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Aktina Stathaki
Artistic Director
Biography
Aktina is a creative producer, theatre maker and researcher with over 15 years of international experience. She founded Between the Seas festival of Mediterranean Performing Arts in New York which served as a platform for US and Med-based artists between 2011-2019. She currently runs 1927 art space in Athens where she focuses on presenting in progress work and new plays from around the world.
1927 art space
1927 Art Space is an independent venue in downtown Athens dedicated to providing space for research and experimentation to local and international artists. Through residencies, staged readings, performances and exhibitions we seek to foster a community of artists, engage with the issues if our time and bridge research with practice.
The main goals of Art Bureau Foundation are to help with diversification and decentralisation of the cultural life in the country and to improve the access to contemporary art and to support artists’ work with different communities and social groups.
Albena Tagareva
Theatre Critic and Producer
Biography
Albena Tagareva, PhD is an assistant professor in Theatre section at Art Studies Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Science. She is author of several papers on history of Bulgarian scenography and contemporary theatre.
Albena Tagareva is also university professor and a freelance theatre critic and observer. Her articles are often published in professional theatre editions. She is also interested in contemporary performing arts and the mixture of media art and theatre. She contributes with some of biggest theatre festivals in Bulgaria. As s director of Art Bureau Foundation, she promotes young and emerging artists in field of social art.
Institute of Art Studies/Art Bureau Foundation
Institute of Art Studies is the only specialized research unit in Bulgaria that carries out studies on ancient, medieval and contemporary art and culture. Research priorities are focused on collecting and preserving art documentation as well as the analysis of art phenomena, both professional and vernacular. The Institute plays a central role in the development of art studies in Bulgaria.
The main goals of Art Bureau Foundation are to help with diversification and decentralisation of the cultural life in the country and to improve the access to contemporary art and to support artists’ work with different communities and social groups.
Aleksandra Lozanović
Producer / Head of Heartefact House
Biography
Producer and cultural manager with wide experience in theater and international projects. Since 2019 she has worked with Heartefact and is now serving as Head of Heartefact House, a Belgrade-based venue and platform for contemporary theater and socially engaged arts.
Heartefact
Heartefact is a regional cultural organization (offices in Belgrade, Skopje, Pristina) dedicated to fostering critical, socially engaged artistic work, cultural dialogue, and collaborative programs across the Western Balkans and Europe.
Alexander Scholz
Law Graduate, Cultural Manager, Opera Director
Biography
Alexander Scholz is an opera and theatre director, cultural manager, and law graduate. He studied at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin, the University of Zurich, and Humboldt University of Berlin. His work spans international productions and cultural projects, combining artistic vision with legal expertise as a current LL.M. candidate.
Freelance
Independent platform for opera and theatre, producing innovative stagings and fostering interdisciplinary collaborations. Current projects include site-specific productions and the development of new festival formats in diverse cultural contexts.
Ana Bateva
Director, Manager, Critic
Biography
Ana Bateva is a Bulgarian theatre director and the cultural manager of SPAM Studios. Her work explores themes of identity, absurdity, and social dynamics. Her productions have toured internationally and received multiple awards. In recent years, she has also been active as a theatre critic.
SPAM Studios
SPAM Studios is a Bulgarian cultural organization focused on contemporary performing arts. It supports independent artists through productions, residencies, and international collaborations, and has received numerous awards over the years.
Anamarija Nađ
PR, producer
Biography
Anamarija Nađ is media communication engineer currently working as PR and producer at Moment Theatre (Maribor, Slovenia), which organises Prestopi/Crossings festival – international festival of performing arts. She is also active as a performer, PR, and producer in other NGOs and festivals in fields of performing arts and film.
Moment, Crossings Festival
Our mission is production and development of independent theatre. Our main activities include regular production and post-production of performances, organisation and implementation of trainings, workshops, and the organisation of Crossings festival.
Andreja Rondović
Scenographer
Biography
Andreja Rondovic (Podgorica, Montenegro,1994) is an MA in Stage Design, with over 20 theatre and film projects as a scenographer, lighting and costume designer. A PQ 2015 Golden Medal awardee, she has exhibited internationally, including PQ 2019, and won multiple scenography and costume awards in Serbia an Montenegro
Narodno pozoriste Subotica /
The National Theatre – Narodno kazalište – Népszínház in Subotica operates as a permanent, professional, and repertory theatre. It has two drama ensembles: Drama in the Serbian language and Drama in the Hungarian language.
Angela Fegers
Producer & Curator
Biography
Angela Fegers (1990) is a U.S.-based curator and producer from Florida, now based in Berlin and Thessaloniki. With a BFA in Dance and a degree in Media & Communications, she co-founded Apricot Productions in 2021, supporting 150+ artists. She also curates festivals, mentors U.S. artists entering the EU, and works at LAKE Studios Berlin on marketing and press. She lectures at NYU Tisch and collaborates with various cultural platforms.
Apricot Productions, Pitch & Perform Festival (Rooted)
Apricot Productions is a production & PR house for multi-disciplinary artists in based in Berlin. Founded in 2020 by two women, the firm assists artists' at multiple stages in their career. In 2022, Apricot founded its' festival branch of the company, Rooted Festival.
www.apricot-productions.com IG apricotproductions
Anita Milićević
Artistic Advisor
Biography
Anita Milićević holds Master's Degree in Philosophy and Comparative Literature and PhD in Philosophy from Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences, University in Zagreb. She worked in publishing and wrote music reviews for biggest Croatian music site muzika.hr for seven years. Since 2019 she works in Croatian National Theater in Mostar, initially as Project Coordinator and afterwards as PR and Marketing Associate, Producer and is also involed in the organization and coordination of festivals, guest performances and other projects in theater. Currently she is Artistic Advisor of Croatian National Theater in Mostar. Her fields of interests are philosophy, ethics, semiotics and hermeneutics applied to theater and creative production, especially in the field of dramaturgy.
Croatian National Theater in Mostar
Croatian National Theater in Mostar is first and only professional theater of Croat people in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It's mission is preservation of national culture, language and identity, as well as that of City of Mostar and Bosnia and Herzegovina, in dialogue and cooperation with diverse theaters and cultural institutions. All that with aim of participating in creative processes with theater professionals from whole Europe. It's vision is to be inovative, contemporary and modern theater that actively participates in cultural life of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Europe.
Ása Richardsdóttir
Secretary General
Biography
Ása Richardsdóttir started her career in television and soon moved on to the performing arts. She founded the small venue, Kaffileikhúsið at the age of thirty and later moved on to being the executive director of Iceland Dance Company, president of Performing Arts Iceland and project leader of ICE HOT Reykjavík Nordic Dance Platform. She was one of the founders of keðja dance network and has been a curator and producer of various artistic projects and international collaborations for the last 25 years.
She is co-author of the guide for artists and producers It Starts With a Conversation.
IETM International network for contemporary performing arts
IETM - international network for contemporary performing arts isone of the oldest and largest international cultural networks, representing the voice of thousands of professionals working in the contemporary performing arts worldwide. Our members include the whole spectrum of the performing arts, from individual artists to the largest institutions and national bodies of 62 nations in the world.
Aurela Kadriu
Producer/Program Director
Biography
Aurela Kadriu is a sociologist, researcher, cultural manager with experience as a film and theater producer. Her research on memory is focused on the recent history of Kosovo and the former Yugoslavia. She is the Program Director of Qendra Multimedia — a cultural organization dealing with cultural production, focused on contemporary theater and literature.
Qendra Multimedia
Qendra Multimedia is a cultural organization based in Prishtina, Kosovo. Its main focus is in contemporary theater and literature. It is considered to be as one of the most interesting and provoking theatre companies in South Eastern Europe. Qendra was founded in 2002 by a group of young artists aiming to create an alternative form of art production to address political and social issues with clarity and imagination. Qendra produces and coproduces fresh and innovative theatre performances and other literature and cultural events, for local and international audiences. Artistic exchanges with international partners are crucial in the work of Qendra Multimedia.
Since 2002, Qendra Multimedia has organized and facilitated more than 100 artistic projects in Kosovo, but as well as in other places in Europe. Qendra’s community of collaborating artists/experts create its own events and facilitate programming for others. Qendra’s productions have been touring to more than 100 international theaters and theater festivals across Europe, USA and Africa.
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Beka Vučo
Founder, President and Producer
Biography
Beka Vučo is a producer, cultural manager and Founder/President of My Balkans. Her career spans from Producing Director of Theatre Atelje 212 and BITEF to Balkan Regional Director at Open Society Foundations, New York. Beka’s work focuses on human rights, democracy, equality, arts and culture. She is Board President of No Borders Orchestra and member of Konektor Steering Committee, Philanthropy East Forum. Beka holds MA degree in Cultural Management from UCLA.
My Balkans
My Balkans is a charitable organization providing support in arts and culture in the Balkans and Europe, to those who are fighting for freedom of expression, social openness, artistic excellence and societies that promote justice and equality.
Bojana Karajović
General manager at Little theatre "Dusko Radovic"
Biography
Bojana Karajović graduated from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts at The Department for Management and Production in Theatre, Radio and Culture. She has gain huge experience in theatre production by working in institutional theatres among which are Little theatre Duško Radović, Theatre Boško Buha, Bitef theatre and Belgrade Drama Theatre since 2007. In addition to her engagement in theatre, she participates in the organization of festivals and congresses (Bitef Festival, Belgrade Dance Festival, IFTR Congress, IETM Network). She is a member of the Alumni Network, a voluntary Creative Mentorship. She works as a producer in numerous independent productions. Since 2014, she has been the executive director of the Belgrade Drama Theatre. Since June 2023, she has been the general manager of Little theatre Duško Radović.
Little theatre Dusko Radovic
Little Theatre "DUŠKO RADOVIĆ" has been located at the present address since 6 June 1968, when it occupied the first purpose-built children's theatre building in Yugoslavia, built according to the design of one of our most respected architects Ivan Antić. After the death of writer Dušan Radović, on the Theatre Day - 23 October 1984 the staff of Little Theatre decided to name the theatre after him. Little Theatre Duško Radović is the only Belgrade theatre that sustained damage in the bombing of RTS building in the night between 23rd and 24th April. The engagement of theatre director Anja Suša as artistic director of Little Theatre (2002) resulted in the apparent revival of the Evening Scene based on the solid repertoire concept. The first performance on the Youth Scene, as part of the Evening Scene, which targeted teenage audience and premiered on 25 January 2003 was “Sex for Beginners”, based on the book of Jasminka Petrović. The Youth Scene, modeled on the European theatre scenes, focused on contemporary drama texts, provocative and socially engaged. The theatre opened its doors to a group of extremely talented but also highly educated artists, who transformed it into a big and creative workshop. International cooperation with cultural institutions from Denmark and Sweden is also significant. The reconstruction of the main building in Aberdareva Street was completed in late 2014. It was equipped with the modern stage mechanics and lighting. Besides the main stage, there is an additional space created from the adapted entrance hall that can be transformed into a small stage with removable seating. Today, theatre performs productions for all ages, trying to approaches the main questions that children and youth are dealing with on a daily basis. It is open to young artists and aims to break down all taboos that exist among us.
