Speakers and Moderators
Neven Allanic
Neven Allanic, born 1980 in Nice, founded the Franco-German art network and residency program Fugitif in Leipzig 2008. Allanic is a Master-student (Meisterschüler) in the field of media art at the Academy of Visual Arts (HGB) in Leipzig. Among other places, his works have been presented at the Schaubühne Lindenfels in Leipzig, at La Maison Rouge, the Gallery Anne+ in Paris as well as the Gallery Sandrine Mons in Nice. Allanic lives and works in Germany and France.
Dr. Eckhard Braun
Dr. Eckhard Braun, born 1959, is a lawyer and cultural manager. He teaches cultural and media law, cultural policy and culture management at the University of Leipzig, the University of Saarland and the University of Koblenz-Landau. Braun researches and publishes about public cultural funding. From 1994-2005 he worked in Leipzig as a consultant and legal adviser at the city's Office of Culture. He was also, among other things, the general manager for both the Kassel Music Days as well as for the society for the promotion of culture in Northern Hesse (Kulturförderkreis Nordhessen). He was also the founder and director of the Eifel Music Festival (1985-2005). He currently manages the model project "Change Management" for the independent scene for the State of Rhineland and advises the "Coalition of the Independent Scene" in Berlin. Dr. Braun is the spokesman for the Cultural Political Society's (Kulturpolitischen Gesellschaft) regional group in Leipzig / Saxony.
Jonas Büchel
Jonas Büchel is co-founder and managing director of the Urban Institute Riga. The city planner and cultural manager has lived and worked for over 10 years in the Baltic. Büchel is a guest lecturer at the University of Latvia master's degree in Regional Planning and for the Urbanist Study Courses of the Urban Institute in cooperation with the University of Latvia. His focus is on urban social planning, participation, the accompanying and mediation of planning processes for local and regional authorities as well as curating cultural programs. Additionally, he has extensive experience in university management.
Ferenc Csák
Ferenc Csák, born 1974, is the head of the cultural affairs for the city of Chemnitz. He holds a degree in art history and political science from the University of Regensburg and has held various management positions in the cultural field. Csák acted as government commissioner for the European Capital of Culture 2010, Pécs, Hungary, and as Secretary of State for Culture, Ministry of Education and Culture in Hungary. Between 2010 and 2012 he was Director General of the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest.
Christine Ebeling
Christine Ebeling is the spokesperson of the Gängeviertel in Hamburg. The trained designer and sculptor opened her first studio in Hamburg in 1993. Since then, she has developed numerous concepts, managed galleries and artists' houses. In addition, she served on the board of various artists' groups; curated and organized exhibitions, festivals and exchange programs such as "work outing" (Betriebsausflug) in 2012. Her works have been shown in exhibitions in Germany, Europe and Asia. In 2009 Ebeling was one of the initiators of the squatting of the Gängeviertel. From 2010 to 2014, she was on the board of Gängeviertel e.V. In 2010 she launched the project "Cultural Reserve" (Kulturschutzgebiet) as a kind of protection for important cultural spaces.
Falk Elstermann
Falk Elstermann is the spokesperson for the Initiative Leipzig + Culture e.V. and managing director of the Culture and Communication Centre, the naTo e. V. in Leipzig. In the 1980's and 1990's he worked as a freelance actor and director at several fringe theaters in Leipzig. He has designed and undertaken art projects and performances in public space and regularly develops musical theater and staged concerts with Ines Agnes Krautwurst.
Dr. Patrick S. Föhl
Dr. Patrick S. Föhl, born 1978, has been active since 2004 as the founder and director of the "network culture consulting" (Netzwerk Kulturberatung) in Berlin. He initiated numerous cultural planning projects, transformation processes and evaluation procedures. Since 1996 he has also worked at and advised various cultural institutions (including Stiftung Schloss Neuhardenberg, Weimar Classics Foundation). In 2006 he founded and still runs the research group "Regional governance in the cultural sector" at FH Potsdam for the degree program in cultural work. As a speaker and lecturer he has worked at universities and institutions in Germany and abroad. He is a board member of the Association of Cultural Management (Fachverband Kulturmanagement) and regularly publishes articles in the fields of cultural policy and culture management.
