Deputy
Mayor for EU/Recovery funds, climate mission 2030: neutrality and transition,
international relations, promotion of Bologna twin towers, Unesco porticoes.
Anna Lisa was born in Bologna on June 15, 1969. She
has a Master’s degree from the University of Bologna in political science, and
from the University of Leuven in European studies. She has been secretary general of EUROCITIES for over
7 years, representing the voice of 200 big cities across Europe. She has 30
years of professional experience in EU public affairs in the field of local and
regional government and has successfully worked for a stronger recognition of
cities’ challenges within the European agenda.
Her aim is to strengthen Bologna’s profile as a European and global city, open to cooperate with and inspire other cities across Europe and the world, and as a key player in the EU arena in terms of accessing EU funds and influencing EU policies affecting cities.
Anna Lisa studied political science and worked for the European Parliament. She has been head of EUROCITIES for 8 years. She has 30 years of experience in EU public affairs for local and regional governments. Her aim today is to strengthen Bologna’s profile as a European and global city and to make it a climate neutral digital and inclusive city.
Dea Vidović is a Senior Research Assistant in the Culture and Communication Department of the Institute for Development and International Relations. A former Director (2012-2024) of the Kultura Nova Foundation, a Croatian public foundation dedicated to advancing contemporary arts and culture within civil society, Dea Vidović has a background in Comparative Literature and Indology. She obtained her PhD in the cultural policy field from the University of Zagreb in 2012. With her experience as a cultural manager, policymaker, journalist, editor, researcher, and trainer in cultural management and policy, she has developed a deep understanding of the complexities of culture and development. She participated as an advisor, researcher, or coordinator of European research projects and published numerous academic papers and professional articles in Croatian and international journals and books. She has extensive experience in teaching cultural policy at the university level, conducting training programs at the local, national, and international levels, and designing and organizing capacity-building programs tailored to the cultural and creative professionals' needs. She has been engaged in the governing of international networks, including Philea Arts & Culture Funders Forum (2020-2024), İzmir Mediterranean Academy (2023-2024), ENCATC European Network on Cultural Management and Policy (2017-2023), and Global Cultural Relations (2022).
Since 2004, GiannaLia Cogliandro Beyens is the Secretary General of the European network on cultural management and policy, ENCATC. She is also the administrator of the Thomassen mobility programme and serves on several boards. GiannaLia is an expert in EU affairs and international relations, with more than 30 years’ experience in advocacy, cultural policy, and strategic management, in the context of international cultural NGO. Since 1998, GiannaLia has also successfully designed, drafted, and managed a large number of EU cross-sectorial projects in the field of culture, education, and research.
Former Policy Officer of the Cultural Forum of EUROCITIES, GiannaLia was also Secretary General of the Association of the European Cities of Culture , AECC. Journalist since 1993, she started her career as Press & PR Officer for the N.A.T.O organisation in Rome. For the European Commission, she wrote 10 Reports on social European policy and a major study on the European Cities of Culture of the year 2000. Educated at the University “La Sapienza” in Rome, GiannaLia holds a Degree in Political Sciences - International Relations and two additional masters in European & International Career Studies, and a in European Constitution. Since 1993, GiannaLia is member of the Association of the Former trainees of the European Union.
PhD in “Art History, Theory and Criticism” from the University of Barcelona. He is currently teaching in different Universities and academic programs internationally: He is Lecturer at the Cultural Management Programme of the University of Barcelona, where he is coordinating the Postgraduate Course on International Cultural Cooperation, and he is Professor consultant at UOC (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya) in the MA “Humanities: Contemporary Culture, Literature and Art”. He is the Project Manager of CHARTER (2021-2025), an EU-funded project on cultural heritage skills and competences. His current lines of investigation involve the subjects of intercultural processes, ecology, participation and mobility in contemporary art and cultural policies, art in public space and the cultural cooperation between different world regions. He has participated in several international conferences and developed projects and research residencies in different countries and world regions.
Iphigenia Taxopoulou is a founding member and general secretary of the European theatre network mitos21. She's an associate partner of Julie’s Bicycle, the UK-based charity that mobilises the arts and culture to take action on climate change. She has worked in theatre as literary advisor, programming consultant and international projects manager in Greece and abroad for several years. She is an experienced sustainability consultant, lecturer and educator. She holds a degree in Philology & Modern Greek Studies from Aristotle University (Thessaloniki) and an MA in Cultural Management & Theatre Criticism from City University of London. She is the author of "Sustainable Theatre: Theory, Context, Practice", published by Bloomsbury/Methuen Drama (May 2023).
MARGHERITA SANI is adjunct professor at the University of Bologna and coordinator of the Working Group LEM – The Learning Museum - at NEMO, the Network of European Museum Organisations. Since 2019 she has also been a board member of Europeana Education and since December 2022 a board member of ICOM Italy. Between 1985 and 2021 she worked for the Institute of Cultural Heritage of the Region Emilia Romagna, Italy, focusing on museums and European funded projects. She is an active member of numerous professional museum associations and networks, including the European Museum Academy. In the past she covered the role of member of the jury of the Children in Museums award (2014-2021).
Maria Lusiani is Associate Professor of Accounting and Business Administration at the University of Bologna, where she teaches Cost Accounting, Management Control Systems, and Management of Artistic and Cultural Organizations. Her research deals with management and accounting practices in public and nonprofit organisations, especially in cultural and creative settings, through qualitative research methodologies, including case studies, ethnography, historical analysis, discourse analysis. Previously, she was a postdoctoral fellow at HEC Montréal, and faculty positions at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, where she directed the master’s degree and the research centre on Arts and Cultural Management.
Paolo Ferri is an Associate Professor of Accounting and Business Administration at the University of Bologna and the Director of the Graduate Program in Innovation and Organization of Culture and the Arts (GIOCA). His research focuses on change and innovation in accountability systems within complex and professional organizations, with a particular emphasis on cultural institutions such as museums, archaeological and industrial heritage sites, and opera houses.
Roberta Ferrarini is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Management, part of the GIOCA Research Group in the field of public management of UNESCO heritage. Currently, she works as an independent researcher for the city of Chemnitz (ECoC 2025) on the project '40 recommendations from 40 years of ECoCs'.
Cultural manager and researcher, Vania Rodrigues holds a Ph.D. in Studies Arts - Theater and Performing Studies at the University of Coimbra (2022) and a Master's degree in Political Cultural and Cultural Management at the City University of London (2009). She has worked as a manager, curator, and consultant for several cultural organizations, both in institutional and at independent facilities. She regularly participates in professional and/or scientific debates and in training initiatives in the fields of management and cultural production. She is the author of “THE PRODUCERS-Production and Cultural Management in Portugal. Professional Trajectories (1990 2019)” (2020) and the recent "Creative Production and Management in the Performing Arts: Modus Operandi" (Routledge, 2024).
She is currently a researcher at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of the University of Coimbra where she runs the R&D platform Modes of Production – Performing Arts in Transition. She is also the Principal Investigator of the GREENARTS project, teaches at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities (FLUC) and co-coordinates the PhD in Contemporary Studies. Her research muses on the intersection between arts management, cultural policies, performing arts and the ecological emergency.