Ana Kutleša (1985, Croatia) is a member of BLOK, curatorial collective based in Zagreb. Within BLOK she co-curated and co-produced 6 editions of UrbanFestival, an annual program of public art. From 2015 she has been co-running BAZA, BLOK’s venue for art and activism situated in the neighborhood of Trešnjevka. She co-curated and managed a variety of projects which engage local community. She conceived and is co-managing the community project Trešnjevka Neighborhood Museum, which won SozialMarie, Prize for Social Innovation in 2020. Together with Ivana Hanaček and Vesna Vuković from BLOK, she conceived the project Art of the Collective: Case Earth which researched the legacy of Croatian historical art group Earth through series of exhibitions and a publication and has won the Hand und Lea Grundig award in 2019. She published reviews and essays in several media for culture and politics. As in independent researcher she has been a part of the collaborative project PerMuse: Performing the Museum.

Biljana Tanurovska – Kjulavkovski is cultural producer, activist in culture, researcher and a curator from Skopje. She is co-founder of NGO Lokomotiva, Nomad Dance Academy platform (NDA), Locomotion festival for contemporary dance and performance and Kino Kultura (KK) – project space for contemporary performing arts and culture in Skopje among other initiatives. Lately she is interested in research on models on institutions, labor rights, feminist institutional approaches and feminist/critical curatorial approaches in performance, theatre and choreography. She is visiting lecturer on diverse academic programs, writes and publish articles dealing with cultural policy, art/cultural production and curating. She holds a BA in the History of Art and Archaeology, an MSc in Interculturalism, Cultural Management and Cultural Policy from the University of Arts in Belgrade, and PhD from the Faculty of Drama Arts in Belgrade. In 2019, she won ENCATC International Research Award on Cultural Policy and Cultural Management for her doctoral thesis. At the moment her book Modeling Art and Cultural Institutions is being published in English.

Field of mentoring expertise: community engagement, program development.

Dina Karadžić mastered art (MFA, Sculpture) at ALU (Zagreb) in 2012. She is a member of HDLU since 2011, of HZSU since 2018. Akademie Solitude alumna; currently a Paradigm Shifts mur.at fellow. She founded and runs Format C (a non-profit Artist Organization) since 2014 as its Artistic Director – focused on collaborative and experimental digital art research, production and distribution. Initiates and produces art projects (mostly with V. Gligo); curates the ongoing #inqinc digital art production, /’fu:bar/ glitch art festival, the Pivilion network infrastructure project, FLAG AiR, etc. Worked at ACC Attack as a project assistant in 2017-19, still active as a member of its Hacklab01 project. Teaches computer art, stop-motion and experimental digital animation via free non-institutional education and/or rehabilitation programs. Since 2019 she is a member of the CTHR workgroup, an OG board member, and an advisor to the Pogon x AS AiR. Active as an program ambassador and (since 2021) a council member at The Wrong.

Field of mentoring expertise: programme development, administration, fundraising, financial administration.

Ena Hodžić holds an MA in Art History, and Museum studies and heritage management, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. Works as programme coordinator and curator for the past 10 years in KONTEJNER, specializing in project development, project management and fundraising – from complex new media art festivals such as Device_art, and large-scale EU projects such as Future DiverCities, to production of new artworks and education for young and emerging artists, aspiring cultural workers and audiences of different profiles. Also collaborates as a mentor and consultant for project development, fundraising and strategical planning for other organizations and initiatives of the independent cultural scene in Croatia and abroad.

Fields of mentoring expertise: managerial skills, programme development and curatorial work (contemporary intermedia, investigative and hybrid arts), fundraising, audience development.

Gonxhe Beqiri was born and lives in Kosovo. In 2008 she has completed her Bachelor studies at the University of Prishtina for Management and Informatics. In 2011 she completed her Master’s degree studies in the specialization of Marketing at the University of Pristina. She continued her higher education by enrolling in doctoral studies in Tirana, Albania. In 2017, she successfully completed the defense of her doctoral thesis Marketing of enterprises in Kosovo through social media application, earning a PhD degree. In her early career she worked as a tutor in professional development in the NGO SCAAK. Since 2011, she has started her academic career related to teaching and mentoring by working in several higher education institutions in Kosovo. Her career preparation has been engaged in other academic and professional activities, as coordinator of the office for projects and internationalization, participating in ERASMUS Projects. She also contributed as a volunteer at Anibar Animation Festival in Kosovo and other NGOs related to Art, Culture and Youth. Currently, she works at UBT (University for Business and Technology in Kosovo) as an Assistant Professor in the department of Management, Business and Economics lecturing and mentoring in Marketing related courses and Project Management. She is a certified educator of EON-XR platform.

Field of mentoring expertise: project management, activity coordination, audience development, program development.

Ina Doublekova has a background in Cultural Studies and Sociology and is now pursuing a PhD in Theatre Studies. Since 2011 she is a cofounder and director of the A25 Cultural Foundation – an NGO based in Sofia, Bulgaria, working in the field of contemporary culture, arts and society, involved in various cultural events and activities, most often related to the independent performing arts scene. As part of A25’s team, she regularly works as Communications manager for cultural and artistic projects, such as the Antistatic Festival For Contemporary Dance and Performance, thus has 3+ years of experience as an Account Manager in a PR agency. Simultaneously, as a freelance journalist and critique, she contributes to various national and international medias and platforms, dedicated to culture, society and performing arts. She is among the authors of Conflict Zones Review, the online magazine of the Union of European Theaters and a Regional Managing Editor at The Theatre Times.

Field of mentoring expertise: PR, audience development, communications, media relations, social media copywriting.

Inga Remeta was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1979. From 1996, she has been living in Ljubljana, Slovenia. In 2004 she completed her University studies in Social Work. Since 2003 she works in Glej Theatre – in the beginning as a project coordinator working with well-known theater directors and groups, and as of 2009 as the general director, program coordinator and producer. In 2015 she became a Vice President of Asociacija organization which is an umbrella organization of NGOs and freelancers working in the cultural field in Slovenia. From 2018 she represents the organization as its president. In 2020 she became the Vice president of EAIPA – the European Association of Independent Performing Arts.

Field of mentoring expertise: audience and community building, program development.

