International conference: ‘Culture in EU External Relations‘ Centre for Fine Arts of Brussels – BOZAR 7-8 April 2014 – List of Speakers Markus APPENZELLER Born in Tubingen, Germany, 1972, Markus holds a professional degree in banking business. He studied law, architecture and urban planning in Konstanz, Stuttgart and Chicago. He graduated in 2003 from Stuttgart University. In his early career Markus worked for UnitA Architects (Stuttgart), Fink&Jocher Architects (Munich) and in the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (Rotterdam). Overall, Markus has been in charge of large scale architecture and urban planning projects in China and across Europe. Before founding MLA+ Markus was Director at KCAP Architects&Planners in Rotterdam (2006 – 2011), where he was design leader for the Olympic Legacy Masterplan for London and the masterplan for the Central Business District of Beijing. For the central area of Shenzhen, Markus headed a team to develop a regeneration strategy that sets an example for a new form of urban transformation in China. Also, he has been the project architect of OMA’s masterplan for White City in London. In 2011 he set up MLA+ with Gerard Maccreanor and Richard Lavington. Markus is a regular guest critic at the AA School of Architecture in London, has lectured at several schools across Europe and has been teaching at the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam. He also writes on various topics of contemporary urbanism and advises companies in how to operate in other countries and cultural environments. 1 Blanka BERKYOVÁ Blanka Berkyová, currently working for K13-Košice cultural center and is responsible for programming and leading one type the new cultural - community artistic infrastucture in the suburbs areas in the Košice city. During the candidacy of Košice for the title of European Capital of Culture, she was a consultant for key community project SPOTs – cultural artistic centers and since 2009, she worked in this project as Executive Manager. Since 2012 she has been involved to the specific project „Evaluation methods for measuring the impact of cultural interventions and community artistic projects on the Košice´s neighbourhoods together with partners from CAL XL (Netherland). She has been working for NGO Centre for community development (2003- 2009) as a manager for urban and community development. During that period she worked as a consultant for international research projects aimed at the removal of barriers in the education of the Roma in Slovakia, as a trainer and consultant for the development of youth initiatives in socially disadvantaged areas and as a facilitator of development projects in Roma communities under the international program Youth Empowerment Partnership Program (YEPP). She has been a member of the Orange Foundation grant commission, a commission of the Slovak Gas Foundation to support projects in the fields of culture, art and social development. Nenad BOGDANOVIC Born in Serbia and resident of Cyprus, Nenad Bogdanovic is an international cultural operator and activist. Currently, he holds the position of Executive Director of Cyprus Symphony Orchestra Foundation and Euro-Arab Youth Music Center. He is Board member of Jeunesses Musicales International and European Music Council. After graduating the Music School of his born-city, Kragujevac, Nenad Bogdanovic studied music performance on accordion in National Music Academy of Ukraine in Kiev. Moving to Cyprus in 2001 he worked as Executive director in Dance House Lemesos and Cultural Movement of Limassol “Epilogi” - Jeunesses Musicales Cyprus. Nenad managed decades of projects supported among others by EU "Culture" and "Youth in Action" Programmes, Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture, the European Cultural Foundation and Anna Lindh Foundation, all having young people in focus and using music and arts as a media for intercultural dialogue. On local level, mobilising various NGOs, Nenad worked on bringing two Cyprus communities closer through “Cyprus Youth TO-GEt-THERe” project creating and publishing first Cyprus bi-lingual cooking book and organising intercultural festivals and art camps for young Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots. On international level he initiated various mobility schemes and events including “Ethno Cyprus” youth music camps, Euro-Mediterranean Choral Fair “Choral Crossroads” in 2011 and 2013 and “Euro-Med Youth Music Expo” that moved hundreds of young musicians across borders and established mechanisms for further project development among over hundred European and Mediterranean youth & music organisations. Those projects resulted in the establishment of Euro-Arab Youth Music Center between Jeunesses Musicales International, Arab Academy of Music (of the League of Arab States) and the Cultural Movement "Epilogi". 