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.

Beate Baron has been Professor of Music Theater at the HfM Saar since 2021. She taught at the HfM Hanns Eisler Berlin, the MH Lübeck and the HMT Rostock. Beate Baron studied directing with Götz Friedrich Hfmt Hamburg and directing and interdisciplinary composition at the HfM "Hanns Eisler" Berlin and works as a director for music theater and opera, as well as a curator. Her artistic works arise in the field of tension between music theater, installations, opera and video. She has developed award-winning productions for a wide variety of venues and festivals, including the Ruhrtriennale, Festspielhaus Hellerau, Radial System, Staatsoper Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Oper Frankfurt, Theater Freiburg, and many others. A long and intensive artistic collaboration connected her with Götz Friedrich, Hans Neuenfels and Jürgen Flimm.

Eva Behrendt, born in Waiblingen in 1973, studied history, German and theater studies in Mainz, Dijon and Berlin. Since 2001, she has been an editor for "Theater heute," as well as a freelance critic for taz, Die Zeit, Merkur, etc., and a guest lecturer at the Institute for Theater Studies at the FU Berlin. She has served on various juries (Berliner Theatertreffen, Theaterpreis Berlin, Hauptstadtkulturfonds, Politik im freien Theater, Impulse, etc.) and is currently a member of the selection committee of the Mülheimer Theatertage.

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.

Angelika Eder has been the managing director of the Stiftung Genshagen since 2017, where she heads the " Kunst- und Kulturvermittlung in Europa" ("Art and Cultural Education in Europe") department. From 2002 to 2017, she worked at the Goethe-Institut, first as an officer in the "Science and Current Affairs" department at the Munich headquarters, from 2005 to 2009 as the institute director in Krakow, from 2009 to 2013 as the head of program work with a regional specialist assignment at the Goethe-Institut Prague (Regional Institute for Central Eastern Europe), and then as the institute director in St. Petersburg until 2017. Prior to that, she was a research associate at the Research Centre for Contemporary History in Hamburg for six years and before that, in 1994-96, a DAAD Lecturer at the German Department of the University of Liverpool.

Janis El-Bira, born in Braunschweig in 1986, studied philosophy and history in Berlin and has since worked as a journalist and presenter with a focus on theater. He is an editor for the theater portal nachtkritik.de and a presenter and editor for the program "Rang 1 - Das Theatermagazin" on Deutschlandfunk Kultur. In addition, texts and contributions for various newspapers and radio stations. From 2016 to 2021 he headed the journalistic project for young talent "Theatertreffen-Blog" at the Berliner Festspiele. Jury activities include the Mülheim Drama Prize 2021, the Fast Forward 2021 festival in Dresden, and the Politik im Freien Theater 2022 festival in Frankfurt am Main.

Matthias Frense studied theater in Hull, England, and in Berlin, as well as theater directing at the Theaterakademie in Hamburg. His first engagement was at Hamburg's Thalia Theater, where he assisted Jürgen Flimm, Dimiter Gotscheff, George Tabori and Robert Wilson, among others. Under the directorship of William Forsythe, Frense was engaged as production manager at the Städtische Bühnen Frankfurt am Main between 2002 and 2004. He worked as production manager and dramaturg for independent theater companies (including Maß & Fieber, Rauwald Company) in Germany and Switzerland, for Cirque du Soleil in Munich and for the Ruhrtriennale in Essen. In 2006, Frense came to Mülheim as a dramaturg to help transform the Ringlokschuppen socio-cultural center into a theater production house. Since 2015, he has been Artistic Director and Managing Director of the house, which over many years has been and continues to be a co-production partner for artists/groups such as andcompany&Co., Anna Kpok, Boris Nikitin, CocoonDance, Cooperativa Maura Morales, Gintersdorfer/Klaßen, kainkollektiv, LIGNA, Marta Górnicka, Martin Ambara, Monster Truck or vorschlag:hammer. In 2019, Ringlokschuppen Ruhr was awarded the Theaterpreis des Bundes.

Sabine Gehm is artistic director of the international festival TANZ Bremen and in the management team of the Tanzpakt project 'MV tanzt an'.

From 2006 to 2016, together with Katharina von Wilcke, she directed the first four editions of the international dance congress of the German Federal Cultural Foundation (Berlin 2006, Hamburg 2009, Düsseldorf 2013, Hannover 2016).

A graduate in cultural studies, she was program dramaturg and director of various festivals (including Junge Hunde, Independance Days, Tanzplattform Deutschland 2000) at Kampnagel Hamburg from 1994 to 2001 and coordinated, among other things, the international performing arts network 'Junge Hunde', which she co-founded, from 2001 to 2005.

Before that, she worked as an organization manager at the International Summer Theater Festival Hamburg.

As a freelance curator and cultural manager, she conceived and was responsible for international exchange projects, think tanks, laboratories and academies for KSB, BFDK, DTD, among others. She is on the board of the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland and was chair of the board of trustees at the Fonds Darstellende Künste from 2015 to 2020, for which she led the decision-making processes in 2020 (including publication of the handout on jury procedures). She is active as a reviewer and member of various juries of nationwide and international programs and works as a mentor in an advisory capacity for various artists and projects.

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.

Anne-Cathrin Lessel, born in 1987, studied theater, psychology and cultural studies at the University of Leipzig. Until 2011, she worked as a freelancer in artistic projects with children and young people, primarily at the Theater an der Parkaue Berlin. From 2011, program and production manager at LOFFT - DAS THEATER, whose artistic direction and management she took over in 2019. Since 2013 she has been a board member of the Bundesverband Freie Darstellende Künste and since 2020 a board member of the Landesverband der Freien Theater in Sachsen. For many years she has been a member of various professional juries, including those of the City of Leipzig, the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony, the German National Academic Foundation, the National Performance Network and the Fonds Darstellende Künste.

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

Helge-Björn Meyer has been in demand as a dramaturg, performer and curator at a wide variety of festivals and theaters in Germany and abroad. He has received national and international awards for his artistic projects. From 2018 to 2019 he was managing director of the Landesbüro Freie Theater Sachsen, and from 2019 to 2021 he headed the Servicetelle FREIE SZENE Sachsen for the interests of the independent performing arts in the Free State of Saxony.

