Meet the Speakers
Valeria Marcolin
Since 2014 Valeria Marcolin is co-directing « Culture et Développement »
(NGO) and acting as independent consultant for local national, regional and international public institutions and organisations in the field of international cultural cooperation and cooperation for development (UNESCO, EU, OIF, AFD, ACP, AIMF, UCLG). She started her career in the performing arts sector (public relations, international projects development, networking management, fundraising). For the period 2020-2024 she is also member of the International UNESCO Fund for Cultural Diversity evaluation panel of experts (acting as its coordinator for 2023-2024). In the field of culture for development her experience covers policy design and evaluation, with a specific focus on local development at the local authorities level and decentralized cooperation, cultural mapping and strategic planning, participatory processes and multi- stakeholders programmes, the design of training for cultural operators in various disciplines, feasibility studies for cultural venues and culture-led urban projects. She has notably contributed to the design of Africa-EU cooperation programmes on culture, the design of the first QPR training module for the 2005 Convention and assisted QPR production by several African countries (2015-2018). Her expertise also includes the programme design of the high - level conferences for international and regional organisations, seminars, the production of concept notes and working papers in the field of international cultural cooperation. Co-funder of the international initiative "Creative Mobilities"; she is an active member of European and international networks. After law studies, she holds a Master degree in cultural organisations Management from Paris Dauphine University and in Management of Public
Policies from Sciences Po Paris.
Ritika Khanna
Ritika Khanna is a heritage consultant with over a decade of experience in the cultural heritage sector. Her work involves researching, analysing and implementing international cultural policies, notably UNESCO’s conventions on Intangible Heritage, World Heritage, and Diversity of Cultural Expressions. She has served as UNESCO Consultant to the Government of India where she spearheaded the implementation of UNESCO Cultural Conventions at the national level. She has also been closely involved in the inscription of several elements from India on the Representative List of ICH and the World Heritage list. She is a UNESCO global facilitator for the 2003 Convention, India’s first ‘Young Heritage Expert’ for the 1972 Convention, and is part of the ‘Young Experts for Fair Culture’ initiative of the German Commission of UNESCO under the 2005 Convention. Ritika is now based out of Amsterdam, the Netherlands where she runs her independent consultancy.
Maria Manjate
Maria Manjate, she is a cultural manager and cultural heritage expert, with a professional background in management and cultural studies. She works as Programme Officer at the Observatory of Cultural Policies in Africa (OCPA), providing support and technical assistance to the development and promotion of cultural policies across the African continent through specific projects focusing on dissemination (research and publication), capacity building, networking, and advocacy, with close cooperation with UNESCO, African Union, Africalia, OIF and Indian Ocean Commission. Ms. Manjate leadership and engagement in the conservation and promotion of cultural heritage has led to her involvement with the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF), ICCROM and UNESCO. She served as Convener of the Regional Seminar Series for Portuguese Speaking Countries in Africa (PALOP) on the occasion of the worldwide commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the World Heritage Convention (May – October 2022) and she is a Young Expert for UNESCO’s German Commission Fair Culture initiative, since 2022.
Chiara Bortolotto
Chiara Bortolotto holds the UNESCO chair in Intangible Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development at CY Cergy Paris University. She received her PhD in Social Anthropology and Ethnology from the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (Paris, 2005). Her research explores the social life of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, with a particular focus on the intersection between heritage and sustainable development. Sha was as the Principal Investigator of the project “UNESCO frictions: Heritage-making across global governance” at the School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) in Paris (2014-2020), she held international fellowships at Cambridge University (2013-2014), the Free University of Brussels (2010-2013), the Laboratoire d’Anthropologie et d’Histoire de l’Institution de la Culture in Paris (2006-2009), and IULM University in Milan (2001-2006). Since 2013, she has been a member of the Ethnological and Intangible Heritage Committee established within the French Ministry of Culture and of the scientific committee of the Centre français du patrimoine culturel immatériel.