Ivana Balabanova is a dancer, choreographer, entrepreneur and owner of the Beatrix cultural Center, as well as project coordinator of many socially-cultural and artistic projects. She has double education in both Economy and Contemporary Dance and combines the knowledge of these two backgrounds as a basis for development of cultural projects and activities. She was elected as the young ambassador of N. Macedonia to the European Council in Brussels in 2019 and she has received the “Civic Engagement Award” from USAID in 2020 for her continuous involvement and support of the dancing community in N. Macedonia. Sve received numerous international awards both as a solo artist and with her groups and has been invited to various acclaimed international festivals devoted to contemporary dance. She is currently working on the development of VADA Academy together with the U.S. Embassy in N. Macedonia and the U.S. State Department, a project for education in street dance and cultural entrepreneurship of the dancing community.

Field of mentoring expertise: fundraising, project management, team building.

Ivana Jovanović Arsić holds two MA degrees – in Cultural Management, International Cooperation and Cultural Diplomacy (University of Barcelona) and in Hispanic Studies (University of Belgrade). She has extensive experience in designing and leading cultural projects, and since 2009 has been the co-founder and president of the Kulturis, organisation that fosters the development of international cooperation in culture, arts and education. Ivana’s professional interests are focused on cultural institutions audience development and culture and arts education of children and youth. She is passionate about the way public libraries in Serbia and Europe nurture relationship with users and build strong cooperation with their local communities. Such synergy was the topic of various projects and publications she led in the last decade (What’s their secret?, Public Libraries And Their Audience, Planet Reader, Public Library Today: A Local Laboratory for Citizen Participation, etc.). Furthermore, for the last 15 years she has been promoting Hispanic cultures and the importance of Spanish as a language of international communication as part of her work at the Cervantes Institute in Belgrade.

Fields of mentoring expertise: audience engagement, community engagement in public libraries, citizens’ participation practices, cultural projects management.

Ivanka Apostolova (Skopje, 1973), Associate (Visiting) Professor Ph.D. She is self-employed in culture as anthropologist of arts, program producer/director, visual dramaturg, translator, editor, author, educator. She is the head of the Macedonian Center of International Theater Institute/PRODUKCIJA and creator of awarded video theater projects (Destination: Skopje-Gabrovo/2020; Dispersive Dramatics in Skopje (The Theater in Creative Industries)/2020; Dispersive Dramatics: Poor Little Rich Drama in Kratovo (Drama in Movement/2019 ). She teaches art and design history at the Faculty of Art and Design/EURM Skopje. She is editor/author for the e-magazine The Theater Times. She is the author of Theater Comics, In Search of Lost Director and Anthropology of Experience in Theater e-books. She is a member of several national and international networks: ITI, ZDUS, ICOMOS, AICA. She was awarded and participated in many international theater and performing arts and film festivals with experimental/arthouse programmes in Germany, UK, Italy, Croatia, Romania, China and others.

Fields of mentoring expertise: program development.

Janja Sesar has been the Director of Pogon – Zagreb Centre for Independent Culture and Youth since 2017. She graduated in Croatian and German Language and Literature from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb and earned a Master’s Degree in Cultural and Media Management from the Free University in Berlin. She worked as a Coordinator at Alliance Operation City and was the Editor and Manager of Kulturpunkt.hr, an Internet portal for independent culture, contemporary art and civil society. In the past fifteen years she has participated in the organization of various national and international cultural projects, including the presentation and organization of the New Tendencies exhibition at Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie (ZKM) in Karlsruhe. She has participated in various conferences, workshops and seminars, both as a speaker and moderator, and has received several scholarships from the German Service for Academic Exchange (DAAD). She was invited by the US State Department to take part in the International Visitors Leadership Programme in 2014, as well as to the Cultural Diplomacy Platform organized by the European Commission on Malta in 2016.

Fields of mentoring expertise: capacity building, PR, audience development, managerial skills, community engagement, new financial models for sustainability.

Klemen Kristan studied in Ljubljana and successfully graduated from the Faculty of Economics, course of study Management. During his studies, he joined many associations and worked in various fields with an emphasis on organization, management and marketing. In the period between 2007-2008, he actively participated in the organization of events, the largest of which was the Škisova tržnica, which is attended by 20 000 people. From 2008 to 2010, he led the organization of several different events for various clients, which took place in Ljubljana and Maribor. The events were musically and culturally oriented, and were attended by over 25 000 people. In the period between 2008 and 2017, he worked as the program manager of interfaculty competitions at the University of Ljubljana. In 2016, he became acting President of the Sports Association of the University of Ljubljana for a period of one year. After leaving office, he took over as vice president. Towards the end of 2016, he took over the position of director of the Kersnikova Institute, where he is still employed today. The Institute operates in the field of art, education and culture and is one of the leading institutes in the field of intermedia art in Slovenia and abroad. Under his leadership, the Institute increased the number of full-time employees, as well as the volume of its program and activities.

Field of mentoring expertise: fundraising, organizational development, human resource management.

Kremena Hristova has a background in Cultural Studies, holds a MA degree in Economics of Human Resources and is a PhD candidate in international cultural policy at Sofia University, where she was an assistant lecturer in Cultural Management between 2015-2016. Since 2011, she is a co-founder and director of A25 Cultural Foundation – an NGO, fighting for a better cultural, social and artistic environment in Bulgaria and Europe, member of ENCATC and Culture Action Europe networks. Kremena is involved in studies, trainings and projects enhancing the understanding of the importance of culture as a factor for social development and prosperity. She is a member of the Initiative group of Sofia Conversations on Europe, part of A Soul for Europe Initiative. She also regularly contributes to the presence of culture in the media landscape by working as a Communications manager for various artistic initiatives and by writing articles and interviews with cultural professionals for profiled and general media.

Field of mentoring expertise: PR, audience development, communications, media relations, social media copywriting.

Marin Lukanović (Rijeka, 1979) finished Film Studies in Bologna and teaches theatre production and film studies at the University of Rijeka, where he is Head of the Department of Performing Arts. Professionally engaged in film and theatre production since 2000, including working on open-air site-specific theatre productions with Ulysses Theatre (Brijuni, Croatia), documentary film production with Filmaktiv (Rijeka, Croatia), student film and theatre festivals in Rijeka (STIFF and SGA). Author of four documentary films and producer of several documentary and animated films. Video designer in theatre productions in many established houses in former Yugoslavia, both institutional and independent – Ulysses Theatre Brijuni, HNK Ivana pl. Zajca Rijeka, HNK Zagreb, SNG Maribor, SNG Drama Ljubljana, SNP Novi Sad, MNT Skopje, BAD Co. Zagreb etc., which includes international touring and festivals, adapting the production for both in-house and open-air venues.