Theo Geissler
Theo Geissler, born 1947, is publisher, editor of the New Musikzeitung (nmz) and presenter at Bavarian Radio (Bayerischen Rundfunk). Since 1999, he has been the editor of the magazine "Opera & Dance", the "Jazz-Zeitung", publisher of "Contributions to the Gregorian"; since 2002 he has also acted as the co-editor of "Politics and Culture" (PUK), the newspaper of the German Cultural Council. He works as a writer and presenter and is co-editor of the book series for the journal "politics and culture" (politik und kultur). Geissler was appointed by the Foreign Office from 2001 to 2009 to be a member of the Franco-German Cultural Council.
Christian Gracza
Christian Gracza, born 1974, is a cultural manager and curator. He studied art history and cultural studies in Leipzig. From 2005 to 2006 he was curator and research assistant in the office of the European City of Görlitz-Zgorzelec for preparing for the "European Cultural Capital 2010". From 2007 to 2010 he was a Robert Bosch Cultural Manager in Pécs / Fünfkirchen (Hungary), where he managed and curated international art and cultural projects. As part of the European Capital of Culture Pécs 2010, he was artistic director of the international competition "Victor Vasarely for Public Art" and co-curator of the international exhibition "In Between - Displaced Harmonies / Dissonant States". From 2011 to 2014 Gracza was curator and artistic director of the "aquamediale" in Lübben.
Prof. Dr. Dieter Haselbach
Prof. Dr. Dieter Haselbach, born in 1954, is a habilitated sociologist and consultant for cultural institutions and business partners of the ICG Germany. He is also the Director of the Center for Cultural Research. For more than 20 years he has worked as advisor and researcher in the cultural and creative industries, and worked as a university teacher in Canada, England, Austria and Germany. Haselbach develops business concepts, planning processes and strategies for institutions and authorities and supports change management in public administration. Together with Armin Klein, Pius Knüsel and Stephan Opitz, in 2012 he published the book "The Cultural Infarction" (Der Kulturinfarkt).
Klaus Hebborn
Klaus Hebborn, born 1956, has been an associate and director of the department of education, culture, sports and equality of the German Association of Cities since 2006. After receiving a teaching degree and completing the subsequent traineeship, he worked as a teacher and then worked in a humanitarian organization. In 1985 he became a researcher in the fields of sports and swimming industry with the German Association of Cities. From 1991 to 2006 he served as a keynote speaker for schools and further education. He is, among others, a member of the general assembly and experts' council for "Inclusive Education" (Inklusive Bildung) of the German Commission to the UNESCO and Advisory Board of the German Federal Cultural Foundation. Hebborn is both publisher and author of publications in the educational and cultural spheres.
Martin Heering
Martin Heering, born 1972, is the managing director of the Bundesverband Freier Theater e.V. in Berlin. He studied history and theater science in Leipzig and has worked as both director and designer. In 2001, Heering was elected to the position of first Chairman of the production and performance venue for independent theater (LOFFT in Leipzig) and in 2002 took over the management of the LOFFT for the subsequent decade.
Stefan Heinig
Stefan Heinig, Geographer, has been active since 1997 in the city planning office of the city of Leipzig, and since 2007 he directs the Department of Urban Development and Planning. He is also responsible for the Integrated Urban Development Plan (SEKo) and the project "Leipzig thinking ahead" (Leipzig weiter denken).
Marc Herbst
Marc Herbst is artist, writer, theorist and organizer who co-founded the Journal of »Aesthetics & Protest« in Los Angeles in 2000. He is currently a PhD student at the Centre for Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths University of London where he is researching »the cultural policy of the multitudes in the time of climate change, with the understanding that the multitudes have no cultural policy«. Throughout much of his work, he works between institutional, activist, alternative and DIY art and educational settings. Other recent art projects include a collaborative performance series held between Chelsea College, the Field in New Cross Community Center, and along the Thames River, all in London.
Michal Hladký
Michal Hladký, born 1981, is the creator and director of the organization Creative Industry Košice / SK, the successor to the project Košice - European Capital of Culture 2013. He is co-author of the ECoC concept and spent eight years deeply involved in its implementation. As a board member of the European Creative Business Network, he takes on the management of EU projects. He is co-author of the Košice Creative Economy Master Plan and the Košice Cultural Strategy. In addition, he has worked as a consultant for cultural and creative industries at both the local and the regional levels.
Dr. Irina Hofmann
Irina Hofmann is a freelance cultural and project manager and PR consultant for companies and associations. She holds a doctorate in business administration and was the Head of Public Relations / Marketing for Moritzbastei Leipzig from 1991 to 1997. From 1998 to 2006 she worked for the city council of Leipzig as a consultant for cultural marketing and PR. From 2007 to 2009 she worked as an office manager for the Open Air Theater Titanick. Since 2010, she took on the roles of management, production management and communications of numerous free theater productions, cultural projects and corporate events. In addition, she has worked as organizational consultant and communications trainer.
