After a successful completion of the Beyond the Obvious 2018 conference, Culture Action Europe elected new board members at the Annual General Assembly and Members Forum on 27 October in Timisoara, Romania. We are happy to announce that Robert Manchin, Antonio Gucciardo and Cristina Da Milano have been re-elected for the second term. Niels Righolt and Elena Polivtseva will replace Chris Torch and Teodor Celakoski. A warm welcome to all, we look forward to a fruitful and collaborative work with the new board!
Robert Manchin is the President of Europa Nova and also a distinguished senior scholar at the University of Pannonia Koszeg Knowledge Center. He has a several decade long managerial practice as the President of a large consulting business. Previously, he was the Senior Vice President of Gallup Organisation, Princeton and the Chairman and Managing Director of Gallup Europe. He believes in taking a self-critical stance and humility in serving and understanding the cultural needs and rights of all cultures within the wider European cultural landscape.
Antonio Gucciardo is General Manager of Interarts in Barcelona, a non-governmental organization specialized in international cultural co-operation since 2005. He has a background in law and finance but also specialized training in cultural mediation and professional experience in the cultural sector; in particular, the legal and financial administration of international projects and activities in international cultural cooperation. He also has ample experience in the management of CSOs with an international remit. He is member of the commission for the adaptation to the European Space for Higher Education of the “European Master of Professional specialization, Inter-Mediterranean Mediation: Economic inversion and intercultural integration” (MIM) of the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Spain.
Cristina Da Milano has over 25 years of professional experience in cultural sector, especially in the field of cultural heritage. She actively supports the idea that culture should be placed at the heart of both policy making and policy debate. She has also taken part in several research projects at a national and international level, managing many European funded projects within the framework of the Lifelong Learning Programme 2007-2013, the Culture Programme 2007-2013 and the Creative Europe Programme. She has extensive experience in the coordination of research and training all over Europe. In 2017, she was a nominated member of the board of directors of Teatro di Roma and in 2018 member of the National Commission for the National Museum System of the Italian Ministry of Culture. Cristina is president of ECCOM – European Centre for Cultural Organisation and Management.
Elena Polivtseva is Communication and Policy Manager at IETM, International network for contemporary performing arts, based in Brussels. She is also engaged in communication and advocacy activities of European Alliance for Culture and the Arts. She embraces the wide diversity of cultural sectors and disciplines. She has in-depth knowledge of the EU structures, technicalities of the decision-making process and current policy developments.
Niels Righolt is the Director for CKI- the Danish Center for Arts & Interculture. He has more than 25 years of experience in arts field. He has been engaged in the development of sustainable and coherent cultural democracy in Europe through his participation in transformational European projects, European networks and project conglomerates. Hence, he has profound understanding of the intertwined relation between arts, audiences and politics. As a cultural professional, he has also worked as Director of public institution and as policy advisor on local and national levels.
See all board members here
