Speed Networking

Mitsuhiro Obara

Yokohama Civic Art Gallery Azamino / Yokohama Arts Foundation

Graduated from Ritsumeikan University. When he was a student there, he worked on stage design and video for theatre and dance performances. At Yokohama Civic Art Gallery Azamino, he has been planning and producing performing arts and video projects as well as regional programs that bring artists closer to citizens since 2012. Among the projects that he produced are “Tarucho-Taruto Kikou O’Pants Monogatari” and “Mother Tereco – Electronic & Acoustic Session.”

Hirotomo Kojima, Meiko Horikoshi

Kyoto Art Center [Kyoto Arts and Culture Foundation]

Kyoto Art Center is a complex center for arts, established in 2000 to promote artistic activities in Kyoto city in a comprehensive way. The center aims at supporting various artistic activities regardless of genre, providing information about arts, and promoting communication between citizens and artists. Utilizing former Meirin elementary school building, we run a wide variety of programs such as exhibitions, tea ceremonies, concerts, traditional stage performance, theater, contemporary dance, and various types of workshop. We also provide 12 studios for creation and artist-in-residence program.

Ricardo Frayha

Producer, Prod.art.br

Brazilian cultural producer, member of the São Paulo based production company Prod.art.br, dedicated to the production and exchange of artists and international projects in Brazil. Was involved in local productions by Frank Castorf, Christoph Schlingensief, Dimiter Gotscheff, Stefan Kaegi, Gob Squad, Antony, Yoshito Ohno, Ko Murobushi, Dairakudakan, Wajdi Mouawad, Olivier Dubois, Angelica Liddell, and several shows by Robert Wilson, including the creations Lady from the Sea and Garrincha, between many others. Between 2011-2016, based in Berlin, was responsible for the tour management of Constanza Macras I DorkyPark. Holds a Master degree in Arts from the University of Leeds, in England.

Marion Betriu

Co-director, Frinje – Festival de Artes Escénicas Madrid

Marion Betriu (1982) has been the artistic co-director of the last two editions of Frinje Madrid Festival and member of the artistic team since it was founded, in 2012. She has been in charge of the artistic selection, the overall structure, and aims of the festival. For almost ten years, she has been working in cinema and theatre festivals and, in 2015, she joined the Ajyal Youth Film Festival’s crew in Qatar as a workshop curator. Marion received and MFA in Creative Writing from University of Iowa in 2014. Previously, she graduated in Visual Arts at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra de Barcelona, in 2005.

Sorataro Iwamura

Sendai Cultural Foundation / Sendai Theater Studio 10-BOX

Born in Kyoto. Art Coordinator at Kyoto Art Center since 2013 after working as a support staff member at Kyoto Experiment 2012, he worked on its performing arts projects, artist-in-residence projects and Artists in Studios program. Works at Sendai Cultural Foundation since April 2016, working on outreach projects, performances for children, “Sendai Short Play Award” and its related projects at Sendai Theater Studio 10-BOX.

Grzegorz Reske

Performing Arts Curator and Producer

Grzegorz Reske (b. 1980) – performing arts curator and producer. Between 2003–2014 worked as producer for Provisorium Theatre – one of the oldest independent theatre companies in Poland, since 2007 also general producer for Konfrontacje Teatralne. For years 2013–2017, together with Marta Keil, he took curatorial position over Konfrontacje Teatralne. Since 2014, associate curator for Kalisz Theatre Meetings – Actors Art Festival – the oldest theatre festival in Poland, and most important contest for best actors in Polish theatre. He also collaborates with TR Warszawa and Labirynt Gallery in Lublin. Permanent fellow of East European Performing Arts Platform. Based on curatorial and production experience, he currently works on development of book I’ll kill you, Baby! How to quit successful cultural project.

Cathie Boyd

Founder of Cryptic and Artistic Director

An internationally respected director, producer and curator. Raised in Belfast, Ireland. Cathie is able to work across art forms: from opera to music; visual arts and film whilst being able to work at a strategic and practical level. Cathie graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and set up Cryptic in 1994. She also has much experience in working with new technologies for performance and was made a Fellow of NESTA in 2002 to develop the visual staging of live music. Cathie created the Sonica festival in 2012, she is also on the Board of IETM.