Branislav Cerović
Producer/Executive Producer
Biography
Branislav Cerović is a theatre producer with over 25 years of experience in the performing arts. Throughout his career, he has produced more than 100 diverse theatre projects, ranging from children’s plays and post-dramatic works to large-scale musicals, collaborating with leading cultural institutions across Southeast Europe. Based in Ljubljana, he currently serves as Executive Producer at Mini teater, where he continues to advance his long-standing commitment to culture, fashion, and the arts.
Independent / Mini teater Ljubljana
Mini teater (founded in 1999 by Robert Waltl and Ivica Buljan) established itself in the Slovenian artistic landscape at a time when the aesthetics of the 1980s, after reaching their peak in the 1990s, began to find new expression among a younger generation of directors. While baroque-visual theatre, retro-avant-garde, post-political theatre, and formalist explorations marked one side of the creative field, Mini teater emerged as a new and radical border space. It positioned itself within the tradition of European art theatre shaped by figures such as Peter Brook, Ariane Mnouchkine, Giorgio Strehler, Patrice Chéreau, and Anatoly Vasiliev, while also drawing inspiration from the American avant-garde—from the Living Theatre to Ellen Stewart and her La MaMa.
Burcu Yılmaz Denız
Founding Partner/ Curator
Biography
She is a curator, performer, and cultural manager, and the founding partner and co-director of A Corner in the World. She holds expertise in international business ( BA), performing arts (M1), arts management, and cultural heritage (MA), with education in both Turkey and France. Throughout her career, Burcu has collaborated with a wide range of national and international organizations, including Spaces of Culture, ATÖLYE, bomontiada, Anadolu Kültür, Friche Laiterie, Global Heritage Fund, and Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory.
As an interdisciplinary artist, she has worked with Villa Theatre (FR), Altenburg State Theatre (DE), and ATTA Festival (TR), touring across Turkey, France, Greece, Germany, and Italy. In recent years, her focus has been on performing for young audiences. Burcu leads workshops on creative dance, improvisation, and soundpainting, working with diverse groups—including women, children, and marginalized communities—creating collaborative and multidisciplinary performances that emphasize inclusivity and creative expression.
She also contributes as an independent expert for the European Commission’s Creative Europe Program, European Institute of Innovation and Technology and Tarabya Cultural Academy (2025).
A Corner in the World
A Corner in the World is an organization working at the intersection of arts, culture, and social sciences, creating diverse and thought-provoking curatorial content that explores timely issues through the lens of performance and its interaction with other disciplines. Guided by a curiosity about the interplay of contemporary ideas and practices, we create content and organize events that bring impactful stories to life. Our work unfolds in various spaces, engaging diverse communities and exploring transdisciplinary possibilities.
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Carlo Scorrano
Artistic Director/Producer
Biography
Carlo Scorrano (Pisa, 1988) is a director, actor, playwright, and producer. Co-founder of Binario Vivo, he is Artistic Director of Teatro Nuovo di Pisa. He trained with international masters and has created shows for both adults and children. He leads theater workshops and has worked with schools, theaters, and social projects across Tuscany and Italy.
Teatro Nuovo - Binario Vivo
Binario Vivo is an association of artists and educators promoting culture, social engagement, and participation through theatre, workshops, events, and school activities. It manages Teatro Nuovo in Pisa, producing contemporary and youth theatre.
Catherine Paskell
Artistic Director
Biography
Catherine is the artistic director of Dirty Protest, Wales' new writing theatre company, and an independent theatre director, producer and dramaturg with 25 years' experience making professional theatre grounded in communities with an international reach.
Dirty Protest Theatre
Dirty Protest is Wales' new writing theatre company, creating theatrical tequila without the paraphernalia all for the price of a pint. From a base in Wrexham North Wales, the peripatetic company creates plays and nights out in theatres and alternative venues, including pubs and clubs, kebab shops, hairdressers, bus stops and forests.
Celina Nicolay
Artistic Managing Director
Biography
Celina Nicolay studied Theatre Studies, Modern German Literature, and Art History. After working as an assistant director and freelance production manager, including for Christoph Schlingensief’s Operndorf Afrika, she served as Artistic Managing Director at the Volksbühne (2010–2017), then at Schauspielhaus Zürich, and returned to the Volksbühne in 2021 under René Pollesch.
Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz
The Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz is Berlin's leading municipal repertory theater for post-dramatic and avant-garde performance, promoting artists that constantly challenge and reinvent the way that they and audiences experience the performing arts.
Chris White
Director and Dramaturg
Biography
Chris is a dramaturg and director specialising in international collaborations, Shakespeare, new plays, and projects with young people. He is an Associate Dramaturg for Paines Plough and an Associate Learning Practitioner for The Royal Shakespeare Company, for whom he leads projects and performances across the UK and internationally; including The Wood of Words or In Every Leaf, which he co-wrote and directed for the 2023 RSC Playmaking Festival. His most recent production is My English Persian Kitchen by Hannah Khalil, which sold out at The Traverse Theatre as part of their Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2024 programme, and will return this autumn to Soho Theatre before a short UK and Irish tour.
For Soho Theatre he co-led Writer’s Lab for ten years, developing plays by the UK's best emerging playwrights, as well as directing Soho Theatre Young Playwrights Festival. Other productions of new work in the UK include Chippy, Acorn Theatre, Penzance and Cornwall tour, The Lighthouse Keeper's Son, Beckett Archive, Reading University; Nothing in a Butterfly, Synergy Theatre/Omnibus; Gutted, Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury and UK tour; Trouble and Wonder, RSC; Booby’s Bay, London/Bristol/Cornwall; bottled, Vault Festival; Scenes from 68* Years, Arcola Theatre; The Sale, Chapter Arts, Cardiff; The Water When it Burns, Hampstead Theatre,
International productions include The Truth, La Virgule, Lille; Fewer Emergencies, Teatro Litta, Milan, Hard Places, Prithvi Theatre, Mumbai and National Tour; The Suicide, Teatro Della Contraddizione, Milan, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, National Centre for Performing Arts, Beijing, currently touring across China. His production of Trouf, co-directed in Tunisia in 2019 for Nabeul Performing Arts Centre, premiered in the UK as part of the 2023 Shubbak Festival.
Freelance
I am freelance, rather than working for one organisation, but I work regularly with Soho Theatre, London, who produce a select amount of new theatre work alongside a big comedy and drag programme; The Royal Shakespeare Company, for whom I lead a lot projects with young people and international residencies; Synergy Theatre Project, who create new writing with prisoners and ex-prisoners; and Paines Plough, a touring new writing company for whom I work as an associate dramaturg.
Christian Persico
Touring & International Relations
Biography
Christian Persico studied Theatre Performance (B.A.) at the College of Charleston in the USA, and Arts Administration (EMAA) at the University of Zurich. He has held positions in independent and institutional contexts, including Associate Producer at the Thalia Theater Hamburg. Since 2023, he is Head of Touring, Outreach, & Cooperation at the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz (Berlin).
Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz
The Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz is Berlin's leading municipal repertory theater for post-dramatic and avant-garde performance, promoting artists that constantly challenge and reinvent the way that they and audiences experience the performing arts.
Christiane Mudra
Artistic Director
Biography
Christiane Mudra is director, writer and founder of investigative theater.
Her recent works in Munich and Berlin include plays about violence against women, the value of passports and exploitation in the low-wage sector. Her first music theater production premiered at Deutsche Oper Berlin. Her film "The Holy Bitch Project" screened at the NYC Indie Film Festival. She was Artist in Residence at the Biennale di Venezia and has directed in Brazil. Her research on right-wing extremism has been published in non-fiction books and podcasts.
Investigative theater
IT´s productions are rooted in long-term journalistic research on political topics such as right-wing extremism, Big Tech, misogyny and social injustice. It works with digital tools, often outside traditional theater spaces while seeking interaction with the audience.
Claudia Di Giacomo
PAV Director and co-founder
Biography
Claudia Di Giacomo co-founded PAV with Roberta Scaglione in 2000 in Rome. She leads the company’s strategic direction and curates its diverse projects, with a focus on supporting contemporary theatre and advancing the work of artists. Alongside her curatorial and managerial roles, she is widely recognised for her expertise in legal and contractual consultancy for individual artists, particularly in negotiations with theatres and opera foundations, making her a key figure in the Italian performing arts sector. She collaborates regularly with renowned artists such as Mario Martone, Federico Tiezzi, Andrea De Rosa, Margherita Palli, Ursula Patzak, Silvia Aymonino, Giovanna Buzzi, and Pasquale Mari, among others.
With PAV, she has led numerous large-scale international projects, most notably Fabulamundi – Playwriting Europe, a multi-award-winning initiative supported four times by the European Union, and PLAYGROUND, a spin-off project dedicated to emerging voices in playwriting.
Training and education are integral to her practice. In addition to designing European training programs for young professionals in the performing arts, she has been teaching since 2015 at Roma Tre University (DAMS), where she lectures in Theatre Management Models. In 2018, she and Roberta Scaglione co-founded the Master’s Degree in Economics and Performing Arts Management in collaboration with Sapienza University of Rome, where they both teach courses on cultural organization and project design.
PAV snc di Claudia Di Giacomo e Roberta Scaglione
PAV creates and realises cultural projects in partnership with artists and institutions. Born in Rome in 2000, PAV specialises in the production, management and administration of cultural events, festivals, shows and conferences, and works with public national institutions, theatres, foreign embassies, artists and companies, combining an institutional profile with support to the independent scene. These different fields of action have always made for dialogue in a natural way: such interaction has proven to be a fundamental resort for many projects and generally for the entire working experience stemming from such connections. PAV’s multifaceted activity allowed for
the development of a privileged standpoint, with a 360° eye-view on con-
temporary theatre. www.pav-it.eu
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Dhurata Hoti
Playwright/Scriptwriter
Biography
Dhurata Hoti is a writer and artist from Kosovo whose work blends surrealism, myth, and psychological drama. She explores trauma, identity, and intimacy through plays, films, and short stories. Author of Mjegulla and Eliza, she’s currently developing her third book and second feature film.
