Martina Grohmann, born in Mödling near Vienna, studied theater at the University of Vienna. She began as a production manager at steirischer herbst in '98 and '99. From 2000 on, she was engaged as a dramaturg at Staatstheater Kassel, at LTT Tübingen, at Theater Heidelberg, where she directed the venue zwinger1 for author's theater and projects from 2005 to 2007, and at Theater Basel. She has also worked as a guest dramaturge at the Schaubühne Berlin and the Schauspiel Frankfurt. Her work focuses on contemporary drama, play development, and interdisciplinary formats and festivals. Since August 2013, she has been the artistic director of Theater Rampe together with Marie Bues.

Bettina Masuch studied theater studies in Giessen. After working as a dramaturg at the Kaaitheater in Brussels and the Theaterhaus Jena, she moved to the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in Berlin in 1998, where she worked as a dramaturg for productions by Frank Castorf, Christoph Schlingensief and René Pollesch, among others. In 2002 and 2003 she was production dramaturge for the choreographer Meg Stuart at the Schauspielhaus Zürich. From 2003 to 2008, Bettina Masuch worked as a dance curator for Berlin's Theater Hebbel am Ufer. Until 2008, she was a member of the artistic direction of the renowned dance festival "Tanz im August" and was also responsible for its 25th anniversary edition in 2013. She was artistic director of the Springdance Festival in Utrecht from 2009 to 2013. From January 2014, Bettina Masuch was artistic director of tanzhaus nrw in Düsseldorf, which was awarded the "Theaterpreis des Bundes" under her directorship in 2017. She is the editor and author of various specialist publications and holds teaching positions at national and international universities. Bettina Masuch is a member of various juries and expert commissions, including the German Federal Cultural Foundation, the Fonds Darstellende Künste and the Goethe-Institut. She has been Artistic Director of the Festspielhaus St. Pölten since fall 2022.

Carena Schlewitt was born in Leipzig in 1961. Since 2018, she has been the artistic director of HELLERAU - European Center for the Arts in Dresden.

She was Director of Kaserne Basel from 2008-2018 and Artistic Director of the Basel International Theater Festival (since 2012). She studied theater at the Humboldt University in Berlin and worked at the Academy of Arts in East Berlin from 1985 to 1993. She worked as dramaturge, curator and deputy artistic director at various independent production houses (Podewil Berlin; FFT Düsseldorf; HAU Berlin) and at international festivals (Theater der Welt; HAU Berlin).

The focal points of her work have included the transformation processes in East Germany, Eastern Europe and China and the development of theater in Poland, France and Italy as well as live art and performance art. She has served on various juries, including for the "Impulse" festival; for the German-Polish expert panel of the Kulturstiftung des Bundes as well as for the "Doppelpass" program of the Kulturstiftung des Bundes; she was a member of the expert commission of the Swiss cultural foundation Pro Helvetia.

Carena Schlewitt is a member of the Saxon Academy of Arts, the Saxon Cultural Senate and a member of the Expert Advisory Board for Performing Arts and Music at the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony.

Lawyer and Head of Legal/International Affairs of the German Stage Association. Studied law, German language and literature, and history at the University of Regensburg and the University of Cologne. Managing Director of the Council for Performing Arts and Dance of the German Cultural Council, representative of the Council for Performing Arts and Dance in the expert committees Labor and Social Affairs and Europe of the German Cultural Council. Member of the Committee for European Social Policy of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations. Deputy member of the executive committee of the employers' association PEARLE* - Live Performance Europe, representing the German Stage Association and PEARLE* in the Social Dialogue of the European Union. Co-author of the loose-leaf collection "Stage and Orchestra Law". Member of the Board of Trustees of the Dance Foundation - Transition Center Germany. Ilka Schmalbauch was a member of the Fonds' Executive Board for many years. She did not stand for re-election in 2023, but continues to advise the Executive Board and management on personnel and legal issues.