Yuichiro Yoshida

Program Director, Kinosaki International Arts Center

Born in Hyogo in 1979. Having worked as a coordinator at Tokyo Wonder Site, a contemporary art artist-in-residence facility, and Festival/Tokyo, an international performing arts festival, he currently works on the selection of resident artists and planning of the annual program as Program Director at Kinosaki International Arts Center, an artist-in-residence facility in Toyooka, Hyogo that specializes in performing arts. He has also been a project member of Marebito Theater Company since 2012.

Yasunori Sato

Director, ST Spot

While studying at the Faculty of Sustainability Studies of Hosei University, he worked as a staff member of Nishi-Sugamo Arts Factory since its establishment and assisted stage directors, managers and directors of various performances. In the present post after working at ST Spot and Steep Slope Studio on scholarship for emerging artists as well as performance and workshop programs. Vice President of NPO ST Spot Yokohama. His other activities include: management, Tamagawa Art Line Project 2008 (directed by Yukio Shiba, Shigeki Nakano and Zan Yamashita); dramaturge, Karei Naru Shotai by toi (free translation and direction by Yukio Shiba); dramaturge, Rehabilitaion by Tokyo Deathlock (directed by Junnosuke Tada) in “14 Evenings” at The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.

Wang Lin

Director, Inside-out theatre and cinema

Director of Inside-out theatre and cinema, which is the first independent theatre in Haidian District Beijing. We try to offer a platform to present different kinds of performances, also focus on the combination between performance and new media, and explore the inter-culture issue.

Maki Miyakubo

Producer, Dance New Air

Maki was a producer for performing arts programs at Spiral, a multi-purpose cultural centre, from 1997 to 2015, where she was involved not only in contemporary dance but also contemporary art and other events inside and outside Spiral. Chairperson of Dance New Air (Dance Nippon Associates) since 2015.

Flori Gugger

Dramaturge, Steirischer Herbst Festival

Flori Gugger works as a dramaturg & curator at brut Vienna (Austria). brut stands for the production and presentation of performing arts in Vienna and is one of the most renowned institutions of the independent performance, dance and theatre scene in the German-speaking countries. Flori Gugger studied Theatre Sciences & Cultural Analysis at the Universities of Berne, Zurich (CH) and Vienna (AT). From 2014 to 2016, he co-curated the theatre, dance and performance programme of steirischer herbst festival in Graz, Austria. He collaborated with artists such as Rimini Protokoll, Milo Rau, Needcompany, Nature Theater of Oklahoma, Lundahl & Seitl, and Ingri Fiksdal.

Ahmed El Attar

Founder, Studio Emad Eddin [SEE] / Artistic Director, Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival [D-CAF]

Ahmed El Attar, is an Egyptian independent theatre director, translator, playwright and cultural manager. He is founder and General Manager of D-CAF (Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival), of Studio Emad Eddin rehearsal spaces, Orient Productions, and the Falaki theatre in Cairo. His latest performance The Last Supper, which he wrote and directed, was performed in 2015, as part of the official selection of the 69th edition of the Avignon Festival and has been touring the world ever since. El Attar’s theatre work has been performed in Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Sweden, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, Holland, France, Switzerland, Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and the UAE.

Yoshiko Nakashima, Misato Tsujiguchi

Producer, BIRD Theatre Company TOTTORI

BIRD Theatre TOTTORI is a theater, renovated from the gymnasium of an old elementary school and a kindergarten attached to the school in Shikano-cho, Tottori Prefecture, and has been the base of BIRD Theatre Company TOTTORI for ten years. The 10th edition of “BIRD” Theatre Festival TOTTORI has also been held. Inviting national and international works as well as producing community projects, recently the company also works on JIYU Gekijo (Freedom Theatre) that involves people with or without disabilities, aiming to be a theatre company as a space for creation of social values with the arts, education and social inclusion as its fundamental policies.

Hwa-young Lee

Producer, National Theater of Korea

Hwa-young Lee studied Business in university and received Master of Art from graduate school. She has been a producer in Production & Marketing team at National Theater of Korea since 2014. She produces and sells Korean traditional Performances like Changguk and Madangnori. Also she prepares National Repertory Season 2017-2018 at Theater in Korea. She is interested in not only traditional Performing Arts but also contemporary performances.

Naoyoshi Fujita

Director, Museum of Art, Kochi

While working as a banker, he organized screenings of independent films for more than 15 years. In 1994 he became an art coordinator at the Museum of Art, Kochi and in 1996 the director of cultural planning at Kochi Prefectural Cultural Foundation. He has organized more than 200 film, theatre, dance and music projects in the 399-seat hall, courtyard and entrance hall of the Museum. He has also produced a film Born to be Baby, video The Body of Tosa-Washi Paper and music CD The Scene of Shore. In April 2006 he became the vice director and in April 2007 the director of the Museum.