Irina Ruiz Figueroa
Ms. Irina Ruiz Figueroa is an Electronics and Communications Engineer graduated from the University of Panama. Documentary Filmmaker and Producer from EICTV, Cuba. Since 2012 she has led ACAMPADOC - School, and International Documentary Film Festival of
Panama. Her work links projects on living heritage at risk from the global south with research, creation and exhibition circuits between rural communities and academic environments.
Luciana Gonçalves de Carvalho
Luciana Carvalho is an Anthropologist and Associate Professor at the Federal University of Western Pará, teaching in the Masters in Anthropology and Archaeology, as well as in the PhD in Society, Nature, and Development programs. She holds a permanent position as a professor in the Graduate Program in Sociology and Anthropology at the Federal University of Pará. Additionally, she serves as an Advisor to the Cultural Heritage Advisory Council at the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute (IPHAN) and as the Coordinator of the Heritage and Museums Committee of the Brazilian Anthropology Association. She is also a full member of the Brazilian Anthropology Association in the Forum of Entities in Defense of Brazilian Cultural Heritage. Luciana Carvalho has served as a consultant for the Nonpartisan and Objective Research Organization of the University of Chicago (NORC) from 2022 to 2023. Prior to that, she worked as a researcher and project manager at the National Center for Folklore and Popular Culture of the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute in Rio de Janeiro from 2000 to 2010. She currently coordinates three competitive research projects and has authored numerous articles on intangible heritage processes related to Brazil.
Bachirou Njoya
Bachirou Njoya is a Senior Water, Forestry, and Hunting Engineer with over 15 years of professional experience in sustainable natural resource management in Cameroon. An active member of the Executive Board of the Forum of Accredited NGOs, which provides advisory services to the Intergovernmental Committee of the 2003 UNESCO Convention. Mr. Bachirou NJOYA is the Secretary General of a leading NGO in the African region, the PRINCESSE MOMAFON RABIATOU NJOYA FOUNDATION, which works to promote and safeguard intangible cultural heritage in Cameroon. Mr. NJOYA is the founding co-chair of the Working group focusing on safeguarding the living heritage of communities affected by conflicts and natural disasters, and a member of the Working group on climate change, under the ICH NGO Forum.
Robert Baron
Robert Baron is Assistant Professor of Practice in the Masters of Arts in Cultural Sustainability Program at Goucher College. He has served as the director of the Folk Arts Program, Music Program and Museum Program of the New York State Council on the Arts and as a museum educator at The Brooklyn Museum. Baron is President of the ICH NGO Forum, which provides advisory services in the framework of the UNESCO ICH Program, co-chair of the Cultural Heritage and Property Working Group of the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore and the Vice President of the Fellows of the American Folklore Society. His research interests include creolization, Afro-Atlantic folklore, heritage studies, public folklore and museum studies. Baron has carried out field research in the Caribbean, US and Japan. Among his publications are Creolization as Cultural Creativity, edited with Ana Cara; Public Folklore, edited with Nick Spitzer, Afro-American Folk Culture: An Annotated Bibliography, (with John F. Szwed and Roger D. Abrahams) and articles in the International Journal of Heritage Studies, Curator, Journal of American Folklore and the Journal of Folklore Research. Baron has been a Non-Resident Fellow of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African-American Research at Harvard University, a Fulbright Specialist in Finland, Greece, the Philippines and Slovenia and a Smithsonian Museum Practice Fellow. Baron holds a MA and PhD in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania and an AB in Anthropology from the University of Chicago.