Wolfgang Schneider was founding director of the Institute for Cultural Policy at the University of Hildesheim and holder of the UNESCO Chair "Cultural Policy for the Arts in Development" (2014 - 2020). He was the first director of the Children's and Young People's Theater Center in the Federal Republic of Germany, chairman of the Lower Saxony Theater Advisory Board, member of the Goethe-Institut's Dance and Theater Advisory Board and, as an expert member of the German Bundestag's Enquete Commission "Culture in Germany," rapporteur for the chapter on theater, among other things. He is chairman of the Fonds Darstellende Künste e.V., a personal member of the German UNESCO Commission, a trusted lecturer of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, a member of the federal board of the Cultural Forum of Social Democracy, a member of the board of the Initiative for the Archives of Independent Theater e.V., a member of the International Theater Institute, a member of the Council for Performing Arts and Dance in the German Cultural Council, an honorary member of ASSITEJ Germany and Switzerland, and honorary president of the International Association of Theater for Children and Young People. In 2018, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class by the German President for his honorary international commitment. Numerous publications on theater policy, editor of, among others, "Theater und Schule. Handbuch zur kulturellen Bildung" (2009), " Theater und Migration. Herausforderungen für Kulturpolitik und Theaterpraxis" (2011), "Theater entwickeln und planen. Kulturpolitische Konzeptionen zur Reform der Darstellenden Künste" (2014), "Theatermachen als Beruf. Hildesheimer Wege" (together with Julia Speckmann, 2017); ""Partizipation als Programm. Wege ins Theater für Kinder und Jugendliche" (together with Anna Eitzeroth, 2017); "Performing the Archive. Studie zur Entwicklung eines Archivs des Freien Theaters" (together with Henning Fülle and Christine Henniger, 2018), "Theater in der Provinz. Künstlerische Vielfalt und kulturelle Teilhabe als Programm" (with Katharina Schröck and Silvia Stolz, 2019); "Theater in Transformation. Artistic Processes and Cultural Policy in South Africa" (with Lance Lebogang Nawa, 2019).

Philippe Bischof (1967) has been director of the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia since November 1, 2017. After studies in Basel, he began his career as an assistant director at Theater Basel. He then worked as a director and dramaturg in Switzerland and abroad, both at municipal theaters and in the independent scene. At the same time, he worked as a jury member in the fields of dance and theater for the Senate Chancellery in Berlin. He also completed a Master of Advanced Studies in Cultural Management at the University of Basel. From 2008 to 2011, he successfully built up the cultural center Südpol in Lucerne as managing director and artistic director. From 2011 to 2017, Philippe Bischof was Head of the Department of Culture of the Canton of Basel-Stadt and from 2016-17 President of the Conference of Cantonal Cultural Officers (KBK). He is a regular lecturer on cultural policy and cultural promotion.

Asma Diakite is head of the cultural program section of the Goethe-Institut for Sub-Saharan Africa. After studying theater, film and media studies, philosophy and cultural anthropology in Frankfurt and Cairo, she founded the artists' network "Revolution Divine" and wrote her doctoral thesis on the concept of exuberance in the performing arts. With her team in Johannesburg, she conceives and produces cultural events, creates platforms for discourse and cultural exchange, and supports the South African art scene. She is currently working on a discourse series called Power Talks, among others. Power Talks aims to critically reflect on the role of European cultural institutions in Africa.

Marta Keil is a performing arts curator, dramaturg and researcher. She currently lives in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Her curatorial and research practice seeks alternative processes of establishing and redefining forms of building transnational alliances in the field of performing arts. She is currently curating the artistic research project "Breaking the Spell", co-produced by Residenz Schauspiel Leipzig, Münchner Kammerspiele, Performing Arts Institute in Warsaw and Viernulvier in Ghent, and collaborating with New Theatre Institute in Riga and Rosendal Teater in Trondheim for the project "The Shakedown". Recently, she curated "Forecast. A School of Thinking-With" for the Dublin Theatre Festival (2021) and co-curated (with Grzegorz Reske) "Politics of Listening" for the North East South West program of the Kunsthaus Dresden and the European Center for the Arts Hellerau in Dresden (2022). She has edited several books on curatorial practice and contemporary choreography and regularly gives seminars on curating, currently at Utrecht University and Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Marta is a member of the Performing Arts Institute (InSzPer) collective in Warsaw and holds a PhD in Cultural Studies.