Chika Kawai

Vice Director, Festival/Tokyo

Graduated from the Science of Design, Musashino Art University. She started her career as a theatre producer of reset-N in 2003. While working as an assistant manager at a commercial theatre from 2003–2006, She produced several performances and managed tours inside Japan and international exchange projects. Since 2007, A staff member at Art Network Japan. In the year of 2007–2012, she took part in the establishment of Kawasaki Art Center and focused on the various projects for contemporary dance and theatre and for young theater artists. A production co-ordinator since 2012 and the deputy director since 2015 at Festival/Tokyo.

Anna Nakaso

Yokohama Arts Foundation

Management of projects including Yokohama Dance Collection at Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse Number 1 since 2005. Intermediary projects for environment improvement for artists and creators since 2015, as well as support and training for emerging artists and for creation of new bases at Arts Commission Yokohama.

Eri Karatsu

Senior Producer, Aichi Prefectural Arts Theater / Curator, Aichi Triennale 2016

Focusing on dance and physical expression, Eri Karatsu plans, coordinates and produces performances and dissemination projects. She has also served as a judge or committee member for the Cultural Policy Committee of the 6th Council for Cultural Affairs of the Agency for Cultural Affairs (2007–09); Asahi Group Arts Foundation (2013–); The “Educational project for emerging artists to lead culture in the next generation” and “Support for artistic and cultural activities of theaters and halls” of the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Toyota Choreography Award and the National Dance Competition of Japan organized by the Tokyo Shimbun (since 2014).

Alasdair Campbell

Director, Counterflows Contemporary Music Festival

Alasdair Campbell is Creative Producer and Director of AC Projects/Alternative Currents. AC Projects is an independent arts organisation based in Glasgow and founded to develop ideas, projects and performance opportunities that support the continued exploration of cutting edge music practices from the grassroots and underground music communities across Scotland, the UK and internationally. One of AC Projects’ main aims is to offer opportunities to artists to create new work that will challenge conceived notions in music making and will allow musicians, composers and audiences the space and time to explore new ideas. He currently produces the contemporary music festival Counterflows and co-produces and co-curates the Tectonics Festival with Ilan Volkov and the BBC SSO in Glasgow, a residency series for new artists, and is developing a network of international festivals and producers in new music.

Matthieu Banvillet

Directeur, Le Quartz – scene nationale de Brest

Born in 1977, Matthieu Banvillet is a graduate of the Institute of Political Studies of Strasbourg. He was the administrator of several national scenes in France and especially of Le Quartz in Brest (FR) from 2005 to 2011. He became this National Theater’s director in January 2011. Le Quartz includes, among others, two theater halls, a dance studio, a music studio, an exhibition gallery. Three artists are associated with Le Quartz policy (2014-2017): Olivier Martin-Salvan for the theater, Marcela Santander Corvalan for the dance and Erwan Keravec for music. In 2011, Matthieu Banvillet initiated two international festivals: NoBorder, festival of popular world music and DãnsFabrik, festival of contemporary dance.

Hiroshi Takahagi

Vice Director, The Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre

Born in Tokyo in 1953, Hiroshi Takahagi graduated from the Faculty of Letters, the University of Tokyo. He was one of the founder members of Yume no Yumin Sha (Dreaming Playing Sleeping Company). He is a former manager of the Panasonic Globe Theatre, a former general producer at the Setagaya Public Theatre, and currently the vice director of the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre and also a guest professor at Tama Art University and a member of an advisory council for cultural policy at Agency for Cultural Affairs. He has published several books including Boku To Engeki To Yume no Yumin Sha (published by Nikkei Publishing Inc.).

Yi-Wei Keng

Artistic Director, Taipei Arts Festival

Yi-Wei Keng is the artistic director of Taipei Arts Festival (2012-2017) and a visiting assistant professor of theatre arts at Taiwan University of Arts and Taipei University of the Arts. He had won the first prize from Ni-Kuang Sci-Fi Awards. Recently‚ he made the productions of Beckett’s Happy Days and Robert Ashley’s opera Dust. He has written books including The Making of Robert Wilson’s Orlando‚ Robert Wilson: The Infinite Power of Lights‚ Reading in Taipei and The Short History of Modern Mime. He has also translated such books as Peter Brook’s Empty Space and Cambridge Introduction to Theatre Studies.