Philip Horst
Philip Horst, born in 1972, is a founding board member of the artists' group KUNSTrePUBLIK and co-director of the Center for Art and Urban Affairs (ZK / U) in Berlin.He studied fine arts and experimental media design at Bauhaus University Weimar, the University of Arts, Berlin, and the Center for Contemporary Art Kitakyushu in Japan. From 2003 to 2008 he was artistic / research assistant at the Technical University of Berlin. Since 2007 he has also realized various artistic and curatorial work in public spaces (including "Archipelago in√est" Urban Arts Ruhr, Werkleitz Festival Hall, "Beauty of the Big Road" and Sculpture Park Berlin_Center).
Silvie Jacobi
Silvie Jacobi, is a PhD student of the joint program of the Department of Culture, Media and Creative Industries of King's College London and the Department of Human Geography at Humboldt University of Berlin. Jacobi has a bachelor in fine arts and a master in the field of creative cities. In Leipzig she has undertaken research on the working and living conditions of visual artists and runs a to explore the intersection of art and urban development.
Dr. Skadi Jennicke
Dr. Skadi Jennicke, born 1977, has been the cultural policy spokesperson of DIE LINKE in the city council since 2009. After studying dramaturgy in Leipzig, she worked at various theaters, including Chemnitz, Dresden, Hamburg, Frankfurt am Main, Gera and Leipzig. In 2009 she received her doctorate regarding East German theater during the reunificaiton. She is currently a research associate and lecturer at the Hans-Otto-Institute within the Academy of Music and Theater in Leipzig as well as a radio play editor for DeutschlandRadio Kultur. She has been running the series "Discourse. Think Theater Differently" since 2014 in collaboration with the Department of Theater Studies at University of Leipzig and Theater Leipzig (Schauspiel Leipzig).
Angelika Kell
Angelika Kell, born 1965, is CEO and co-founder of the Foundation "Citizens for Leipzig" (Bürger für Leipzig). After studying political science, she worked at the ÖKOLÖWEN - Environmental Group Leipzig. As a freelancer, she has organized and moderated citizen participation processes and developed projects in the fields of sustainable urban development (Leipzig Agenda 21) and neighborhood management in East Leipzig. Since 2004, Kell has also been an assistant at Gisela Kallenbach's constituency office for the Alliance '90/The Greens (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen).
Christophe Knoch
Christophe Knoch born 1968, has been the spokesperson of the coalition of independent scene of the arts (Koalition der Freien Szene aller Künste) in Berlin since 2012. The lawyer has worked as a cultural manager for several opera houses and theaters, such as in Dusseldorf, Dortmund, Bielefeld and La Monnaie in Brussels. Furthermore, for many years he was an assistant of Christoph Schlingensief. In 2011 he founded the Mica Moca Project in Berlin, a temporary cultural project for artists of all disciplines.
Annette Körner
Annette Körner, born 1962, is the cultural and economic policy spokesperson for Alliance 90/The Greens (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) in the Leipzig City Council. Since 2014 she has been its chairperson on the Culture Committee (Kulturausschuss).The graduate chemist with a Master of Arts in Environment and Education is the environmental commissioner of the LVB group of companies. Additionally, she has worked for the Friends of the Environment Information Center in Leipzig.
Zdeňka Kujová
Zdeňka Kujová, born in 1985, is a project manager, consultant for agents in the creative industry and university lecturer at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts Brünn/CZ. She studied theater and cultural management in Brno and Cultural Management in Potsdam. In 2007 she founded the Art and Culture Association REPT o.s., where she produced numerous theater performances, exhibitions and festivals. As part of her fellowship as a Robert Bosch Cultural Manager between 2011-2012 she worked as a project manager at the Baumwollspinnerei Leipzig. Most recently, she created a feasibility study regarding the establishment of a center for creative industries for the city of Brno.
Markus Lüdke
Markus Lüdke has been the Managing Director of Musikland Niedersachsen gGmbH in Hannover since 2013. He studied music education and mathematics in Essen and Duisburg. Between 1999 and 2013 the conductor and music promoter headed the music program at the Federal Academy for Cultural Education in Wolfenbüttel. In addition to various jury and advisory activities and the publication of technical papers, since 2007 he has also directed the Orchestra of the Technical University of Braunschweig.
