Pool of experts

You can find the facilitator's and experts' biographies underneath.

Atelier Facilitator and Programme Development

• Mike van Graan, Founding President African Cultural Policy Network - South Africa

Expert, mentor and Keynote speaker

• Keith Nurse (PhD), Principal/President Sir Arthur Lewis Community College Morne Fortune, St. Lucia and Unesco Expert - Caribbean

Mentors

• Valentina Corona, Director Playwave - Sydney/ Australia
• Nicolas Klimis and Camilla Colombo, Founders Ohme - Belgium
• Grayson Wambach, Creator/ Producer - US

deSingel team

• Jerry Aerts, General Manager and Artistic Director deSingel International Arts Campus - Belgium
• Katrijn De Wit, Coordinator Press & Audience Development deSingel - Belgium 

Guest speakers

• Cathrine Helland, Communication Manager International Cities of Refuge Network  (ICORN) - Norway
• Manon Muti, Independent digital security trainer – Netherlands
• Cynthia Schneider, Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy; Co-Director Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics Georgetown University, Co-Director MOST Resource, Co-Director Timbuktu Renaissance, Former US Ambassador to the Netherlands - US
• Mike Verledens, Sparklink - Belgium
• Arkadi Zaides, Artist/ Choreographer - France 

Founding President African Cultural Policy Network - South Africa

Mike van Graan is the founding president of the African Cultural Policy Network, and has served in leadership positions in a variety of anti-apartheid cultural organizations. He is also a playwright, who has written thirty plays to this date. He was appointed as Artscape’s Associate Playwright from 2011-2014 and is considered as one of South Africa’s leading contemporary playwrights.

He is currently a fellow of the Stellenbosch Instituted for Advanced Study (STIAS), working on his first novel.

You can read his full bio here. 

Principal/President Sir Arthur Lewis Community College Morne Fortune, St. Lucia and Unesco Expert - Caribbean

Dr. Keith Nurse is the Principal/President of the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College in St. Lucia and he also serves on the executive bureau of the UN Committee for Development Policy a subsidiary body of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

He is the Chair of CaribbeanTales media group and co-founder of the CaribbeanTales Incubator.

You can read his full bio here.

Director Playwave - Australia

Valentina is a Creative Producer and Director with a background in arts journalism, relationship management, festival and arts marketing and multiplatform media and has worked in the arts and festivals industry in Edinburgh, Adelaide and Sydney.

Valentina is the co-founder and director of Playwave, a new digital audience engagement partnership with over 40 cultural organisations across Greater Sydney to make the arts more accessible to Young People. 

You can read a very inspiring article that she wrote at this link and her full bio here.

Co-founder Ohme - Belgium

Nicolas Klimis is a cultural entrepreneur, engineer and musician born in Brussels, Belgium. 

Since 2016, Nicolas co-founded Ohme, where he now serves as a development manager, for which he develops a strategy for the organisation, finding new project opportunities, fundraising and following production.

You can read his full bio here.

Co-founder Ohme - Belgium

With one foot in art production and curation, and one in European cultural policy, Camilla worked in Italy, UK, and Belgium. 

Since 2016 she is based in Brussels where she is active in cultural policy and advocacy for the arts, and where, with a group of engineers, she co-founded Ohme, an organisation curating and producing educational and artistic content at the nexus between arts and sciences.

You can read her full bio here.

Creator/ Producer - US

Grayson Wambach is an experienced arts professional, cultural producer, and creative consultant who has worked across the creative sector programming and producing public talks, live performances, gallery exhibitions, and live events, nationally and internationally.

Through his experience, he has had the chance to see how new technologies and digital platforms are reshaping the way we connect and collaborate with one another.

You can read his full bio here.

General Manager and Artistic Director deSingel International Arts Campus - Belgium

General and Artistic Manager of the International Arts Campus DeSingel. Jerry studied journalism and communication sciences at Brussels University. 

Before his work as music programmer and later on Artistic Director of deSingel in the eighties, he worked in public relations, advertising and sales promotion for the Belgian Housing Society and for Sony Belgium.

You can read his full bio here.

Coordinator Press & Audience development deSingel International Arts Campus - Belgium

Katrijn De Wit has a Master degree in Art History & Theater Sciences. 

She has been coordinating press and audience development at deSingel for 8 years. "It is a privilege to be able to work within the Arts. Our task is to spread the beauty of the (inter) national deSingel programme to the largest and most diverse possible audience."

You can read her full bio here.

Communication Manager International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN) - Norway

Cathrine Helland is Communication Manager at ICORN, the International Cities of Refuge Network, where she has worked for the past 7 years.

She holds an MSc in Communication and Arts History from Copenhagen and Roskilde University and has previously worked in the arts and educational sector.

You can read her full bio here.

Independent digital security trainer – Netherlands

Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy; Co-Director Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics Georgetown University, Co-Director MOST Resource, Co-Director Timbuktu Renaissance, Former US Ambassador to the Netherlands - US

Ambassador Schneider publishes and organizes initiatives in the area of diplomacy and culture. 

She co-directs the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown, a joint signature initiative between Georgetown’s School of ForeignService and College of Arts and Sciences, with the mission of humanizing global politics through the power of performance. 

Additionally, Dr. Schneider co-directs the Los Angeles-based MOST Resource (Muslims on Screen and Television) and the Timbuktu Renaissance, a Mali-based platform for countering extremism and promoting peace and development through a focus on culture.

You can read more about her here.

Artist/ Choreographer - France

Arkadi Zaides is an Israeli independent choreographer and visual artist, of Belarusian origin, currently living between France and Belgium. His company Institut des Croisements is based in Villeurbanne (FR) since 2015.

His performances and installations have been presented in numerous dance and theater festivals, museums and galleries across Europe, North and South America and Asia. 

You can read his full bio here.