Arts and culture in Europe: relaunching economies, galvanizing values
Past event online

About
The European Young Leaders Working Group on Arts and Culture draws on the wide range of artists, musicians, writers and cultural practitioners in the European Young Leaders (EYL) network.
Working Group members include: Anne Solène Rolland, head of museums at the French ministry of culture; Beatrice Leanza, director of the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT) in Lisbon; Agnesta Filatove, executive director of Vilnius International Film Festival; Romanian pianist Alexandra Dariescu; bestselling author of the Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls series Francesca Cavallo; Spanish conductor Eduardo Portal, Slovenian artist Jasmina Cibic and Irish writers Mary Fitzgerald and Una Mullally.
Taking a pan-European approach
The Working Group was established to share and brainstorm ideas for collaborating on pan-European projects related to arts and culture. It places a particular importance on how arts and culture can be used as tools to help build a sense of ‘European-ness’ among citizens of Europe. Several members of the Working Group participated in the Euresilience project, a storytelling platform founded by EYL alumna Mary Fitzgerald in March 2020 where people across Europe shared their experiences of solidarity, community and resilience during Covid-19 lockdowns.
The Working Group will examine and contribute to proposals in different member states aimed at mitigating the devastating impact of Covid-19 on the cultural sector (such as the proposed basic income scheme for artists and cultural practitioners in Ireland).
The Working Group will also examine how Brexit will impact the wider cultural conversation across Europe, disrupting previous funding streams but also affecting cross-cultural exchange, and how this can be mitigated.
Developing recommendations for change
The Working Group aims to produce a policy briefing in the autumn of 2021 with recommendations that tie in with the French presidency of the EU’s ambition to showcase and augment the role of culture in Europe. Culture is about shared basic values such as freedom of expression and solidarity, this unites us. The EU’s motto is: united in diversity. Our job will be to promote that diversity while responding to common challenges.
The Working Group’s recommendations will be brought to the attention of high-level policymakers at European and national level. They will be published in a policy briefing paper to be handed over to and discussed with EU commissioner for innovation, culture, education and youth Mariya Gabriel and Clément Beaune, Europe Minister for France ahead of France taking over the EU rotating presidency in 2021.
Schedule
Arts and culture are one of Europe’s core industry, as well as its soft power and identity. Among the sectors worst hit by the pandemic, they have brought solace during lockdowns and kept people hopeful. It is time to launch a new renaissance for Europe, informed by its core values: cooperation, unity in diversity, and fundamental freedoms. This online exchange aims to brainstorm on concrete actions needed to financially preserve the arts and culture sectors while galvanising cultural exchanges in a time of thickening borders and rising populism.
Welcome
Nathalie Furrer
Director, Climate & Energy, Health, European Young Leaders, State of Europe
Scene setter
Themis Christophidou
Director General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture
Q&A
Barbara Gessler
Head of Unit for Creative Europe at the European Commission Directorate General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (EAC)
Viviane Hoffmann
Deputy Director-General at the European Commission Directorate General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (EAC)
Moderator
Mary Fitzgerald
Journalist and analyst specialising in the Euro-Mediterranean region with a particular focus on Libya, European Young Leader Alumna
Participants

Research Fellow at the Institute of Space Sciences (IEEC-CSIC), 2018 European Young Leader
Guillem is a well-known astrophysicist and scientist, who discovered the Proxima-b exoplanet orbiting Proxima-Centauri, our closest neighbouring star. He has conducted research in several countries and has been actively engaged with space agencies, such as NASA and the European Space Agency. In 2016, Nature magazine chose him as one of the ten most prominent scientists world-wide, and the same year he was also listed by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Founder & Creative Director at Alpha Square, 2017 European Young Leader
Andreas completed courses at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. In 2002, he founded a theatre productions company, Alpha Square, to enhance theatre in Cyprus and provide spectators with an inspirational selection of plays. Andreas has already directed 14 stage productions in his country, including several award-winning plays and his own musical-comedy adaptation of Cinderella, which will tour Greece in 2017. Andreas has also written several plays, such as ‘The Rich Also Cry’, which was staged by Theatro Ena in 2007. He has translated numerous theatre texts from English to Greek and published a collection of articles in Phileleftheros, the biggest-selling newspaper in Cyprus.