Claudius Niessen
Claudius Niessen, born 1980, graduated from the German Literature Institute Leipzig and since 2008 has been its Managing Director (currently on maternity leave). He has worked as a reporter for, among others, the WDR and the Handelsblatt. He has taught at the universities of Heidelberg, Dusseldorf, Leipzig and Berlin. Under the label "Clara Park" he develops literary events and advises public institutions, foundations and corporations in matters of art and culture. He is co-author of the book "Status and Future Creative Work in Leipzig" (Zustand und Zukunft kreativer Arbeit in Leipzig).
Yiorgos Papamanousakis
Yiorgos Papamanousakis is the founder and managing director of the company Urban Transcripts, London / UK. He studied architecture in Liverpool, Paris and Stockholm; completing his architectural studies at the Paris-La-Villette University. He has supervised a number of international projects such as exhibitions and workshops in Athens (2010), Rome (2011), London (2012) and Berlin (2014). He is a consultant in the EU-funded research project "UrbanIxD", which studies human interaction in the urban environment. His main interest is the relationship created by the interaction of urban spatial structures with socio-economic and cultural life.
Dr. Mariusz Piotrowski
Dr. Mariusz Piotrowski, born 1978, is vice president of the Living Culture Observatory (Obserwatorium Żywej Kultury) Foundation and member of the same research network in Warsaw/PL. As a sociologist and educator, he teaches in the Department of Cultural Research Methods at the Institute of Applied Social Sciences of the University of Warsaw. His research focuses on communication technologies, especially Internet communities and culture. Furthermore, he is currently working on a study regarding the analysis of the public discourse on the subject of copyright in Poland. Most recently, he worked for the Polish Ministry of Culture as a sociological coordinator in the project "GIS Culture. System of Geolocalization of Infrastructure of Living Culture".
Łukasz Prokop
Łukasz Prokop, born 1985, is co-founder and Vice Chairman of Stacja Muranów association. He graduated at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw with a Master degree in political science and at Warsaw School of Advertising. He was a spokesman of Ursus (district of Warsaw). He is an artist, a social activist, cultural animator, former graffiti maker, organizer of cultural events and manager of street art. He initiates creating of many murals in Muranów district.
Stefanie Raab
Stefanie Raab is the managing director of "coopolis" - planning office for cooperative urban development. She is an expert in the fields of vacancy management; construction and management of target group-specific networks; monitoring and moderation of participatory processes. From 2001-2005, the architect and moderator was the proprietor of Architecture & Moderation. Since 2007 she has been involved in the development of and teaching in the Department of Moderation and Participation Processes for the master's degree program European Urban Studies at Bauhaus-University Weimar. Since 2005 she has been co-owner of zwischen|nutzungs|agentur that was integrated into coopolis in 2010.
Daniela Rathe
Daniela Rathe has run the Department of Arts and Culture of the university town of Tübingen since 2009. She is responsible for the development and implementation of Tübingen's cultural concept in a broad participatory process, the introduction of mandatory funding, the establishment of Hesse-Cabinet as a literary memorial and the project kubit - kultur.bildung.tübingen. From 2003 to 2005, the historian with a focus on Eastern Europe and Romance philology served as Robert Bosch Cultural Manager the German Cultural Center Sibiu / Herrmannstadt / RO. Subsequently, she completed the executive training program at the Goethe Institute and served from 2006 to 2009 as the head of the program "Cultural Managers in Central and Eastern Europe" for the Robert Bosch Foundation.
Christian Rost
Christian Rost, born 1975, is a self-employed urban and regional developer and founder of the Office for Urban Intermediate Worlds (Büro für urbane Zwischenwelten).The graduate economic and social geographer worked in 2009 as a freelance project manager for several projects of the European Social Fund and the European Regional Development Fund. Since 2010 he has been an employee of the Federal Competence Center for Cultural and Creative Industries (Kompetenzzentrums Kultur- und Kreativwirtschaft des Bundes). Most recently he has worked there as head of the project that supports the federal government's initiative for cultural and creative industries on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. Since 2013 he has been a board member of the industry association of cultural and creative industries in Leipzig, Creative Leipzig e.V.