Field of mentoring expertise: technical production.

Marino Jurcan graduated with an EU degree in cultural management from Marcell Hicter Foundation / Unesco, 2011. One of the founders of the association Metamedij from Pula (2001.), located in the Social Centre Rojc where he founded the Rojc Alliance Network with several partners back in 2012. Former member of the Board of Directors of the Rojc Alliance Network and the Executive Team of SU Klubtura. He is currently an employee of the Metamedia Association in the position of project coordinator. He has been the director of the new media festival Media Mediterranea since 1999. Jurcan is also the President of the Council for new media culture of the Region of Istria at the Department of Culture at the Region of Istria. In his spare time, he produces music, plays drums and is passionate about triathlon.

Field of mentoring expertise: managerial skills, program development, fundraising.

Miljenka Buljević is a co-founder and president of Zagreb based Association for promotion of cultures – Kulturtreger established in Zagreb in 2003. From 2010 to 2016 she was the president of Alliance Operation City and from 2016 until present she has been the president of Clubture Network. She was a member of the Editorial Board of European network of cultural journals Eurozine from 2013 to 2019. Since 2019 until present she has been a member of Eurozine’s Board of Trustees. Since 2017, she has been the chairperson of the Governing Board of Pogon – Zagreb Center for Independent Culture and Youth, public cultural institution co-founded by the City of Zagreb and Alliance Operation City. Miljenka. Buljević has 17 years of experience in management of cultural organizations, fundraising and cultural programming with a particular focus on audience development.

Field of mentoring experience: management of independent cultural organizations, cultural programming, fundraising and audience development.

Milica Pekić, Ph.D., is an art historian and curator from Belgrade. Her research focuses on avant-garde artistic practice, alternative forms of collective authorship, institutional transformation, and interdisciplinary approaches to contemporary art production and art history research. Pekićhas been actively engaged within the civil sector in culture for almost two decades, and participates in initiatives focusing on sustainable frameworks for the development of the independent cultural scene in Serbia and in South Eastern Europe. She is the co-founder of KIOSK platform for contemporary art; KIOSK is one of the founders of the Association of Independent Cultural Scene of Serbia; and Kooperativa – regional platform for culture. In multiple mandates she was the president of the managing board or member of the managing board both of Association Independent cultural scene of Serbia and Regional platform for culture Kooperativa.

Field of mentoring expertise: organizational models, horizontal governing models, strategic planning, fundraising, program development, participation, art history research.

Mirela Travar is an established activist, cultural and youth worker, trainer and facilitator. She has more than 15 years of experience in civil society where she worked on issues ranging from youth and human rights and human rights education, to independent culture and public goods. Internationally, she has worked with OSCE and the Council of Europe, while domestically, in her home country of Croatia, she worked with dozens of different organizations and institutions. She was Secretary General of the Croatian Youth Network: national youth council of Croatia; she was a programme coordinator at Clubture (national alliance of cultural NGOs), coordinator of Kooperativa – Regional Platform for Culture and is currently working as president and coordinator of Operation City (full time, professionally) and as president of the Network of Socio-Cultural Centers: DKC-HR (part-time volunteer position). She is the author/co-author/editor of several publications/studies.

Field of mentoring expertise: participatory governance in the field of culture, development of socio-cultural centers’ management models, independent culture, organizational management/development, organizational and strategic planning, facilitating group processes.

Nađa Bobičić got her BA and MA in Comparative Literature from the University of Belgrade, followed by a second MA and a PhD in Gender and Culture Studies. She has experience in organization, coordination and fundraising. For almost a decade, Nađa has been involved in numerous events and research activities in culture and arts. Since 2012, she has been writing literary criticism for Booksa.hr and other portals and magazines in the ex-Yu region. Nađa is one of the founders of a regional group of literary critics Rebel Readers, where she coordinated monitoring of the literary scene in the five countries of the region and worked in the production of a podcast about literature Inside/Out, together with her colleagues from Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia. For several years in a row, Nađa was leading a Workshop of Creative Reading and Critical Writing in the Cultural Centre Studentski Grad in Belgrade. She is the coordinator of the Publishing programme and of Regional cooperation at the Centre for Women’s Studies in Belgrade.

Field of mentoring expertise: program development.

Nataša Zavolovšek is a producer and the director of Exodos Ljubljana. As the executive producer or leader of the projects she completed: 54 theatre or dance projects with Slovene and foreign artists, 20 festival editions (Moving Cake, Exodos, Transdance Europe), organization of 168 touring in Europe and abroad, one real park, the Labyrinth of Art in Ljubljana. She was the executive producer of the international performing projects in ECOC Maribor 2012, One space project 2015-2017 (Europe, Middle east-Africa), Summer dance camp in China 2015-2016 and coordinator of Corners 2016-18. At the moment she is the lead producer of Share; creative powers of art project 2020-2024. She is/was the board member of the directors of IETM and Asociacija, Co-founder of Balkan Dance platform, Moving Cake platform and KOOPERATIVA. She is a co-director of China-CEEC Dance Union. She established Maska production 1999-2001, and was a freelance producer too. She started her long work in the culture working as a coordinator for Metelkova city 1990-94, an association that links together the entire nonofficial culture in Ljubljana.

Field of mentoring expertise: production, international projects, designing a projects/program, big events.

Nikola Pisarev, born in 1975 Skopje, is an art historian and archaeologist. He holds an MA in PR and Strategic communications at High school for Public Relations and Journalism in Skopje. He is the Program Director at the Contemporary Art Center Skopje. Since 1999, he works on the improvement of cultural and social life of communities in Macedonia and the Western Balkans. He is an author of many projects that still have strong feedbacks in the Western Balkans, like PhotoVoice, Mobile/Montage Gallery, Citizens Activator, Rurual Communities Culture, (project awarded by SCP AND SDC for its social impact), Urban Art Actions. He is the founder of numerous initiatives, including I love GTC, Initiative for the Preservation of the Radika River, Initiative Arsena for Clear Drinking Water in Gevgelija, Parkobrans, and many other community initiatives. One of his biggest achievements is that he was the first to start using creative communication and actions in NGO projects and successful solving of different community problems. He is an author of many articles from the field of art history, urban environment and urbanism, social anthropology and civic activism.