Matthias Pees, geboren 1970 in Georgsmarienhütte, hat als Intendant und Geschäftsführer des internationalen Produktionshauses Künstlerhaus Mousonturm in Frankfurt am Main (2013–2022), Leitender Dramaturg der Wiener Festwochen (2010–2013), Gründer und Ko-Geschäftsführer des internationalen Produktionsbüros prod.art.br in São Paulo (2004–2010), Programmdramaturg der Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen (2003–2004), Theaterdramaturg am schauspielhannover (2000–2003) und an der Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz (1995–2000) sowie zuvor als Kulturjournalist und Theaterkritiker Erfahrungen in verschiedenen Bereichen und auf mehreren Seiten der darstellenden Künste gesammelt. Perspektivwechsel, kooperatives Arbeiten und „transformative Praktiken“ standen dabei erklärtermaßen im Zentrum seines Interesses; Themen wie globale Solidarität und Postkolonialismus, Zusammenhang und Zukunft von Internationalität und Diversität prägten seine Spielpläne und Projekte. In Frankfurt und der Rhein-Main-Region initiierte oder mitgestaltete er große interdisziplinäre Festivals und Kooperationsprojekte u. a. mit dem Ensemble Modern, dem Jüdischen Museum Frankfurt, dem Hessischen Staatsballett oder zuletzt mit dem Schauspiel Frankfurt, dem Museum Angewandte Kunst und der Frankfurter freien Szene für die Ausrichtung der Festivals „Politik im freien Theater“ der Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung/bpb und „Theater der Welt“ des Internationalen Theaterinstituts (ITI).

Matthias Pees is also a member of the management board of Kulturveranstaltungen des Bundes in Berlin (KBB) GmbH, which continues to include Mariette Rissenbeek, Charlotte Sieben and Bernd M. Scherer.

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.

Tobias Rausch has been working as a director and author at numerous municipal theaters and venues of the independent scene since 2001. He is co-founder of the collective LUNATIKS, of which he was a member until 2015. Since 2019, he has been the director of Bürger:Bühne at the Staatsschauspiel Dresden. His work focuses on research projects and on productions about climate & nature, such as the botanical long-term theater DIE WELT OHNE UNS (2009-2014) or the climate theater disaster TORNADO. He was awarded, among others, the Otto-Kasten-Preis of the Intendantengruppe im Deutschen Bühnenverein 2012 and the Bremer Autoren- und Produzentenpreis 2007. Together with composer Marc Sinan and director Konrad Kästner, he won the NO!peras competition in the Experimental Music Theater Fund 2019 with the opera project CHAOSMOS. He has held teaching positions at the Mozarteum Salzburg, the Zurich University of the Arts, and the Berlin University of the Arts, among others. Together with Ruth Feindel and Birgit Lengers, he curated the Berlin Recherchetheatertage at the Deutsches Theater (2016) and initiated the conference "Climate Meets Theater" at the Heinrich Böll Foundation in 2019.

Tim Sandweg studied Theater Studies and German Philology at the Free University of Berlin before joining the Puppet Theater of the City of Magdeburg as dramaturg in 2009; there he was also co-artistic director of the international puppet theater festival "blickwechsel". Since then, various play developments, stage adaptations, format developments, work as dramaturg, publications and performances in different production and work contexts. Since 2009 Tim Sandweg has been a member of the editorial board of the magazine for puppet, figure and object theater "double" and is currently a board member of the German Forum for Figure Theater and Puppetry Art. Various lecturer and jury activities. Since the beginning of the 2015/16 season, Tim Sandweg has been Artistic Director of Schaubude Berlin and the international festival Theater der Dinge.

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.

Ulrike Seybold has been managing director of the NRW State Office of Independent Performing Arts since January 2020. Since October 2015, she has been an assessor on the board of the Federal Association of Independent Performing Arts, and from 2013 to the end of 2019, she was the managing director of the State Association of Independent Theatres in Lower Saxony. Before joining the association, she worked for many years as a freelance production manager and press officer for various cultural and theater projects. She studied journalism, history and political science at the Ruhr University in Bochum, completed further training as a cultural manager in Neuss, and in parallel pursued journalistic activities for the taz and WDR, among others.

Esther Slevogt is an author, critic and editor-in-chief of the theater portal nachtkritik.de, which she co-founded. She writes about theater-historical topics in the context of politics and aesthetics in the 20th century, including the Wolfgang Langhoff biography "Den Kommunismus mit der Seele suchen" (Searching for Communism with the Soul), published by "Kiepenheuer und Witsch" in 2011. Another focus is Jewish postwar history in Germany. She is particularly interested in the consequences of digitalization for the traditional cultural technique of theater. She is co-inventor of the conference Theater & Netz.

Felizitas Stilleke is a freelance dramaturg, artist and curator. She directs conferences, such as the B.A.L.L. - Bundesweites Artist Labor of the Labore 2022, the Branchentreff 2019-2021, the Bundesforum 2017 or the RATSCHLAG DER VIELEN 2019, and takes over festival dramaturgies (Berliner Theatertreffen 2018, Impulse Theaterfestivals 2017 (under Florian Malzacher) or together with Johanna Yasirra Kluhs the theater festival FAVORITEN 2014) and is on the road as a production dramaturg in NRW, Berlin, Amsterdam and Zurich. She completed her Bachelor of German Studies/Education in Bochum and a Master in Cultural Poetics at the Wilhelms University in Münster. In 2018/19, she studied "Expanded Curation" as part of the international master's program at DAS theatre in Amsterdam. In 2020, she launched a series of podcast sessions at Ballhaus Ost titled "The Mother in Me is the Mother in You," in which she subjects the topic of not-yet/not-more/maybe/maternity to a collective rededication of discourse.

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.

Stephan Wunsch ist Puppenspieler, Figurenbildner und Regisseur. Er studierte Philosophie und Germanistik in Aachen und belegte Seminare in Figurenspiel und Figurenbau auf Hof Lebherz. 2003 gründete er die Bühne theater rosenfisch. Seitdem produziert er zahlreiche Inszenierungen für Kinder und Erwachsene; außerdem Regiearbeiten, Figurenbau und Bühnenmusik für andere Bühnen.

