Mr Ernesto Ottone Ramírez is the Assistant Director-General for Culture of UNESCO. Prior to this position, Mr Ottone Ramírez served as Chile’s first Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage from 2015 to 2018. As Minister of Culture, he created a Department of First Peoples, a Migrants Unit and strengthened copyright laws and heritage protections. During this time, he also chaired the Regional Centre for the Promotion of Books in Latin America and the Caribbean (2016 – 2017). From 2011 to 2015, Mr Ottone Ramírez served as Director-General of the Artistic and Cultural Extension Center of the University of Chile, which manages the National Symphony Orchestra of Chile, the Chilean National Ballet (BANCH), the Chile Symphony Choir and the Vocal Camerata. From 2001 to 2010, he held the position of Executive Director at the Matucana 100 Cultural Center in Santiago.

Alan Salzenstein is Professor at DePaul University in Chicago where he directs the MFA/Arts Leadership and Performing Arts Management programs. Salzenstein is an international correspondent advisor to the board of ENCATC and past president of AAAE (Association of Arts Administration Educators). He has held various Executive Director positions for a wide array of arts organizations over the past thirty-five years, with a long history of theatrical producing, devising and presenting many special events, membership on various arts boards, and as an arts consultant. He is a frequent invited speaker on topics related to arts management and legal issues in the arts, having presented across North America, Europe and Asia. Salzenstein is also an attorney, focusing on issues related to the performing arts industry.

Ana Zuvela is a cultural policy expert whose career spans a diverse array of roles within the arts and culture sector. With a foundational degree in the arts, Ana began her professional journey as a cultural officer in local government, managing cultural funding and programming. This role provided her with a deep understanding of the intersections between politics, policy, and cultural production. Her pursuit of further expertise led her to academia, where she earned an MA in Cultural Policy from University College Dublin and a PhD from the University of Zadar. Currently, Ana is employed at the Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO), where her research focuses on cultural governance, power dynamics within cultural policy, and democratic innovations in the field. Alongside her academic work, she has actively collaborated with civil society organizations, public institutions, and authorities, building transnational partnerships that contribute to the development of cultural policy and practice.

Anne-Sophie V. Radermecker holds a Ph.D. in Art history/Cultural Economics from the Université Libre de Bruxelles. She is a former B.A.E.F. fellow at Duke University (NC) and lecturer at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Since 2021, she is a FNRS research associate in Cultural Management at the Université libre de Bruxelles. Her main research interests are the economics of art and culture, the market for marginal heritage, the reciprocal interactions between museums and the art market, and quantitative methods applied to art history. She has published several cross-disciplinary papers in both economic (JEBO, JCEC) and art historical journals (IJDAH, NKJ, Marges,…). Her book entitled Anonymous Art at Auction was released in July 2021 (Brill, Studies in the History of Collecting & Art Markets).

Annick Schramme is a full professor and academic director of the master in Cultural Management and the Competence Center Management, Culture & Policy (Faculty of Applied Economics at the University of Antwerp). Additionally, she is academic director of the Competence Center Creative Industries at the Antwerp Management School. She has published about Arts policy in Flanders, cultural governance, international cultural policy, public-private partnerships in the heritage sector, leadership and cultural entrepreneurship, etc. From 2004 until 2013 she was also advisor-expert of the Vice-Mayor for Culture and Tourism of the City of Antwerp. From 2013-2017, she served as president of ENCATC, the European network on cultural management and policy.

Carla Figueira, Strategic Policy Advisor at ENCATC, is the Director of the MA in Cultural Policy, Relations and Diplomacy and of the MA in Tourism and Cultural Policy at the Institute for Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship, Goldsmiths, University of London. She is an international relations graduate of the Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa (Portugal), and she moved to London after a career in arts management. In the UK, she gained an MA in Arts Management and a PhD in Cultural Policy and Management. Her interests and expertise range from mapping of cultural and creative sectors and industries, language policies, the theory and practice of cultural diplomacy and international cultural relations in general, to place branding, national identity and cultural tourism. Carla is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) and of the Higher Education Academy (HEA).

