Fatima Çalışkan is a moderator, artist and author. Her focus is on art and cultural policy issues on which she writes analyses and essays, among others for the Kulturpolitische Gesellschaft, or develops satirical texts for independent productions. She is co-founder and co-editor of the biennial magazine YallahSalon. As a presenter, she plays the entire keyboard of conversation and presentation formats for stage, audio and video. As a performer and dramaturge, she collaborates with various projects in the independent scene. Other positions include advising and accompanying projects for the Interkultur Ruhr funding fund, co-directing the advisory office of the Performing Arts Program of the LAFT Berlin, co-directing the FAIRSTAGE model project, and jury activities at the federal and state levels.

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.

Geboren 1975, begann er 1994 in unterschiedlichen Funktionen hauptsächlich in den darstellenden Künsten zu arbeiten. Am Anfang hat er viel in Staats- und Stadttheatern gelernt und arbeitet seit 2003 selbständig als Autor, Kurator, Dramaturg und Regisseur. Hier hat er besonders viel Erfahrung als Regisseur von Galen und Charity-Veranstaltungen gesammelt, die wichtige Inhalte und große Unterhaltung miteinander präsentieren. 2013 hat er für das Performing Arts Programm Berlin (PAP) den Branchentreff der Freien Darstellenden Künste Berlin mitkonzipiert und zusammen mit anderen bis 2017 geleitet. Für das PAP konzipiert er auch weiterhin Fachtagungen, die spezifische Themen für ein professionelles Publikum vertiefen.

2016 hat er für das PAP zusammen mit der re:publica die Performersion gegründet, ein Format für Kooperationen der digitalen und der darstellenden Künste, das er seitdem auch mit einem inzwischen internationalen Fokus fortführt.

Die kuratorische Arbeit an der Schnittstille zwischen digitalen und analogen Künsten setzt er in Laborformaten für die Technologiestiftung Berlin u.a. oder als Mitglied des Culture Track Teams der re:publica um. Vermittelnd arbeitet er in diesem Spannungsfeld auch als Beiratsmitglied der bbw – University for Applied Sciences, des Berlinforums der Stiftung Zukunft Berlin, als Speaker oder Workshopgeber.

Florian Malzacher is a freelance curator, dramaturg and writer.He is currently working on projects such as Training for the Future (with Jonas Staal) and The Art of Assembly, a series of talks and conversations about the potential of assemblies in art, activism and politics.

2012 - 2017 he was Artistic Director of the Impulse Theater Festival, before that seven years Head Dramaturg/Curator of the festival steirischer herbst.

As a dramaturg, he has worked with Rimini Protokoll, Lola Arias (ARG), Mariano Pensotti (ARG), and regularly with the Nature Theater of Oklahoma (USA), among others.

Recent publications include Not Just a Mirror. Looking for the Political Theatre of Today (2015), Empty Stages, Crowded Flats. Performativity as Curatorial Strategy (with Joanna Warsza, 2017), and Gesellschaftsspiele. Political Theatre Today (2020). His books and texts have been translated into 15 languages.

Website

After studying Applied Theater Studies in Giessen, Bettina Masuch worked as a dramaturg at the Volksbühne in Berlin, among other places, where she collaborated on productions by Frank Castorf, Christoph Schlingensief and Rene Pollesch. At HAU she was curator for dance and performance from 2003 to 2008. After leading positions at the Springdance Festival Utrecht and the Berlin dance festival Tanz im August, she took over the directorship of tanzhaus nrw in Düsseldorf in January 2014.

Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Wagner (born 1961) studied musicology, German philology and art history before working as a cultural manager, curator, researcher and author. He most recently worked as head of the department of music and performing arts at the Kunststiftung NRW in Düsseldorf. Wagner worked at the opera houses in Koblenz and Cologne as a production dramaturge, personal assistant to the artistic director and member of the opera management staff. From 2002 to 2006, he worked as a music referent in the cultural office of the city of Cologne and took over the coordination of the music department during the application of the city of Cologne for the title of European Capital of Culture 2010.

In Cologne, he curated the cultural program for the 2006 World Cup, was artistic director of the festival "Feste Musicali" and the children's and youth music festival "Stadt Klang Fluss". For some time, he has been particularly interested in contemporary dance and theater, the diversity of cultural practice and its visualization.

Since January 2, 2018, the scientist and cultural manager Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Wagner has been head of the office for Nuremberg's application for the title of European Capital of Culture 2025.

Born in Odenwald in 1982, studied psychology in Berlin and Paris and speech and musical theater direction at the Theaterakademie "August Everding" in Munich. Doctorate (ongoing) "Culture, Operation and Resonance" with Hartmut Rosa and Friedrich von Borries, HfBK Hamburg. Scholarship holder of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, the Gabriele-Oehmisch-Stiftung and the Akademie Musiktheater Heute of the Deutsche Bank Foundation.

