Mohamedou Ould Slahi Houbeini - Speaker (Tuesday Keynote)
Mohamedou Ould Slahi Houbeini is an internationally-acclaimed author who currently holds positions as writer in residence with NITE and De Balie in the Netherlands. In 2001, he was living and working in his home country of Mauritania when he was detained and renditioned to Jordan, beginning an ordeal that he would chronicle in his internationally-bestselling Guantánamo Diary. Mohamedou’s projects with NNT/NITE include co-writing the theatre production Yara’s Wedding, based on Edward Said’s Orientalism, which premiered in February 2023, and he was awarded the Netherlands PAX Peace Prize (Verededuif) in 2022 and The Marco Borradori Prize Lugao/Switzerland in September 2023.
Madhumita Nandi - Keynote speaker (Wednesday)
Madhumita Nandi is an Indian visual artist, researcher, and curator based in Berlin, with primary research focus in the field of archival practices and the relation of visual images to ethno-history, and with a special focus in preserving and curating intangible art. She is the artistic co-director of Oyoun. Through a process-oriented approach, Madhumita has been exploring the intersections of memory culture, archival practices, and ecology. With the help of photographs, videos, sounds, and performances, Madhumita traverses between spaces to create immersive experiences and encourage dialogue and collaboration across diverse communities.
Louna Sbou - Keynote speaker (Wednesday)
Louna Sbou is a curator, mentor and cultural manager. She is director of Oyoun in Berlin, an anti-disciplinary arts center with a special focus on queer*feminist, decolonial and class-critical perspectives. Her life experience as a queer Muslim and daughter of Moroccan-Amazigh migrant workers led her on an unconventional journey into artistic research and practice. This enabled her to actively engage in shaping contemporary curating while experimenting with a non-Western approach to collective creation, resilient team facilitation, and transnational solidarity. As co-founder and curator of be'kech (Germany, 2016-2022), she developed a place of culture and knowledge production and worked with artists such as Dr. Tiffany Florvil, Maytha Alhassen, Panashe Chigumadzi, Lamin Fofana, Musa Okwonga, Médine Tidou and Tewa Barnosa together.
Simón Adinia Hanukai - Facilitator
Simón Adinia Hanukai is a theatre maker, director, educator, and Artistic Director of Kaimera Productions. Originally from Baku, Azerbaijan, he spent the early years of his career in Oakland, California, where he was a founding member of headRush Crew and the Co-Artistic Director of the Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company. Working with both companies for six years he was instrumental in creating original full-length dance theater pieces, which toured nationally and were seen by over 25,000 people per year. Highlights include sharing the stage with Desmond Tutu, Angela Davis, Alice Walker, Neil Young, Alfre Woodard and Martin Sheen. Since leaving the Bay Area, Simón has created work and taught throughout the U.S., Middle East, Europe, India and Mozambique.
Simón Adinia Hanukai's workshop will be in Kleine Zaal on 29 October and Grote Zaal on 30 October - Captioning available.
Fanny Martin - Facilitator
Fanny Martin is an international creative producer & project director specialised in festivals, networks, interdisciplinary projects and art in public space. After studying humanities and business management in France, she developed an eclectic freelance project portfolio in the UK and Canada before founding Art of Festivals, a creative company that brings more art into everyday life and more life into the arts. In collaboration with artists, educators, researchers, technologists and activists, her work focuses on producing memorable shared experiences, shaping change strategies, experimenting with participatory frameworks and designing learning & evaluation programmes. She is an alumni of Festival Atelier, Producer Farm and TRAVERS and a member of IETM, CIPA - Creative & Independent Producer Alliance and OutdoorArts UK.
Fanny Martin's workshop will be in Studio on 29 October and Filmzaal 1 on 30 October.
Tundé Adefioye - Facilitator
Tundé Adefioye is a Nigerian-American performing art dramaturg, writer and lecturer based in Belgium. Tundé co-founded the youth platform Urban Woorden in Leuven (BG) and was awarded the Prize for Cultural Education by the Flemish Government. In 2016, he began working as 'city-dramaturg' in Brussels. Tundé has done dramaturgy for projects including Malcolm X and (Not) My Paradise. In recent years, he has been delivering lectures and speeches, among others at the 2018 IETM Plenary Meeting in Portugal, at the Wales Arts International’s conference, at the European Theatre Convention meeting in Dresden. At the end of 2020, Tundé began with a concept with young racialised people that would at the beginning of 2021 become Braver Spaces Antwerp. Since then, Tundé has helped with co-coordinating two international Summer Schools/camps for young people, along with other colleagues.
Tundé Adefioye's workshop will be in Clubzaal on both days of the Focus - Captioning available.
Máté Tenke - Facilitator
Máté Tenke is a Project Manager and Sustainability Consultant specialised in international cultural cooperation projects. A graduate of the University of Glasgow in Theatre Studies and Politics, he is dedicated to synchronising policy-making and grassroots action to catalyse the systemic, inclusive, and sustainable transformation of society. Specifically, his work focuses on empowering artists and cultural professionals to take a leading role in tackling the ecological crisis. Currently, Máté is the producer of Currents at Acting for Climate, a Norwegian performing arts company. Currents is piece about symbiosis readapted to each site in collaboration with local artists and environmentalists. Previously, Máté was the head of Pro Progressione's sustainability team, the coordinator of IETM’s Environmental Working Group and a founding member of Creative Degrowth Network Scotland. Among others, he collaborated with WWF, Green Peace, The Shift Project, the Global Ecolvillage Network and Creative Carbon Scotland.
Máté Tenke's workshop will be in Atelier on both days of the Focus.
Müge Altay - Facilitator
Müge Altay is an international development manager and consultant specialising in culture. Originally from Istanbul, Turkey, she has a background in Political Science, International Relations, and cultural management. She began her career in communications, working with various performing arts and media companies in Turkey, Italy, and France. She spent over four years working at a European philanthropic network for supporting emerging artists in opera and dance, where she was responsible for fundraising and operations. A performing arts and literature enthusiast, she recently joined Kaimera Productions in Paris as an International Development and Production Manager and continues to work independently on other socially impactful cultural projects.
Müge Altay's workshop will be in Filmzaal 4 on both days of the Focus - Captioning available.