Carlotta Scioldo is a researcher and consultant focusing on EU cultural policies. Through her professional and academic trajectory, she has acquired a multifaced view of the cultural and creative sector in Europe. Her fundamental drive is to bridge the communication gap between the cultural sector and policymaking, ensuring that the functioning and aspirations of the artistic field are effectively conveyed. With this motivation, she has worked as dance dramaturg, joined the Creative Europe Unit at EACEA, and served as Network Manager and Policy Advisor the European Dancehouse Network. Carlotta completed her Ph.D. on how European Transnational Networks operate in the Cultural Sector at DIST the Interfaculty Department of the University and Polytechnic of Turin, and she was visiting researcher at the UCL’s Public Policy Department. Her work questions the political and empirical implications of Transnational Networks in the EU’s cultural sphere and the external dimension. She holds two master’s degrees, the first in Theater Studies from IUAV in Venice, the second in Cultural Projects for Development from ITC-ILO and UNESCO Centre in Turin. Carlotta's expertise was also acknowledged through a visiting fellowship at New York University.

Constance DeVereaux works in the fields of cultural policy and cultural management as an educator, researcher, and consultant. She is the co-author of the well-regarded and much cited Narrative, Identity, and the Map of Cultural Policy: Once Upon a Time in a Globalized World and was lead editor of the series Cultural Management and the State of the Field, which documented and benchmarked key ideas and concepts in the development of the field. Her work focuses on critique of cultural policy and cultural management practices, as well as on development of theoretical frameworks for new vocabularies in the field. She has edited a number of widely used books including Managing Arts and Culture: Cultivating a Practice, and Cultural Management: Sense and Sensibilities in the State of the Field. She was the first person to have served as a Fulbright Senior Specialist in arts management and policy. She is the Managing Editor and Co-Chief Editor of Journal of Cultural Management and Cultural Policy and sits on the editorial boards of Culture et Gouvernance Locale and DIY: Alternative Cultures and Society. Constance has worked with cultural organizations worldwide, and has lectured at universities in Europe, Asia, North America, and Africa.

Cristina Ortega Nuere works as Chief Academic and Operating Officer of World Leisure Organisation, a non-governmental organization born in 1957 with consultive status of United Nations, since she was appointed in January 2016. Doctor in Leisure and Human Development, with a Master degree in Leisure Management, specialized in Cultural Management, she graduated from the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy from the University of Deusto and completed her studies in London, Middlesex and at Westminster University. She has done several research stages, the last ones at the University of Fordham (New York, EEUU) and Cambridge (UK). Previously to her present work, she has worked for over two decades at the University of Deusto as professor and researcher; the last five years as Director of the Institute of Leisure Studies and Principal Researcher of the official research group on leisure and human development. She has been the ENCATC President for 4 years, the leading European network of cultural policies and management education and research; and the Chair of ENCATC’s Policy Group Monitors of Culture, made up of over 40 cultural observatories worldwide. She has also been Jury member of the European Capitals of Culture. She has also been appointed twice as Member of the Basque Council of Culture of the Basque Government. Her area of specialization is cultural policies, cultural and creative industries, evaluation, wellbeing and human development.  She has participated in more than 50 research projects and wrote dozens of books and articles in the leisure and cultural field. She wrote a book of reference on Cultural Observatories where she built a utility model adopted in several cities and countries, Ortega, C. (2010) Cultural Observatories: Mapping of Observatorios Culturales. Creación de Mapas de Infraestructuras y Eventos, Barcelona. Ariel. She usually participates as a speaker in international scientific conferences worldwide, among her last conferences: Monitoring cultural policies and measures for sustainable urban economies and societies, UNESCO Creative Cities Beijing Summit II, Beijing, June, 2016; Research, evaluation and cultural policies, UCLG Culture Summit Culture and Sustainable Cities, Culture 21, Agenda 21 for Culture, Bilbao, March, 2015; FOCUS UNESCO World Forum on Culture and Cultural Industries, Florence, October, 2014.

Daniel Green is a Distinguished Professor and the Director of the Master of Entertainment Industry Management Program at Carnegie Mellon University. Based in Los Angeles, CA, Daniel has extensive experience in TV production, having worked on shows like ER, The Sopranos, The West Wing, and directed the pilot Munhall starring George Wendt. As a theatre director, his work has been produced in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Dan has also served as a Casting Director for projects including The Kennedy Mystique: Creating Camelot for National Geographic Channel and Nixon in China, 72 for CCTV, Beijing. He has a MFA in Directing and his Ph.D. focused on first-generation student experiences at private universities in China. 
He was the President of the Association of Arts Administration Educators and is currently an International Correspondent Board Advisor for ENCATC as well as being a member of the jury for the ENCATC Research Award. Daniel Green is also a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In addition, he sits on the Les Paul Audio Educators Advisory Council whose mission is to promote the legacy of Les Paul as an inventor and innovator of audio technology.

Douglas DeNatale earned his PhD in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania in 1985. Prior to joining the Metropolitan College faculty, he was the president of Community Logic, Inc., an arts consulting firm specializing in research and documentation. He previously served as director of research for the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA), where he played an instrumental role in forecasting the emerging creative economy and in developing the web-based research database CultureCount.

