Olena Apchel is an independent theater artist and director, performer, activist, playwright, cultural scientist, curator of art projects, PhD in Art History, volunteer, and military servicewoman (lieutenant). Olena was the chief director of the Lesya Ukrainka Theater in Lviv and the director of the Golden Gate Theater in Kyiv; co-author of the main exhibition of the "Territory of Terror" Memorial Museum of Totalitarian Regimes. In 2020–2022, she headed the social projects department at the Warsaw NOWY TEATR. In 2022–2023, Olena worked as a co-director of Theatertreffen, the largest theatre festival in the German-speaking world. In the spring of 2024, she joined the Ukrainian army and is currently serving in the National Guard of Ukraine.

Mariana Bondarenko is Head of Music at the Ukrainian Institute in Kyiv, Ukraine, where she develops and leads international music programs promoting Ukrainian culture worldwide through cultural diplomacy and international cooperation. Holding a PhD in German Philology, she has more than 15 years of experience in the cultural sector, having worked with the Austrian Cultural Forum at the Embassy of Austria in Kyiv, Ukraine; the Goethe-Institut in Kyiv, Ukraine; German Films in Munich, Germany; and the University of Vienna, Austria.

Yurii Chekan is a musicologist with a PhD in music theory. Professor of the Department of Cultural Studies of the Ukrainian Catholic University (Lviv). Laureate of the Mykola Lysenko Prize of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine. Author of monographs Music During the Great War: Chronicles of the Lviv Organ Hall (Lviv-Chernivtsi, Bukrek, 2025), The World As It Really Is… The Opera House in the Infrastructure of Musical Life (Lviv, 2024), Intonational Image of the World (Kyiv, 2009), National Symphony Orchestra: 100 Years of Service to Music (Kyiv, 2018); textbook Music Criticism: Theory and Methodology (Chernivtsi, 2007, co-authored with O. Zinkevych).

Dr. Iryna Chuzhynova is a Ukrainian theatre scholar, curator, and cultural manager. She served as Program Director of the Ukrainian Shakespeare Festival (2024–2025) and previously curated the Les Kurbas Festival of Young Ukrainian Directing (2014–2016). From 2014 to 2019, she headed the NGO Theatre Platform. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with several major Ukrainian theatre institutions, including the Kyiv Academic Theatre of Drama and Comedy on the Left Bank of the Dnipro, Kyiv Academic Theatre Zoloti Vorota, and the Ivano-Frankivsk National Academic Drama Theatre named after Ivan Franko. Chuzhynova is the author of numerous critical, analytical, and public-facing texts on contemporary Ukrainian theatre and culture. She also worked as an expert for the “Culture and Arts” sector within the cultural policy development initiative RES POL. She is a member of the Coalition of Cultural Actors. 

Serhii Dorofieiev is a cultural manager, curator of arts projects, and Managing Director of the Kyiv National Academic Molodyy Theatre.

He works in the fields of theatre management, international cultural partnerships, and the production of artistic projects. He collaborates with Ukrainian and European institutions and is involved in the development of theatre initiatives and touring programs. He is also an expert in cultural and grant programs, including programs of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation.

Founder of the All-Ukrainian Theatre Festival “SvitOhliad” (2018–2021).

He headed the Luhansk Regional Academic Ukrainian Music and Drama Theatre (2015-2022) and the Sumy National Academic M. Shchepkin Theatre of Drama and Music Comedy (2022-2025).

Oleksandr Drachuk is a grant program manager at House of Europe and co-founder of the Musicians Defend Ukraine Foundation. In 2015, under the artistic pseudonym Lesik Omodada, he founded the Shpytal Records recording studio, where he produced dozens of music albums and educational videos. In various roles, he implemented interdisciplinary cultural projects in Ukraine and Germany. Currently, he is a member of the bands Tik Tu and Pyrih i Batih as a manager and musician.

Anna Gadetska is a musicologist, co-founder and program director of Open Opera Ukraine. She studied, defended her PhD thesis, and currently works at the National Music Academy of Ukraine (Department of Cultural Theory and History). She is an expert in early music, musical theater, film soundtrack, and other performing arts. She has worked as a lecturer, curator, and moderator with various educational, cultural, and artistic initiatives, including the Cultural Project, the Early Music Festival in Lviv, Kyiv Mohyla Business School, Bouquet Kyiv Stage, KINO42, etc. Since 2023, she has been the program director of the Kyiv Baroque Festival launched by the National Philharmonic of Ukraine.