Multi-Media Editor (News and Current Affairs) at BBC World Service, 2012 European Young Leader
Dawood is one of the most promising young journalists and scholars of his generation in the UK. He has been working for the BBC World Service in London as a Senior Broadcast Journalist and is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Westminster, where he teaches Globalization, Power and International Governance. He joined the BBC in 1998 and also worked as the BBC World Service Bureau Chief and Editor in Kabul, Afghanistan. He was also a visiting scholar at Ohio State University, USA. He holds three Bachelor’s and three Master’s degrees, including Science, Law, International Relations and Diplomacy. In 2010, Dawood became the youngest person to ever win the biggest award in the BBC, the “Global Reith Award for Outstanding Contribution”. He is also a poet/writer, calligrapher and painter/artist.

Founder and CEO of ReDI School of Digital Integration and 2020-2021 European Young Leader (EYL40)
Anne founded ReDI School, a vocational training programme that teaches programming and tech skills to migrants and seeks to fill vacancies in the German IT job market. With five schools throughout Germany and Denmark, ReDI hosts 1,000 students per semester, 65% of which are women and girls. She also founded the Berlin Peace Innovation Lab, which focuses on technology’s role in facilitating emerging and measurable social change towards global peace. Prior to this, Anne spent two years in Japan, researching open social innovation, and received the prestigious Rotary Peace Fellowship. She previously worked as a corporate social responsibility consultant, during which time Anne developed and implemented Samsung Electronics’ award-winning corporate social responsibility strategy for Scandinavia.

Irish Senator for the Cultural and Educational Panel, 2014 European Young Leader
Malcolm is an Irish politician for the centrist Fianna Fáil party and currently serves as a Senator for the Cultural and Educational Panel of the Irish Parliament. Malcolm formerly served as a member of the lower house for the Wexford constituency from 2019 to 2020, prior to which he was a member of Wexford Country County Council from 2009 to 2019 and Mayor of Gorey. Additionally, Malcolm was the Head of Communications and Public Affairs with the Higher Education Authority, the statutory agency in Ireland that allocates public funding to higher education and advises government on higher education and research policy. Having worked for various lobbying and representative organisations throughout his career, Malcolm was also the first commercial manager with myhome.ie, Ireland’s most successful property website. Outside of his professional career, Malcolm has completed over 30 marathons.

Bestselling author & serial entrepreneur, 2019 European Young Leader
Francesca is a bestselling author of children’s books, entrepreneur, founder and CEO Undercats Media, and founder of Timbuktu Labs. She is the co-creator of ‘Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls’, a collection of 100 tales of extraordinary women that has become a publishing sensation. Francesca’s career began in theatre, where she worked as both a manager for a theatre company and as a playwright. In 2012, she moved to California to co-found a children’s media start-up called Timbuktu Labs, Inc. Since then, she has authored nine picture books that have been translated in more than 47 languages. Her most recent international bestseller is the children’s book “Doctor Li and the Crown-wearing Virus”.

Director General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture

Artist, 2014 European Young Leader
Jasmina works across a range of media including photography, performance, installation and video. Most often characterised as a visual artist, her artwork is focused on the positioning and analysing of space vis-à-vis other societal categories. She is the author of numerous exhibitions which have been shown all over Europe, as well as the recipient of prestigious Slovenian, European and international awards, including the Bevilacqua la Masa (Venice 2002 and 2005), the Slovenian Trend Award for Outstanding Achievements in Visual Art (2011), and the Catlin Commission Award (London, 2011). She represented Slovenia at the 55th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.