2 Nenad participated actively in a wide range of local NGO initiatives including Cyprus Youth Council, New Cyprus Association, Anna Lindh Foundation (National Network) and Limassol Cultural Council, Union of European Federalists and Initiative for Federal Cyprus. Nenad is a member of the team of Belgrade 2020, European Capital of Culture Candidate City in charge for international collaboration. He participated as a speaker and facilitator in a number of international conferences including "Music on Troubled Soils" (Jerusalem, 2007), Euro-Arab Youth Music Forum (Amman, 2011), Euro-Mediterranean Youth Choral Forum (Limassol, 2011), European Music Forum (Glasgow, 2013) and Anna Lindh Foundation Forum (Marseille, 2013). Younès BOUMEHDI Younès Boumedhi is the Chief Executive Officer of HIT RADIO. He holds a degree in Marketing and Communications (Etudes Supérieures en Com- munication et Marketing) from Paris. In 1992, he founded MediSystème, a laboratory products retail company. In 1993, he submitted his first proposal to create a private radio station in Morocco. In 1996, he created IAM, working to promote and support young talent in design and fashion. In 2006, he created HIT RADIO in Morocco. His radio model was replicated in Belgium in 2009, Central Africa in 2012, and Gabon and the Congo in 2013, and is planned to be launched in a dozen or so countries in francophone Africa. He founded a Paris association to promote young talent in 2005 and, in 2007, co-founded the Association des Radios et Télévisions Indépendantes (ARTI; Association of independent radio and television broadcasters), for which he is also the General Secretary. He is a co-founder and the Vice-President of the association Marocains Pluriels, created in 2009. In 2013 he became President of the foundation HIBA for the promotion of arts and culture in Morocco. Sir Martin DAVIDSON KCMG Martin Davidson took up the role as Chief Executive of the British Council in April 2007. Prior to the British Council he worked for the Hong Kong Government as an Administrative Officer. He joined the British Council as Assistant Representative in Beijing in 1984. Martin was responsible for opening the South China office in Guangzhou in 1989 and returned to Beijing in 1995 as Director China. He speaks both Cantonese and Mandarin. He has also held various posts in the British Council’s London HQ with responsibilities covering South East Europe, the Middle East, East Asia and the Americas. Martin is married with 3 children. He is International trustee for Leonard Cheshire Disability, a Governor of Goodenough College and Board Member of the Great Britain China Council. Martin was awarded a KCMG in 2014 for his services to British cultural, scientific and educational interests worldwide. 3 Pavol DEMES Pavol Demeš is an internationally recognised NGO leader based in Bratislava, Slovakia. Prior to the "Velvet Revolution" in November 1989, M. Demeš was a bio-medical researcher at Comenius University in Bratislava. He is a graduate of the Charles University in Prague (1980). After the democratic changes in 1989 he served as the Executive Director of the Slovak Academic Information Agency- Service Center for the Third Sector, a leading NGO in the country. He also served as Foreign Policy Advisor to the President of the Slovak Republic (1993-97), and in 1991-1992 he was the Slovak Minister of International Relations. From 2000 until September 2010 he was the Director for Central and Eastern Europe of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Now he is non-resident senior fellow with the GMF US. Pavol Demeš played a key role in the EU’s civil society development program (PHARE) in Slovakia and democratization efforts in the Balkans and Eastern Partnership countries. In the last two years he visited several Arab countries where he spoke on civil society issues. Gijs de VRIES Gijs de Vries has been the Leader of the Liberal and Democratic Group in the European Parliament, a Senior Advisor to Secretary-General/High Representative Javier Solana, and a Member of the European Court of Auditors. He is a former member of the Government and Parliament of the Netherlands, and served as the Dutch Government’s Representative in the European Convention. He was a member of the Advisory Board of the European Cultural Foundation and a founding member of the European Council on Foreign Relations. He is the author of A Europe Open to Culture: Proposals for a European Strategy of Cultural Diplomacy. He is currently on a sabbatical in Oxford, UK. Johannes EBERT 1982 – 1988 Student of Islamic studies (Arabic, Persian, Turkish) and Political Science in Freiburg im Breisgau 1984 – 1985 Year’s scholarship from the DAAD in Damascus to study the Arabic language 1990 – 1991 Editorial