Fields of mentoring expertise: community development, audience engagement, creative artistic activism.

Sanja Krsmanović Tasić is a heatre director, choreographer, actress, drama and dance pedagogue, as well as an author and producer of numerous programs and projects both educational and artistic. She has been developing innovative methodologies and concepts in her work: of art and arts education as “ecology of the soul”, the first interactive TIE musical on Cyber bullying and “essays in movement”. With her theatre group Hleb Teatar, she creates and  tours performances internationally. She conducts workshops and master classes blending her experience from dance and laboratory theatre into an original holistic approach and methodology of drama/theatre education. She has been part of the Serbian DICE (Drama Improves Key Lisbon Competences) research team (2009/10) .She is the President of Center for Drama in Education and Art-CEDEUM, Serbia, and Artistic Director of Artistic Utopia and Mater Terra Children’s and Youth Festival. Author of essays, reviews and articles on drama/theatre education and performing arts. She is the president of IDEA (International Drama/Theatre and Education Association) since 2020.

Fields of mentoring expertise: PR, marketing, tech production, fundraising.

Teodor Celakoski is a cultural worker and activist from Zagreb, Croatia. His work ranges from coordinating cultural programs, networking and cultural advocacy, to institutional innovation and political activism. Teodor is a co-founder of Multimedia Institute MaMa which was established in the late 1990s. He initiated several projects and platforms focused on advocating change in the Croatian cultural policy. Teodor initiated the creation of Clubture – a network for the exchange of independent cultural programs based on participative budgeting, Kultura Nova – a public foundation for the development of non-profit independent contemporary culture and POGON – a hybrid cultural center as an institution based on a civil-public partnership. In the last fifteen years, he is engaged with the Right to the City campaigns fighting against the privatization of public spaces, public infrastructure and common goods in Zagreb and Croatia. In 2014, Teodor received the European Cultural Foundation’s Princess Margriet Award.

Fields of mentoring expertise: project development, management, fundraising, organizational crisis management, coalition building, networking and platforms development, advocacy and campaigning, bottom-up policy development, development of intersectorial partnerships, civic-public institutional innovations.

Valeria Graziano is a theorist, organizer and educator, currently working as a Research Associate at the Centre for Postdigital Cultures, Coventry University, UK. Her research focuses on cultural practices that foster a creative redistribution of social reproduction, the refusal of work and the politicization of pleasure. Over the years, she has collaborated as a theorist in a number of artistic projects and has been involved in numerous collective initiatives of militant action research across the cultural sector and social movements. She holds an MA in Visual Cultures from Goldsmiths University of London and a PhD from Queen Mary University, supported by a joint scholarship from the School of Management and the Drama Department. She previously held postdoctoral positions at Middlesex University (UK) and Leuphana University (DE). Her approach is informed by historical materialism, transfeminist theories, and schizoanalysis. Recently, she convened Pirate Care, a translocal research process focusing on collective learning from disobedient responses to the current care crisis (2018-2021).

Fields of mentoring expertise: program development, building cooperation, event management.

Veton Kasapolli

Years in the industry: 15
Education: Postgraduate
Languages: Albanian (native), English, Serbian

Work Experience
Journalism: Radio and TV producer for media houses in Kosovo and Albania. Also, experienced writer for European news agencies on various topics. A two-years spell working in communications and reporting for an UN-Agency in Afghanistan.
Public Relations: An independent consultant for a period of ten years working mainly in Pristina. Covering a range of topics for major development organisations/office/agencies. Point of reference to deliver all types of communication products. Recently started writing for an EU funded platform on Western Balkans.
Other engagements include volunteering for causes I believe in that improve the standard of living for all, including culture and sports.

Fields of mentoring expertise: communication, public relations.

Yane Calovski was born in 1973 and raised in Skopje until 1991 when he moved by himself to the USA to finish high school and get higher education. He studied sculpture and architecture and graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia (1996) and Bennington College, Vermont (1997). His post-graduate education included research residencies at the Center for Contemporary Art in Kitakyushu in Japan (1999–2000) and the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht (2002–2004). He obtained his Master’s degree at the Faculty of Philosophy at Linkoping University in Sweden. He has concurrently developed his carrier as an artist but also as a cultural activist. He has helped established and ran several cultural organizations and associations. He has also worked and coordinated many international — regional, and national cultural projects. He lives and works with his family in Skopje and Berlin.

Fields of mentoring expertise: organizational development, capacity building, program development, cooperation, advocacy.

Zvonimir Dobrović is a curator and cultural manager with many years of experience. He is the founder of Domino Association and the artistic director of Queer Zagreb and the Perforations Festivals, as well as many other artistic and activist projects and initiatives. Dobrović is the editor of a number of publications and texts and regularly participates in numerous international seminars and conferences. He is a guest lecturer on arts management and curating at various Universities and within numerous educational programs in Croatia and abroad. He is currently researching the history of political performance in Croatia. He is one of the co-founders of the Fund for Others, which encourages personal and corporate philanthropy dedicated to culture and activism.

Fields of mentoring expertise: managerial skills, program development, fundraising skills and developing new financial models for sustainability.

Željko Blaće, born 1976 in Čapljina, SFR Yugoslavia, lives, works and roams in the region, but most reliably online as ~Zblace. He studied at Fine Arts Academies in Zagreb & Sarajevo, initially active as web designer, artist and journalist, than also as organizer, researcher and curator in: LABinary, radioActive, Multimedia Institute as co-founder, program/project coordinator and curator in net.culture club MaMa, also abroad ‘in residence’ at: Thing.net, transmediale, UCSD, JvE Akademie, Timelab.org, ConstantVzw.org, Akademie Solitude… Regionally he instigated Nettime-SEE mailing list, a.network of media labs and recently #exPatYUGOdiasporas Wikimedia user group.

Fields of mentoring expertise: advocacy, promotion, research, education.