Anastasiia Haishenets is the Deputy Director General for International Relations at the Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theater. She is a theater scholar, curator, and manager of international performing arts programs and projects. She has contributed to numerous publications on contemporary Ukrainian theater in Ukrainian and international publications. Previously, she served as the Head of Performing Arts at the Ukrainian Institute and as the coordinator of the Theater Laboratory at Mystetskyi Arsenal. She graduated from the I.K. Karpenko-Karyi Kyiv National University of Theater, Film, and Television with a degree in theater studies. She served as editor-in-chief of the Ukrainian Theater magazine published by the National Newspaper and Magazine Publishing House.

Mariia Kardash is a performer, researcher of movement and embodiment, and a doctoral student at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz. She is a graduate of the Choreomundus international master’s program and a co-organizer of the accompanying Choreo Dance Film Festival. 

Olga Kebas is a performer, choreographer, researcher, and contemporary dance professor. Curator (GogolFEST, Artil), organizer of cultural events, director and performer of numerous performances at festivals and cultural events in Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Germany (GogolFest, ArtPole, Zelyonka Fest, TEDxKyiv, Night at the Museum PinchukArtCentre, KyivMusicFest, Generator MALTA, MSTT, and others).

Svitlana Lenchenko is a manager with experience in international project management with a particular focus on development, culture, and diplomacy. She is a Head of Development and Strategic Partnerships at the Ukrainian Institute. Formerly, Head of Music at the Ukrainian Institute (2021–2023), artist manager, and concert producer (2012–2024). Project Manager for UHGI — Ukrainian History. A Global Initiative.

Olena Lybo is a theater scholar and lecturer at the Kharkiv National Kotlyarevsky University of Arts (theatre studies department). Member of UNIMA (Union Internationale de la Marionnette). Member of the National Union of Theater Workers of Ukraine. Founder of the Open Festival of Non-State Theaters “Kurbalesia” (2003–2015, Kharkiv). Founder of the R. Cherkashyn All-Ukrainian Competition of Professional Readers (2005–2016, Kharkiv). Expert of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation (2020–2026). Expert of the All-Ukrainian Theater Festival-Award “GRA” (2020–2021).

Ostap Manulyak is a Ukrainian composer, performer, lector, and curator. Ph.D. docent (assist. prof.) of the composition department of the Lviv National Music Academy. Co-founder of Art Association NURT, director of the Festival of electroacoustic music VOX ELECTRONICA, and Experimental Educational Studio of Electroacoustic Music (EESEM) of Lviv Music Academy. Co-curator of the Festival of Audiovisual Art TETRAMATYKA.

Fellow of the Fulbright Program (Stanford, CA) and Gaude Polonia Scholarship Program

(Krakow).

Oleksandr Manshylin is a cultural manager, professor, choreographer, and researcher. Executive Director of the All-Ukrainian association “Contemporary Dance Platform.” Author of publications about contemporary dance for the magazines Tanets v Ukraini i sviti, Proscenium, Dance Studies, and others.

Stas Nevmerzhytskyi is a graduate of the National Music Academy in Kyiv and a co-founder of The Claquers, a media outlet dedicated to classical music. From 2019 to 2024, he served as editor-in-chief of the classical music online radio station Radio Islandia, and from 2021 to 2024 as Deputy Director General for Marketing at the National House of Music. From April 2024 to October 2025, he served as a mortarman with the Brigade "Azov," carrying out combat missions.

Viktor Ruban is a performer, director, choreographer, researcher, and coach, and holds a Ph.D. in Cultural Studies. Founder and director of Ruban Production ITP; co-founder, program director, and representative of Impulse Transformation Platform; Ukraine’s representative to the European Cultural Parliament; Global Connector 2026 by IETM, the international network for contemporary performing arts. He has worked with dance and movement for over twenty years as an artist, curator, educator, and producer. 

Veronika Skliarova is a cultural manager, theater producer, and curator of art and sociocultural projects. She is the program director of Parade-fest, a festival dedicated to the right to the city. She has produced projects such as Crimea, 5 a.m., Ukrainian Odyssey, and others. She is the founder of Anthology24—a collection of texts for the theater written after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. She was a co-curator of the first Ukrainian Pavilion at the Avignon Off Festival, a jury member for the Polish Avrora Drama Award in Bydgoszcz, and a co-coordinator of the exhibition Kurbas. Workshops.

Nadiia Sokolenko is a cultural manager. Previously, she worked as a theater critic, theater and festival manager (Taking the Stage, Kurbas Emerging Ukrainian Theater Directors Festival), curator, editor-in-chief of the Ukrainian Theater magazine, and curator of the Stage 6 theater space at the Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Center, and assistant director and playwright for theater projects by the Yara Artistic Group (Dim=Ev=Home, Tychyna, Zhadan, and the Dogs, Scythian Stones).

Tetiana Tizenberg is a choreographer, director, contemporary dance professor, initiator and curator of educational and artistic projects, and principal ballet mistress at the Municipal Theater “House of the Actor” in Zaporizhzhia.

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