Neben dieser Tätigkeit ist er Teil der Redaktion von ‚Das andere Theater‘, die offizielle Zeitschrift des UNIMA-Zentrums der Bundesrepublik Deutschland e.V., die zwei Mal jährlich erscheint.

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.

Beate Baron has been Professor of Music Theater at the HfM Saar since 2021. She taught at the HfM Hanns Eisler Berlin, the MH Lübeck and the HMT Rostock. Beate Baron studied directing with Götz Friedrich Hfmt Hamburg and directing and interdisciplinary composition at the HfM "Hanns Eisler" Berlin and works as a director for music theater and opera, as well as a curator. Her artistic works arise in the field of tension between music theater, installations, opera and video. She has developed award-winning productions for a wide variety of venues and festivals, including the Ruhrtriennale, Festspielhaus Hellerau, Radial System, Staatsoper Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Oper Frankfurt, Theater Freiburg, and many others. A long and intensive artistic collaboration connected her with Götz Friedrich, Hans Neuenfels and Jürgen Flimm.

Studied art history, philosophy and cultural studies in Berlin, Buenos Aires and Mexico City. Since 2010 continuous collaboration with Rimini Protokoll, among others on "Truck Tracks Ruhr", "Remote X" and "Allright. Good night." Between 2014 and 2020 dramaturg at the Gorki Theater Berlin, where he was responsible, among other things, for the interdisciplinary Berlin Autumn Salon (2015/2017/2019). He curated numerous projects in public space including Wege at the Ruhrtriennale 2021 and 2022 as well as in Santiago de Chile, Tehran and Copenhagen. Co-founder and part of the artistic direction of the festival Osten in Bitterfeld.

Eva Behrendt, born in Waiblingen in 1973, studied history, German and theater studies in Mainz, Dijon and Berlin. Since 2001, she has been an editor for "Theater heute," as well as a freelance critic for taz, Die Zeit, Merkur, etc., and a guest lecturer at the Institute for Theater Studies at the FU Berlin. She has served on various juries (Berliner Theatertreffen, Theaterpreis Berlin, Hauptstadtkulturfonds, Politik im freien Theater, Impulse, etc.) and is currently a member of the selection committee of the Mülheimer Theatertage.

Amelie Deuflhard was artistic director of Sophiensæle (Berlin) from 2000 to 2007. In 2004/05 she was part of the artistic direction of "Volkspalast", a festival-like performance of the deconstructed Palast der Republik. Since 2007 she has been artistic director of Kampnagel (Hamburg), Europe's largest production center for the independent performing arts. With EcoFavela Lampedusa Nord, she initiated a living and action space for refugees in 2014. The project has found its extension at Kampnagel in the award-winning encounter space Migrantpolitan. Amelie Deuflhard was part of the curatorship of four of Theater der Welt 2017. She is the author of numerous publications and regularly holds teaching positions at universities. For her work, she was awarded the Caroline Neuber Prize in 2012 and the Insignia des Chevaliers des Arts et Lettres in 2013. In 2018, she received the European Cultural Manager of the Year award.

Angelika Eder has been the managing director of the Stiftung Genshagen since 2017, where she heads the " Kunst- und Kulturvermittlung in Europa" ("Art and Cultural Education in Europe") department. From 2002 to 2017, she worked at the Goethe-Institut, first as an officer in the "Science and Current Affairs" department at the Munich headquarters, from 2005 to 2009 as the institute director in Krakow, from 2009 to 2013 as the head of program work with a regional specialist assignment at the Goethe-Institut Prague (Regional Institute for Central Eastern Europe), and then as the institute director in St. Petersburg until 2017. Prior to that, she was a research associate at the Research Centre for Contemporary History in Hamburg for six years and before that, in 1994-96, a DAAD Lecturer at the German Department of the University of Liverpool.

Dorte Lena Eilers is professor and head of the master's program "Cultural Journalism" at the University of Music and Theater in Munich in cooperation with the August Everding Theater Academy. She also works as a cultural journalist, predominantly in the fields of music and theater against the background of socio-political developments. Previously, she was editor from 2007 to 2021, most recently editor-in-chief of Theater der Zeit. She is a member of the German Academy of Performing Arts and the advisory board of the magazine "junge bühne" and has served on various juries (including the German Federal Theater Prize and the Mülheim Theater Days). Publications (as co-editor) include Frank Castorf, Dimiter Gotscheff, Bulgarian theater and new German-language drama. Most recently, her volume of talks "backstage TSCHEPLANOWA" was published.

Janis El-Bira, born in Braunschweig in 1986, studied philosophy and history in Berlin and has since worked as a journalist and presenter with a focus on theater. He is an editor for the theater portal nachtkritik.de and a presenter and editor for the program "Rang 1 - Das Theatermagazin" on Deutschlandfunk Kultur. In addition, texts and contributions for various newspapers and radio stations. From 2016 to 2021 he headed the journalistic project for young talent "Theatertreffen-Blog" at the Berliner Festspiele. Jury activities include the Mülheim Drama Prize 2021, the Fast Forward 2021 festival in Dresden, and the Politik im Freien Theater 2022 festival in Frankfurt am Main.

Matthias Frense studied theater in Hull, England, and in Berlin, as well as theater directing at the Theaterakademie in Hamburg. His first engagement was at Hamburg's Thalia Theater, where he assisted Jürgen Flimm, Dimiter Gotscheff, George Tabori and Robert Wilson, among others. Under the directorship of William Forsythe, Frense was engaged as production manager at the Städtische Bühnen Frankfurt am Main between 2002 and 2004. He worked as production manager and dramaturg for independent theater companies (including Maß & Fieber, Rauwald Company) in Germany and Switzerland, for Cirque du Soleil in Munich and for the Ruhrtriennale in Essen. In 2006, Frense came to Mülheim as a dramaturg to help transform the Ringlokschuppen socio-cultural center into a theater production house. Since 2015, he has been Artistic Director and Managing Director of the house, which over many years has been and continues to be a co-production partner for artists/groups such as andcompany&Co., Anna Kpok, Boris Nikitin, CocoonDance, Cooperativa Maura Morales, Gintersdorfer/Klaßen, kainkollektiv, LIGNA, Marta Górnicka, Martin Ambara, Monster Truck or vorschlag:hammer. In 2019, Ringlokschuppen Ruhr was awarded the Theaterpreis des Bundes.

