Focal Point: Sustainability as the Way of Existence
OUR GUESTS
*By the order in program
KEYNOTES:
Caitlin Southwick
Caitlin is the Founder and Executive Director of Ki Culture and Sustainability in Conservation (SiC) and the CEO of Ki Futures. She holds a Professional Doctorate in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage from the University of Amsterdam. Before dedicating herself full time to sustainability in culture, Caitlin worked in the conservation field in museums and sites around the world, including the Vatican Museums, The Getty Conservation Institute, The Uffizi Gallery, and Rapa Nui. She has been a Professional Member of the American Institute of Conservation’s Sustainability Committee and was the Secretary of the Working Group on Sustainability for the International Council of Museums (ICOM) from 2018-2023. She is a Climate Reality Leader for the Climate Reality Project. Caitlin is an experienced speaker and lecturer and has run workshops on sustainability for culture for institutions around the world, including UNESCO, ICOM, the UCLA-Getty Conservation Program, the French Ministry of Culture, Europeana, Institutul Cultural Român, and The Taipei National University of the Arts.
Ki Culture is an international nonprofit working on the nexus of sustainability and culture. The organization provides resources, tools, programming, workshops, and courses on sustainability for cultural professionals globally.
Ben Twist
Combining 25 years’ experience as a theatre director with in-depth climate change knowledge, Ben has been the Director of Creative Carbon Scotland, a charity putting culture at the heart of a zero-carbon Scotland, since 2011. He directed theatre and music theatre across the UK and in Europe and taught in the UK, New Zealand and Latin America. He was Associate Director at the Traverse in Edinburgh, Artistic Director of Manchester’s Contact Theatre, a member of the Board of the Scottish Arts Council, Chair of Scotland’s leading contemporary classical music group Hebrides Ensemble and Vice Chair of the Theatres Trust. He has an MSc in Carbon Management and a doctorate in using system change to influence the complex social systems that lead to high carbon emissions.
Creative Carbon Scotland believes in the essential role of the arts, screen, cultural and creative industries in contributing to the transformational change to a more environmentally sustainable Scotland. We work directly with individuals, organizations and strategic bodies engaged across cultural and sustainability sectors to harness the role of culture in achieving this change.
PANEL DISCUSSIONS:
Lucia Kašiarová
Lucia Kašiarová is the founder and currently the artistic director of Studio ALTA, a Prague cultural centre used by independent artists in the field of dance, new theatre and social and educational projects. Since 2022 she has been working as the director of the Divadlo Štúdio tanca in Slovakia, the only professional contemporary dance venue in Slovakia. In the past she has directed the festival of Slovak contemporary dance HYBAJ HO, festival of movement theater and pantomime Kašparův kolínský Mimoriál and at the moment she leads the international festival Dni Tanca/ Dance days. She participates in various cultural and grant committees in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. She is a board member of Vision of Dance, a professional organization for independent dance. She is the recipient of the 2017 and 2021 Czech Dance Platform Award for Interpretation and the 2018 Jiří Opěla Manager of the Year Award. In 2022 she received a nomination for the Thalia Theatre Award in the field of alternative theatre for her interpretation in the performance Multividual. She finds it challenging to find differences and overlaps in the management and development of artistic programming in established and non-established cultural institutions. Her artistic work is wide-ranging, choosing artists who are open to exploration and see art as a path to knowledge and building a healthy society. She promotes the domestic and international artistic work of people who sincerely seek a path to self-discovery and reflect on the world in which they live. She sees the art form as a resource of personal experience that motivates society to self-reflection and personal activity.
Anna Hořejší
Anna Hořejší was born in České Budějovice, where she returned after 13 years. She studied theatre production at the DAMU in Prague. In 2013-2016 she was part of the Prague Quadriennale team as production and project manager of the student section SpaceLab. She was the production manager of the Diversity Week organized by the Faculty of Arts of Charles University and opened the Hybernská Campus in 2017. From 2017-2020 she was responsible for promotion within the Czech Office of Creative Europe – Culture. She is one of the authors of the Culture for Future call expressing the cultural community’s support for the environmental movement. Since September 2021, she has been part of the team that prepared the successful candidacy of České Budějovice for the European Capital of Culture in 2028. She enriches the concept of Budějovice 2028 from the position of a feminist, climate activist and mother of three children.