Dimitar Uzunov
Artistic Director
Biography
Dimitar Uzunov is co-founder and artistic director of Arte Urbana Collectif - Sofia. He is also founder of the Theatre & Science platform in Bulgaria and, more recently, coordinator of the European project Please ASK!, which focuses on producing science theatre and linking artists with scientists. Dimitar serves as director of Theatre of Wonder – Bulgaria, a festival for art and science.
Arte Urbana Collectif // Theatre of Wonder, festival for art & science
Arte Urbana Collectif is an artistic collective based in Sofia, Bulgaria. Theatre of Wonder is a unique festival celebrating collaboration between artists and scientists. The festival is a space where curiosity and creativity meet.
Draško Adžić
Composer and Professor
Biography
Draško Adžić is a composer of orchestral, chamber, choral, and stage music. His works have been performed across Europe and North America, at festivals such as Gaudeamus, Berlinale, and Bitef. A two-time winner of the Sterija Award, he is Associate Professor of Composition in Belgrade. His scores are published by Universal Edition.
Faculty of Music in Belgrade
The Faculty of Music in Belgrade is Serbia’s leading institution for higher music education, renowned for its composition program. Its alumni include some of the country’s most prominent composers, shaping contemporary music in the region and beyond.
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Filip Etmishovski
Theater/Festival Director
Biography
Born and lives in Bitola. Current Director of Babec Theater - first professional independent children's theater in North Macedonia and organizer of the first and most renowned children's theater festival in the country - BITOLINO. He also works for the National Theater of Bitola and the Center of Culture - Bitola in organization of the regular repertoire and organization of the International Monodrama Festival and Bitola Shakespeare Festival. Beside the field of theater, he also works on most of the festivals in town. He is also editor-in-chief of the specialized internet portal - kultura24.mk and has 10 years of experience in press coverage and writing reviews on cultural and entertainment events.
Babec Theater/ International Children Theater Festival - BITOLINO
Babec Theater is the frst professional independent children's theater in North Macedonia and organizer of the first and most renowned children's theater festival in the country - BITOLINO with 14 editions, 59 participating theaters from 37 countries and 5 continents. The National Theater of Bitola is the first and oldest theater in Macedonia founded 1944.
Filip Petkovski Ph.D.
Theatre director and choreographer
Biography
Filip Petkovski, Ph.D., is a theatre director and choreographer from Skopje, Macedonia. He earned his doctorate in World Arts and Cultures/Dance at UCLA, where he also worked as a teaching associate. Trained in the Viewpoints technique with Anne Bogart and J. Ed Araiza, he has led post-dramatic theatre workshops across the Balkans, while his style blends physical theatre and contemporary dance.
Freelancer
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Frida Morrone
Artistic Director
Biography
Theatre performer and author, Frida Morrone has been telling stories (Greek mythology, contemporary short stories, and tales) for 25 years. Passionate about art, she creates storytelling tours in museums and heritage sites. She conducts her artistic research around the intersection of different disciplines and artistic worlds. She also curates projects of storytelling and mediations by the arts.
Compagnie Astolfo sulla Luna
Astolfo sulla Luna develops the project of storytelling walks in museums and creations in the fields of storytelling, theater, music, and visual arts. Projetcs of cultural and artistic mediation are regulary set up in hospitals, schools and holidays camps. The latest challenge is to bring arts in unespected sites and appartements.
Fridrik Fridriksson
Director
Biography
Friðrik Friðriksson is the director of the Performing Arts Centre Iceland. With a background in acting and an MBA, he works at the intersection of cultural policy, artist support, and international collaboration. He is active in Nordic and European networks, focusing on advocacy, mobility, and visibility.
Performing Arts Centre Iceland
The Performing Arts Centre Iceland supports and promotes Icelandic performing arts locally and internationally. It provides resources, mobility grants, and strategic guidance for artists, and facilitates connections with partners at home and abroad.
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Gabriela Abrasowicz
Translator
Biography
Gabriela Abrasowicz is a Polish Slavist and translator. She translates contemporary playwriting, mainly Croatian, Serbian and Bosnian, into Polish. These texts have been published and presented to theatre audiences as stage readings or performances. She publishes critical studies in the journal of contemporary drama “Dialogue”. She is a member of The ADiT Agency, Croatian ITI Centre and the research networks.
Freelancer / The ADiT Agency
The ADiT Agency has been promoting contemporary dramaturgy
in Poland and abroad for a number of years. ADiT is also a publishing house and it has worked on anthologies of plays by eminent authors. Since 2000, ADiT has been the organizer of close to one hundred performative readings, meetings with the authors of plays, and drama workshops.
Greta Senkute
Manager/curator/executive producer
Biography
Greta Senkutė is a young theatre manager/coordinator. She is in the 4th year of her studies in Vilnius University, studying creative communications. Started working in MMLAB a few year back, now has managed, coordinated different theatre premeries and other theatre works.
MMLAB
MMLAB (Laboratory of Arts and Science) is a non-governmental theater that is distinguished by its experimental approach to the themes and forms of its works. At the beginning of its activities, the creators of MMLAB sought inspiration in scientific phenomena and ideas, later the spectrum of themes and forms expanded, supplementing scientific themes with the analysis of social issues. Since 2016, MMLAB has created over 20 performances of various formats: drama productions, contemporary dance works, performative lectures, atmospheric sky observations, installations, etc.
One of the striking features of MMLAB's strategy is work with young creators, MMLAB encourages their initiatives, bold creative experiments and ensures faster integration into the professional field of art. In recent years, MMLAB has been actively expanding the geography of its activities, in addition to presenting its work at international European festivals, it has organized tours in countries where Lithuanian performing arts are presented less often - from Japan to Pakistan.
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Handan Salta
Critic, Showcase Organiser
Biography
Handan Salta is a theatre scholar, translator, and educator with a PhD in Theatre Criticism and Dramaturgy from Istanbul University. Her academic and professional work focuses on feminist theatre, contemporary dramaturgy, and Theatre in Education. She has taught extensively at universities including Maltepe, Marmara, and Haliç, and has led numerous workshops in creative drama and language education. A prolific translator of contemporary and classical plays, Salta also contributes theatre criticism to international platforms. She is a co-founder of TheatreIST and an active member of IATC, Assitej, and Çev-Bir, advocating for independent theatre and youth engagement through drama.
TheatreIST
TheatreIST is an umbrella organization for promoting independent theatre in Istanbul. Biggest share of TheatreIST is involved in the Showcase. The selection committee consisting of 12 members decides on the performances and festival organizers, journalists and academics are invited mainly from Europe and other parts from the world. TheatreIST is also working on translations into and from Turkish, especially those playwrights/plays left outside the cannon. founded in 2022, TheatreIST has also been inviting academics and artists to İstanbul to give workshops with the hope of further participation in the future
Hilde Guri Bohlin
Director
Biography
Hilde Guri Bohlin has been the director of Ibsen Scope since 2009 planning and conducting Ibsen Scope Festival and Ibsen Scope Grants, which include 54 grant winning performances in 32 different countries. In addition, she as has co-produced theatre performances with Zoukak Theatre Company, Lebanon, Theatre Anfass, Morocco, Robert M. Johanson and Sibyl Kempson, USA and Dramatikkens Hus, Norway to mention a few.
Ibsen Scope
Ibsen Scope was initiated by the Norwegian Government in 2007 and had its initial year in 2008.
Ibsen Scope aim is to discuss Ibsen, theatre, and political relevance from a contemporary perspective – in a world where the social, political an economical landscape is rapidly changing.
Henrik Ibsen is a key figure in theatre history. His discussions of emerging modernity and his different treatments of poetics vs reality has set strong marks around the globe. Is theatre a representation of a time and an era? Do Ibsen’s plays resonate the local and global challenges of today?
With Ibsen’s dramatic universe as a pivoting point for addressing different conflicts and thresholds between the local and the global, the private and the collective, them and us, Ibsen Scope investigates the relations between theatre and society in different parts of the world through The Ibsen Scope Festival and Ibsen Scope Grants.
www.ibsenscope.com
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Iva Srnec Hamer
Theatre director, Head of theatre production
Biography
Iva Srnec Hamer is the Head of Theatre Production and Coordinator for Dance Studies and Events at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. From 2021 to 2025, she was the founder and artistic director of Empiria Theatre, where she worked as an author, producer, and director. In 2013, she completed her master’s degree in Theatre Directing and Radio Drama at the Academy with the original play Streets on an Autumn Morning, under the mentorship of Prof. Branko Brezovec, along with a written thesis titled Poetry and Theatre. She is a member of the Croatian Association of Dramatic Artists.
As a director and drama educator, she has collaborated with numerous theatres and institutions, including Eurokaz, Exit Theatre, Žar ptica City Theatre, Zagreb Youth Theatre, Trešnja City Theatre, Dubrava Cultural Centre, Trešnjevka Cultural Centre, and many others.
Academy of dramatic Arts Zagreb
The Academy of Dramatic Art of the University of Zagreb is the oldest higher education institution in the field of performing and audiovisual arts in the Republic of Croatia. Throughout its 75-year history, it has gained a unique place in artistic education and culture through its tradition and significance, making it recognized both nationally and internationally. The Academy's history dates back to the idea of establishing an acting school in Zagreb, which existed as early as the 1840s. This history extends to 1896, when the Croatian Dramatic School was founded, which is considered the pedagogical and artistic predecessor of today's Academy of Dramatic Art. Since its formal establishment as a higher education institution in 1950, the Academy has undergone numerous organizational and structural changes and is now one of the three artistic components of the University of Zagreb. The Academy is the leading higher education institution in Croatia in the fields of theater, film, and dance. The pedagogical and artistic activities of its teachers and students during their studies – and especially those of young artists after graduation – directly shape the national cultural identity. This unique position and role are both a privilege and a great responsibility – toward students, higher education, and the national cultural sector.
