Culture and Space during and after the crisis

Ana Kočegarova is a cultural producer working in the field of contemporary arts and creative industries.
From 2013 to 2017, she worked as the coordinator in Kaunas Biennial and the international residencies project “Networked Encounters”. At the same time, she has produced multiple projects in the fields of art and online creative industries, including but not limited to, online contemporary art platform Art-Cart.eu and oral history platform Atmintiesvietos.lt.
From 2015 to 2017, she worked as the coordinator of Kaunas bid for the European Capital of Culture 2022. After Kaunas was granted the title of the European Capital of Culture in 2017, she became the CEO of the organisation; from 2018, she is the Head of International Relations and Programming. She is also the curator of capacity building platform “Tempo Academy of Culture” in Kaunas European Capital of Culture 2022.

Irena Kregar Šegota graduated in English and French Language and Literature at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb and in Maritime Economy at the Maritime Faculty in Rijeka. She studied cultural management, cultural policies and cultural relations at Zadar University (European Studies: Languages and Cultures in Contact), at the Chambre de commerce de Paris, Observatoire des politiques culturelles de Grenoble and Ecole Nationale d’Administration in Paris.
She is presently the CEO of Rijeka 2020, the Agency responsible for the implementation of the Rijeka – European Capital of Culture 2020 project. She was involved in the project from the very beginning, first as the executive coordinator and international relations manager for Rijeka ECOC 2020 bid and then as the Executive Director for Development, Partnerships and Participation at Rijeka 2020 company.
Her previous professional experiences include the position of advisor for international cooperation in culture at the Rijeka City Hall, work for the Rijeka City Puppet Theatre (marketing/PR and coordination of Rijeka International Puppet Festival), work for the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and teaching positions at high schools in Rijeka. She was the president of the Alliance Française in Rijeka 2003–2018 and the vice-president of the European cultural network Les Rencontres – LIKE 2015–2019. Fluently speaks English, French and Italian.

Nevenka Koprivšek started as actor (Ecole Jacques Lecoq, Paris), was artistic director of Glej experimental theatre and in 1997 she established a new independent organization BUNKER. Bunker creates artistic programs that reflect on social, ecological, political or cultural issues. It organizes educational programs and two contemporary performing arts festivals: Mladi levi in Ljubljana and Drugajanje in Maribor. Since 2004 Bunker has also managed Stara mestna elektrarna, an old power plant converted into a performing arts center.
Nevenka has been involved in or has co-founded many international networks and exchange projects. She occasionally writes, lectures and advises on different issues of programming and cultural policy. She is also experienced practitioner and teacher of the Feldenkrais method of awareness through movement. Awards include: City of Ljubljana, a municipal award for special achievements in culture (Ljubljana 2003), a Chevalier (2011) and Officer Of Arts and letters (2015) by Government of France.

Ragnar Siil is an international cultural policy expert, Founder and Director of Creativity Lab – leading cultural policy and creative industries think tank and consultancy in the Baltic Sea Region. Formerly, he has held positions of Estonian Undersecretary for the Arts, chairman of the European Union expert group on cultural and creative industries, key expert for the EU-Eastern Partnership Culture&Creativity Programme and expert at the European Creative Industries Alliance. Ragnar is a director of board at Cultural Policy Designers Network, he has advised many European cities with becoming European Capitals of Culture and members of UNESCO Creative Cities Network. Ragnar’s doctoral research at Estonian Business School focuses on developing creative cities.