Masayoshi Yahagi

Chief Producer, Toyohashi Arts Theatre PLAT

Born in Tokyo in 1965. Masayoshi is the chief producer at Toyohashi Arts Theatre PLAT. He started getting involved in theatre at Tokyo Metropolitan University, and launched a theatre company after his graduation. He had worked in Setagaya Public Theatre between April 1998 and March 2012. He managed the areas of publicity, facility control, production, technical field and curation. He became a staff member at Toyohashi Cultural Foundation in April 2012, and works as an art and culture producer since last year at Toyohashi Arts Theatre PLAT which opened in April 2013.

Misa Hayashi

Producer, KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theatre

Worked at the Japan office of MARS, an international performing arts market in Paris, from 1989. Took part in the establishment of the Japan Center, Pacific Basin Arts Communication in 1990. Secretary to President and an assistant producer at Point Tokyo Co., Ltd. from 1991 working mainly on the management and international tours of the productions of Yukio Ninagawa. Producer at Theatre 1010 from 2007. Producer at KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theatre since April 2009, from the theater’s preparation stage working for Kanagawa Arts Foundation.

Masashi Kishimoto

Producer, Owl Spot Theater [Toshima Performing Arts Center]

He was the producer of Theater Company Isseki-Nicho from 1991 to 2008. He produced performances and also managed tours inside Japan. He continued his career as a producer and started working as an Owl Spot Theater Producer in 2012. He planned and produced theater, participatory exhibition, workshop, etc. His latest work as producer includes “SOMA project” with local Japanese artists and dancers from Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, a Butoh performance for family The Emperor’s New Clothes, a deaf artist’s technological work The Sea of Noises and accessibility programs.

Haru Tanji

Vice Production Director, Shizuoka Performing Arts Center [SPAC]

Born in Tokyo in 1982. Working for the production section of Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC) since 2006. Mainly in charge of marketing, website, human resource management and general management of “World Theatre Festival Shizuoka.”

Yukako Ogura, Tomoya Takeda

ROHM Theatre Kyoto

Yukako Ogura: Director of AI-HALL from 2008 to March 2014 producing mainly dance programs and workshop. Project Manager at ROHM Theatre Kyoto since April 2016. Tomoya Takeda: Management and planning at Nishi-Sugamo Arts Factory from 2006, a founding staff member of Festival/Tokyo from 2008, and General Manager of the festival from 2011 to 2013. Working at ROHM Theatre Kyoto since December 2014 on its projects including Kyoto Experiment.

Walter Heun

President, Eurepean Dance Network / Artistic Director, Tanzquartier Wien

Between 1985 and 1989 Walter Heun was director of Tanztage München, Dance Energy and Tanztendenz München. With his production firm Joint Adventures (founded in 1990) he initiated and realized several nationwide and international projects, such as Tanzwerkstatt Europa in Munich and Nationales Performance Netz (NPN). He is co-founder and presenter of Tanzplattform Deutschland (established in 1994). Between 1999 and 2004 Heun conceived and directed luzerntanz – choreographic centre at the luzernertheater. Since 2009 he has been the artistic director of Tanzquartier Wien, where he initiated dance platforms, festivals and encounters of discourse, EU-projects and the International Net for Dance and Performance Austria.

Marc Olivé

Artistic Programmer, Teatre Mercat de les Flors

Marc studied Social Work at Ramón Llull University and contemporary dance in Barcelona and London, and collaborated with different dance companies in Europe as dramaturge, assistant choreographer and producer. As the artistic programmer / curator at Teatre Mercat de les Flors, the first public theater in Spain exclusively devoted to dance and movement arts, since 2005, he has run various programs including audience development, international networking, production and co-production, developing and participating in such EU projects as Modul-dance, IDEE (Initiatives in Dance through European Exchange), EDN (European Dancehouse Network) and Aerowaves.

Bettina Masuch (Secretary, Eurepean Dance Network / Artistic and Managing Director, tanzhaus nrw)

After studying Applied Theatre Studies in Gießen, Bettina Masuch has been working as a dramaturge at the Volksbühne in Berlin amongst others, where she collaborated in productions of Frank Castorf, Christoph Schlingensief and René Pollesch. From 2003 to 2009 she was dance and performance curator at Hebbel am Ufer Berlin, and following posts as the artistic director of the Springdance Festival Utrecht and the artistic director of the Berlin dance festival ‘Tanz im August’, she has been the Artistic and Managing Director of the tanzhaus nrw in Düsseldorf since January 2014.