Speaker*innen

Ndèye Mané Touré holds a Master in Business Administration at the African Institute of Management (I.A.M Dakar), she works in the administration and production of various cultural projects, including dance, music, visual arts, and cinema. With fifteen years of experience, Mané is at the head of Makeda Production, a company under Senegalese law, specializing in the design and production of artistic products and in the organization of events. Mané initiated in 2023 the Bideew Festival which is a constellation of disciplines around astronomy, art, gastronomy, science and technology in rural areas.

Faye Kabali-Kagwa is a curator, arts coordinator, and writer with a keen focus on youth voices. In 2023 she was the curator for the Cradle of Creativity Festival which featured 27 productions from South Africa and abroad. In her work with ASSITEJ she runs the Unlocking Learners’ Creativity project in the Western Cape, as well as heading the 10Children project. Faye was awarded the 2024 Artfleunce Human Rights Youth Activism Award, and was named one of the Mail & Guardians Top 200 Young South Africans. Faye’s writing has included reflecting on contemporary theatre and their commentary on land reformation, same-sex schools and coded patriarchy as well as reminiscing on important ephemeral cultural spaces.

Barbora Novotná coordinates the InfoPoint NIK at the Czech Cultural Institute. With her background in English Translation Studies and the Theory and History of Theatre at the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University in Brno, she works as a translator, researcher, and cultural manager. She gained professional experience working on various international projects in the Czech Republic and abroad. Since 2014, she has been based at the Czech Cultural Institute (former Arts and Theatre Institute)

Pavla Hivert, Ph.D. is an assistant professor at the Department of Arts Management at the Prague University of Economics and Business. Since 2025, she has held the position of financial and administration director at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. Until 2025, she was the director of the Arts and Theatre Institute and general director of the Prague Quadrennial. She is a member of a number of expert teams and working groups dealing with cultural policy (Czech Section for Culture of UNESCO) and author of the Czech Republic’s profile in the Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe.

Rodrigo González Alvarado is a cultural practitioner born in Tunja, Colombia, now based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His professional work spans leadership in the performing arts, curatorial practice, production, translation, and teaching. At the core of his work are international performing arts festivals, shaped by principles of fair cultural exchange and his own experience of living between countries and identities. Since 2019, he has coordinated MARKET/FIBA and has been involved with the Festival Internacional de Buenos Aires (FIBA). He has taken on co-curation for the 2026 edition of the festival Theater der Welt.

Sara Amini is a performer, singer, and the Artistic Director of Seemia Theatre. Originally from Iran and now based in London, she studied Theatre Directing (BA) at Tehran University and Performance Making (MA) at Goldsmiths, University of London. Since founding Seemia Theatre, she has created prize-winning work presented internationally, directed and assisted at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and is currently developing new touring and community-based productions across the UK. Sara currently serves as a Trustee at Artsdepot and the Gate Theatre in London.

Alex Díaz Loo is an activist for a dignified life and human rights for women and gender non-conforming people in Peru. She’s cofounder and artistic director of Bomba Cuir, an artivist percussion ensemble, and AFFIDARE, a feminist collective. Recently, she helped organize and participated as speaker in the 1st Conference on Music and Gender held in Lima. She’s M.A. in linguistics (U. of Leicester, UK) and has also studied cultural anthropology, graphic design, and education in the US and Peru. She earns a living as a university professor, translator, researcher, and consultant.

Thomas Engel studied theatre at Humboldt-University Berlin and got a PHD 1988. Over 10 years he was working as dramaturge at East German city theatres. From 1988-2025 he has served as Project Manager and Managing Director at the German Centre of the International Theatre Institute. Thomas has been a member of several international and national juries,boards and committees and represented ITI Germany in theatre and culture organisations and networks. In 2011, he co-founded the ITI Committee for the Rights of Artists (ACAR) and served as its coordinator until 2024.

Nikos Mavrakis has worked in cultural management since 2014 and in international cultural relations since 2019. He is the founder and managing director of TooFarEast, an Athens-based company promoting contemporary performing arts through international projects and touring. He is also co-founder of OMAZ, a non-profit platform supporting Greek artists. An alumnus of the Festival Academy and a member of IETM, he joined the Goethe-Institut’s Global Cultural Relations Programme in 2024. In 2025, he reopened Thessaloniki’s experimental Amalia Theatre with a focus on emerging artists.