Formerly, he was director of the Lowell Folklife Project at the Library of Congress and director of the oral history and folklife program and collections at the University of South Carolina’s McKissick Museum. Trained as an ethnographer, Doug has overseen collaborative arts research projects for the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Library of Congress. He conducted oral histories for the Lowell National Historic Park, the Southern Oral History Program, and the J. Alden Weir National Historic Site, and curated exhibitions for the McKissick Museum and the Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

As an early adopter of technology, Douglas DeNatale has helped many New England cultural institutions establish their first websites. He has also been involved with technology projects for Heritage Preservation, the New England Museum Association, and the Boston Foundation. His research on the creative economy is widely cited, with publications that include Documenting the Arts (NEFA) and Passion & Purpose: Raising the Fiscal Fitness Bar for Massachusetts Nonprofits (Boston Foundation, co-author).

Elena Borin holds a Ph.D. in Economics and Doctor Europeus and her PhD thesis on "Public-Private partnerships in the cultural sector" won the 3rd ENCATC Research Award on Cultural Policy and Cultural Management and the IUSS Best Thesis award. She is member of Scientific Committees of several academic programs and international committees working on the themes of sustainability and the cultural and creative sector, among which the university network “Routes Towards Sustainability” and the international summer school "After the Damages”. Her most recent articles address topics related to partnership, funding and sustainability published by the Journal of Cultural Management and Policy, Journal of Intellectual Capital, Urban Design and in the Springer FGF Studies in Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Her research interests include international cultural governance, multi-stakeholder partnerships, funding and financing for the cultural and creative sector and CCIs in the sustainability paradigm.

Elena Raevskikh holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from EHESS and a degree in Public International Law from Moscow State University. Beyond being Head of the Research and Analysis Unit of the Department of Culture and Tourism of Abu Dhabi, she leads and co-develops CultureSTATS-AD, the first initiative of its kind in the MENA region dedicated to creating tailored qualitative and quantitative measurements for Abu Dhabi’s culture sector. Since 2020, her team has produced more than 20 research reports, including the landmark Abu Dhabi Cultural Activities Baseline Report (2021), several in-depth studies on creative ecosystems, and economic analyses of the emirate’s culture sector, with findings published in leading international journals such as Quality & Quantity and Nature. Her work has also shaped the biennial Abu Dhabi Culture Population Survey, the region’s first Register of Cultural Organizations and Professionals, and new heritage and cultural destination indicators. At the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, she collaborates with UNESCO, OECD, IFACCA, ENCATC, WCCF, and the World Economic Forum, linking local practice with global dialogues on culture, sustainability, and innovation.

Gerald Lidstone, ENCATC President, was the Director of the Institute for Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship at Goldsmiths, University of London and founder of the MA Arts Administration and Cultural Policy and co founder of the MA in Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship programme and the MA in Cultural Policy, Relations and Diplomacy, the first worldwide. Previously he was HOD of the Department of Theatre and Performance in Goldsmiths, having originally trained as a scenographic and lighting designer as well as a production manager with extensive design and touring experience in Eastern Europe and the USA. For the British Council and other agencies he has also taught Arts Management courses including, Arts Marketing, Arts Education, Fundraising, Copyright and Strategic Planning in over 20 countries. He has worked for over twelve years on behalf of The Ministry of Culture and Information in Viet Nam establishing Arts Management education in Hanoi University of Culture, funded by the Ford Foundation, well as being awarded the national medal for culture in Viet Nam. He was also the director of a four-year British Know-How Fund (Foreign Office) project establishing arts management education in Slovakia. An outcome of this was the publication of the first book on arts management in Slovak and the British Council project Closer to the Museum. He has recently completed a major research evaluation of a dance projects for Sadler’s Wells in the UK using the Five Ways to Wellbeing framework created by the New Economics Foundation.

With 15 years of experience in research and professional practice on sustainability in the cultural sector, Giada is the co-founder and CEO of Chloe Sustainability, a consultancy that supports cultural organisations in their transition towards sustainability. She also works as a Senior Environmental Assessor for events and festivals at A Greener Future (UK).
She teaches cultural management, sustainable events and festivals, and international cooperation at various universities and institutions.
Giada has served as a researcher and project manager on several European initiatives, including EULAC Focus, Be SpectACTive!, MESOC, and Stronger Peripheries.
She holds a PhD in Cultural Management from the University of Barcelona, with a dissertation on environmental sustainability strategies in European music festivals.
Previously, she was Academic Coordinator of the Postgraduate Programme in Production and Management of Performing Arts and Festivals (University of Barcelona) and Head of Research at the Observatory of Performing Arts in the Emilia-Romagna Region (Italy).

