Riitta Huttunen
Riitta Huttunen works as a working life lecturer and project manager of the University of the Arts Helsinki pre-incubator programme, Uniarts Hub. She has long and varied work experience in music organisations, educational institutions, record companies and a wide range of projects. Her interests include cultural well-being, expanding job profiles for artists, entrepreneurship in the arts and career guidance. She holds a Master of Music and a Master of Social and Healthcare in Occupational Therapy and is also a qualified career counsellor.
Arthur Steiner
Arthur Steiner is an art historian, cultural entrepreneur and strategist with a passion for driving social impact.
As a co-founder of New Silk Roads, an energetic social impact agency operating across Cairo, Tunis, and Amsterdam, Arthur collaborates with artists and designers, creative entrepreneurs, technologists, art collectors, and impact investors to pioneer bold and creative solutions for the challenges and opportunities of the future.
With a background in philanthropy, Arthur previously served as a grantmaker and strategic advisor for various organizations, including Hivos, where he led the global grantmaking program on art and culture. During his tenure, he established Digital Earth, a groundbreaking research fellowship supporting artists and designers worldwide through educational initiatives, decentralized residencies, and public programs.
Arthur is also known for his role as a co-initiator and editor of books like Vertical Atlas.
Marko Popović
Marko Popović is a cultural manager and creative industry professional at Creative Industry Košice in Slovakia. With a background in audio-visual production, event management, and cultural programming, Marko is currently developing and managing EU projects under Horizon, Erasmus+ and Interreg programs. Marko has an experience in working in various CCI sectors in different European regions and contexts and fostering cross-sectorial collaboration for new value creation in the industry.
Martijn Blom
Martijn is a senior fund development advisor at Impact Europe (formerly EVPA), where he also leads the Community of Practice for impact investors in culture and creativity. He’s also board member of Graphic Matters and Blind Walls Gallery Foundations in Breda, where he lives.
At Impact Europe, Martijn is working on fund design, development, and support in two EU funded projects, with contributions to Ukraine Social Venture Fund (USVF), Actio Fund in Georgia, and Via Fund in Armenia and actively working with other team in Eastern Partnership and MENA.
Martijn has been active as an impact investor since 2007 from his companies Droomzaken and business angel network De Investeerdersclub. In 2016 he co-founded Hivos Impact Investments, and the two funds under management, where he was responsible for investor relations.
Over the years Martijn has hold several positions in boards and investment committees for a diversity of funds, like the Brabant Startup Funds and the Seed Capital and Business Development Committee of the DGGF (fund of funds).
In 2003 Martijn started his carreer as an entrepreneur, when he successfully scaled and exited a staffing agency: JongeHonden.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/martijnblomdroomzaken/
Elena Mengotti
Since 2010, Elena Mengotti serves as Head of Unit for Administrative, Financial and EU projects at the Department for culture and sports of Friuli Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region, Italy.
She has a twenty-years’ experience designing, managing, and evaluating more than 15 European projects. Elena has played a pivotal role in coordinating activities in the field of cultural policies for regional development, aimed in specific at strengthening cultural and creative industries (CCIs). She has been instrumental in the development of Eureka, the Fair of Culture and Creativity, whose first edition, launched in January 2022, gathered 75 local CCIs participating as exhibitors and more than 200 B2B matching sessions. The incoming second edition she’s working on will renew the opportunity for Italian and international CCIs to grow in terms of visibility and networking.
Daphne Tepper
Daphne Tepper is Policy Director at UNI MEI, the division of UNI Global Union representing workers in the media, entertainment, and arts. She is based in the regional office of the organisation, UNI Europa, in Brussels. UNI MEI brings together globally over 140 unions and guilds in more than 70 countries. Their members are engaged in film and TV productions, broadcasting, and live performance. As a European social partner, EURO MEI has been involved in Creative Skills Europe, the European Platform for Employment and Training in the European audiovisual and live performance sectors, since its creation in 2014. Creative Skills Europe is one of the co-leads of the Creative Pact for Skills.
Siete Sirag
Siete is an educational designer, trainer, and researcher at HKU University of the Arts Utrecht. He is an experienced designer of curricula and Life Long Learning programs within the fields of the Arts and Health and the crossovers between these two fields. He believes in the great value of creatives and creative approaches and uses that in his own way of working. Within the Cyanotypes project and community, Siete has been responsible for the Public Cluster within its framework.
Thi Hai Ly Nguyen
Thi Hai Ly Nguyen is a Vietnamese professional who relocated to Italy three years ago to pursue a Master’s degree at the University of Florence. Following her graduation, she chose to establish her career in Europe, where she has spent the past 2.5 years specializing in the development of short training courses at both the project and vocational education and training levels. This work sparked her deep interest in micro-credentials, a field she has researched intensively this year. Hai Ly also contributes to the Pacts for Skills initiative, focusing on the Cultural and Creative sector with Materahub. She is passionate about bridging education and industry to drive innovation in lifelong learning across Europe.
Joanna Crawley
Dr Joanna Crawley (Derkaczew) is a producer, journalist, translator and dramaturg. Originally from Warsaw, where she worked 2005 – 2012 as the chief theater critic with the leading national daily newspaper in Poland “Gazeta Wyborcza” and as a radio broadcaster with TokFM. In 2014 she co-funded a Dublin-based theatre collective White Label with which she produced live events, conferences and theatre shows, including “Story Machines” festival, “(A)pollonia – New Plays From Poland @ Dublin Theatre Festival”, “Override” by Stacey Gregg and her own play “The Eurydice Project”. As a producer and dramaturg she collaborated with The Abbey Theatre, Project Arts Centre, Rough Magic, Loose Canon, Brinkmanship Company, Eccles Theatre. She was the project manager with THEATREclub (2016-18) and the Admissions and Short Courses manager with The Lir Academy of Dramatic Art – Trinity College Dublin (2018-22).
Her translations of Irish plays into Polish include the work of Grace Dyas, Simon Doyle and Gavin Quinn, Deirdre Kinahan, Amy Conroy, Tom Murphy, Owen McCafferty. Honored with ASSITEJ Award for Excellence in Theatre Criticism. She holds a PhD in emancipatory education and theatre practices and she lectures at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw.
Bernie McCoy
Bernie is a Lecturer in Design at NCAD, serving as the Academic Lead and Co-Chair of the inter-institutional Academic Development Group for Creative Futures Academy. She supports the development and validation of new programmes and contributes to the institutional review of existing programs across NCAD’s Schools of Design, Fine Art, Education, and Visual Culture. With extensive experience in collaborative practice, innovation, and entrepreneurship, Bernie has facilitated and mentored a range of creative collaborative projects and practitioners, often in collaboration with state agencies.
Her research focuses on sustainable material development and the exploration of improvisation in responsive design. In addition to her academic and research roles, Bernie represents NCAD on the Creative Futures Academy’s student and staff mobility working group, further contributing to CFA’s broader engagement and collaborative initiatives.