Award-Winning Concert Pianist, Producer of "The Nutcracker and I”, Creative Entrepreneur and 2018 European Young Leader (EYL40)
Alexandra is the creator and producer of “The Nutcracker and I”, a ground-breaking multimedia performance created for a piano solo with dance and digital animation. She made her debut at the Carnegie Hall in New York and has performed in many prestigious orchestras, including the Sydney Opera House, London’s Wigmore Hall, Dubai Opera House and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. She was the first female Romanian pianist to perform at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Alexandra is an Honorary Associate Artist at the Royal Northern College of Music, Patron of Music in Lyddington, Cultural Ambassador of Romania and Officer of the Romanian Crown. An activist for gender equality in classical music, she is a recipient of the UK’s Women of the Future Award in the Arts and Culture category and dedicates her life to education projects, building bridges and reaching out to the younger generation.

Executive Director of the Vilnius International Film Festival (VIFF) and 2020-2021 European Young Leader (EYL40)
Agnesta is a Lithuanian image and executive specialist with extensive knowledge of the creative industry and public advocacy. She currently heads Lithuania’s annual Vilnius International Film Festival (VIFF) ‘Kino Pavasaris’, one of the biggest film festivals in the Baltic States. In 2019, VIFF screened around 170 films in 17 cities, 34% of which were made by women directors. Agnesta’s long career in the cultural environmental also extends to the role of coordinator at the European Commission’s 2007 MEDIA programme office in Lithuania, as well as a number of cultural projects, including the Latin American culture festival ‘In Latino’ and the educational cinema project for youths ‘Cine Book’ in Lithuania.

Journalist and analyst specialising in the Euro-Mediterranean region with a particular focus on Libya, European Young Leader Alumna
Mary is a journalist and analyst specialising in the Euro-Mediterranean region with a particular focus on Libya. She has worked on Libya since 2011 and lived there throughout 2014. Her work has appeared in publications including the Economist, Foreign Policy, the New Yorker, the Washington Post, the Financial Times and the Guardian. She has conducted research on Libya for the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) and the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMED) among others. She is a contributing author to an edited volume on the Libyan revolution published by Oxford University Press. In her previous role as Irish Times foreign affairs correspondent, she reported from 40 countries across the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe. She is a member of the Global Women’s Forum ‘Rising Talents’ network.

Head of Unit for Creative Europe at the European Commission Directorate General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (EAC)

Managing Director at Foxdixneuf , 2013 European Young Leader
Prior to founding Project Alloy, Jakob was the CEO and Co-Founder of Tinyclues SAS, a Paris-based software startup with the objective of industrialising datamining on Big Data with the help of advanced machine learning algorithms in a Cloud Computing environment. Previously he was a partner and consultant at McKinsey & Company in Germany and France where he worked on topics ranging from Banking to Public Sector Reform to Global Public Health issues, notably the creation and distribution of child HIV treatments. Prior to McKinsey he briefly worked at the World Bank. He holds a Master’s in Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a Bachelor of Science from the University of St. Gallen. Jakob is also a founding partner of the “Cercle du Leadership”.

Deputy Director-General at the European Commission Directorate General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (EAC)

Fashion Designer and CEO of fashion brand Maria Lucia Hohan and 2019 European Young Leader (EYL40)
Maria Lucia is an internationally renowned fashion designer, who has seen her clothes worn by the likes of Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Jennifer Lopez and Madonna. After working several years in Paris and Milan as a textile designer, Maria Lucia returned home to Romania to open her own shop with a modest 800 euros investment and two second-hand sewing machines. After gaining a substantial number of followers on social media and being discovered by Hollywood, she currently runs her renowned fashion brand with 70-woman employees from Bucharest. Additionally, Maria Lucia is a strong advocate for women’s rights and has publicly criticised the excessive consumerism upon which the fashion industry thrives.

