Following the success of last year's Conversation Starters online sessions, all IETM members were invited to gather online and get to know the Global Connectors of 2025 ahead of their attendance at the IETM Berlin Plenary Meeting 2025.
In 2025, we had the honour to welcome 11 new Global Connectors into IETM, chosen from more than 160 applications for their unique voices and experience of engaging with their local contexts and communities, professional and personal journeys, roles in the performing arts ecosystem and motivation to join the network. You can read more about IETM Global Connect here.
With three online sessions that took place on Thursday 10 April 2025, the Conversation Starters served as a first informal encounter with the 2025 Global Connectors. They directly shared their diverse experiences, contexts, projects and practices with all IETM members, offering the possibility of asking questions and exchanging contacts.
The ultimate goal of the sessions was to spark conversations which we hope will continue digitally as well as physically during the IETM Berlin Plenary Meeting. Perhaps a simple conversation will sooner or later transform into your next projects and collaborations across the globe!
How did it work?
On Thursday 10 April 2025, we hosted three online sessions to cater for different time zones within membership and the Global Connectors’ countries. Each session featured three or four different Global Connectors - mixing different types of expertise, roles in the sector, knowledge and personalities - following the schedule below:
- Session 1: 10:00 AM-10:40 AM CEST (calculate your timezone)
Ezenwa Okoro (Nigeria), Gabrielle Bae (Republic of Korea), Joanne Kee (Australia)
- Session 2: 13:00 -13:50 CEST (calculate your timezone)
Martha Hincapie Charry (Germany/Colombia), Emile Saba (Palestine), Pedro de Freitas (Brazil), Gisemba Ursula (Kenya)
- Session 3: 16:00 PM-16:50 PM CEST (calculate your timezone)
Emre Yıldızlar (Turkey), Jesús Eduardo Domínguez Vargas (Colombia), Marwa Manai (Tunisia), Tatiana Luján Valdez (Argentina)
After listening to the Global Connectors, other members attending had the opportunity to ask any questions and start a conversation.