As a freelance dramaturg, he has worked for a variety of productions in Germany and abroad (including Kampnagel, Schaubühne, Schauspielhaus Zürich, Theater Basel, Alfortville Paris). As founder, director and dramaturg he developed a number of site-specific productions with the independent group O-Team (including "HermannSchlachten" at the Stuttgart Wagenhallen, "Blaupause" in the former editorial building of the Süddeutsche Zeitung or "Kirschgärten" at the Hofgut Oberfeld Darmstadt) and most recently "Flüchtlinge" at the Thalia Theater Hamburg.

From 2011 to 2013 he was head dramaturge/member of the artistic direction at Theaterhaus Jena and in the 2014/2015 season drama director at Staatstheater Darmstadt. He has worked as festival curator and dramaturge (Rodeo Festival Munich, Datterich Festival Darmstadt, Wiesbaden Biennale) and lecturer (LMU and HfMT Munich, HfMT Leipzig, TU Darmstadt, JGU and HfMT Frankfurt, JGU Mainz, EAH and FSU Jena). Zipf directed JenaKultur from 2016 to 2022. Since the 2022/23 season, he has been executive director at Kampnagel Hamburg.

Geboren 1975, begann er 1994 in unterschiedlichen Funktionen hauptsächlich in den darstellenden Künsten zu arbeiten. Am Anfang hat er viel in Staats- und Stadttheatern gelernt und arbeitet seit 2003 selbständig als Autor, Kurator, Dramaturg und Regisseur. Hier hat er besonders viel Erfahrung als Regisseur von Galen und Charity-Veranstaltungen gesammelt, die wichtige Inhalte und große Unterhaltung miteinander präsentieren. 2013 hat er für das Performing Arts Programm Berlin (PAP) den Branchentreff der Freien Darstellenden Künste Berlin mitkonzipiert und zusammen mit anderen bis 2017 geleitet. Für das PAP konzipiert er auch weiterhin Fachtagungen, die spezifische Themen für ein professionelles Publikum vertiefen.

2016 hat er für das PAP zusammen mit der re:publica die Performersion gegründet, ein Format für Kooperationen der digitalen und der darstellenden Künste, das er seitdem auch mit einem inzwischen internationalen Fokus fortführt.

Die kuratorische Arbeit an der Schnittstille zwischen digitalen und analogen Künsten setzt er in Laborformaten für die Technologiestiftung Berlin u.a. oder als Mitglied des Culture Track Teams der re:publica um. Vermittelnd arbeitet er in diesem Spannungsfeld auch als Beiratsmitglied der bbw – University for Applied Sciences, des Berlinforums der Stiftung Zukunft Berlin, als Speaker oder Workshopgeber.

Martin Jörg Schäfer has been teaching theater research at the University of Hamburg since 2014. He is currently researching processually and collaboratively generated text forms in contemporary theater and performance, as well as theater and performance manuscripts in the sign of digitalization. 2014-2021 Co-director of the MA Performance Studies at the University of Hamburg. 2014 Co-organizer of the geheimagentur-initiated congress "The Art of Being Many" at Kampnagel. Since 2015 co-curator of the "DachSalon" series of talks on theater and politics at the Hamburg Schauspielhaus. For the seasons 2016/17 to 2019/20 member of the jury of the Hamburg Authority for Culture and Media for the funding of projects of the independent performing arts in the field of spoken theater/music theater/performance as well as in the overarching promotion of new talent and concepts. 2017 Leadership team of the annual conference of Performance Studies international "OverFlow" at Kampnagel as part of "Theater der Welt". Since 2020 member of the jury for the Start Off Prize of the Lichthof Theater and the Hamburg Kulturstiftung.

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.

Prof. Dr. Margarita Tsomou is a cultural scientist and works from Berlin as an author, dramaturg, moderator, curator and professor. She co-founded the pop feminist Missy Magazine in 2008, is curator for theory and discourse at HAU Hebbel am Ufer in Berlin and professor for contemporary theater practice at the Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences. Two of her recent curatorial works include the series Burning Futures: On Ecologies of Existence at HAU-Hebbel am Ufer and the Apatride Society event series in Paul B. Preciado's discursive program at Documenta 14.

Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Wagner (born 1961) studied musicology, German philology and art history before working as a cultural manager, curator, researcher and author. He most recently worked as head of the department of music and performing arts at the Kunststiftung NRW in Düsseldorf. Wagner worked at the opera houses in Koblenz and Cologne as a production dramaturge, personal assistant to the artistic director and member of the opera management staff. From 2002 to 2006, he worked as a music referent in the cultural office of the city of Cologne and took over the coordination of the music department during the application of the city of Cologne for the title of European Capital of Culture 2010.