Ana Kutleša (1985, Croatia) is a member of BLOK, curatorial collective based in Zagreb. Within BLOK she co-curated and co-produced 6 editions of UrbanFestival, an annual program of public art. From 2015 she has been co-running BAZA, BLOK’s venue for art and activism situated in the neighborhood of Trešnjevka. She co-curated and managed a variety of projects which engage local community. She conceived and is co-managing the community project Trešnjevka Neighborhood Museum, which won SozialMarie, Prize for Social Innovation in 2020. Together with Ivana Hanaček and Vesna Vuković from BLOK, she conceived the project Art of the Collective: Case Earth which researched the legacy of Croatian historical art group Earth through series of exhibitions and a publication and has won the Hand und Lea Grundig award in 2019. She published reviews and essays in several media for culture and politics. As in independent researcher she has been a part of the collaborative project PerMuse: Performing the Museum.

Biljana Tanurovska – Kjulavkovski is cultural producer, activist in culture, researcher and a curator from Skopje. She is co-founder of NGO Lokomotiva, Nomad Dance Academy platform (NDA), Locomotion festival for contemporary dance and performance and Kino Kultura (KK) – project space for contemporary performing arts and culture in Skopje among other initiatives. Lately she is interested in research on models on institutions, labor rights, feminist institutional approaches and feminist/critical curatorial approaches in performance, theatre and choreography. She is visiting lecturer on diverse academic programs, writes and publish articles dealing with cultural policy, art/cultural production and curating. She holds a BA in the History of Art and Archaeology, an MSc in Interculturalism, Cultural Management and Cultural Policy from the University of Arts in Belgrade, and PhD from the Faculty of Drama Arts in Belgrade. In 2019, she won ENCATC International Research Award on Cultural Policy and Cultural Management for her doctoral thesis. At the moment her book Modeling Art and Cultural Institutions is being published in English.

Field of mentoring expertise: community engagement, program development.

Dina Karadžić mastered art (MFA, Sculpture) at ALU (Zagreb) in 2012. She is a member of HDLU since 2011, of HZSU since 2018. Akademie Solitude alumna; currently a Paradigm Shifts mur.at fellow. She founded and runs Format C (a non-profit Artist Organization) since 2014 as its Artistic Director – focused on collaborative and experimental digital art research, production and distribution. Initiates and produces art projects (mostly with V. Gligo); curates the ongoing #inqinc digital art production, /’fu:bar/ glitch art festival, the Pivilion network infrastructure project, FLAG AiR, etc. Worked at ACC Attack as a project assistant in 2017-19, still active as a member of its Hacklab01 project. Teaches computer art, stop-motion and experimental digital animation via free non-institutional education and/or rehabilitation programs. Since 2019 she is a member of the CTHR workgroup, an OG board member, and an advisor to the Pogon x AS AiR. Active as an program ambassador and (since 2021) a council member at The Wrong.

Field of mentoring expertise: programme development, administration, fundraising, financial administration.

Ena Hodžić holds an MA in Art History, and Museum studies and heritage management, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. Works as programme coordinator and curator for the past 10 years in KONTEJNER, specializing in project development, project management and fundraising – from complex new media art festivals such as Device_art, and large-scale EU projects such as Future DiverCities, to production of new artworks and education for young and emerging artists, aspiring cultural workers and audiences of different profiles. Also collaborates as a mentor and consultant for project development, fundraising and strategical planning for other organizations and initiatives of the independent cultural scene in Croatia and abroad.

Fields of mentoring expertise: managerial skills, programme development and curatorial work (contemporary intermedia, investigative and hybrid arts), fundraising, audience development.

Gonxhe Beqiri was born and lives in Kosovo. In 2008 she has completed her Bachelor studies at the University of Prishtina for Management and Informatics. In 2011 she completed her Master’s degree studies in the specialization of Marketing at the University of Pristina. She continued her higher education by enrolling in doctoral studies in Tirana, Albania. In 2017, she successfully completed the defense of her doctoral thesis Marketing of enterprises in Kosovo through social media application, earning a PhD degree. In her early career she worked as a tutor in professional development in the NGO SCAAK. Since 2011, she has started her academic career related to teaching and mentoring by working in several higher education institutions in Kosovo. Her career preparation has been engaged in other academic and professional activities, as coordinator of the office for projects and internationalization, participating in ERASMUS Projects. She also contributed as a volunteer at Anibar Animation Festival in Kosovo and other NGOs related to Art, Culture and Youth. Currently, she works at UBT (University for Business and Technology in Kosovo) as an Assistant Professor in the department of Management, Business and Economics lecturing and mentoring in Marketing related courses and Project Management. She is a certified educator of EON-XR platform.

Field of mentoring expertise: project management, activity coordination, audience development, program development.

Ina Doublekova has a background in Cultural Studies and Sociology and is now pursuing a PhD in Theatre Studies. Since 2011 she is a cofounder and director of the A25 Cultural Foundation – an NGO based in Sofia, Bulgaria, working in the field of contemporary culture, arts and society, involved in various cultural events and activities, most often related to the independent performing arts scene. As part of A25’s team, she regularly works as Communications manager for cultural and artistic projects, such as the Antistatic Festival For Contemporary Dance and Performance, thus has 3+ years of experience as an Account Manager in a PR agency. Simultaneously, as a freelance journalist and critique, she contributes to various national and international medias and platforms, dedicated to culture, society and performing arts. She is among the authors of Conflict Zones Review, the online magazine of the Union of European Theaters and a Regional Managing Editor at The Theatre Times.

Field of mentoring expertise: PR, audience development, communications, media relations, social media copywriting.

Inga Remeta was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1979. From 1996, she has been living in Ljubljana, Slovenia. In 2004 she completed her University studies in Social Work. Since 2003 she works in Glej Theatre – in the beginning as a project coordinator working with well-known theater directors and groups, and as of 2009 as the general director, program coordinator and producer. In 2015 she became a Vice President of Asociacija organization which is an umbrella organization of NGOs and freelancers working in the cultural field in Slovenia. From 2018 she represents the organization as its president. In 2020 she became the Vice president of EAIPA – the European Association of Independent Performing Arts.

Field of mentoring expertise: audience and community building, program development.