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.

Jaime Alberto Ruiz Gutiérrez is an Industrial Engineer and Master in Industrial Engineering from the Universidad de los Andes at Bogotá Colombia. He subsequently made a D.E.A. in mathematics and applications and obtained a PhD in mathematics applied to the social sciences from the École E.H.E.S.S. des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales at Paris in 1982. From 1994 he is Associate Professor and researcher at the School of Management at Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá Colombia. He has developed research in the following topics: Organizational Demography, Cultural studies and Arts and Cultural Management. He has published three books and several articles in International Journals.  He was the organizer at  Bogota, in June 2013 of the XII International Congress on Cultural Management AIMAC (The International Association of Arts and Cultural Management). He is a member of l'Academy of Management since 2003 and international jury of ENCATC (European Network on Cultural Management and Policy) and a permanent member of AIMAC

Jordi Baltà Portolés works as an advisor for the Committee on Culture of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), providing research and advice to local governments with an interest in developing cultural policies and sustainable development. He is also a freelance researcher, consultant and trainer in the areas of culture and international affairs, for several organisations, including the Asia-Europe Museum Network (ASEMUS).
Previously he was a researcher and project coordinator at the Interarts Foundation (2001-14). He is a member of the UNESCO Expert Facility for the implementation of the Convention on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. Jordi teaches at the Online MA in Cultural Management of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) and the University of Girona (UdG), as well as the Degree in International Relations of Universitat Ramon Llull (URL). He is a PhD candidate at the universities of Girona and Melbourne.

Before joining academia, Leticia Labaronne studied Performing Arts in the United States, and then went on to work as a professional ballet dancer in Europe for over ten years. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from the United Kingdom and a Master of Science in Public and Nonprofit Management from Switzerland. 

Since 2009 she has been working with the Center of Arts Management at the ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences. Labaronne directs the executive Master in Arts Management at ZHAW. Since 2019 she serves as a Head of the Center of Arts Management at the ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences.

Her focus with respect to consulting and research is cultural policy, fundraising as well as evaluation in the nonprofit and arts sector. Her current doctoral research relates to evaluation practices in the Performing Arts. The research focus of her doctorate was motivated by her late artistic career. Labaronne is committed to applying her working knowledge of the field to explore new research paradigms that can better capture the complexity of artistic activities, and shed more light on the creative processes in the Performing Arts.

Lidia Varbanova's professional experience in strategy, policy, capacity building, management and entrepreneurship extends beyond 60 countries, with a special focus on the arts, culture and creative industries. She meets with artists, cultural professionals, and students from around the world to help them increase their competence, audiences, supporters and budgets. She has also been permanent and visiting professor in prominent universities and training centers in Europe and Canada and has received a number of distinguished awards, among them: Dragan Klaic European award for excellence in teaching, FULBRIGHT Program, Japan Foundation fellowship, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation post-doctoral award; and scholarship from Webb Memorial Trust, Oxford.
Lidia Varbanova is currently a member of UNESCO Expert Facility for the implementation of the 2005 Convention on Cultural Diversity and Director of the MA Program in Management of Performing Arts and Industries at the National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts.

Lluís Bonet is Professor of applied economy and Director of the Cultural Management Graduate program at the University of Barcelona, specialized in cultural economics, cultural policies and arts management. He has been president of ENCATC, board member of many academic and cultural organizations, and coordinator / active participant of many international research projects (H2020, Eramus+, Creative Europe, IADB, National research or Arts councils …). He is the coordinator of the Erasmus+ project CHARTER ('Cultural Heritage Action to Refine Training, Education and Roles'). 

Lucrezia Gigante is a Museum Studies researcher with an interest in contemporary public culture and the politics of place-based cultural participation. She is particularly interested in the political agency and responsibility of cultural organisations in producing and reproducing ideas of place through their public programming.
She earned her PhD from the University of Leicester's School of Museum Studies, with funding from AHRC Midlands4Cities, with a research project focused on art organisations' place-based public programmes as sites for progressive cultural citizenship.
Currently, Lucrezia Gigante is a Research Associate at the University of Glasgow on the AHRC Place-based Research Programme. Prior to this role, she was a Post-doctoral Research Associate with Culture Commons, working on the UK-wide open policy development programme 'The Future of Local Cultural Decision Making'.

