Annalisa Casini

Annalisa Casini is work and social psychologist. She is professor at UCLouvain (Belgium). She conducts research on the gendered dimension of work and its implications on men's and women's career choices and evolutions (e.g. glass ceiling effect) and their well-being at work. She is the french-speaking co-president of Sophia, the Belgian gender study network (www.sophia.be). 

Survey "Diversity in European Theatre": Saturday, 30 November, 13:30-14:30

Emma Durden

"Access to theatres, funding, and audiences are key debates in the South African theatre scene. This relates to whose stories are told, why, and how. My work revolves around increasing this access."

Dr Emma Durden is a South African theatre for development specialist, with an extensive history as an actor, director, researcher, author and educator. Emma's theatre work deals with social issues in context, and uses theatre as an interactive tool for health communication. She is a director of "Twist Theatre Development Projects", an organisation working with emerging community-based theatre makers, and manages the PST Project, an industrial theatre company focused on workplace safety.

Panel Talk "Whose Stories Are We Telling?": Friday, 29 November 2019, 9:45-11:15 

Paulien Geerlings

Paulien Geerlings is a dramaturge, translator and yogi. After her high school education, she studied Philosophy and Theatre studies at the University of Amsterdam. In 2004 she graduated at DasArts, an international, multidisciplinary Master of Theatre, based in Amsterdam and founded by Ritsaert ten Cate. Between 2004 and 2006, she has been working with Theatre Company Dood Paard. In 2006 she became dramaturge of Ad de Bont, playwright and artistic director of youth theatre company Wederzijds. This company merged with Liesbeth Coltof’s Huis aan de Amstel in 2009 and became De Toneelmakerij, the Amsterdam theatre company for young audiences. Since its establishment, Paulien Geerlings is the in house dramaturge of De Toneelmakerij. As dramaturge, she has a strong focus on new writing, coaching of playwrights and supporting writers initiatives. She translated several plays for De Toneelmakerij. She is also taking care of the international collaboration projects of the company. She is Vice President of the European Theatre Convention and Board Member of Assitej NL. Next to her work in theatre, Paulien Geerlings is yoga teacher and practitioner.

Panel Talk Moderation "Whose Stories Are We Telling?": Friday, 29 November 2019, 9:45-11:15 

Bassam Ghazi

"I can't imagine a feminism that is not anti-racist." (Angela Davis)

Bassam Ghazi moves between cultures and perspectives and trades with stories and history: biografic, postmigrantic, diverse, included and desintegrated. He is a drama teacher, theatre director and artistic director of the IMPORT EXPORT KOLLEKTIV at Schauspiel Köln. As a freelancer he offers diversity workshops for educational and cultural institutions. Bassam Ghazi is a member of the "alliance critical cultural practitioners“ and curator for the festival "Augenblick mal! 2021“.

Panel Talk "Whose Stories Are We Telling?": Friday, 29 November 2019, 9:45-11:15 

Marie Le Sourd

Since 2012, Marie Le Sourd is the Secretary General of On The Move, the cultural mobility information network active in Europe and worldwide. Prior to this position, Marie Le Sourd worked in Singapore for the Asia-Europe Foundation (Cultural Department) from 1999 to 2006 and directed the French Cultural Centre in Yogyakarta-Indonesia from 2006 to 2011. Marie Le Sourd has over the years nurtured a knowledge pool on international cultural cooperation, funding schemes for the mobility of artists and cultural professionals, networks and web-resources. She is overall interested in the multiple impacts of mobility on artists and cultural professionals and evaluation process linked to these.

'Mind Mapping' Session: Development of New European Project; Saturday 30 November, 15:30-16:45

Constant Meijers

"As the editor of a performing arts magazine I have always been aware of both theatre productions and theatre policies. As an advisor for the Arts Council I have continued and deepened this awareness."

Constant Meijers (Leiden, 1945) started his journalistic career during his studies at the Amsterdam University. In the 70's he was the editor-in-chief of various Dutch cultural magazines. During the 80's and 90's he produced programmes for Dutch television on media, music, culture and history. From 1997 until his retirement in 2015, Meijers was responsible for TheaterMaker, the Dutch magazine for the performing arts, and the successful theatre website Theaterkrant.nl he brought online in 2012.

Keynote "Introduction to Dutch Theatre": Saturday, 30 November 2019, 10:00-10:45 

Tiago Rodrigues

"In Lisbon, at Teatro Nacional D. Maria II, we spent a lot of the last five years asking the question “whose stories are we telling?” but, most importantly, “who is telling the story?”. We have witnessed how audience diversity goes hand in hand with diversity on stage. Both as an artistic director and as artist I’ve learned lessons that changed the way I work. And I believe that each step we give in this direction the more evident it becomes how far we still are from the finishing line."

Tiago Rodrigues is the artistic director of the Teatro Nacional D. Maria II. He is an actor, playwright and director whose subversive and poetic theatre has made him one of Portugal’s leading artists. His work has been presented in some of the most important theaters and festivals all over the world. In 2018 he was awarded XV Europe Prize Theatrical Realities. In the same year, he was distinguished by the French Republique with the title Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Panel Talk "Whose Stories Are We Telling?": Friday, 29 November 2019, 9:45-11:15 

Sarah Sepulchre

"Is victory having a black Hamlet or scheduling a play that speaks about race? The answer is not an easy one. Diversity is a programming strategy."

Sarah Sepulchre is professor at the Université catholique de Louvain. She mainly develops research on media cultures, TV fictions, characters, gender studies. She edited the book Décoder les séries télévisées (2017). She is co-founder of the 'Groupe interdisciplinaire de recherche sur les cultures et les arts en mouvements' (Gircam), member of Sophia (www.sophia.be) and vice-president of the International Association of researchers in popular literature and media culture (lpcm.hypotheses.org).

Survey "Diversity in European Theatre": Saturday, 30 November, 13:30-14:30

Tena Štivičić

"I have been a playwright for the last twenty years, living first in Croatia and then in the UK. Otherness has been a topic I have written about extensively."

Tena Štivičić was born in Zagreb, Croatia. Her plays have been produced in a number of European countries and translated and published in many languages. Her play Three Winters was first produced at the National Theatre in London in 2014-2015 and won the prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for best play in 2015. Following the London production, Three Winters opened in Slovenia, Estonia, Germany, Japan, Sweden and Croatia.

Panel Talk "Whose Stories Are We Telling?": Friday, 29 November 2019, 9:45-11:15