Co-Founder and CEO of Slovak Investment Holding, Fiction Writer and 2020-2021 European Young Leader (EYL40)
Ivan is a political scientist, economic advisor and writer from Slovakia. Shortly after joining the Slovak Ministry of Finance as advisor to the minister, Ivan instigated the setup of the Slovak Investment Holding (SIH). Since being appointed its CEO in January 2017, Ivan has led this state-owned fund in investing in strategic sectors of the economy, and driving economic development throughout the country. He previously served as deputy finance minister, and held leading roles during the Slovak Presidency in the EU Council. Ivan is a keen writer and has seen the publication of a number of his works, including a popular study of the 2008 Financial Crisis he co-authored and a children’s book.

Fellow of The German Marshall Fund of the United States, 2015-2016 European Young Leader
Throughout an extensive and wide-ranging career in international organisations and institutions, Sandro Mendonça’s work has focused predominantly on the economics of innovation and industrial strategies. Mendonça is a Fellow of The German Marshall Fund of the United States and was a Visiting Fellow at King’s College London. In addition to serving as a board member of the Portuguese Communications Regulator (ANACOM), Mendonça was a science officer at the official Ibero-American Programme for Science and Technology (CYTED). He has published in major international journals and has taught doctoral programmes in mainland China, namely Guanzhou and Chengdu. Sandro’s research has been used by various international organisations, including the United Nations, the European Commission and the US Senate. Mendonça was named a European Young Leader (EYL40) in 2015.

Secretary General, BSCD Portugal, 2012 European Young Leader
João is the Secretary General of the Business Council for Sustainable Development in Portugal (BCSD Portugal), a member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Global Network. Prior to assuming his current role, João held several roles in the public, private and non profit sectors. He served as Secretary of State for Youth and Sports in the Portuguese Government, had several roles in the Portuguese startup ecosystem (as head of Startup Discoveries, a venture capital fund, head of the REACTOR – Innovation Hub, and head of the Mouraria Creative Hub). He also served as director of GABIP Mouraria, a mission unit reporting to the mayor of Lisbon that led the rehabilitation of Mouraria – in the past a deprived area in the center of Lisbon, but also its most traditional and multicultural quarter. Finally, he’s the founder of HUB 2050, a consulting firm acting in the field of innovation for sustainability, and author of two books about management and innovation.»

Writer and LGTBQ activist, 2019 European Young Leader
A leading voice on LGBTQ rights and politics, Una is one of Ireland’s most reputable young activists. As a journalist, broadcaster and author, she has written for prominent news outlets such as The Guardian and the Sunday Tribune, in addition to contributing a weekly column to the Irish Times. Her two books, In The Name Of Love, and her anthropology, Repeal the 8th, trace the historical developments which culminated in the two separate referenda on marriage equality and reproductive rights in Ireland. She was the Independent Chair of Ireland’s National 2018 LGBTI+ Youth Strategy, which is the first of its kind. A poet and screenwriter, she has authored the documentary, I Am Irish, co-founded a music documentary film festival, co-created the pro-choice podcast, Don’t Stop Repealin’, and co-founded the Irish Times Women’s Podcast.

Founding Member and CEO of Passion for Conducting Academy and 2017 European Young Leader (EYL40)
Eduardo is a conductor and violinist, who founded the Conducting Academy, an online academy to share valuable information with those passionate about conducting. Having made his debut and conducted over twenty performances with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall and throughout England, Eduardo has been invited to conduct orchestras across Europe and the Americas, including the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Madrid and Valencia Symphony Orchestras and Sao Paulo Estate Symphony Orchestra, among others. Widely acclaimed by musical critics and particularly committed to contemporary repertoire, Eduardo also founded and serves as the Music Director of Antares Ensemble in Spain, which focuses on the performance of new music and studies its links with historical and rarely-performed masterpieces.

Co-Founder and CEO of Impactscool and 2020-2021 European Young Leader (EYL40)
Cristina is an Italian businesswoman and social entrepreneur pursuing the world-changing challenge of bringing awareness to the impact of emerging technology. After co-founding and eventually selling her company Wish Days, she started Impactscool, a non-profit devoted to stimulating reflection and critical thinking on the ethics of the fourth industrial revolution and its new technologies. To this end, it encourages citizens to adopt a more forward-thinking approach on the true meaning of technological change. Cristina’s motto of “the future is open source” is a hint to the understanding that our future is something we have to build together. Possible future scenarios and their impacts on our everyday life were explored in her book “Welcome to 2050”.