Ouafa Belgacem is CEO at Culture Funding Watch, an organization that helps artists and  organization gain understanding and information about resource mobilization. She has a strong background in supporting Cultural and Creative industries, having spent  years working for governmental and non-governmental cultural institutions, including the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt and the EU delegation.Ouafa holds four Master’s degrees (History, Archaeology, Heritage Management, and an MBA). She serves as the Creative Director at the Pan African Chamber of Commerce.

Marie Le Sourd has been Secretary General of On the Move, the international information and advocacy network focused on cultural mobility, since 2012. Prior to this during 12 years, she worked at the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) in Singapore, including as Acting Director of the Culture Department and directed the French Cultural Centre in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. She sits on the editorial board of the 2026 UNESCO Re-Shaping Policies for Creativity report, and her contributions frequently address structural issues in cultural mobility, including environmental sustainability, accessibility, mental health, forced displacement and working conditions. She has been a board member of Culture Action Europe since June 2025.

Sebastian Hoffmann coordinates the touring artists help desk service on the administrative regulations of cross-border work in the cultural sector (all disciplines) at the German Centre of the International Theatre Institute (ITI). He studied North American Studies and Film Studies at FU Berlin and Reed College (USA) and has worked as an agent and promoter in the music sector as well as a consultant at Music Pool Berlin and the Smart Cooperative.

Ukhona Ntsali Mlandu is a festivals curator, an artist, writer, provocateur, facilitator, speaker and arts manager. She is Founder and Head Curator of makwande.republic, a residency and experimental project space. Her work explores restorative healing justice, narrative justice, spatial and mobility justice in all its intersecting iterations. Ukhona is former Director of Greatmore Studios. She has extensive experience working in the theatre industry including one of South Africa’s State theatres, Artscape Theatre as well as former coordinator of the Performing Arts Network of South Africa.

Antonia Blau has been the director of the Goethe-Institut Madrid since 2021. From 2015 until 2020 she was responsable for the EU office at the Goethe-Institut Brussels. From 2012 to 2015 Antonia Blau coordinated the creation of an antenna of the Goethe-Institut in Marseille in the framework of the European Capital of Culture Marseille-Provence 2013. She is interested in the contact points between politics and arts and culture in an international context and holds a German-French PhD.

Elgas – El Hadj Souleymane Gassama, known as Elgas, is a journalist, writer and research fellow at IRIS (Institute for International and Strategic Relations). He animates the radio programme Afrique, mémoires d’un continent on RFI (Radio France Internationale). He is the author of several books (novels, essays, biographies), the most recent of which is Les bons ressentiments (Riveneuve, 2023).

Ana Lessing Menjibar is a German-Spanish Berlin-based performer, choreographer and multidisciplinary artist. She completed the MA Solo/Dance/Authorship (SoDA) at HZT Berlin in 2020 and previously studied Visual Communication, graduating from UdK Berlin in 2008. Her work combines body, sound and multimedia installations, exploring flamenco’s transformative potential in contemporary dance. She teaches at HZT and UdK and has presented her work internationally.

Thobile Maphanga is a South African dance practitioner, writer/scholar, and creative collaborator passionate about her continent and finding more holistic solutions to well-being and full living through the arts. She works across multiple sectors, believing solutions emerge through varied understandings of the world and how people experience it. She is Project Manager, Assistant Curator, and Editorial Steering Committee member for JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, co-convener of the African Festivals Network, and currently serves as Co-Facilitator and Mentor for The Festival Academy.

Joshua Alabi is an award-winning director, writer, and producer, and founder/artistic director of Kininso Koncepts. Internationally recognised for socially engaged and culturally innovative theatre and film projects, he received the 2023 Kuss Festival Prize for Kolofu and the Golden Calf Award for Africa’s first digital/mixed reality theatre project. His directing credits include Queen Moremi and Awori. He is founder of KIFT, co-founder of the African Festivals Network, and has led projects across Africa, Europe, North and South America, and is currently establishing new partnerships in Australia.