Beyond its core mission of artistic higher education, the Academy is dedicated to preserving cultural heritage, enriching social diversity through the creation of new artistic works and values, and promoting young artists who contribute to the development and legacy of Croatian and European culture. This mission is driven by a strong belief in the importance of fostering the sustainability and development of dramatic, dance, and audiovisual arts. The Academy achieves this through an integration of education, creation, and research, cultivating an environment that encourages the comprehensive development of student artists. For these reasons, the Academy’s work should represent and uphold standards of excellence in higher artistic education, thereby contributing to the sustainable development of dramatic, dance, and audiovisual arts in contemporary society.
Ivana Vuković
Guild President
Biography
Ivana Vuković (Split, Croatia, 1992) holds a Master's of Arts degree in Dramaturgy and a Bachelor's Degree in Literature. She writes for theater, film and television, and collaborates as a dramaturge on film and theater projects. Her plays and performances are staged in institutional theatres, on the independent scene, performed as radio plays, and awarded at national and regional theatre festivals and competitions. She is a proud member of House Collective in House of Klajn.
SPID - Savez scenarista i pisaca izvedbenih djela
Guild in Croatia that brings together writers in the fields of audiovisual and performing arts, all those who write works of art for film, television, theatre, radio, Internet, comics, computer games, performance, and new media. We promote the rights and obligations of screenwriters, dramaturgs, and playwrights, asking for our work to be appropriately honoured, systematically supported, and adequately protected by effective and consistent carrying out of laws.
Ivor Martinic
Writer - Mentor
Biography
Ivor Martinic studied at the Academy of Dramatic Art (Department of Dramaturgy) in Zagreb. His playThe title of the drama about Ante is Written here was produced by City Theatre (Split), Blue Elephant Theatre (London) and Theatre des Chardons (Bruxelles). His play Play about Mirjana and those around her was produced by The Yugoslav Drama Theatre (Belgrade), National Theatre (Zagreb) and City Theatre (Ljubljana).
His play My son only walks a little slower was produced by Zagreb Youth Theatre. For this play he won many awards including Golden Laurel Award for Best play at MESS Festival in Sarajevo and Croatian Associaton of Dramatic artist Award for Best play. In 2019, he founded the independent company T25, from which he writes, directs, and sometimes performs in his own works, exploring new stage languages.
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Jaak Prints
Managing Director
Biography
Jaak Prints, the Managing Director of the Von Krahl Theatre (since 2024). While working as an actor of the Theatre NO99 in 2005-2012 he collaborated with theatres such as Münchner Kammerspiele, Thalia Theater in Hamburg, Lyric Hammersmith in London.
In 2013-2016 he was the CEO of the football club FC Flora Tallinn. In 2018-2021 he was the head of the Drama School of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre and the master of the course in 2020-2024.
Von Krahl Theatre
Von Krahl Theatre is a prominent independent theatre company based in Tallinn, Estonia, established in 1992. Renowned for its innovative and experimental approach to theatre-making, Von Krahl is distinguished by its commitment to international collaboration.
James Ley
Playwright
Biography
James Ley is an award winning writer living in Glasgow. James was one of the BBC Writersroom Scottish Voices 2022/2023 and is an Edinburgh Film Festival Talent Lab alumni. He has been awarded First Feature funding from Screen Scotland to adapt ODE TO JOY into a feature. As a playwright James' work includes ODE TO JOY (HOW GORDON GOT TO GO TO THE NASTY PIG PARTY) winner of a Scotsman Fringe First in 2022 and nominated for a CATS Award 2023 (Critics Award for Theatre in Scotland) for Best New Play and LOVE SONG TO LAVENDER MENACE which he's now adapting as a feature with support from Screen Scotland. He's developing TV ideas with Balloon, BigLight, and Insight Management.
James was co-writer with Damian Barr on Maggie & Me (National Theatre of Scotland). His other plays include Wilf (Traverse Theatre) and Love Song to Lavender Menace (Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, Summerhall, SoHo Playhouse, New York). James is under commission to Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh and Wonder Fools and is on attachment to the National Theatre's new work studio programme.
Jörg Vorhaben
Chefdramaturg Schauspiel
Biography
Jörg Vorhaben is dramaturg for theatre at the Staatstheater Mainz. Before he was in Mannheim, Cologne and Oldenburg. He curated on these playses a lot of festivals: Go West, Pazz, Grenzenloskultur, Plug&Play. Further he initiated a lot of international coproductions.
Staatstheater Mainz
Staatstheater Mainz is an opera, dance and theatre repertoire company with four venues. Also we have three festivals during the season: a dance festival, Plug&Play Festival for young directors and Grenzenloskultur a festival with disable artist.
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Kaie Küünal
Program curator, project manager
Biography
Kaie Küünal is an art worker in the performing arts scene. Since 2019 she has been a project manager at Kanuti Gildi SAAL in Tallinn and since season 2023/2024 program curator of the house and of SAAL Biennaal festival, both as a part of collective curatorial teams. While mainly busy with facilitation of the art she occasionally ventures into the stage practice as a performer or dramaturgical support
Kanuti Gildi SAAL and SAAL Biennaal
Kanuti Gildi SAAL is a non-profit and non-governmental performing arts centre that while presenting curated programme, offering residencies and co- producing freelance artists, organising a variety of festivals and other thematic events has been in constant transition along with the natural development of the merging art forms from contemporary dance towards generally performing arts and beyond. We are working mainly with experimental and innovative in-between and cross breeding freelance artists both locally and internationally.
Kalina Wagenstein
Programmer
Biography
Kalina Wagenstein is a cultural manager with more than 30 years of experience in the field of the performing arts and cinema. After serving as a national representative at the EURIMAGES Fund of the Council of Europe and leading for almost ten years the Sofia office of the Swiss Cultural Program in South-Eastern Europe, in 2007 she created the ART OFFICE Foundation engaged with promotion and circulation of performing arts, working with Bulgarian artists and their artistic production in the country and abroad. The Foundation is considered as one of the most active bodies in the field of the independent performing arts in Bulgaria. Mrs. Wagenstein is trained in cultural policy, project management, NGO management and fundraising, attending numerous courses in Bulgaria, France, Switzerland and Hungary. She performs herself trainings in Project Cycle Management and Marketing Communications for Bulgarian NGOs. She speaks English, French and Russian.
Art Office Foundation
Art Office is registered as a foundation for public benefit engaged with the promotion and circulation of non-commercial productions of the performing arts (theatre, dance, and music). It works with Bulgarian artists and their artistic production and has activities in Bulgaria and abroad.
Art Office also provides educational services, organization of cultural programs, consultations, and implements surveys and studies.
Kelly Diapouli
Artistic Director
Biography
Kelly Diapouli is an independent curator and cultural manager in the performing arts sector with more than 20 years of experience in the fields of cultural networking, international cultural cooperation, curating and organizing international programmes and events. Between 2004 and 2008, she worked in these fields for the Hellenic Culture Organization – Cultural Olympiad. In 2009 she founded “busart” non profit company which focuses its activities in cultural networking, strategic development for the cultural sector, advocacy for the importance of art in social and economic development and the organization of international events such as meetings, capacity building programmes and festivals. She has been the artistic director of Eleusis 2021 European Capital of Culture (Greece) since the initiation of Eleusis candidacy in 2014 to 2020. Currently, she is the artistic director of Larnaka 2030 European Capital of Culture Candidate City (Cyprus). She holds a degree in theatre studies from the University of Athens and a Master of Arts in European Cultural Policy and Administration from the University of Warwick (UK).
Larnaka 2030 European Capital of Culture Candidate City
Larnaka 2030 is a public organisation established by the city of Larnaka in Cyprus to manage the city's candidacy for the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) 2030. Larnaka has been among the two shortlisted cities in Cyprus for the ECoC 2030 title and the final results are expected in December 2025.
Knut Geißler
Artistic Director
Biography
Knut Geißler, author, director, dramaturge, born and raised in East Germany. In 1992, he co-founded the MANöVER Festival (from 2006 “Off Europa”), which he has directed ever since.
Amongst others, he is a member of the board of the Leipzig venue LOFFT – DAS THEATER.
Festival Off Europa
“Off Europa” - until 2005 called MANöVER - is dedicated to countries and regions on the border of central European perception.
Main focus of researches of the festival are physical, visual and experimental works by independent authors, artists and ensembles in the whole range between theatre and contemporary dance.
Kryštof Koláček
Producer and manager
Biography
Divadlo X10 z.s. and Kutná Hora Performing Arts Festival
Divadlo X10 z.s (X10) is an open platform not only for contemporary theatre but also for other forms of live art. It is a collective of creative individuals aiming to foster independent, critical thinking that reflects the world we live in. Divadlo X10 not only work with existing dramatic texts but also initiates the creation of entirely new theatrical plays that respond as fully as possible to the need for authentic and distinctive opinions on current social issues and universal questions of human existence. Founded in 2013, Divadlo X10 has been based in the Art Industry Building (Dům uměleckého průmyslu) in Prague’s downtown since September 2017. It is a non-profit NGO association that has become one of the largest and most recognised organisations within the independent performance arts scene in Czechia. Each year, X10 organises over 250 events and performances, including more than six premieres and international touring. In recent years, X10's performances have received several national critical awards and became the Theatre of the Year 2023 in the Czech Theatre Critics' Award poll framework. X10 also produces the Kutná Hora Performing Arts Festival (DFKH). The festival focuses on presenting contemporary original performing arts, with particular emphasis on current scripts or original projects that reflect today's urgent social issues. Annually, the festival brings productions from Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe. It also includes the Y Events series, which combines visual and performing arts alongside discussions, concerts, and a children's programme.
Ksenija Markovic Bozovic
Research Associate
Biography
Dr. Ksenija Marković Božović is a Research Associate at the Institute for Theatre, Film, Radio, and Television, Faculty of Dramatic Arts. Her research work centers on cultural studies, cultural policy and management, theatre management, cultural and creative industries and sustainable development. She has taken part in numerous international collaboration projects (Erasmus, Horizon, COST, Creative Europe), published extensively in relevant national and international journals, and presented her research at many academic and professional conferences worldwide. Beyond her academic work, she actively engages in initiatives that promote and develop contemporary Serbian culture and creativity. She is also a co-founder of the Green Art Incubator (GAI), a platform that connects research and practice in the field of eco-sustainable artistic practices.
Faculty of Dramatic Arts
Green Art Incubator is a platform of experts and professionals in an interdisciplinary field that places the necessary dialogue between the arts and the climate crisis at the center of its reflection. Through various phases and formats of action, GAI continuously works on capacity building and empowering actors in the fields of arts and culture towards the green transformation processes and encouraging their more active involvement in the ecological discussion.