Programme Director, The Hellenic Initiative, 2015-2016 European Young Leader
Michael is Program Director at The Hellenic Initiative, a global, non-profit, secular institution aiming to mobilise support and investment for sustainable economic renewal in Greece. He is also a Committee Member at the American Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, dedicated to achieving Greek competitiveness through properly informing and adequately motivating business employees. Michael is the co-owner of Green Systems, an engineering procurement and construction company in Athens, and Brainomix, a start-up company that develops medical imaging software to assess the eligibility of acute stroke patients for life saving treatment. He completed his secondary education in Greece before attending the University of Oxford where he gained a degree in mechanical engineering.

Director of National Museums at the French Ministry of Culture and 2020-2021 European Young Leader (EYL40)
Anne-Solène heads the department of museums at the French Ministry of Culture. A fierce advocate for history and heritage, she has shaped her career around showcasing the societal benefits of cultural conservation. As a curator of heritage, she has held leading positions at the prestigious Quai Branly Museum and the French National Museum of Immigration History. Anne-Solène has also been director of research and collections at the Louvre Museum, where she oversaw the acquisition and lending of the museum’s artwork. She played an instrumental role in increasing the availability of the world’s finest art to a greater number of people.

EU Public Policy Manager, Netflix

Owner, ConnectUz, 2015-2016 European Young Leader
Kamilla is a bridge-builder and a solopreneur based in Helsinki. She has had a successful sales career in Scandinavian shipping companies including Maersk Line, where she was in charge of a global sales strategy execution in more than 20 markets spanning Eastern Europe, Nordics and Middle East. A gifted adviser and passionate advocate, Kamilla has done over 10 years’ worth of activist work in influencing debates, policies and practices in the field of gender equality, inclusion, empowerment and cross-cultural dialogue in the Nordics and the EU.

Founder and CEO of Solenica, Inventor of the smart lighting robot ‘Caia’ and 2020-2021 European Young Leader (EYL40)
Diva is an Italian scientist and entrepreneur with a fervent interest in robotics and sustainability. She channelled her passion by creating a home robotics start-up Solenica and developed an AI-powered smart mirror that reflects natural light around the home. The idea to transform indoor spaces came to Diva while working towards her doctorate in Computational Biology in Cambridge, where she spent much of her days inside craving sunshine. Diva is also a graduate of the Singularity University programme on exponential technologies at NASA in 2010. She was awarded the Premio Giovane for the Environment and the Young Global Innovator Award by the MIT Tech Review for Italy, as well as the Pleiade International Award for Innovation and New Technologies.

Country Manager, Reach for Change, 2014 European Young Leader
Yuriy is a Country Manager for Bulgaria of the International Foundation “Reach for Change” which supports social innovators and social entrepreneurs in 18 countries at 3 continents. He has more than 20 years of experience in the non-governmental sector in Bulgaria and Europe working for the capacity building of the independent social and cultural organisations, as well fighting for government transparency and effectiveness. He believes that the change starts from bottom up and the innovation emerges from the periphery, not from the center. German Marshall Fund and Salzburg Global Seminar Alumni. Member of the Strategy Group of the European Initiative “A Soul for Europe”.

Founder & Board Member of CleverBooks and 2020-2021 European Young Leader (EYL40)
Darya is an Irish entrepreneur and influential global pioneer of the role that ‘augmented reality’ (AR) can play in education. She recently created CleverBooks to provide personalised educational content for students by utilising three-dimensional AR technologies. Darya has been widely recognised for her work, having won the Digital Female Leaders Award in Entrepreneurship as well as being named an Innovator by the Irish Times and a Young Irish Entrepreneur. She has been featured in Inc.com, Forbes, CBS and many other global media platforms for her efforts to bridge the technology gap in classrooms around the world and boost student outcomes.
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