Maria Gebhardt, born in 1988 in Saxony-Anhalt, studied cultural studies and aesthetic practice in Hildesheim and Paris.

Her professional biography was shaped by positions in the management of the independent production and performance venue Theaterhaus Hildesheim, as a project officer at the Federal Academy for Cultural Education in Wolfenbüttel, and since 2017 in the management of the interest group Landeszentrum Freies Theater Sachsen-Anhalt. Since 2019, Maria Gebhardt has been a member of the board of the Saxony-Anhalt Cultural Conference.

Core topics of her work are the empowerment of independent artists through consulting, the participation in structural improvements of funding procedures and framework conditions of cultural funding as well as the initiation of measures to improve the visibility of the independent scene as a landscape. Her own artistic practice has always taken place backstage in the areas of dramaturgy, production, scenography and technology.

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.

Lucien Lambertz (they/them), born 1983 in Unna, studied theater and media studies at the Ruhr University Bochum from 2003-2007. During his studies he worked for the Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen and Schauspiel Essen and worked as a musician and freelance dramaturge for various scenic projects. From 2008, they worked as an event manager and project manager for Zeppelin University Friedrichshafen, where they subsequently completed a Master's degree in Communication & Cultural Management from 2008 to 2010. Lucien Lambertz has been working at Kampnagel Hamburg since 2010. As Artistic Coordinator and Dramaturg, they are now primarily responsible for coordinating the season program and for the areas of queer performance, participation projects and cross-genre theater formats, with a focus on local-international collaborations; also for cooperation projects with scientific and foundation partners. They supervised the long-term EU project ACT-Art, Climate Transition and regularly various other national and international collaborations at Kampnagel.

Lucien Lambertz has worked as a coach, mentor and guest lecturer since 2010, including at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater/ Theaterakademie, University of Hamburg, University of Witten/Herdecke, Zeppelin University Friedrichshafen, Ruhr University Bochum and as part of the Claussen-Simon Foundation's stART.up scholarship program. He also regularly serves on juries in the field of performing arts.

Anne-Cathrin Lessel, born in 1987, studied theater, psychology and cultural studies at the University of Leipzig. Until 2011, she worked as a freelancer in artistic projects with children and young people, primarily at the Theater an der Parkaue Berlin. From 2011, program and production manager at LOFFT - DAS THEATER, whose artistic direction and management she took over in 2019. Since 2013 she has been a board member of the Bundesverband Freie Darstellende Künste and since 2020 a board member of the Landesverband der Freien Theater in Sachsen. For many years she has been a member of various professional juries, including those of the City of Leipzig, the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony, the German National Academic Foundation, the National Performance Network and the Fonds Darstellende Künste.

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.

Freelance director and artistic project manager Frauke Meyer was born in Dresden. She studied musical theater directing at the Hamburg University of Music and Theater. She then worked at San Francisco Opera and Theater Basel, where she took her first staging steps. From 2005-2013 she was engaged as scenic director at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where she developed various productions. At the same time, she began working as a freelance director for the Theater Dortmund and the Winter Opera Potsdam, for example, and was internationally responsible for scenic takeovers in Montpellier, Istanbul or Luxembourg. Since 2013 she has been working as a freelance director and project developer at houses and institutions such as the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Bavarian State Opera, the Royal Opera House, the Cologne Early Music Festival, the Theater Bonn, the Cologne Baroque Orchestra , the sound art festival bonnhoeren, the Sommerblut Festival or as part of the BTHVN2020. Frauke Meyer teaches dramaturgical project development within the course of studies "Music Mediation - Music in Context" at the Anton Bruckner Private University Linz, dramaturgical teaching at the Rostock University of Music and Theatre and is committed to the equal rights of female artists within the Women's Cultural Office NRW.

Helge-Björn Meyer has been in demand as a dramaturg, performer and curator at a wide variety of festivals and theaters in Germany and abroad. He has received national and international awards for his artistic projects. From 2018 to 2019 he was managing director of the Landesbüro Freie Theater Sachsen, and from 2019 to 2021 he headed the Servicetelle FREIE SZENE Sachsen for the interests of the independent performing arts in the Free State of Saxony.

Matthias Pees, geboren 1970 in Georgsmarienhütte, hat als Intendant und Geschäftsführer des internationalen Produktionshauses Künstlerhaus Mousonturm in Frankfurt am Main (2013–2022), Leitender Dramaturg der Wiener Festwochen (2010–2013), Gründer und Ko-Geschäftsführer des internationalen Produktionsbüros prod.art.br in São Paulo (2004–2010), Programmdramaturg der Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen (2003–2004), Theaterdramaturg am schauspielhannover (2000–2003) und an der Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz (1995–2000) sowie zuvor als Kulturjournalist und Theaterkritiker Erfahrungen in verschiedenen Bereichen und auf mehreren Seiten der darstellenden Künste gesammelt. Perspektivwechsel, kooperatives Arbeiten und „transformative Praktiken“ standen dabei erklärtermaßen im Zentrum seines Interesses; Themen wie globale Solidarität und Postkolonialismus, Zusammenhang und Zukunft von Internationalität und Diversität prägten seine Spielpläne und Projekte. In Frankfurt und der Rhein-Main-Region initiierte oder mitgestaltete er große interdisziplinäre Festivals und Kooperationsprojekte u. a. mit dem Ensemble Modern, dem Jüdischen Museum Frankfurt, dem Hessischen Staatsballett oder zuletzt mit dem Schauspiel Frankfurt, dem Museum Angewandte Kunst und der Frankfurter freien Szene für die Ausrichtung der Festivals „Politik im freien Theater“ der Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung/bpb und „Theater der Welt“ des Internationalen Theaterinstituts (ITI).

Matthias Pees is also a member of the management board of Kulturveranstaltungen des Bundes in Berlin (KBB) GmbH, which continues to include Mariette Rissenbeek, Charlotte Sieben and Bernd M. Scherer.

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.