Ivana Balabanova is a dancer, choreographer, entrepreneur and owner of the Beatrix cultural Center, as well as project coordinator of many socially-cultural and artistic projects. She has double education in both Economy and Contemporary Dance and combines the knowledge of these two backgrounds as a basis for development of cultural projects and activities. She was elected as the young ambassador of N. Macedonia to the European Council in Brussels in 2019 and she has received the “Civic Engagement Award” from USAID in 2020 for her continuous involvement and support of the dancing community in N. Macedonia. Sve received numerous international awards both as a solo artist and with her groups and has been invited to various acclaimed international festivals devoted to contemporary dance. She is currently working on the development of VADA Academy together with the U.S. Embassy in N. Macedonia and the U.S. State Department, a project for education in street dance and cultural entrepreneurship of the dancing community.

Field of mentoring expertise: fundraising, project management, team building.

Ivana Jovanović Arsić holds two MA degrees – in Cultural Management, International Cooperation and Cultural Diplomacy (University of Barcelona) and in Hispanic Studies (University of Belgrade). She has extensive experience in designing and leading cultural projects, and since 2009 has been the co-founder and president of the Kulturis, organisation that fosters the development of international cooperation in culture, arts and education. Ivana’s professional interests are focused on cultural institutions audience development and culture and arts education of children and youth. She is passionate about the way public libraries in Serbia and Europe nurture relationship with users and build strong cooperation with their local communities. Such synergy was the topic of various projects and publications she led in the last decade (What’s their secret?, Public Libraries And Their Audience, Planet Reader, Public Library Today: A Local Laboratory for Citizen Participation, etc.). Furthermore, for the last 15 years she has been promoting Hispanic cultures and the importance of Spanish as a language of international communication as part of her work at the Cervantes Institute in Belgrade.

Fields of mentoring expertise: audience engagement, community engagement in public libraries, citizens’ participation practices, cultural projects management.

Ivanka Apostolova (Skopje, 1973), Associate (Visiting) Professor Ph.D. She is self-employed in culture as anthropologist of arts, program producer/director, visual dramaturg, translator, editor, author, educator. She is the head of the Macedonian Center of International Theater Institute/PRODUKCIJA and creator of awarded video theater projects (Destination: Skopje-Gabrovo/2020; Dispersive Dramatics in Skopje (The Theater in Creative Industries)/2020; Dispersive Dramatics: Poor Little Rich Drama in Kratovo (Drama in Movement/2019 ). She teaches art and design history at the Faculty of Art and Design/EURM Skopje. She is editor/author for the e-magazine The Theater Times. She is the author of Theater Comics, In Search of Lost Director and Anthropology of Experience in Theater e-books. She is a member of several national and international networks: ITI, ZDUS, ICOMOS, AICA. She was awarded and participated in many international theater and performing arts and film festivals with experimental/arthouse programmes in Germany, UK, Italy, Croatia, Romania, China and others.

Fields of mentoring expertise: program development.

Janja Sesar has been the Director of Pogon – Zagreb Centre for Independent Culture and Youth since 2017. She graduated in Croatian and German Language and Literature from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb and earned a Master’s Degree in Cultural and Media Management from the Free University in Berlin. She worked as a Coordinator at Alliance Operation City and was the Editor and Manager of Kulturpunkt.hr, an Internet portal for independent culture, contemporary art and civil society. In the past fifteen years she has participated in the organization of various national and international cultural projects, including the presentation and organization of the New Tendencies exhibition at Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie (ZKM) in Karlsruhe. She has participated in various conferences, workshops and seminars, both as a speaker and moderator, and has received several scholarships from the German Service for Academic Exchange (DAAD). She was invited by the US State Department to take part in the International Visitors Leadership Programme in 2014, as well as to the Cultural Diplomacy Platform organized by the European Commission on Malta in 2016.

Fields of mentoring expertise: capacity building, PR, audience development, managerial skills, community engagement, new financial models for sustainability.

Klemen Kristan studied in Ljubljana and successfully graduated from the Faculty of Economics, course of study Management. During his studies, he joined many associations and worked in various fields with an emphasis on organization, management and marketing. In the period between 2007-2008, he actively participated in the organization of events, the largest of which was the Škisova tržnica, which is attended by 20 000 people. From 2008 to 2010, he led the organization of several different events for various clients, which took place in Ljubljana and Maribor. The events were musically and culturally oriented, and were attended by over 25 000 people. In the period between 2008 and 2017, he worked as the program manager of interfaculty competitions at the University of Ljubljana. In 2016, he became acting President of the Sports Association of the University of Ljubljana for a period of one year. After leaving office, he took over as vice president. Towards the end of 2016, he took over the position of director of the Kersnikova Institute, where he is still employed today. The Institute operates in the field of art, education and culture and is one of the leading institutes in the field of intermedia art in Slovenia and abroad. Under his leadership, the Institute increased the number of full-time employees, as well as the volume of its program and activities.

Field of mentoring expertise: fundraising, organizational development, human resource management.

Kremena Hristova has a background in Cultural Studies, holds a MA degree in Economics of Human Resources and is a PhD candidate in international cultural policy at Sofia University, where she was an assistant lecturer in Cultural Management between 2015-2016. Since 2011, she is a co-founder and director of A25 Cultural Foundation – an NGO, fighting for a better cultural, social and artistic environment in Bulgaria and Europe, member of ENCATC and Culture Action Europe networks. Kremena is involved in studies, trainings and projects enhancing the understanding of the importance of culture as a factor for social development and prosperity. She is a member of the Initiative group of Sofia Conversations on Europe, part of A Soul for Europe Initiative. She also regularly contributes to the presence of culture in the media landscape by working as a Communications manager for various artistic initiatives and by writing articles and interviews with cultural professionals for profiled and general media.

Field of mentoring expertise: PR, audience development, communications, media relations, social media copywriting.

Marin Lukanović (Rijeka, 1979) finished Film Studies in Bologna and teaches theatre production and film studies at the University of Rijeka, where he is Head of the Department of Performing Arts. Professionally engaged in film and theatre production since 2000, including working on open-air site-specific theatre productions with Ulysses Theatre (Brijuni, Croatia), documentary film production with Filmaktiv (Rijeka, Croatia), student film and theatre festivals in Rijeka (STIFF and SGA). Author of four documentary films and producer of several documentary and animated films. Video designer in theatre productions in many established houses in former Yugoslavia, both institutional and independent – Ulysses Theatre Brijuni, HNK Ivana pl. Zajca Rijeka, HNK Zagreb, SNG Maribor, SNG Drama Ljubljana, SNP Novi Sad, MNT Skopje, BAD Co. Zagreb etc., which includes international touring and festivals, adapting the production for both in-house and open-air venues.