Budějovice 2028 – The title of European Capital of Culture creates a unique opportunity to improve the quality of life in the city and the region on many levels – and at the same time significantly strengthens the role of the cultural sector. The vision of the ECoC Budějovice 2028 is to create a permacultural environment that enables the long-term sustainable development of the city through cultural and artistic projects. The application includes 46 projects that contribute to the active involvement of residents and communities in public life, improve the quality of public space, bring crucial issues (environmental, mental health, equal rights or care) into the public debate, and deliver unique artistic experiences. And not only in 2028. The titular year is a culmination, a celebration of joint efforts and shared experience. But above all, the opportunity to become an ECoC is an impetus for the long-term sustainable development of the city, while strengthening and stabilising the cultural infrastructure.
Kateřina Vídenová
Kateřina Vídenová studied architecture at the Czech Technical University (ČVUT) and photography at the Academy of Arts, Architecture, and Design (UMPRUM) in Prague, and recently obtained a certificate to be a professional cook. Together with Adam Wlazel, she founded the MAK! studio (mobile architectural office) in 2013, with which they enter the public space of towns and villages with small architectural realizations and educational projects. They explore sustainability through community, ecological, social and urban issues. Together with Adam Wlazel and Richard Biegel, they also founded Letná sobě! In 2011, an architectural initiative for the meaningful development of the Letná district. The initiative gradually grew into a successful political group and its activist character disappeared. Kateřina Vídenová is currently teaching at the UMPRUM in Prague (with Raumlaborberlin, Dominik Lang, Eva Franch and Gilabert), where she is also leading the new project Kafkárna / Centre for Art and Ecology at UMPRUM (together with Amalia Bulandra and Dominik Lang). She is the editor of several professional publications (Aquapark, Feast, On Trees in the Streets).
Kafkárna – Kafkárna is a hundred-year-old sculpture studio in Prague’s Ořechovka district, which was created for Bohumil Kafka and his monumental realisations, especially the statue of Jan Žižka in Prague’s Vítkov. The wooden building, which was originally built as a temporary structure, is still almost in its original state, minor modifications were carried out in the 1950s, when the studio created a model of Stalin’s monument to Letná. During the period of normalisation, stone masons worked in the Kafkárna. Since the revolution, the studio has been used by sculpture students of the UMPRUM, initially under the direction of Kurt Gebauer, who acquired the studio for the school, and for the last ten years under the direction of Dominik Lang and Edith Jeřábková (Isabela Grosseová, Kateřina Vídenová).
It was in the past year that the sculpture studio began to open the space to the public, gradually defining a programme for it in which ecology and art are intertwined. The themes opened with HOSTINA series, a format of regular community dinners combined with lectures and art performances. It was not only the interior of the studio that was important, but also the magical garden full of sculptures that surrounded it. In the next two years, this programme will continue at Kafkarna, mainly thanks to the receipt of a grant from the Norway Grants.
The backbone of the programme will be three multi-day symposiums (October 2022, May 2023, October 2023) and an opening (April 2024). In addition, shorter events for students and the public (workshops, readings, lectures, screenings, dinners) will take place at Kafkárna throughout the duration of the project, and gradually part of the teaching relating to ecological issues will be moved there. Kafkárna will also participate in several community events (Den architektury, Zažít město jinak, Open studios etc.).
Anna Stránská
Anna Stránská is a cultural manager. She graduated from the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno, majoring in Theatre Management, and is currently continuing her studies in Museology at Masaryk University. Since 2016, she has been working in the management of HaDivadlo, the stage of the Centre for Experimental Theatre, first as a producer and PR, and since 2018 as an intendant. In 2019, she founded the inter-theatre Young Audience Club Brno. Among her longest collaborations is the production of the Festival Summer Film School in Uherské Hradiště. She is the chairwoman of the Memoria Association – Initiative for the dignified use of the prison in Uherské Hradiště.
HaDivadlo located in the Alfa arcade, is a stage of the Centre of Experimental Theatre in Brno. Since its beginnings, dating back to Prostějov in the 1970s, it has been building its position as one of the leading alternative theatre scenes, which has been visited by many prominent personalities. In 2015, Ivan Buraj became the artistic director – directing Madame Bovary, The Mooners (Imitation and Suspicion), Eyolf, Our, Perception, Humanism 2022 and others. Each season has its own thematic framework, the 2021/22 season was dedicated to the phenomenon of degrowth and no new productions were created. The current HaDivadlo is a stage of progressive dramaturgy and focuses also on educational, social and other non-performance activities.
Olga Škochová Bláhová
Olga Škochová Bláhová is an expert in cultural planning. For more than 10 years she has been working on participatory cultural planning in cities and municipalities in the Czech Republic.