Tobias Rausch has been working as a director and author at numerous municipal theaters and venues of the independent scene since 2001. He is co-founder of the collective LUNATIKS, of which he was a member until 2015. Since 2019, he has been the director of Bürger:Bühne at the Staatsschauspiel Dresden. His work focuses on research projects and on productions about climate & nature, such as the botanical long-term theater DIE WELT OHNE UNS (2009-2014) or the climate theater disaster TORNADO. He was awarded, among others, the Otto-Kasten-Preis of the Intendantengruppe im Deutschen Bühnenverein 2012 and the Bremer Autoren- und Produzentenpreis 2007. Together with composer Marc Sinan and director Konrad Kästner, he won the NO!peras competition in the Experimental Music Theater Fund 2019 with the opera project CHAOSMOS. He has held teaching positions at the Mozarteum Salzburg, the Zurich University of the Arts, and the Berlin University of the Arts, among others. Together with Ruth Feindel and Birgit Lengers, he curated the Berlin Recherchetheatertage at the Deutsches Theater (2016) and initiated the conference "Climate Meets Theater" at the Heinrich Böll Foundation in 2019.

Tim Sandweg studied Theater Studies and German Philology at the Free University of Berlin before joining the Puppet Theater of the City of Magdeburg as dramaturg in 2009; there he was also co-artistic director of the international puppet theater festival "blickwechsel". Since then, various play developments, stage adaptations, format developments, work as dramaturg, publications and performances in different production and work contexts. Since 2009 Tim Sandweg has been a member of the editorial board of the magazine for puppet, figure and object theater "double" and is currently a board member of the German Forum for Figure Theater and Puppetry Art. Various lecturer and jury activities. Since the beginning of the 2015/16 season, Tim Sandweg has been Artistic Director of Schaubude Berlin and the international festival Theater der Dinge.

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.

Theresa Schütz, born 1986, theater scholar and theater journalist. After studying German Literature and Cultural Studies (BA) at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Theater Studies (MA) at Freie Universität Berlin and Université Paris-8, she worked as a research assistant at the Collaborative Research Center Affective Societies. Dynamics of Living Together in Moving Worlds at the Free University of Berlin. As part of this, she completed her PhD in 2021 on strategies of audience engagement in contemporary immersive theater ("Theater der Vereinnahmung," Berlin 2022). She has continued her work at the SFB since 2021 as a postdoctoral researcher with a project on forms of life of artist collectives.

Since 2013 she has also been writing regularly in theater journalism, primarily for the magazine Theater der Zeit, and since 2022 also for nachtkritik.de. In 2019/20, she was a participant in the first Academy for Contemporary Theater Journalism, sponsored by the Bündnis internationaler Produktionshäuser.

Ulrike Seybold has been managing director of the NRW State Office of Independent Performing Arts since January 2020. Since October 2015, she has been an assessor on the board of the Federal Association of Independent Performing Arts, and from 2013 to the end of 2019, she was the managing director of the State Association of Independent Theatres in Lower Saxony. Before joining the association, she worked for many years as a freelance production manager and press officer for various cultural and theater projects. She studied journalism, history and political science at the Ruhr University in Bochum, completed further training as a cultural manager in Neuss, and in parallel pursued journalistic activities for the taz and WDR, among others.

Esther Slevogt is an author, critic and editor-in-chief of the theater portal nachtkritik.de, which she co-founded. She writes about theater-historical topics in the context of politics and aesthetics in the 20th century, including the Wolfgang Langhoff biography "Den Kommunismus mit der Seele suchen" (Searching for Communism with the Soul), published by "Kiepenheuer und Witsch" in 2011. Another focus is Jewish postwar history in Germany. She is particularly interested in the consequences of digitalization for the traditional cultural technique of theater. She is co-inventor of the conference Theater & Netz.

Felizitas Stilleke is a freelance dramaturg, artist and curator. She directs conferences, such as the B.A.L.L. - Bundesweites Artist Labor of the Labore 2022, the Branchentreff 2019-2021, the Bundesforum 2017 or the RATSCHLAG DER VIELEN 2019, and takes over festival dramaturgies (Berliner Theatertreffen 2018, Impulse Theaterfestivals 2017 (under Florian Malzacher) or together with Johanna Yasirra Kluhs the theater festival FAVORITEN 2014) and is on the road as a production dramaturg in NRW, Berlin, Amsterdam and Zurich. She completed her Bachelor of German Studies/Education in Bochum and a Master in Cultural Poetics at the Wilhelms University in Münster. In 2018/19, she studied "Expanded Curation" as part of the international master's program at DAS theatre in Amsterdam. In 2020, she launched a series of podcast sessions at Ballhaus Ost titled "The Mother in Me is the Mother in You," in which she subjects the topic of not-yet/not-more/maybe/maternity to a collective rededication of discourse.

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.

Stephan Wunsch ist Puppenspieler, Figurenbildner und Regisseur. Er studierte Philosophie und Germanistik in Aachen und belegte Seminare in Figurenspiel und Figurenbau auf Hof Lebherz. 2003 gründete er die Bühne theater rosenfisch. Seitdem produziert er zahlreiche Inszenierungen für Kinder und Erwachsene; außerdem Regiearbeiten, Figurenbau und Bühnenmusik für andere Bühnen.

Neben dieser Tätigkeit ist er Teil der Redaktion von ‚Das andere Theater‘, die offizielle Zeitschrift des UNIMA-Zentrums der Bundesrepublik Deutschland e.V., die zwei Mal jährlich erscheint.

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.

Beate Baron has been Professor of Music Theater at the HfM Saar since 2021. She taught at the HfM Hanns Eisler Berlin, the MH Lübeck and the HMT Rostock. Beate Baron studied directing with Götz Friedrich Hfmt Hamburg and directing and interdisciplinary composition at the HfM "Hanns Eisler" Berlin and works as a director for music theater and opera, as well as a curator. Her artistic works arise in the field of tension between music theater, installations, opera and video. She has developed award-winning productions for a wide variety of venues and festivals, including the Ruhrtriennale, Festspielhaus Hellerau, Radial System, Staatsoper Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Oper Frankfurt, Theater Freiburg, and many others. A long and intensive artistic collaboration connected her with Götz Friedrich, Hans Neuenfels and Jürgen Flimm.