Kushtrim
Theatre Director
Biography
Kushtrim Bekteshi was born in Kumanovo (North Macedonia) in 1982. He completed his B.A. in 2008 with a major in Theatre Directing and continues his post-graduate studies at Faculty of Dramatic Arts-Skopje where he obtained an M.A. in audio-visual studies, with a focus in film and TV screenplay. He is the director of dozens of theatrical performances staged in North Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition to theater, his artistic career as a director and screenwriter extends to film, documentary, and television series. He is the author of the play “Those Who Escape”, as well as the screenwriter and director of the feature film “An Unforgettable Spring in a Forgotten Village.”
Kushtrim Bekteshi works as a full time Professor at the Faculty of Arts – Dramatic Arts, University of Tetova.
Skupifestival
The International Theatre Festival (ITF) SkupiFestival, is a non-profit organization, established in the premises of the N.I. Albanian Theatre – Skopje, in November 2007. The same year, the first festival edition took place under the motto “Play to be”. Since its year of establishment, the festival grew in content and quality, quickly becoming a cultural mark of the city of Skopje.
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Laura Mangels
Dramaturg
Biography
Laura Mangels studied Cultural Studies, Political Science and Dramaturgy in Lüneburg, Leipzig, and Munich. She works as dramaturge at Theater Oberhausen where she also curates festivals focussing on contemporary drama from Southeast Europe. (New Stages South East / South East Revisited Festivals). As a dramaturge she also worked at Theater Regensburg, Volkstheater München, National Theatre Sofia.
Theater Oberhausen
Theater Oberhausen is the city theatre of Oberhausen located in heart of the Ruhr area, artistically led by Dr. Kathrin Mädler since the season of 22/23. We are a theatre devoted to contemporaneity and frequently focus on new artists from South Eastern Europe.
Lea Loeb
Curator
Biography
Lea Loeb is a Swiss-Argentinian dramaturg and curator. She studied philosophy, dramaturgy, and transdisciplinary studies. Since 2019, she curates the international performing arts festival Zürcher Theater Spektakel. She teaches at Zurich University of the Arts and co-directs the residency program Cima Città.
Zürcher Theater Spektakel
Zürcher Theater Spektakel is one of Europe’s leading festivals for contemporary performing arts. Held annually on Lake Zurich, it features around 40 international productions, a vibrant open-air atmosphere, and a mix of renowned and emerging artists.
Leena Kela
Artistic Director
Biography
Leena Kela is a performance artist, Artistic Director of the New Performance Turku Biennale, and Director of the Saari Residence. She is currently completing her doctoral thesis at the Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Helsinki. In both her artistic work and research, she explores the dialogue between corporeality and materiality in performance art. Her performances playfully twist our relationship with everyday objects, perceptions, and phenomena. Over the past two decades, her work has been presented internationally at performance art festivals, events, and exhibitions across every continent except Antarctica.
New Performance Turku Biennale
New Performance Turku Biennale (established in 2012 as an annual New Performance Turku Festival) is a unique performance art biennial that presents current directions in contemporary art to both local and international audiences. Its activities include artist residencies and large-scale collaborations with local communities and actors. The biennale aims to further strengthen the principles of social, ecological, and economic sustainability in all its operations. At the core of the biennale’s work is the invitation of high-profile artists to Turku and the creation of connections between artists, local and international communities, and diverse audiences.
Lena Wontorra
Dramaturg
Biography
Lena Wontorra studied Applied Theater Studies in Giessen and at Freie Universität Berlin. 2019/20 she became dramaturg at the Nationaltheater Mannheim, and in the 2022/23 season managing dramaturg. She has been responsible for the festival dramaturgy of the Internationale Schillertage and is co-founder of the Institut für Digitaldramatik. 2024/25 she moved to the Burgtheater in Vienna. She lives in Vienna and Berlin.
Burgtheater
The Burgtheater is a theater in the Austrian capital Vienna. Founded in 1748 and the largest theater in the German-speaking world. Since Stefan Bachmann took over as director, the Burg has stood for open, playful, contradictory theater and sees itself as a space for
changing perspectives.
Linda Forsell
Artistic Director
Biography
Linda Forsell is a theatre director, curator and artistic director at KONTRÄR.
KONTRÄR
KONTRÄR is an independent stage for contemporary performance and international guest performances, located in the heart of Stockholm. Founded and run by artists, Konträr has since 2022 become a vital space for ambitious, risk-taking and artist-led work – ranging from experimental theatre and performance art to music, conversation and hybrid forms.
Ljujbinka Klarić
Actress
Biography
Belgrade Drama Theatre has been a cornerstone of Serbian culture for over 70 years, staging classics and contemporary works alike, and showcasing some of the country’s most acclaimed actors to audiences at home and abroad.
Belgrade Drama Theatre (Beogradsko Dramsko Pozorište)
Lora is a Bulgarian-born independant artist and cultural prodcuer. She lives between Sofia and Sheffield where, besides her creative practice, she also works as a personal and professional development coach.
Lora Krasteva
Performance artist
Biography
Lora is an artist, cultural producer and activist. She creates multi-disciplinary, devised, socially and politically engaged works that connect communities, artists, institutions and decision-makers. One of her latest creative projects, Becoming British, is a six hours durational, task-based performance installation interrogating national identity from the perspective of 1st generation migrants in the UK.
Freelance
Lora is a Bulgarian-born independant artist and cultural prodcuer. She lives between Sofia and Sheffield where, besides her creative practice, she also works as a personal and professional development coach.
For more info about Lora's work visit www.lorakrasteva.com and follow @lorakrasteva on instagram
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Maja Mrđenović
Theatre critic and theatre scholar; curator
Biography
Maja Mrđenović (PhD candidate) is theatre critic and researcher. She is also one of the programme editors of the Kotor Festival of Theatre for Children. Her texts from the field of performance studies and cultural politics are regularly published in several regional journals. She is one of the founders and editors of electronic magazine Peripetija.me, the only professional theatre journal in Montenegro.
Peripetija.me / Kotor Festival of Theatre for Children
Peripetija.me is a portal for theatre criticism and theatre studies run by the Association of Theatre Critics and Theatrologists of Montenegro. It was established in 2014 and it remains the only professional theatre journal in Montenegro to this day.
Malene Cathrine
Pedersen Festival director
Biography
Malene Cathrine Pedersen has been the festival director of ILT Festival since 2017, an international multi-arts festival presenting some of the most acclaimed and innovative artists from around the world. The festival takes place in Aarhus every other year, presenting a diverse program with everything from classical drama to dance, physical theatre, installations, puppetry, film, music and theatre concerts.
Malene is the initiator to the festivals newly launched ILT Academy – a dynamic platform for artistic development and knowledge sharing. The purpose of the academy is to strengthen artistic development in Denmark with masterclasses, workshops, talks and learning initiatives, that brings insights into new trends and practices from some of the world's leading and most innovative artists and professionals
Malene has a background in Sociology and Journalism and several years of experience working with multiple projects and organizations within the cultural sector – primarily with a focus on international projects.
ILT Festival
ILT Festival is Aarhus' international performing arts festival, bringing magical, thought-provoking, and unforgettable experiences from around the world to Aarhus every other year. We use the entire city as our stage, presenting a festival filled with thought-provoking performances and international perspectives, addressing some of the most relevant issues of our time in new ways. Whether it's on one of the city's venues, an iconic landmark, or a hidden corner of Aarhus, ILT Festival gathers the entire city around the wonderful world of performing arts. Our mission is to:
- challenge artistic, political, and social conventions
- contribute to ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to experience high-quality art
- foster artistic development
- connecting Aarhus to the world
Marija Milenković
Actress, Full profesor of acting
Biography
M. M. has graduated in acting from FDU in Belgrade.She had worked as a professor of stage movement and now she works as a Full professor of acting,leading her 3rd generation of students on FDU.She has had a significant number of roles in theater,and has worked as a stage movement director in over 40 theater shows and she also worked on projects of her own.With her students she had participated in numerous festivals and she has held many workshops. She has received numerous awards, such as The Sterija award for the stage movement; a large plaque from the University of arts with a charter; and others.
Faculty of dramatic arts
FDU is the oldest and most prestigious faculty of arts which focuses on education and research in the fields of film, theatre, dramaturgy, culture, radio, acting and medias in the country and the region. It was established in 1948 and has a long tradition that now lasts for 77 years.
Mark Yeoman
Artistic Director
Biography
Mark Yeoman bio: Mark grew up in Britain, studying History at St. Andrews University in Scotland, but since 1985 has lived and worked in Germany, Belgium, France, Spain and – since 2001 – the Netherlands. After initial years as an actor, specialising in public and found spaces, from the 1990s he branched out into freelance directing, writing and producing. Since 2001, Mark has been Artistic Director of the Noorderzon Performing Arts Festival in the Netherlands, one of a growing number of key European festivals pioneering new ways of presenting contemporary theatre and dance, within a broad-base accessible environment. From 2016 til 2024, he was also Artistic Director of the Grand Theatre in Groningen, a mid-size producing theatre focusing mainly on younger independent theatre and dance makers. Outside his regular activities, Mark was also the primary Intendant (2014-2016) on the ‘Fast Forward’ programme at the Fonds Podiumkunsten/Dutch Arts Council, establishing international co-producing opportunities for outstanding younger generation artists. He was also a mentor for international programmers on the EU-funded Space programme.
Noorderzon Festival
Noorderzon Festival of Performing Arts & Society is the somewhat curious combination of a cutting-edge international art festival and a large-scale summer fest for 135,000 visitors. The heart of the festival is the idyllic Noorderplantsoen (a city park) in Groningen, NL, where, for eleven summer days, a freely accessible festival village appears almost out of nowhere to provide a setting for theatre, dance, music, literature, aftertalks and lectures in combination with eating, drinking and social encounters. Performances take place in tents or on outdoor stages in the Noorderplantsoen, as well as at many locations in the inner city of Groningen (Noorderzon DownTown).
Noorderzon is—to the core—a celebration. We celebrate exciting theater. Music. Debate. Lectures. Dance. And everything in between. We celebrate the end of summer. We celebrate the start of the new year. We look back and we look to the future. We celebrate opinions together, we reflect.
In 2016, we were one of the first to receive the European EFFE award for trendsetting European festivals, the city's medal of honor, and the provincial culture prize. We welcome more than 130,000 visitors over eleven festival days, and the festival grounds are free to enter. Tickets are sold for most performances, but the open-air stages are free. A total of around 35,000 tickets are sold.