Field of mentoring expertise: technical production.

Marino Jurcan graduated with an EU degree in cultural management from Marcell Hicter Foundation / Unesco, 2011. One of the founders of the association Metamedij from Pula (2001.), located in the Social Centre Rojc where he founded the Rojc Alliance Network with several partners back in 2012. Former member of the Board of Directors of the Rojc Alliance Network and the Executive Team of SU Klubtura. He is currently an employee of the Metamedia Association in the position of project coordinator. He has been the director of the new media festival Media Mediterranea since 1999. Jurcan is also the President of the Council for new media culture of the Region of Istria at the Department of Culture at the Region of Istria. In his spare time, he produces music, plays drums and is passionate about triathlon.

Field of mentoring expertise: managerial skills, program development, fundraising.

Miljenka Buljević is a co-founder and president of Zagreb based Association for promotion of cultures – Kulturtreger established in Zagreb in 2003. From 2010 to 2016 she was the president of Alliance Operation City and from 2016 until present she has been the president of Clubture Network. She was a member of the Editorial Board of European network of cultural journals Eurozine from 2013 to 2019. Since 2019 until present she has been a member of Eurozine’s Board of Trustees. Since 2017, she has been the chairperson of the Governing Board of Pogon – Zagreb Center for Independent Culture and Youth, public cultural institution co-founded by the City of Zagreb and Alliance Operation City. Miljenka. Buljević has 17 years of experience in management of cultural organizations, fundraising and cultural programming with a particular focus on audience development.

Field of mentoring experience: management of independent cultural organizations, cultural programming, fundraising and audience development.

Milica Pekić, Ph.D., is an art historian and curator from Belgrade. Her research focuses on avant-garde artistic practice, alternative forms of collective authorship, institutional transformation, and interdisciplinary approaches to contemporary art production and art history research. Pekićhas been actively engaged within the civil sector in culture for almost two decades, and participates in initiatives focusing on sustainable frameworks for the development of the independent cultural scene in Serbia and in South Eastern Europe. She is the co-founder of KIOSK platform for contemporary art; KIOSK is one of the founders of the Association of Independent Cultural Scene of Serbia; and Kooperativa – regional platform for culture. In multiple mandates she was the president of the managing board or member of the managing board both of Association Independent cultural scene of Serbia and Regional platform for culture Kooperativa.

Field of mentoring expertise: organizational models, horizontal governing models, strategic planning, fundraising, program development, participation, art history research.

Mirela Travar is an established activist, cultural and youth worker, trainer and facilitator. She has more than 15 years of experience in civil society where she worked on issues ranging from youth and human rights and human rights education, to independent culture and public goods. Internationally, she has worked with OSCE and the Council of Europe, while domestically, in her home country of Croatia, she worked with dozens of different organizations and institutions. She was Secretary General of the Croatian Youth Network: national youth council of Croatia; she was a programme coordinator at Clubture (national alliance of cultural NGOs), coordinator of Kooperativa – Regional Platform for Culture and is currently working as president and coordinator of Operation City (full time, professionally) and as president of the Network of Socio-Cultural Centers: DKC-HR (part-time volunteer position). She is the author/co-author/editor of several publications/studies.

Field of mentoring expertise: participatory governance in the field of culture, development of socio-cultural centers’ management models, independent culture, organizational management/development, organizational and strategic planning, facilitating group processes.

Nađa Bobičić got her BA and MA in Comparative Literature from the University of Belgrade, followed by a second MA and a PhD in Gender and Culture Studies. She has experience in organization, coordination and fundraising. For almost a decade, Nađa has been involved in numerous events and research activities in culture and arts. Since 2012, she has been writing literary criticism for Booksa.hr and other portals and magazines in the ex-Yu region. Nađa is one of the founders of a regional group of literary critics Rebel Readers, where she coordinated monitoring of the literary scene in the five countries of the region and worked in the production of a podcast about literature Inside/Out, together with her colleagues from Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia. For several years in a row, Nađa was leading a Workshop of Creative Reading and Critical Writing in the Cultural Centre Studentski Grad in Belgrade. She is the coordinator of the Publishing programme and of Regional cooperation at the Centre for Women’s Studies in Belgrade.

Field of mentoring expertise: program development.

Nataša Zavolovšek is a producer and the director of Exodos Ljubljana. As the executive producer or leader of the projects she completed: 54 theatre or dance projects with Slovene and foreign artists, 20 festival editions (Moving Cake, Exodos, Transdance Europe), organization of 168 touring in Europe and abroad, one real park, the Labyrinth of Art in Ljubljana. She was the executive producer of the international performing projects in ECOC Maribor 2012, One space project 2015-2017 (Europe, Middle east-Africa), Summer dance camp in China 2015-2016 and coordinator of Corners 2016-18. At the moment she is the lead producer of Share; creative powers of art project 2020-2024. She is/was the board member of the directors of IETM and Asociacija, Co-founder of Balkan Dance platform, Moving Cake platform and KOOPERATIVA. She is a co-director of China-CEEC Dance Union. She established Maska production 1999-2001, and was a freelance producer too. She started her long work in the culture working as a coordinator for Metelkova city 1990-94, an association that links together the entire nonofficial culture in Ljubljana.

Field of mentoring expertise: production, international projects, designing a projects/program, big events.

Nikola Pisarev, born in 1975 Skopje, is an art historian and archaeologist. He holds an MA in PR and Strategic communications at High school for Public Relations and Journalism in Skopje. He is the Program Director at the Contemporary Art Center Skopje. Since 1999, he works on the improvement of cultural and social life of communities in Macedonia and the Western Balkans. He is an author of many projects that still have strong feedbacks in the Western Balkans, like PhotoVoice, Mobile/Montage Gallery, Citizens Activator, Rurual Communities Culture, (project awarded by SCP AND SDC for its social impact), Urban Art Actions. He is the founder of numerous initiatives, including I love GTC, Initiative for the Preservation of the Radika River, Initiative Arsena for Clear Drinking Water in Gevgelija, Parkobrans, and many other community initiatives. One of his biggest achievements is that he was the first to start using creative communication and actions in NGO projects and successful solving of different community problems. He is an author of many articles from the field of art history, urban environment and urbanism, social anthropology and civic activism.