In Cologne, he curated the cultural program for the 2006 World Cup, was artistic director of the festival "Feste Musicali" and the children's and youth music festival "Stadt Klang Fluss". For some time, he has been particularly interested in contemporary dance and theater, the diversity of cultural practice and its visualization.

Since January 2, 2018, the scientist and cultural manager Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Wagner has been head of the office for Nuremberg's application for the title of European Capital of Culture 2025.

Born in Odenwald in 1982, studied psychology in Berlin and Paris and speech and musical theater direction at the Theaterakademie "August Everding" in Munich. Doctorate (ongoing) "Culture, Operation and Resonance" with Hartmut Rosa and Friedrich von Borries, HfBK Hamburg. Scholarship holder of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, the Gabriele-Oehmisch-Stiftung and the Akademie Musiktheater Heute of the Deutsche Bank Foundation.

As a freelance dramaturg, he has worked for a variety of productions in Germany and abroad (including Kampnagel, Schaubühne, Schauspielhaus Zürich, Theater Basel, Alfortville Paris). As founder, director and dramaturg he developed a number of site-specific productions with the independent group O-Team (including "HermannSchlachten" at the Stuttgart Wagenhallen, "Blaupause" in the former editorial building of the Süddeutsche Zeitung or "Kirschgärten" at the Hofgut Oberfeld Darmstadt) and most recently "Flüchtlinge" at the Thalia Theater Hamburg.

From 2011 to 2013 he was head dramaturge/member of the artistic direction at Theaterhaus Jena and in the 2014/2015 season drama director at Staatstheater Darmstadt. He has worked as festival curator and dramaturge (Rodeo Festival Munich, Datterich Festival Darmstadt, Wiesbaden Biennale) and lecturer (LMU and HfMT Munich, HfMT Leipzig, TU Darmstadt, JGU and HfMT Frankfurt, JGU Mainz, EAH and FSU Jena). Zipf directed JenaKultur from 2016 to 2022. Since the 2022/23 season, he has been executive director at Kampnagel Hamburg.

Irina-Simona Bârcă is a dramaturge and mediator. Born and raised in Romania, she studied acting in Bucharest and theater pedagogy at Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences. After working in Münster and Berlin, she was a dramaturge at the FFT (Forum Freies Theater) in Düsseldorf from 2017 to 2024, where she was responsible for the Young FFT section, including the programmatic focus "The Theater of Digital Natives". She has worked with pulk fiktion, Ives Thuwis, subbotnik, Leute wie die, machina eX and PINSKER + BERNHARDT, among others. She is part of various juries in German-speaking countries (Spielarten NRW, kicks! Theaternetzwerk Schweiz, Landesbüro freie darstellende Künste NRW) and was a member of the board of trustees at the Augenblick mal! 2021. As a lecturer, she gives seminars and training courses. Since January 2024, she has been Head of Artistic Mediation and Participation at Theater an der Parkaue.

Yunus Ersoy, who grew up in Zurich, is a dramaturg*. After completing a BA, Yunus studied for an MA at the University of Zurich (Cultural Analysis) and Applied Theater Studies in Giessen.

In 2009 Ersoy was a founding member of "oimoi - junges theater zürich", is still a member of the board of directors, and has been involved in over 10 oimoi productions on and off stage. At the Schauspielhaus Zürich, Ersoy has been part of choruses in plays by René Pollesch, among others.

Ersoy organizes festivals (including Queer Week in 2021-2023) and has performed own works with the collective Mora Vegesture at Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, with Camila Rhodi at the FACT Festival in Budapest, and with Josef Mehling at 48h Neukölln in Berlin. In 2020, Jil Dreyer, Ersoy and Mehling presented the theater performance None of This at the Grätsche Festival in Zurich.

After an internship at Studio Я, Ersoy worked as an assistant and then as a dramaturg at the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin since the middle of the 2018/19 season, working with directors Yael Ronen, Hakan Savaş Mican, and Paul Spittler, among others.

In the 2023/24 season, Ersoy will work as a dramaturg* at the Schauspielhaus Zürich with Suna Gürler and Joana Tischkau.

Ute Gröbel (*1983 in Erlangen) is dramaturg and artistic co-director of HochX Theater and Live Art in Munich. She was deputy director of the dramaturgy course at the August Everding Theater Academy until 2016. In 2021, she completed advanced training in theater and music management at LMU Munich; in the same year, HochX was awarded the Theaterpreis des Bundes. In 2022, she co-directed the Freischwimmen meets Rodeo Festival with Antonia Beermann and will also be artistically responsible for the 2024 and 2026 Rodeo Festivals together with her.