The 35th edition of the festival is scheduled for Thursday, August 14, through Sunday, August 24, 2025.
Marko Bratuš
Artistic Director
Biography
Studied dramaturgy and radio directing on Academy for Theatre Radio Film and Television on University of Ljubljana.
From 2013 till 2016 he worked as the artistic director of Glej Theatre, Slovenia’s oldest experimental theatre (est. 1970).
Beside the artistic direction of Glej theatre he also developed a couple theatre projects for teenage audiences that got co-funded by European Commission fund Creative Europe.
In 2016 he helped establish a platform and a festival for student theatre called ŠtudenTeater in cooperation with Public Fund for Cultural activities of Republic of Slovenia and Glej theatre.
Between 2016-2025 he worked as the artistic director of Slovenian National Theatre of Nova Gorica, which is a member of the ETC network where he served as a board member between 2019-2023.
From 2025 he works as artistic director of Slovensko mladinsko gledališče in Ljubljana.
Slovensko mladinsko gledališče
Mladinsko Theatre in Ljubljana is a cutting-edge Slovenian theater known for its bold, politically engaged productions. Founded in 1955, it blends experimental performance with social commentary, earning international acclaim for its innovation.
Martin T. B. Thomas
Director
Biography
Martin T. B. Thomas has directed and produced several plays, short films and two feature films. His work focuses on giving voice to the unheard, uncovering what is in the shadows of society.
Para Film & Teater
Para creates performances and films from unique roles in production and facilitate dialogue. Para’s productions combine moments of performance with story and characters and moments of dissemination with direct dialogue with the audience and interventions of specialists, in a format calles Teaterdialog.
Miha Golob
Art Director
Biography
Miha Golob, general manager and artistic director of The Celje City Theatre, is a theatre director by education. In his twenty years of professional directing career, he has directed in most Slovenian professional theatres and has directed more than 30 diverse performances. His theatrical thinking is most often linked to socially critical topics, in recent years with an emphasized authorial approach. He has previously received several awards for his work both at home and abroad. Since 2022, he has been the director of The Celje City Theatre..
Slovensko ljudsko gledališče Celje
The Celje City Theatre (CCT) was founded on 6 December 1950 as a professional theatre company with resident actors, artistic and technical crew.
In the course of seventy creative years, many leading names of Slovenian acting profession have trodden our boards and imprinted indelibly the name of the Celje City Theatre in the Slovenian theatre history. Five recipients of the most venerated national lifetime achievement award for stage acting, the Borštnik Ring, have been resident ensemble members of the CCT.
Presently, many leading theatre makers, directors and performers regularly join forces at the Celje City Theatre. The artistic team consists of twenty-two resident actors, two dramaturgs, and the artistic director. Invariably, our repertoire is diverse and challenging. We produce plays by Slovenian and international authors, endorsing classical plays as well as fostering new writing. We also focus on theatre education and include plays for children and youth in our repertoire on a regular basis.
The Celje City Theatre houses two theatre spaces, the Main Stage which sits 220, and a 70-seat studio called the Small Stage.
Annually, we produce up to 6 new productions and present over 220 performances on our domicile stages and on tours in Slovenia and internationally. Our productions and guest performances as well as various other events at the Celje City Theatre attract about 60,000 spectators every year. We remain firmly committed to our mission and artistic policy aimed at meeting and exceeding our audiences’ expectations and creating contemporary theatre of highest quality and artistic excellence.
Mila Jovanović
Communications manager
Biography
Mila Jovanović is a cultural manager and communications professional. She works as Marketing and Communications Manager at Bitef Festival and Theatre and as a journalist at N1 Television. She has also collaborated with the Faculty of Dramatic Arts as a teaching associate, and is engaged with Bašta Fest, the portal Hoću u pozorište, and numerous independent cultural projects. Her focus is on audience development, digital tools in culture, and the role of theatre in times of social crisis.
Bitef Theatre
Bitef Theatre in Belgrade was founded as part of the Bitef Festival’s legacy. It is dedicated to contemporary performing arts, presenting innovative productions and serving as a space for dialogue, exploration, and new theatrical forms.
Milan Ljubić
Producer
Biography
Milan Ljubić is a cultural manager and theatre professional based in Belgrade. He graduated from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, University of Arts in Belgrade, with a degree in Theatre, Radio and Culture Management and Production. From September 2022 to September 2023, he worked as Assistant to the Executive Director of the Bitef Festival, and since October 2023 he has been engaged as a Producer at Bitef Theatre.
Bitef Theatre
Bitef Theatre in Belgrade was founded as part of the Bitef Festival’s legacy. It is dedicated to contemporary performing arts, presenting innovative productions and serving as a space for dialogue, exploration, and new theatrical forms.
Milena Garfield
Producer
Biography
Milena Garfield is film and theater producer.
Although she started her career as an actress, soon she became more interested in creating and producing the theater repertoire. She challenged the theater scene in Belgrade in the late 80-s and early 90-s. and changed the way theater performances were produced, marketed and advertised.
Milena managed the regional art magazine, “New Moment “ which was daring and different new voice in Eastern Europe .
After she left for the States, she produced Broadway in Belgrade, introducing new model of theater production.
Milena Garfield produced several films, including “White White World” which won over 30 international film festival awards and was the candidate for European Academy EFA Award in 2011.
Her film “Stitches” won audience and official award at Berlin International film festival
Panorama selection of 2019. It was in selection for EFA Awards 2019.
Both films were supported by Euroimage and where European coproduction between Serbia, Germany and Sweden ( “ White White World “) and Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia and Slovenia (“Stitches”).
Her book “Art is our business “is the collection of her texts published in different media in the region about the art, culture and media.
West End productions
West End productions is theater and film production company present in Belgrade, Washington and New York dedicated to applying best practices from both west and east side of the ocean.
Mina Milošević
Freelance Playwright, Dramaturg, Theatre Critic
Biography
Mina Milošević (1998) is a playwright, dramaturg and theatre teoretician. She is the author of plays: Sex and strike (Lysistrata), Tesla (Little theatre Duško Radović), Ibsen's Ghosts (Belgrade drama Theatre), Tanka pređa srcem se tka (National Theatre Pirot) She worked as a dramaturg on shows Dr Ausländer (BITEF festival, Yugoslav Drama Theatre, CZKD), Speech to the Nation (Atelje 212), and more. She works at the Academy of Arts Novi Sad as a research assistent and she is a PHD student of Theory of drama arts and media at Faculty of Drama Arts in Belgrade.
See Stage, Academy of Arts Novi Sad
See Stage is a portal gathering theatre critics from the whole region who write reviews of local shows and do interviews with local theatre workers. All texts are in English, which gives a good representation of post-Yugoslavian theatres to the world, and gives a good opportunity for a dialogue between states in the region.
Academy of Arts Novi Sad is a faculty with Drama, Music and Arts department, based in Novi Sad, Serbia.
Mirkka Maikola
Curator, Executive Producer
Biography
Mirkka Maikola is a Curator and Executive Producer at Teater Viirus in Helsinki.
Maikola has worked as a Producer and Marketing Director at Von Krahli Teater in Tallinn and Head of Programming and Distribution at art house cinema Kino Sõprus in Tallinn. Maikola is a member of the programming committee in Helsinki International Film Festival. She has graduated from Department of Arts Management in University of the Arts, Sibelius Academy, in Helsinki.
Teater Viirus
Teater Viirus is an ensemble theatre and performing arts venue in Helsinki. The theatre produces productions with its own ensemble and runs a versatile guest repertoire of Finnish and international performances.
Miroljub Mijatović
Theater director and actor
Biography
He was born in Zenica, where he completed primary and secondary school. After that, he entered the Drama Studio at the Bosnian National Theater in Zenica in the class of Žarko Mijatović. After attending the Drama Studio for two years, he was accepted as a permanent member of the drama at the Zenica Theater in 1994. But that was not his first encounter with the "boards that mean life", because in 1984 he entered the theater as a member of the Children's Stage of the Zenica Theatre. In those first ten years of his life in the theater, he worked with directors such as: Mima and Bane Janković, Enes Muhedinović, Dubravka Zrnčić – Kulenović, Gradimir Gojer, Slobodan Stojanović... And as a professional, he worked with many directors from BiH and the region.
He graduated from the Faculty of Humanities in Mostar, department: dramatic art - acting.
He completed postgraduate studies in the field of Theatre Studies at the University of Tuzla at the Academy of Performing Arts, and earned the title of Master of Humanities in the field of arts - Theatre Studies.
In January 2020, he completed the Postgraduate Specialist Study in Drama Pedagogy at the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb, and earned the title of University Specialist in Drama Pedagogy.
In early February 2020, he was appointed director of the Bosnian National Theatre Zenica.
Bosnian National Theater Zenica
Bosnian National Theater Zenica was founded in the early 1950s. During its 75-year existence BNT Zenica has grown into the most significant institution of art in central Bosnia and Herzegovina. Repertoire of the theatre was carefully assembled to be modern and socially engaged. The theatre presented plays of some of the most important world's dramatists and a number of Bosnian and South Slavic authors. Throughout its history BNT has established a distinctive reputation and taken a significant place within the family of theaters in B&H.
It has participated and received awards in numerous theater festivals and artistic gatherings in ex-Yugoslavia, presenting the most significant theatrical works – the theatre performed in Montenegro, Czech Republic, Croatia, Italy, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Germany, Poland, Slovenia and Serbia. Throughout the years it has been awarded numerous times for its productive work and artistic achievements.
Besides these achievements, BNT Zenica has been the organizer and host to various cultural and entertainment programs and events, significant for the cultural life in the city itself, as well as in the Zenica-Doboj Canton.
Theater's production capacities allow it to premiere 9 to 11 plays during one theater season, three of which are for children and youth. Guided by the ambition to follow the trends and contribute to resolving dilemmas of a modern man, BNT in its creative process clearly chooses to nurture and affirm Bosnian-Herzegovian literary and theatrical heritage. Special attention is paid to dramatization of important prose works by national and foreign authors, as well as the affirmation of young dramatists.
Today, Bosnian National Theatre represents the center and meeting point of not only theater life, but artistic and cultural life overall.
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Narcisa Cvitanovic
Producer
Biography
Narcisa Cvitanović is a theatre and film producer. She is the founder of the Association Kontakt (established in 2011), where she continues to serve as director. For over ten years, she was a collaborator with the film production company Deblokada.