Studied art history, philosophy and cultural studies in Berlin, Buenos Aires and Mexico City. Since 2010 continuous collaboration with Rimini Protokoll, among others on "Truck Tracks Ruhr", "Remote X" and "Allright. Good night." Between 2014 and 2020 dramaturg at the Gorki Theater Berlin, where he was responsible, among other things, for the interdisciplinary Berlin Autumn Salon (2015/2017/2019). He curated numerous projects in public space including Wege at the Ruhrtriennale 2021 and 2022 as well as in Santiago de Chile, Tehran and Copenhagen. Co-founder and part of the artistic direction of the festival Osten in Bitterfeld.

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.

Jan Deck is a political scientist who lives in Frankfurt/Main and works as a freelance dramaturg, director and curator at various locations and with various artists, ensembles and collectives. With his performance collective profikollektion, he explores historical sites and social issues with Katja Kämmerer. He is also the managing director of the Landesverband Freie Darstellende Künste Hessen e.V. (laPROF). He is and was a member of various juries and advisory boards, curates conferences, festivals and labs. As an editor and author, he deals with various aspects of art and society.

Amelie Deuflhard was artistic director of Sophiensæle (Berlin) from 2000 to 2007. In 2004/05 she was part of the artistic direction of "Volkspalast", a festival-like performance of the deconstructed Palast der Republik. Since 2007 she has been artistic director of Kampnagel (Hamburg), Europe's largest production center for the independent performing arts. With EcoFavela Lampedusa Nord, she initiated a living and action space for refugees in 2014. The project has found its extension at Kampnagel in the award-winning encounter space Migrantpolitan. Amelie Deuflhard was part of the curatorship of four of Theater der Welt 2017. She is the author of numerous publications and regularly holds teaching positions at universities. For her work, she was awarded the Caroline Neuber Prize in 2012 and the Insignia des Chevaliers des Arts et Lettres in 2013. In 2018, she received the European Cultural Manager of the Year award.

Marcus Droß studied Applied Theater Studies at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen. From 1996 to 2012 he worked as a freelance director, dramaturg and artistic mentor with artists and collectives in the fields of music theater, performance and choreography, for festivals, residency programs, co-production houses and in artistic education. From 2012 to 2022, Marcus Droß was dramaturg and program curator at Frankfurt's Künstlerhaus Mousonturm. As part of a long-term reconceptualization of the Mousonturm's role as an artistic and cultural-political partner institution of the regional independent scene, he developed mediation, research and production formats in the field of dance and performance and initiated and accompanied the dramaturgical development and production of performances. He was part of the co-direction of the Frankfurt edition of the festival Politik im Freien Theater 2022, which was conceived and organized in close collaboration with the regional independent scene and for which Mousonturm was responsible for its execution. In September 2022, Marcus Droß took over the management and artistic directorship of the Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm together with Anna Wagner.

Dorte Lena Eilers is professor and head of the master's program "Cultural Journalism" at the University of Music and Theater in Munich in cooperation with the August Everding Theater Academy. She also works as a cultural journalist, predominantly in the fields of music and theater against the background of socio-political developments. Previously, she was editor from 2007 to 2021, most recently editor-in-chief of Theater der Zeit. She is a member of the German Academy of Performing Arts and the advisory board of the magazine "junge bühne" and has served on various juries (including the German Federal Theater Prize and the Mülheim Theater Days). Publications (as co-editor) include Frank Castorf, Dimiter Gotscheff, Bulgarian theater and new German-language drama. Most recently, her volume of talks "backstage TSCHEPLANOWA" was published.

Maria Gebhardt, born in 1988 in Saxony-Anhalt, studied cultural studies and aesthetic practice in Hildesheim and Paris.

Her professional biography was shaped by positions in the management of the independent production and performance venue Theaterhaus Hildesheim, as a project officer at the Federal Academy for Cultural Education in Wolfenbüttel, and since 2017 in the management of the interest group Landeszentrum Freies Theater Sachsen-Anhalt. Since 2019, Maria Gebhardt has been a member of the board of the Saxony-Anhalt Cultural Conference.

Core topics of her work are the empowerment of independent artists through consulting, the participation in structural improvements of funding procedures and framework conditions of cultural funding as well as the initiation of measures to improve the visibility of the independent scene as a landscape. Her own artistic practice has always taken place backstage in the areas of dramaturgy, production, scenography and technology.

Sabine Gehm is artistic director of the international festival TANZ Bremen and in the management team of the Tanzpakt project 'MV tanzt an'.

From 2006 to 2016, together with Katharina von Wilcke, she directed the first four editions of the international dance congress of the German Federal Cultural Foundation (Berlin 2006, Hamburg 2009, Düsseldorf 2013, Hannover 2016).

A graduate in cultural studies, she was program dramaturg and director of various festivals (including Junge Hunde, Independance Days, Tanzplattform Deutschland 2000) at Kampnagel Hamburg from 1994 to 2001 and coordinated, among other things, the international performing arts network 'Junge Hunde', which she co-founded, from 2001 to 2005.

Before that, she worked as an organization manager at the International Summer Theater Festival Hamburg.

As a freelance curator and cultural manager, she conceived and was responsible for international exchange projects, think tanks, laboratories and academies for KSB, BFDK, DTD, among others. She is on the board of the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland and was chair of the board of trustees at the Fonds Darstellende Künste from 2015 to 2020, for which she led the decision-making processes in 2020 (including publication of the handout on jury procedures). She is active as a reviewer and member of various juries of nationwide and international programs and works as a mentor in an advisory capacity for various artists and projects.

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.

After studying teaching, Matthias Grön founded the Oldenburg University Theater (OUT) and led OUT as artistic director. In the 2001/2002 season, he moved to the Oldenburg State Theater. He is dramaturg at the Oldenburg State Theater and directs the Young State Theater there. He has also appeared as a director on various occasions.

Seta-Elizabeth Guetsoyan, M.A., studied theater studies and art history at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. She worked in different theater and cultural institutions as a dramaturg, researcher and production manager in a number of different projects (Theater der Welt, Schauspielhaus Bochum, Ruhrtriennale or also in the Capital of Culture team of the city of Herne).