Geboren 1975, begann er 1994 in unterschiedlichen Funktionen hauptsächlich in den darstellenden Künsten zu arbeiten. Am Anfang hat er viel in Staats- und Stadttheatern gelernt und arbeitet seit 2003 selbständig als Autor, Kurator, Dramaturg und Regisseur. Hier hat er besonders viel Erfahrung als Regisseur von Galen und Charity-Veranstaltungen gesammelt, die wichtige Inhalte und große Unterhaltung miteinander präsentieren. 2013 hat er für das Performing Arts Programm Berlin (PAP) den Branchentreff der Freien Darstellenden Künste Berlin mitkonzipiert und zusammen mit anderen bis 2017 geleitet. Für das PAP konzipiert er auch weiterhin Fachtagungen, die spezifische Themen für ein professionelles Publikum vertiefen.

2016 hat er für das PAP zusammen mit der re:publica die Performersion gegründet, ein Format für Kooperationen der digitalen und der darstellenden Künste, das er seitdem auch mit einem inzwischen internationalen Fokus fortführt.

Die kuratorische Arbeit an der Schnittstille zwischen digitalen und analogen Künsten setzt er in Laborformaten für die Technologiestiftung Berlin u.a. oder als Mitglied des Culture Track Teams der re:publica um. Vermittelnd arbeitet er in diesem Spannungsfeld auch als Beiratsmitglied der bbw – University for Applied Sciences, des Berlinforums der Stiftung Zukunft Berlin, als Speaker oder Workshopgeber.

Anke Politz grew up in Saxony-Anhalt and came to Berlin in 1996 to study. For several years she worked as a cultural manager for various musicians until she found her professional home at Chamäleon Theater in 2004. Starting as head of the marketing and PR department, she took over as director in 2007 and as artistic director in 2011, and has since served as shareholder and artistic director of the non-profit structure. She is 2nd chair of the Federal Association of Contemporary Circus and particularly active in the field of cultural policy work and structural promotion of circus arts. As co-leader of the international working group MICC "The Utopians", she founded a mentoring program for circus artists in 2021, which focuses on expanding equal access towards more representation and diversity. With Chameleon, she is the producer behind contemporary circus formats such as the piece Raven by the Berlin-based company still hungry and the piece Julieta by Mexican clown Gabriela Muñoz. As a stage, co-production partner or residency venue, the Chameleon sets sustainable impulses to strengthen artistic creation in contemporary circus and connect it close to society. In 2020, Anke Politz was awarded the stage hero prize of the Aktionsbündnis Darstellende Künste.

Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Wagner (born 1961) studied musicology, German philology and art history before working as a cultural manager, curator, researcher and author. He most recently worked as head of the department of music and performing arts at the Kunststiftung NRW in Düsseldorf. Wagner worked at the opera houses in Koblenz and Cologne as a production dramaturge, personal assistant to the artistic director and member of the opera management staff. From 2002 to 2006, he worked as a music referent in the cultural office of the city of Cologne and took over the coordination of the music department during the application of the city of Cologne for the title of European Capital of Culture 2010.

In Cologne, he curated the cultural program for the 2006 World Cup, was artistic director of the festival "Feste Musicali" and the children's and youth music festival "Stadt Klang Fluss". For some time, he has been particularly interested in contemporary dance and theater, the diversity of cultural practice and its visualization.

Since January 2, 2018, the scientist and cultural manager Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Wagner has been head of the office for Nuremberg's application for the title of European Capital of Culture 2025.

Born in Odenwald in 1982, studied psychology in Berlin and Paris and speech and musical theater direction at the Theaterakademie "August Everding" in Munich. Doctorate (ongoing) "Culture, Operation and Resonance" with Hartmut Rosa and Friedrich von Borries, HfBK Hamburg. Scholarship holder of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, the Gabriele-Oehmisch-Stiftung and the Akademie Musiktheater Heute of the Deutsche Bank Foundation.

As a freelance dramaturg, he has worked for a variety of productions in Germany and abroad (including Kampnagel, Schaubühne, Schauspielhaus Zürich, Theater Basel, Alfortville Paris). As founder, director and dramaturg he developed a number of site-specific productions with the independent group O-Team (including "HermannSchlachten" at the Stuttgart Wagenhallen, "Blaupause" in the former editorial building of the Süddeutsche Zeitung or "Kirschgärten" at the Hofgut Oberfeld Darmstadt) and most recently "Flüchtlinge" at the Thalia Theater Hamburg.

From 2011 to 2013 he was head dramaturge/member of the artistic direction at Theaterhaus Jena and in the 2014/2015 season drama director at Staatstheater Darmstadt. He has worked as festival curator and dramaturge (Rodeo Festival Munich, Datterich Festival Darmstadt, Wiesbaden Biennale) and lecturer (LMU and HfMT Munich, HfMT Leipzig, TU Darmstadt, JGU and HfMT Frankfurt, JGU Mainz, EAH and FSU Jena). Zipf directed JenaKultur from 2016 to 2022. Since the 2022/23 season, he has been executive director at Kampnagel Hamburg.