Bernhard Rüdiger
Bernhard Rüdiger, born 1964, is an artist and professor at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux Arts in Lyon. He studied at the Art Academy of Milan and has lived in Paris since 1994. In Milan, he worked at the artists' house "Casa degli artisti" and actively participated in the debates surrounding the new Italian art scene at the end of the 1980's. He has worked on experimental collective projects with artists like Liliana Moro, Adriano Tovato and Mario Airò. Together they founded the magazine "Tiracorrendo" and created the Artists' Space "Lo Spazio di Via Lazzaro Palazzi". Rüdiger was involved in the foundation of the art space "Volume" in Rome (1997-98) together with Alfredo Pirri, the philosopher Pietro Montani and Jannis Kounellis. His works have been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions.
Prof. Dr. jur. Oliver Scheytt
Prof. Dr. jur. Oliver Scheytt, born 1958, is the president of the Association for Cultural Policy e.V., and managing director of Cultural Experts GmbH, Essen. He is a pioneer of cultural policy and cultural management with extensive experience in public administration and large-scale projects of urban and regional development, eg. from 1993 to 2009 as Director of Cultural Affairs of the City of Essen, from 2006 to 2012 as General Manager of RUHR.2010 GmbH. From 2003-2007 he was a technical member of the Enquete Commission "Culture in Germany" for the German Bundestag. He is a member of the Culture Committee of the German Commission for UNESCO and since 2007 has worked as professor for cultural policy and cultural infrastructure at the Institute for Cultural and Media Management at the University for Music and Theater Hamburg. He regularly publishes articles on cultural policy and cultural management.
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schneider
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schneider, born 1954, has been the Director of the Institute for Cultural Policy at the University of Hildesheim since its founding in 1997. He is Germany's first and only full professor for cultural policy on the university level. Previously, he has taught at various universities, among others in Leipzig, Tokyo, Seoul and Bologna. Since 1997 he has been the chairperson of ASSITEJ Germany e.V. (International Association of Theater for Children and Youth). From 2001 to 2009 he was the dean of the Department of Cultural Studies and Aesthetic Communication at University of Hildesheim. From 2003 to 2007 he was a technical member of the Enquete Commission "Culture in Germany" for the German Bundestag. Since 2012 he holds the UNESCO Chair for the "Cultural Policy of the Arts in Development".
Dr. Martin Schwegmann
Dr. Martin Schwegmann, born 1975, has run "Actors of Urban Change" since 2013, which is a program of the Robert Bosch Stiftung in cooperation with MitOst e.V. in Berlin. In addition to various activities as lecturer, consultant and planner, he also undertakes independent projects and competitions such as project leader for ExWoSt [Experimental Housing and Urbanism] for the project Prinzessinnengärten. From 2011 to 2013 he coordinated the promotion of young scientists at the Georg Simmel Center of HU Berlin and directed the Urban Research Group. He is also the founder of the network for progressive urban development - "Urban Passion".
Martin Schumacher
Martin Schumacher, born 1955, is the Head of the Department of Culture, Sports and Science for the city of Bonn. The law graduate began his career in 1985 at the Goethe Institute, for which he worked in Germany and abroad. Between 1996 and 2003, Schumacher was a member of the board of the Goethe Institute responsible for Personnel, Administration and Finance as well as its Deputy Secretary-General. From 2004 to 2010 he headed the Department of Culture and Sport for the city of Oldenburg.
Michał Sowiński
Michał Sowiński, born in 1987, he studied at the Faculty of Polish Philology of the Jagiellonian University (Krakow) and is about to finish his PhD on the relationship between literature and economics in the contemporary Polish literature. In 2014 he began working with the »Tygodnik Powszechny Foundation«, which organizes »Conrad Festival« – the biggest literary festival in Central Europe (he is a literary editor of the Festival). Since 2011 to 2015 he has been the programme director of the »Jan Bloński Festiwal«, which was devoted to the contemporary Polish literature and literary criticism.
Pavla Spurná
Pavla Spurná studied cultural management at Masaryk University and Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno. She is devoted to cultural policy theme since 2009. In 2011 she co-founded an public initiative, later NGO „Brno kulturní“ (Brno cultural) for a systematic change of cultural financing in Brno. Brno kulturní now represents a community of independent cultural organizations and individuals in Brno. After more than two years of negotiations with local politicians some kind of cooperation was established and Brno kulturní contributed to development of brand new subsidy system in Brno. Besides Brno kulturní, Pavla works on various community projects, e.g. she puts public pianos in the streets of Brno (www.klaviryprobrno.cz). After last year’s elections to local municipality, which brought many changes to Brno’s politics, she started to work as an advisor and assistant to Matěj Hollan, Deputy Mayor for culture and social affairs.