From 2012 to 2018, she managed the Documentation Center of the German Forum for Figure Theater and Puppetry Art and the production of the festival FIDENA - Figurentheater der Nationen.

Since 2019, she has directed the Figurentheater-Kolleg, a continuing education institution for performing and visual arts with a focus on puppet theater, and the Rottstr5-Kunsthallen, a space for transdisciplinary art and cultural-political discourse, in Bochum.

Katja Herlemann studied theater and dance studies as well as comparative literature at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum and at the University of Antwerp. From 2011 to 2013 she worked at the Goethe-Institut in Munich and in Prague. In 2013 she was in charge of the mediation program at the Foreign Affairs Festival of the Berliner Festspiele, before moving to the Theater und Orchester Heidelberg for the 2013/14 season. There she curated and organized the international Heidelberg Stückemarkt and was on the selection committee for the playwright competition. From 2016 - 2019 she was dramaturg and curator of the contemporary drama section at Schauspiel Leipzig. There she realized play developments and premieres with, among others, Thomas Köck, Enis Maci, and E.L. Karhu, and directed the young playwrights' festival 4+1. Since 2019 she has been dramaturg at Schauspiel Frankfurt, where she continues her collaboration with Claudia Bauer, among others. She is part of the management team of the 11th edition of the festival "Politik im Freien Theater", which will take place in Frankfurt in fall 2022.

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.

Since 2015, Kira Kirsch has been Artistic Director and Managing Director of brut in Vienna, a production and performance venue for the independent Austrian and international theater, performance and dance scene. From 2007-2015 she was dramaturg or head dramaturg and curator of the contemporary art festival steirischer herbst in Graz. She co-founded the monothematic magazine BOB and co-edited the reader Truth is Concrete. A Handbook for Artistic Strategies in Real Politics, which deals with current movements of politically engaged art and artistic activism on an international level.

Anne-Cathrin Lessel, born in 1987, studied theater, psychology and cultural studies at the University of Leipzig. Until 2011, she worked as a freelancer in artistic projects with children and young people, primarily at the Theater an der Parkaue Berlin. From 2011, program and production manager at LOFFT - DAS THEATER, whose artistic direction and management she took over in 2019. Since 2013 she has been a board member of the Bundesverband Freie Darstellende Künste and since 2020 a board member of the Landesverband der Freien Theater in Sachsen. For many years she has been a member of various professional juries, including those of the City of Leipzig, the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony, the German National Academic Foundation, the National Performance Network and the Fonds Darstellende Künste.

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.

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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.

Freelance director and artistic project manager Frauke Meyer was born in Dresden. She studied musical theater directing at the Hamburg University of Music and Theater. She then worked at San Francisco Opera and Theater Basel, where she took her first staging steps. From 2005-2013 she was engaged as scenic director at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where she developed various productions. At the same time, she began working as a freelance director for the Theater Dortmund and the Winter Opera Potsdam, for example, and was internationally responsible for scenic takeovers in Montpellier, Istanbul or Luxembourg. Since 2013 she has been working as a freelance director and project developer at houses and institutions such as the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Bavarian State Opera, the Royal Opera House, the Cologne Early Music Festival, the Theater Bonn, the Cologne Baroque Orchestra , the sound art festival bonnhoeren, the Sommerblut Festival or as part of the BTHVN2020. Frauke Meyer teaches dramaturgical project development within the course of studies "Music Mediation - Music in Context" at the Anton Bruckner Private University Linz, dramaturgical teaching at the Rostock University of Music and Theatre and is committed to the equal rights of female artists within the Women's Cultural Office NRW.

Helge-Björn Meyer has been in demand as a dramaturg, performer and curator at a wide variety of festivals and theaters in Germany and abroad. He has received national and international awards for his artistic projects. From 2018 to 2019 he was managing director of the Landesbüro Freie Theater Sachsen, and from 2019 to 2021 he headed the Servicetelle FREIE SZENE Sachsen for the interests of the independent performing arts in the Free State of Saxony.

llja Mirsky studied Cognitive Science at the University of Tübingen, Politics, Literature and Psychology at the University of Haifa (Israel) and Performance Studies at the University of Hamburg. He teaches on immersive media and digital dramaturgy at ADK Ludwigsburg, University of Tübingen and University of Arts Helsinki. From 2019 to 2022, he was dramaturg and also a regular programmer at the Institute for Theaterale Zukunftsforschung (ITZ) at the Zimmertheater in Tübingen. Since the 2022/2023 season, he has been dramaturg and digital dramaturg at the Residenztheater in Munich.

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.

After her studies at the Humboldt University in Berlin, she worked as a research assistant at the Academy of Arts of the GDR. In 1996 she was co-founder and until 2003 curator of the theater festival "reich & berühmt". From 1997 to 2002 she was head of the theater/performance department at Podewil, Center for Contemporary Arts in Berlin. Here she realized various co-productions, guest performances and international festivals, including the 1997 festival "Live Art - New theatre for the 90s" with young British performers.

She worked at the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz from 2002 to 2011, mainly as curator for the Volksbühne im Prater. In 2010 and 2012 she was artistic director of the theater festival "Favoriten" in Dortmund and during the season 2011/2012 dramaturg at the Residenztheater Munich.

Various publications, including: René Pollesch, "Liebe ist kälter als das Kapital," Hamburg 2009 and Postdramatic Theater in Portraits/Gob Squad "What are you looking at?", Berlin 2020.

Sabine Reich, born in 1966, studied comparative literature, philosophy and theater studies in Bonn, Bochum and Madrid. First dramaturgy work at Schauspielhaus Bochum, assistant at Burgtheater Wien, then freelance dramaturg in Mülheim, Berlin and New York, lecturer in theater studies at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 2004 in Frank Castorf's team at Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen. From 2005 - 2010 dramaturg at Schauspiel Essen involved in the projects "Eichbaumoper" and for Frie Leysen in the team of "Theater der Welt 2010". From 2010 at Schauspielhaus Bochum, 2013-2015 as head dramaturg, responsible among others for the DETROIT PROJECT. In 2017 she took over the program management of "Tanzland" for the Kulturstiftung des Bundes in sponsorship of the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland. 2018/19 project management and concept for OWELA, a performance festival of Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen and Kaleni Kollektiv Windhoek in Recklinghausen and Windhoek, funded by Fonds TURN of the Kulturstiftung des Bundes. In 2019-2022 she was chief dramaturge and deputy artistic director at Schauspiel Dortmund (artistic director Julia Wissert).