Udruženje Kontakt
(Udruženje za podsticanje i istraživanje izvedbenih umjetnosti u BiH - KONTAKT (Association for Promotion and Exploration of Performing Arts in BiH – KONTAKT) was founded in Sarajevo in 2011, at the state level of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The aim of KONTAKT is to develop socially engaged art projects. Through art, KONTAKT addresses social issues and advocate for the rights of minorities and vulnerable groups in society, while also raising awareness about the importance of civic activism and individual responsibility. KONTAKT implements programs that tackle current social challenges, confront radical ideologies, and highlight the role of culture and art in promoting and strengthening human values within society.
Nataša Gvozdenović
Theater critic and journalist
Biography
Natasa Gvozdenovic is a journalist and theater critic. She writes articles and theater reviews for magazines and online portals that focus on theatre studies and theatrical criticism in the region. At the international theater festival Mess, she received the "Marko Kovačević" award, which is given by the festival's management for a series of critiques published during the festival on the Radio Sarajevo portal. She is part of the "Critics' Caravan" project, initiated by the Association of Theatre Critics and Theorists of Serbia. She is a member of A.I.C.T. (International Association of Theatre Critics). She serves on the Management Board of the Association of Critics and Theatre Theorists of Serbia. She completed studies in Serbian and Comparative Literature. She defended her master's thesis at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade in the field of Culture and Arts Management under the mentorship of Professor Milena Dragicevic Sesic. She lives in Novi Sad.
Freelancer
Vreme is one of the most important newspapers in Serbia and region
Natasha Tripney
Writer/critic
Biography
Natasha Tripney is a writer, editor and critic based in London and Belgrade. She is the international editor for The Stage and editor-in-chief of SEEstage.org, an English language platform for theatre criticism in southeast Europe. She co-founded Exeunt, an online portal for theatre criticism and is a regular contributor to the Guardian and BBC Culture, and has written for the London Evening Standard, New York Times, Index on Censorship and Kosovo 2.0
Freelancer
I am the international editor for The Stage, the newspaper for the UK theatre industry, and editor-in-chief of SEEstage.org, an English language platform for theatre criticism in South East Europe.
Nina Rajić Kranjac
Theatre director
Biography
Nina Rajić Kranjac (b. 1991), MA in theatre and radio directing (2017), is a docent at the Academy for Theatre, Radio, Film and Television in Ljubljana. She directs bold, socially charged and poetic texts, with acclaimed works including Kushner’s Angels in America, Mouawad's The Scorched, Von Horvath's Casimir and Caroline, Vyrypaev's New Constructive ethics etc.
Department for directing (Academy for theatre, radio, film and TV Ljubljana)
Her works have been recognized both at home and abroad. Among the more prominent awards are the Grand Prix Bitef(2022), the Young Director's Award at Mess Sarajevo(2016), and multiple Grand Prix awards at the Slovenian Theatre Festival Borštnik(2022, 2023, 2024).
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Olga Drygas
Curator / Dramaturge
Biography
Olga is the Curator/Dramaturg & Head of Accessibility at AUAWIRLEBEN (Bern), associate curator at RISING Festival (Melbourne), and ISPA Global Fellow 2025. Former Head of Program Cooperation at Nowy Teatr Warsaw, where she curated New Europe Festival (2020-2025) and Generation After Showcase (2018-2024). Olga is an outside eye at CAMPUS residency program (Porto) and lecturer at SWPS University Warsaw. And collaborated as dramaturg with Gosia Wdowik, Magda Szpecht, and Agnieszka Polska. She has presented on European performance art at international festivals across the world, among others in Australia, Uganda, Canada, Argentina, China, Colombia, and Japan.
auawirleben Bern / RISING Melbourne
Since its founding, auawirleben has always been programmed around a thematic header and tries to respond to political and social changes with its programme, providing an overview of artistic activity in contemporary theatre.
RISING is an international festival of new art, music, and performance, in the heart of Naarm/Melbourne in Australia.
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Peter Srpčič
CEO and Art director
Biography
Peter Srpčič, born in 1972, is a Slovenian director and artist. He studied economics and theatre, authored a poetry collection. Since 2009, he has been the director of Ptuj City Theatre, winning multiple awards for best productions. He creates numerous successful plays in Slovenian theatres.
Ptuj city theatre
The City Theatre of Ptuj is a renowned Slovenian theatre known for innovative productions and artistic excellence. Since 2009, it has thrilled audiences with diverse performances and has received national awards for its outstanding contributions to theatre.
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Raydun Bolk
Programmer
Biography
Raydun Bolk is a performing arts programmer based in Groningen, NL. She co-curates the Noorderzon Festival of Performing Arts & Society and has worked with leading Dutch festivals including SPRING and Arcadia. She also develops the Grand4 programme at Grand Theatre Groningen, exploring performance and new technologies.
Noorderzon Festival of Performing Arts & Society
Noorderzon blends cutting-edge performing arts with a vibrant urban summer event, attracting 140,000+ visitors yearly. It showcases emerging and renowned voices, offering urgent, innovative, and ambitious work for a broad audience
Róbert Pakan
Festival Director
Biography
Róbert is the director of Drama Queer, Slovakia’s international queer theater festival in Bratislava, where he curates performances focused on queer art. He organizes diverse artistic activities and leads the theater group NOMANTINELS as project manager, playwright, and occasional performer.
Drama Queer
Drama Queer is Slovakia’s international queer theater festival in Bratislava, curating performances that explore LGBTIQ+ lives and stories. NOMANTINELS is a queer theater group creating original plays and artistic projects.
Romana Brajša
Producer
Biography
Romana Brajša is the co-founder and producer of KunstTeatar and the artistic director of the arts organization Punctum. She graduated from the Department of Stage and Performing Arts Production at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb and is currently employed there as an assistant professor. She previously graduated in Croatian Studies and Comparative Literature at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb.
KunstTeatar
KunstTeatar is a small independent theatre in Zagreb founded in 2018 by actor Domagoj Janković, producer Romana Brajša, and director Ivan Planinić. KunstTeatar brings together younger artists and art organizations from the independent scene to develop and support non-institutional contemporary performing arts. Kunst has (co)produced 19 productions so far that have won numerous awards and performed at many festivals.
Rusne Kregzdaite
Producer
Biography
Rusnė Kregždaitė is a performing arts producer and the founder of MMLAB Theatre. She also holds a PhD in cultural economics and is the Chair of the Professional Performing Arts Council at the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture.
MMLAB
MMLAB (Arts and Science Lab, Meno ir mokslo laboratorija) is a professional theatre based in Vilnius, Lithuania. It was launched with creative projects where artists and scientists experimented together with new forms and subjects for the theatre works. The key MMLAB strategy is experimentation with artistic forms and subjects. In 2019 MMLAB gained professional theatre status by Lithuanian ministry of Culture. In 2019 by decision of Vilnius Municipality MMLAB became Vilnius City Theatre.
Now MMLAB is presenting emerging and established young artists, collaborating with the National and state institutions, having strong international relations with European countries and partners around the world – from Japan to Pakistan.
Each MMLAB project involves an increasingly larger number of artists, organisation has gained recognition among critics and audiences. Creators are also experimenting by creating installations in unconventional spaces, such as underground passages or old kindergarten.
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Sanja Krsmanovic Tasic
Artistic Director, Producer and Curator
Biography
Theatre director, actress, choreographer, producing and curating programs and projects with work that intersects activism and art, addressing critical political and social issues. A strong advocate for using art and art education as a tool for transformation and healing.
President of the International Drama/Theatre and Education Association-IDEA, one of the leaders of WAAE,and of Centre for Drama in Education and Art-CEDEUM. Artistic director director of Hleb Teatar and Artistic Utopia.
Hleb Teatar/Dani Smiljane Mandukić/IDEA
Hleb teatar is an independent theatre group from Belgrade. Our umbrella association is Artistic Utopia. We organize Days of Smiljana Mandukić, a dance adn theatre festival in Belgrade. We also organize with CEDEUM the children and youth theatre festival MATER TERRA with the themes "ecology" and "ecology of the soul".
Shaula Cambazzu
Artiste & project coordinator
Biography
Shaula Cambazzu, Sardinia-born choreographer and dancer, has collaborated with numerous international artists. Founder of Ars Extremis and active with Artistique Théâtre, she blends dance and theatre, creating works that unite stage writing and choreography, and developing international cooperation projects.
ARTISTIQUE THÉÂTRE
Artistique Théâtre is a Paris-based company creating socially engaged works where theatre, dance, and collective writing meet. It fosters intercultural exchange, organizes international artistic projects, and gives voice to diverse stories.
Silvia Lazzeri
Producer and Actress
Biography
Graduated in Languages, specialization in Art History and Theater History, trained in various acting and dramaturgy courses, the European School for the Actor's Art of San Miniato, a master in dramaturgical translation at the University of Pisa, since 2018 she has joined Binario Vivo association which manages the Teatro Nuovo in Pisa as organizing director, also joining the company as an actress and co-director.
Teatro Nuovo di Pisa - Binario Vivo
Binario Vivo is an association of artists and educators promoting culture, social engagement, and participation through theatre, workshops, events, and school activities. It manages Teatro Nuovo in Pisa, producing contemporary and youth theatre.
Stela Mišković
Artistic Director
Kraljevsko pozorište Zetski dom
Royal Theatre Zetski dom, founded in 1884 in Cetinje, Montenegro, is the country’s oldest cultural institution and National Theatre, dedicated to producing contemporary and classical works and fostering artistic exchange nationally and internationally.
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Tamás Jászay
Theater critic
Biography
Tamás Jászay is a theatre critic, editor, university lecturer, curator. Since 2003 he's been working as a freelance theatre critic: in the last 22 years he published more than 1500 articles (mostly reviews) in more than 20 magazines all around the world. Since 2008 he is co-editor, since 2021 editor-in-chief of the well-renowned critical portal, Revizor (www.revizoronline.com). He regularly works as a curator: Hungarian Showcase (Budapest, 2013), Szene Ungarn (Vienna, 2013), THEALTER Festival (Szeged, since 2014), dunaPart (Budapest, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2023). Since 2015 he's been teaching at Szeged University, since 2019 as an assistant professor.
Revizor - the critical portal
Founded in 2008, Revizor– the critical portal is Hungary's only all-arts portal featuring professional criticism as its focus. We publish an average of 700-800 reviews annually in all fields of art, produced both in Hungary and abroad, with a focus on topics of interest to Hungarian readers.