At the Prague Institute for Planning and Development (IPR Prague) she worked on the elaboration of cultural and community activities for the strategic plan of the City of Prague, she was at the birth of the registered institute Creative Prague, she participated in the development of cultural policy and projects to support culture and creative industries in Prague. She is an expert evaluator of the National Network of Healthy Cities in the application of MA21 in the field of culture and local traditions. In 2009-2015 she was a member of the evaluation committee of the VIA Foundation in the field of development of local initiatives.
Since 2014, she has been working on cultural projects at ONplan, leading the preparation of strategic plans in the field of culture for a number of regional cities and smaller regional centres. She has worked with almost half of the Czech regions on the preparation of strategies that include culture, cultural heritage and cultural and creative industries.
MODERATORS:
Filip Koryta (sometimes also Dr. Filipitch) grew up in Sokolov and makes his living as a freelance artist, so he knows a thing or two about (un)sustainability. In 2017, he became the Czech slam poetry champion, several times also the Czech slam duo champion. Filip writes and publishes books, studied teaching for high schools and moderates everything from professional debates to various conferences to food festivals. He loves watermelon and is afraid of snakes.
Jonáš Zbořil is a journalist, moderator and writer. He is currently in charge of the cultural section of the Seznam Zprávy website. He hosted the podcast Kulturák, and now he is preparing a personal podcast with cultural personalities – Interviews with Jonáš Zbořil. He worked as an editor at Radio Wave, where he prepared the podcast Liberatura. He has published two collections of poetry and is preparing his debut prose book.
Matěj Chytil is a public servant and political consultant focused on sustainability, circularity, urban planning, and change management in public institutions. He worked in an international law firm and for various NGOs. As a Chief of Staff to the Deputy Mayor of Prague, he found the public administration to be the most challenging of work environments – and the one most resistant to change. He helped set the Climate Commitment for Prague on the tracks and is committed to helping public institutions meet the challenges of this stormy present. He has organized Creative Bureaucracy Festival. He is also a monument restorer and carpenter apprentice on the side.
WORKSHOPS:
Caitlin Southwick
Caitlin is the Founder and Executive Director of Ki Culture and Sustainability in Conservation (SiC) and the CEO of Ki Futures. She holds a Professional Doctorate in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage from the University of Amsterdam. Before dedicating herself full time to sustainability in culture, Caitlin worked in the conservation field in museums and sites around the world, including the Vatican Museums, The Getty Conservation Institute, The Uffizi Gallery, and Rapa Nui. She has been a Professional Member of the American Institute of Conservation’s Sustainability Committee and was the Secretary of the Working Group on Sustainability for the International Council of Museums (ICOM) from 2018-2023. She is a Climate Reality Leader for the Climate Reality Project. Caitlin is an experienced speaker and lecturer and has run workshops on sustainability for culture for institutions around the world, including UNESCO, ICOM, the UCLA-Getty Conservation Program, the French Ministry of Culture, Europeana, Institutul Cultural Român, and The Taipei National University of the Arts.
Ki Culture is an international nonprofit working on the nexus of sustainability and culture. The organization provides resources, tools, programming, workshops, and courses on sustainability for cultural professionals globally.
Adam Karásek
Adam Karásek graduated in directing and screenwriting at Tomas Bata University in Zlín. Since 2016, he has worked as an AD or producer for a number of Czech and foreign projects, such as The Painted Bird, Carnival Row, Spider-Man: Far From Home. In 2021 he co-founded the greenfilming consulting and service company Planet A Film. Since then, he has worked closely with TV Nova, Czech Television, Total HelpArt T.H.A. and other productions. He has participated in the projects King of Sumava, MasterChef, Waves, Eternal Peace, Los Farad, etc.
Hanna Belz
Hanna Belz lives and works in Berlin, Germany. She is a sustainability manager for culture and media and works for the Institute for Future Culture („Institut für Zukunftskultur“), among others. Hanna studied art history and worked in various print and online editorial departments. She was head of office of the Landesverband der Museen zu Berlin e.V. from 2017 to 2018 and held the position „Project Coordination and Development“ at the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt from 2019 to 2020. In 2022, she decided to focus on sustainability in the German museum sector and completed postgraduate studies on sustainability management. She was part of the team of authors of the guide „Climate Protection in Museums“, published by the German Museums Association. Additionally, Hanna is a member of Museums for Future and is consulting museums on sustainability.