Gregor Runge, born in Dresden, studied theater studies and comparative literature in Bochum and worked for the Impulse and FAVORITEN theater festivals, among others. From 2011 he worked as a dramaturg primarily with Samir Akika/Unusual Symptoms and the Theater im Pumpenhaus Münster. In 2012 he went to Theater Bremen as dramaturg. In 2015 and 2017 he co-directed the international performing arts festival OUTNOW! in cooperation with Schwankhalle Bremen. He has worked on projects for the Goethe-Institut in Novosibirsk and for the Goethe-Institut Ukraine. Since the 2018/2019 season, he has been co-directing the dance division of Theater Bremen with the company Unusual Symptoms together with Alexandra Morales. Under their co-direction, productions with internationally renowned choreographers such as Faye Driscoll, Adrienn Hód, Máté Mészáros and Núria Guiu Sagarra are created alongside the work of house choreographer Samir Akika. Two of the works created since then were invited to the Tanzplattform Deutschland in 2020. Gregor Runge is a regular member of various juries, including the board of trustees of the Fonds Darstellende Künste from 2018 - 2021 and for the state of NRW. In addition, he initiated and is responsible for the concert series Theater Bremen CLUB, which regularly presents artists* from the global jazz and pop landscape for the first time in Bremen.

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.

Beata Anna Schmutz was born in Gdansk, Poland in 1975. After studying German at the University of Gdańsk, she continued her university education in the subjects of art history, educational science and literature at the Ruprecht Karls University in Heidelberg. She is the artistic director of numerous theater, art and media education projects and was a cultural education employee at the Haus der Jugend Heidelberg from 2005 to 2016, where she headed the art and theater departments. Freelance director and dramaturg since 2006, university lecturer in the fields of aesthetic education, post-dramatic theater and performance. In 2005 she founded the theater and performance group RAMPIG, where she works as a director and dramaturg. From 2016 to 2018 she was head of the Volkstheater department at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe. Since 2018 she has been directing the Mannheim City Ensemble at the National Theater Mannheim. Member of the board of the Dramaturgical Society since 2016.

Theresa Schütz, born 1986, theater scholar and theater journalist. After studying German Literature and Cultural Studies (BA) at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Theater Studies (MA) at Freie Universität Berlin and Université Paris-8, she worked as a research assistant at the Collaborative Research Center Affective Societies. Dynamics of Living Together in Moving Worlds at the Free University of Berlin. As part of this, she completed her PhD in 2021 on strategies of audience engagement in contemporary immersive theater ("Theater der Vereinnahmung," Berlin 2022). She has continued her work at the SFB since 2021 as a postdoctoral researcher with a project on forms of life of artist collectives.

Since 2013 she has also been writing regularly in theater journalism, primarily for the magazine Theater der Zeit, and since 2022 also for nachtkritik.de. In 2019/20, she was a participant in the first Academy for Contemporary Theater Journalism, sponsored by the Bündnis internationaler Produktionshäuser.

Ulrike Seybold has been managing director of the NRW State Office of Independent Performing Arts since January 2020. Since October 2015, she has been an assessor on the board of the Federal Association of Independent Performing Arts, and from 2013 to the end of 2019, she was the managing director of the State Association of Independent Theatres in Lower Saxony. Before joining the association, she worked for many years as a freelance production manager and press officer for various cultural and theater projects. She studied journalism, history and political science at the Ruhr University in Bochum, completed further training as a cultural manager in Neuss, and in parallel pursued journalistic activities for the taz and WDR, among others.

Esther Slevogt is an author, critic and editor-in-chief of the theater portal nachtkritik.de, which she co-founded. She writes about theater-historical topics in the context of politics and aesthetics in the 20th century, including the Wolfgang Langhoff biography "Den Kommunismus mit der Seele suchen" (Searching for Communism with the Soul), published by "Kiepenheuer und Witsch" in 2011. Another focus is Jewish postwar history in Germany. She is particularly interested in the consequences of digitalization for the traditional cultural technique of theater. She is co-inventor of the conference Theater & Netz.

Jessica Samantha Starr Weisskirchen began her theater career as an assistant director at the Theater und Orchester Heidelberg and later moved to the Nationaltheater Mannheim. Here she realized her first works during her assistantship (DIE TONIGHT, LIVE FOREVER or DAS PRINZIP NOSFERATU by Sivan Ben Yishai, 2020) and as a director (EIN KÖRPER FÜR JETZT UND HEUTE by Mehdi Moradpour, 2021). In 2022 she opened the season of Theater Dortmund with WOYZECK, and in 2023 she will open the season in the 'Box' of Deutsches Theater Berlin. She is founder of the assistierenden-netzwerk and meanwhile board member of the ensemble-netzwerk e.V. She is initiator and founder of the assistierenden-festival SUMMER UP and jury member of the Prozessförderung of the Fonds Darstellende Künste. In 2022, she successfully completed the Master of Arts degree program, Theater and Orchestra Management, at the HfMDK in Frankfurt am Main. This year, the Kulturpolitische Gesellschaft is publishing the anthology "Systemkritik! Essays für eine Kulturpolitik der Transformation" with her article "Nur die Bretter, die die Welt bedeuten".

Stephan Wunsch ist Puppenspieler, Figurenbildner und Regisseur. Er studierte Philosophie und Germanistik in Aachen und belegte Seminare in Figurenspiel und Figurenbau auf Hof Lebherz. 2003 gründete er die Bühne theater rosenfisch. Seitdem produziert er zahlreiche Inszenierungen für Kinder und Erwachsene; außerdem Regiearbeiten, Figurenbau und Bühnenmusik für andere Bühnen.

Neben dieser Tätigkeit ist er Teil der Redaktion von ‚Das andere Theater‘, die offizielle Zeitschrift des UNIMA-Zentrums der Bundesrepublik Deutschland e.V., die zwei Mal jährlich erscheint.

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.