, in Bucharest, Romania.
Since 2007 she has been involved in advocacy for good governance, participative policy-making and cultural planning at local and national levels.
She has also researched about the misuse of European funds, the evolution of the independent cultural sector and local public administration’s competences in culture, and has developed communities of practice integrating the arts in education.
Raluca engages with the ENCC on the topic of local networks as a new form of the organisation of work in the cultural world; she is the author of our upcoming toolkit on the topic.