Mara Cerquetti is Associate professor in Management at the Department of Education, Cultural Heritage and Tourism of the University of Macerata. At the same University, she teaches Management and Organization of Cultural Institutions, Cultural Marketing and Tourism and Heritage Management. Her research and publications focus on: cultural management and policy; cultural heritage value, value creation and measurement; cultural marketing; museum visitor studies; museum management; sustainable tourism; the links between cultural heritage and made in Italy.
She has been a member of the Scientific Committee and Editorial Board of the Journal “Il Capitale Culturale. Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage” since 2010, the Teaching Body of the PhD Programme in Global Studies. Justice, Rights, Politics of the University of Macerata since 2020 and the Board of Directors EUM – Edizioni Università di Macerata (2022-2024). She is also a member of ENCATC, the European cultural management and policy network, and of the Advisory Board of the “European Journal of Cultural Management and Policy”.

Matina is an Associated Researcher at the SIC.Lab Méditerranée of the University Côte d’Azur in France. She holds a PhD in Leisure, Communication and Culture from the University of Deusto. Her tesis focused on the evaluation of international cultural cooperation projects, with a focus on the EuroArab region. Her expertise lies on creative spaces, cultural and creative industries, cultural relations and cultural policies. She is currently investigating collective responses from creative professionals in regard to the challenges posed by AI. In the past Matina has worked for festivals, theater productions and large-scale events such as the Olympic Games Athens 2004, the European Capital of Culture Patras 2006 and the International Expo Zaragoza 2008. She has also worked for public institutions such as the European Parliament, the Greek Ministry of Education and the Municipality of Athens.

Milena Deleva holds master's degrees in Cultural Studies from Sofia University and in Arts Administration from Baruch College. She serves as the Executive Director of the Association of Arts Administration Education in the US. Before this, she acted as the Managing Director of the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation for Creative Writing for nearly 15 years, overseeing the foundation's initiatives in both Bulgaria and the United States. Under her leadership, EKF’s work has garnered coverage by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Publishing Perspectives, Poets & Writers, Oberlin's College Blog Reading in Translation, and the organization was shortlisted for the Literary Translation Initiative Award of the London Book Fair's International Excellence Awards 2021.

In her current role, Milena spearheaded year-round programs for the Association of Arts Administration Education, such as the first year-round Mentorship Program, Professional Development and Research Series, and the Arts Administration Fellowships, and increased the organization's budget tenfold.

She routinely participates in review panels at the Department of Cultural Affairs in New York, among other arts councils. Milena co-authored Cultural Policy, Politics and Change (ed. Boekmanstichting, Amsterdam, 2005) and wrote  Technological Park Culture (ed. Ecumest, Bucharest, 2005). She contributed to the anthology "Stories from the 90s" (ICU, 2023). 

Tiffany Bourgeois returns to the Department of Arts Administration, Education and Policy as an Assistant Professor of Arts Management. Bourgeois earned both her PhD in Arts Administration, Education and Policy and master’s degree in Arts Policy and Administration at Ohio State University. She most recently served as Audience Development Director of the Ensemble Theatre in Houston, Texas, and as Adjunct Professor for the University of Houston-Downtown. Her scholarly work examines the relationship between sports mega-events, cultural organizations, cultural outcomes, and changes in perception. Bourgeois’ recent publications can be found in Place Branding and Public Diplomacy and the American Journal of Arts Management. 

Holding a Doctor of Arts degree in Art and Design and an M.Sc. in Economics, Toni-Matti has authored over 100 academic publications spanning design, brand management, and popular music. With a rich background as an Academy Research Fellow and Research Director at Aalto University, he has managed diverse research projects across consumer products, design, technology, and cultural domains. Toni-Matti boasts a strong international presence, having served as a visiting professor, speaker, and researcher in the Nordic countries, the Baltics, Europe, the United States, Japan, and South Korea for almost two decades.

Dr. WU Chieh-Hsiang is Professor of the Department of Arts in the National Changhua University of Education of Taiwan, Taipei City. She earned her master and doctorate degrees of sociology and art history in Carl von Ossietzky Oldenburg, Germany. In 2013 and 2014, Dr. WU chaired Taiwan’s Association of the Visual Arts, a nationwide association for the rights and benefits of visual artists. Since 2021, Dr. WU chairs the Taiwan Association of Cultural Policy Studies. In addition to her devotion to cultural policy, Dr. WU is an accredited essayist and art critic; her articles are published in various periodicals and platforms. Her recent research focuses on the culture of memory and art projects reflecting the unjust incidents in the past, as well as the interrelations between the state power and exhibiting institutions.