Tara Manić
Theatre director and Associate Professor
Biography
Tara Manić (1994) is a theatre director and Assistant Professor at the Department of Theatre directing at Faculty of Drama Arts in Belgrade. She earned her PhD in 2024 with a documentary performance on theatre perception among the blind and visually impaired. Her work has been staged across Europe, earning multiple awards, with a focus on women’s issues and authors, perspectives and experiences.
Tea Šimić
Actress, Artistic director
Biography
Tea Šimić is an award-winning actress, currently based in Zagreb, Croatia. A graduate of the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo, she leads Theatre Company EMMA and is known for her versatile stage and screen work. Her solo play “Bukača” has received international recognition at theatre festivals.
EMMA theatre, artistic organisation
EMMA theatre is a Zagreb-based theatre company producing original plays and drama workshops for children, youth, and adults. We focus on creative development, community engagement, and accessible, high-quality performance art.
Théo Majcher
Artistic Director
Biography
Théo Majcher is a performing arts maker, cultural strategist and trained radio/TV host. With a background in EU cultural policies, he works across European cooperation, advocacy and media. Co-director of ALTER EGO (X) and board member of Reset! Network, he creates hybrid formats spotlighting independent voices through performance, documentary, television storytelling and live broadcasting.
ALTER EGO (X)
ALTER EGO (X) is a hybrid space for creation, cooperation and cultural advocacy. Based in Paris and Annecy, it brings together performing arts, media and European engagement through bold artistic projects, training, and international partnerships.
Thomas Steyaert
Artistic director
Biography
Thomas Steyaert is a Belgium movement artist based in Sarajevo, BIH. After working with Ultima Vez/Wim Vandekeybus, he started to develop his own movement practise based on real-time non-representational physical communication. His work has been shown in Europe and abroad. Thomas has many close collaborators around Europe such as Cirk La Putyka, Prague (CZ), the Portuguese performance artist Raul Maia, the Bosnian film and theatre director Nermin Hamzagić and the contemporary circus company Below Zero, Stockholm (S). Together with Benjamin Bajramović, Thomas recently founded Station 3, a platform in Sarajevo for research and development of artistic practices in different types of art media.
Station 3
Station 3 is a new art space in Sarajevo, founded by Benjamin Bajramović and Thomas Steyaert. We are an open and hybrid working space for local and foreign artists to develop their artistic practices and, create an inspiring and playful environment with a range of programs for art and cultural education. Special focus is given on movement and contemporary dance practices.
Tjaša Črnigoj
theatre director
Biography
Tjaša Črnigoj is a theatre director and author, focusing on documentary theatre and feminist practices. One of her most notable projects in the recent years is Sex Education II (2022/2023), a series of lecture-performances on women’s sexual pleasure.
Tomasz Kirenczuk
Artistic Director
Biography
Tomasz Kireńczuk is a theatre critic, dramaturg, and curator of artistic and social projects. Since 2021, he has been the Artistic Director of Santarcangelo Festival – the oldest performing arts festival in Italy and one of the most significant in Europe. In 2026, he will assume the artistic directorship of brut Wien. Between 2011 and 2019, he co-created the International Theatre Festival Dialog – Wrocław. He studied theatre studies and dramaturgy at the Jagiellonian University. In 2008, he published the monograph From Art in Action to Action in Art: Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and the Theatre of Italian Futurism.
Santarcangelo Festival
Santarcangelo Festival, founded in 1971, is the oldest festival of contemporary performing arts in Italy and among the most influential in Europe. Each July it transforms the town of Santarcangelo di Romagna into a stage for groundbreaking performances, collective experiments, and international encounters, fostering dialogue between artists, citizens, and global audiences.
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Valentina De Simone
Project manager - Journalist/Theatre critic
Biography
Valentina De Simone is a freelance journalist and theatre critic. She holds a Master’s in Arts, Music and Performing Arts from Roma Tre University, and a first-level Master’s in Cultural Journalism from the National Academy of Dramatic Art “Silvio d’Amico” in Rome. She joined PAV in 2017 as the project manager for European cooperation projects in the field of contemporary playwriting and performing arts.
PAV
PAV creates and realises cultural projects in partnership with artists and institutions. Born in Rome in 2000, PAV specialises in the production, management and administration of cultural events, festivals, shows and conferences, and works with public national institutions, theatres, foreign embassies, artists and companies, combining an institutional profile with support to the independent scene. These different fields of action have always made for dialogue in a natural way: such interaction has proven to be a fundamental resort for many projects and generally for the entire working experience stemming from such connections. PAV’s multifaceted activity allowed for the development of a privileged standpoint, with a 360° eye-view on contemporary theatre. www.pav-it.eu
Vesna Roșca
Coordinator
Biography
Vesna Roșca (b.1986) lives in Timisoara, Romania. Since 2017 she has been working for the Csiky Gergely Hungarian State Theatre. She is in charge of communication, writes funding applications and coordinates national and international projects. For several years she has been the coordinator of TESZT Euroregional Theatre Festival.
TESZT - Euroregional Theatre Festival in Timisoara
TESZT is an international performing arts festival which started in 2008 in Timisoara, Romania, with a focus on the Hungarian and Serbian theatre. The 2024 edition hosted 24 performances from 11 European countries.
Víctor Muñoz i Calafell
Artistic Coordinator
Biography
A graduate in English and German Studies from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (1997) and in Directing and Playwriting from the Institut del Teatre (Extraordinary Honours, 2006). From 2004 to 2009 he was assistant to the artistic team at the Teatre Lliure and since 2009 he has worked at the Sala Beckett as artistic coordinator (he is currently head of training, publishing, international activities and author relations). He has directed numerous shows (mostly by contemporary Catalan playwrights) and has translated into Catalan plays by Alice Birch, Martin Crimp, Javier Daulte, David Hare, Peter Morgan, Harold Pinter, Simon Stephens and Thornton Wilder, among others.
Sala Beckett/Obrador Internacional de Dramatúrgia
Founded in 1989, the Sala Beckett is a space for the theatre-related creation, training and experimentation, devoted especially to promoting contemporary playwriting and to disseminating Catalan theatrical authorship.
Vitomir Mitrić
Art director
Biography
Vitomir Mitrić, theater and film director, was born on November 1, 1955 in Srbac, Republika Srpska - Bosnia and Herzegovina. He completed his schooling and studies in Sarajevo and Novi Sad.
Through the alternative academy, qualified to lead workshops: Forum theater, and drama in education.
As a theater director, he directed 17 plays for children, plays and puppet shows, and 10 plays for adults.
As a film director, he directed 11 documentaries.
He is the founder of the "Scena za đecu" and "Forum theater" theaters in 2000, the international puppetry festival of professional theaters for children "Lut Fest" and the international film festival "Prvi Kadar".
He performs the function of art director and lives in East Sarajevo.
Forum teatar - Lut fest
International Festival of Professional Puppet Theatres for Children "Lut Fest East Sarajevo" has so far hosted 225 ensembles from 44 countries. For 26 years, it has enriched cultural life with performances, workshops, and masterclasses, becoming a key puppetry festival.
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Zoltan Fridman
Artistic Director and Producer
Biography
Zoltan Fridman was born in Ruma on September 2, 1965. Graduated from the Faculty of Contemporary Arts in Belgrade, study program - Management of Artistic Production and Media; Graduated from the NLS "Anima" in Novi Sad - major - Theater and Puppet Directing; Works as a technical secretary, producer and project coordinator of the Ruma City Theater. He is one of the founders of the Ruma City Theater. Awarded: for theater work at zonal, provincial and national festivals and festivals. Employed as a technical secretary of the Ruma City Theater, and the theater finances the position from its own income, projects and donations. Directed over 80 theater plays, 20 street actions, projects and campaigns. 40 years of active work in theater. Selector and jury member for dozens of theater festivals. Artistic director and selector of the theater project Art Trema Fest Ruma since its founding. The most important projects: Art TREMA FEST - Theater Festival of European Multicultural Action - an invitational festival of original projects by young people and the Festival of academic performances, independent professional projects and chamber forms created in co-production with cultural institutions. Since 2018, he has been one of the lecturers and educators of the accredited program of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Serbia: "From School Performance to Theater Stage". Participant and collaborator of many theater festivals, workshops, seminars. Participant in projects of importance to the local community and many humanitarian actions. Active in amateurism since 1985, and professionally directing since 2000 to the present. Directed a radio drama for RTV Vojvodina – Radio Novi Sad I program, based on the drama "Tican's Revolt 1807" by Dražen Maletin; 2024; Participant and lecturer at the International Conference on Participation in Art 3 Disciplines – 3 Encounters – International Dialogue (HE)ART BEATS! FOR THEATRE in Hronovo, Czech Republic, 31.7. – 4.8.2023. The international colloquium will be complemented by educational and analytical seminars of the 93rd Jirašek Theatre Festival in Hronovo; Project funded by the European Union;
GP Ruma / Art Trema Fest
The NGO City Theater "Ruma" was founded in 1994 with the aim of carrying out creative actions in the field of culture. It has cultivated a classical approach to theater in order to meet contemporary trends, especially since the launch of the ART TREMA FEST project (Theatrical Review of European Multicultural Action - Fear of Performance - Increased Sense of Responsibility). "Art Trema Fest Ruma" is an international festival of academic theaters, presenting students of the Academy of Arts and chamber professional projects created in cooperation with cultural institutions. In 1998, it made a turn and expanded its activities to all areas of civic initiatives. It brings together, in 6 sections, about 100 active members, collaborates and works on the education of its artistic directors, has launched several workshops, and in working with target groups, it deals with topics of wider importance for the local community. GPR fosters various types of theatrical expressions, works on the animation of positive civic actions, plans to establish a volunteer center, works on networking and partner regional projects. It brings together interested groups, individuals and authors around projects and affirms their work. Art Trema Fest establishes intercultural dialogue through art; it brings together a large number of young people, volunteers, professional associates, has the support of the environment, the average attendance of the program is about 2,000 spectators during the 10 festival days, we host more than 250 guests and program participants during the festival. For visual realizations of the projects, visit: www.gradskopozisteruma.org.rs.
Zoran Rakočević
Theatre director
Biography
Zoran Rakočević is a theatre director, mostly active in independent theatre scene in Montenegro. Artistic director of NGO Korifej teatar and Korifej festival.
Korifej teatar
Korifej teatar is independent professional theatre production with several very sucessfull plays played in the region and many awards. It also organizes Korifej festival which takes place in Kolašin town for 11th time this year.