Fields of mentoring expertise: community development, audience engagement, creative artistic activism.

Sanja Krsmanović Tasić is a heatre director, choreographer, actress, drama and dance pedagogue, as well as an author and producer of numerous programs and projects both educational and artistic. She has been developing innovative methodologies and concepts in her work: of art and arts education as “ecology of the soul”, the first interactive TIE musical on Cyber bullying and “essays in movement”. With her theatre group Hleb Teatar, she creates and  tours performances internationally. She conducts workshops and master classes blending her experience from dance and laboratory theatre into an original holistic approach and methodology of drama/theatre education. She has been part of the Serbian DICE (Drama Improves Key Lisbon Competences) research team (2009/10) .She is the President of Center for Drama in Education and Art-CEDEUM, Serbia, and Artistic Director of Artistic Utopia and Mater Terra Children’s and Youth Festival. Author of essays, reviews and articles on drama/theatre education and performing arts. She is the president of IDEA (International Drama/Theatre and Education Association) since 2020.

Fields of mentoring expertise: PR, marketing, tech production, fundraising.

Teodor Celakoski is a cultural worker and activist from Zagreb, Croatia. His work ranges from coordinating cultural programs, networking and cultural advocacy, to institutional innovation and political activism. Teodor is a co-founder of Multimedia Institute MaMa which was established in the late 1990s. He initiated several projects and platforms focused on advocating change in the Croatian cultural policy. Teodor initiated the creation of Clubture – a network for the exchange of independent cultural programs based on participative budgeting, Kultura Nova – a public foundation for the development of non-profit independent contemporary culture and POGON – a hybrid cultural center as an institution based on a civil-public partnership. In the last fifteen years, he is engaged with the Right to the City campaigns fighting against the privatization of public spaces, public infrastructure and common goods in Zagreb and Croatia. In 2014, Teodor received the European Cultural Foundation’s Princess Margriet Award.

Fields of mentoring expertise: project development, management, fundraising, organizational crisis management, coalition building, networking and platforms development, advocacy and campaigning, bottom-up policy development, development of intersectorial partnerships, civic-public institutional innovations.

Valeria Graziano is a theorist, organizer and educator, currently working as a Research Associate at the Centre for Postdigital Cultures, Coventry University, UK. Her research focuses on cultural practices that foster a creative redistribution of social reproduction, the refusal of work and the politicization of pleasure. Over the years, she has collaborated as a theorist in a number of artistic projects and has been involved in numerous collective initiatives of militant action research across the cultural sector and social movements. She holds an MA in Visual Cultures from Goldsmiths University of London and a PhD from Queen Mary University, supported by a joint scholarship from the School of Management and the Drama Department. She previously held postdoctoral positions at Middlesex University (UK) and Leuphana University (DE). Her approach is informed by historical materialism, transfeminist theories, and schizoanalysis. Recently, she convened Pirate Care, a translocal research process focusing on collective learning from disobedient responses to the current care crisis (2018-2021).

Fields of mentoring expertise: program development, building cooperation, event management.

Veton Kasapolli

Years in the industry: 15
Education: Postgraduate
Languages: Albanian (native), English, Serbian

Work Experience
Journalism: Radio and TV producer for media houses in Kosovo and Albania. Also, experienced writer for European news agencies on various topics. A two-years spell working in communications and reporting for an UN-Agency in Afghanistan.
Public Relations: An independent consultant for a period of ten years working mainly in Pristina. Covering a range of topics for major development organisations/office/agencies. Point of reference to deliver all types of communication products. Recently started writing for an EU funded platform on Western Balkans.
Other engagements include volunteering for causes I believe in that improve the standard of living for all, including culture and sports.

Fields of mentoring expertise: communication, public relations.

Yane Calovski was born in 1973 and raised in Skopje until 1991 when he moved by himself to the USA to finish high school and get higher education. He studied sculpture and architecture and graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia (1996) and Bennington College, Vermont (1997). His post-graduate education included research residencies at the Center for Contemporary Art in Kitakyushu in Japan (1999–2000) and the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht (2002–2004). He obtained his Master’s degree at the Faculty of Philosophy at Linkoping University in Sweden. He has concurrently developed his carrier as an artist but also as a cultural activist. He has helped established and ran several cultural organizations and associations. He has also worked and coordinated many international — regional, and national cultural projects. He lives and works with his family in Skopje and Berlin.

Fields of mentoring expertise: organizational development, capacity building, program development, cooperation, advocacy.

Zvonimir Dobrović is a curator and cultural manager with many years of experience. He is the founder of Domino Association and the artistic director of Queer Zagreb and the Perforations Festivals, as well as many other artistic and activist projects and initiatives. Dobrović is the editor of a number of publications and texts and regularly participates in numerous international seminars and conferences. He is a guest lecturer on arts management and curating at various Universities and within numerous educational programs in Croatia and abroad. He is currently researching the history of political performance in Croatia. He is one of the co-founders of the Fund for Others, which encourages personal and corporate philanthropy dedicated to culture and activism.

Fields of mentoring expertise: managerial skills, program development, fundraising skills and developing new financial models for sustainability.

Željko Blaće, born 1976 in Čapljina, SFR Yugoslavia, lives, works and roams in the region, but most reliably online as ~Zblace. He studied at Fine Arts Academies in Zagreb & Sarajevo, initially active as web designer, artist and journalist, than also as organizer, researcher and curator in: LABinary, radioActive, Multimedia Institute as co-founder, program/project coordinator and curator in net.culture club MaMa, also abroad ‘in residence’ at: Thing.net, transmediale, UCSD, JvE Akademie, Timelab.org, ConstantVzw.org, Akademie Solitude… Regionally he instigated Nettime-SEE mailing list, a.network of media labs and recently #exPatYUGOdiasporas Wikimedia user group.

Fields of mentoring expertise: advocacy, promotion, research, education.