Milena Gehrt works as a curator and project manager in Berlin and Beirut. From 2016 to 2019, she worked with Zoukak Theatre in Beirut, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, and independent festivals in Berlin. In Beirut she researched public art interventions and worked with Ashkal Alwan and the Goethe-Institut. At AUB, she co-curated three exhibitions and explored alternative models of artistic exchange. She currently co-curates “Mouth Archives”, a series of culinary and sound performances and coordinates the DECONFINING project “Shaping Crossroads”.

Felix Sodemann grew up in Cologne and came to Berlin after living in Tübingen and Turkey and studying German and literature. He has been working at ITI since 2019, managing the projects touring artists and Shaping Crossroads and is responsible for various conference and event formats. He is also active as a freelance theatre and film maker and translator.

Wabwire Joseph Ian is a cultural innovator and creative producer based in Kampala. Through strategic leadership at KQ Hub Africa and co-founding the Culture & Art Community Impact Fund Africa, he uses the arts to drive civic engagement, social transformation, and intercultural dialogue across Africa. His work centers on leveraging artistic expression as a tool for chang – curating workshops, exhibitions, festivals, and cross-border exchanges that fosters marginalized voices, promote peacebuilding, support artistic mobility, and foster collaborative visions for Africa’s creative future.

Beatrice Waruinge is a humanitarian and human rights advocate committed to Pan-African ideals and refugee welfare. With a background in community development and international relations, she previously supported in refugee case management and human rights advocacy at Amnesty International Kenya. As Operations Coordinator of the “Under Our Skin International Film Festival on Human Rights,” she uses film to drive dialogue on social justice. Currently serving as Program Officer at Selam through Connect for Culture Africa, she champions sustainable public funding for Africa’s Cultural and Creative Industries.

Emma Beverley is a multi-artform Producer and Curator, and currently the Director of the Helsinki International Artist Programme in Finland. She has held Executive Leadership positions including Director of Programmes for LEEDS 2023, and Co-Director/Co-CEO of East Street Arts. She worked as an independent producer supporting artists to make and tour work across 6 continents. Her practice focuses on climate action and social justice. She has held governance roles including Trustee of Hull Truck Theatre; Steering Group Member for Leeds University Horizons Institute, Sustainable Arts in Leeds; and Climate Commissioner for Leeds.

Vydia Tamby is the Cultural advisor to the Mayor of Dakar and founding member of African Capitals of Culture. Vydia designs structural cultural policies and fosters global-local networks. She is also an editor at Vives Voix and a member of Senegal’s Fonds d’archives, focusing on memory and narrative preservation through arts.

Samba Yonga is a Co-Founder of the Women’s History Museum of Zambia.  She is a communications specialist, cultural curator and an award-winning journalist. She is also the founder and managing partner of Ku-Atenga Media, a company that provides communications specialist services across Africa. Samba has been recognized as 100 most influential Africans by Quartz, New York, and one of 40 most influential Africans. She is also a Google Podcast Creator, TEDx Lusaka speaker and has been selected for the distinguished Museum Lab Fellowship for 2022 in Germany and France. She has curated exhibitions, designed digital creative content and written papers focused on indigenous African knowledge systems and narratives in Zambia and Africa. She is a graduate of the Evelyn Hone College School of Journalism and holds an MA in Transnational Communications and Global Media from Goldsmiths College, University of London.

Lillian Hipolyte is a seasoned Creative Director, Brand Strategist, Curator, and Service Designer with over 15 years of experience in design, culture, arts, advertising, and product innovation across East Africa and the UK. Originally trained as a painter-sculptor, her creative path evolved into user experience and product design, leading to roles as a global design director, project manager, and mentor to young creatives. She has worked in Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, and the UK, and currently serves as Director of Nafasi Art Space. Lilian’s practice is grounded in the intersection of art and design, with a passion for the power of creativity to influence health, culture, community, and business. She builds purpose-driven brands and services that foster sustainability in the creative and cultural industries, with expertise in digital transformation, governance, and institutional development.

Sylvia Amann is the Director of inforelais, Sylvia is a cultural policy expert with 20+ years shaping European CCI strategies and international cultural relations. She co-chaired the EU expert group on CCIs, contributed to Urban Innovative Actions, and focuses on linking culture with climate, local-global cooperation, and transformative policy-making.