Susana Sardo
Susana Sardo is an ethnomusicologist, Full Professor at the University of Aveiro, and Visiting Professor at the University of Goa under the JH Cunha Rivara Chair. Since 1987, she has researched Goa within a broader framework associated with music and Lusophony. Her research interests include music in Goa and diasporic communities, music and post-colonialism, and music in the Lusophone space, including Portugal, where she has also researched music and post-dictatorship. Since 2010, she has been dedicated to research on archives and 2017 assumed co-coordination of the Study Group on Sources and Archives for Music and Sound Studies of the International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance (ICTMD). Since July 2023, she has been a member of the Executive Board of ICTMD and Coordination of the European Seminar in Ethnomusicology (ESEM). She founded the University of Aveiro branch of the Institute of Ethnomusicology – Center for Studies in Music and Dance in 2007, which she coordinated until January 2023.
Alassane Babylas Ndiaye
In October 2023, the general assembly of the Arterial Network, meeting in Ségou on the sidelines of the Salon des Industries Culturelles et Créatives, will elect Alassane Babylas Ndiaye as President of the network. Arterial Network is a dynamic pan-African civil society network of artists, cultural activists, entrepreneurs, companies, NGOs, institutions and donors active in Africa's creative and cultural sectors. The Senegalese cultural actor has began his career in cultural entrepreneurship with his friend and associate the late Dj Makhtar in 1998. At the same time, he continued his studies, and on graduating from high school he began studying computer science, specializing in programming and computer graphics.
Silja Fischer
Silja Fischer has served since 2009 as Secretary General of the International Music Council. In this capacity, she is in charge of IMC work plan delivery and notably of IMC’s advocacy action and membership strategies as well as institutional partnerships. Since IMC is an NGO official partner of UNESCO, Silja ensures also the liaison with the UNESCO Secretariat as well as with diplomatic representations of Member States. Besides her great passion for music and its transformative power, Silja strongly believes in strategic collaborations for effective and efficient advocacy work. She represents IMC in various advocacy groups such as the CSO Global Coordination (2005 UNESCO Convention), the Climate Heritage Network and the #culture2030goal campaign.
Jordi Pascual
Jordi Pascual is the coordinator of the Committee on culture of the world organisation of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG). The work of the Committee is based on Culture 21 Actions, a complete cultural rights-based toolkit on culture in sustainable cities. The Committee organizes a global awardas well as a biennial Summit, manages a unique database of good practices and promotes a range of learning and capacity-building programmes for cities. As coordinator of the Committee, he is involved in the global campaign #culture2030goal that advocates for the role of cultural factors and actors in the UN Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals, including the need of a Culture Goal. Jordi Pascual holds a PhD on cultural rights in sustainable development (University of Girona) and teaches cultural rights and globalization (Open University of Catalonia).
Claire McGuire
Claire McGuire manages the Policy and Advocacy team at the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). She coordinates IFLA’s work with UNESCO, and oversees policy and advocacy related to culture, heritage, education, sustainable development, and climate action. She works to integrate the perspective and impact of the global library field into international policy processes and advocate for a supportive environment for libraries in which they can deliver on their missions and realise their potential. She has a Master of Arts in World Heritage Studies, and a background in communication, awareness-raising, and advocacy for cultural heritage.
Lars Ebert
Lars Ebert is the Secretary General of Culture Action Europe, the major European network of cultural networks, organisations, artists, cultural workers, activists, academics and policymakers. As the only intersectoral network, it brings together members and strategic partners from all areas of culture. Culture Action Europe is the political voice of the cultural sector in Europe, the first port of call for informed opinion and debate about arts and cultural policy. Lars has the overall responsibility for Culture Action Europe and its strategic development. With a focus on advocacy, Lars engages in an ongoing dialogue with sector representatives and policy makers across the EU. During his previous engagements as co-director of the cultural centre H401 in Amsterdam and deputy director of The European League of Institutes of the Arts, Lars has developed a specific interest and experience in participatory practices and art-based research, that fuel his believe in the transformative role of culture towards more sustainable societies. He holds a postgraduate degree in theology, has taught cultural management and -leadership, is a frequent speaker and facilitator, publishes regularly and serves on the board of various organisations in the areas of culture, education and research. With his life partners he has set up [SIC] – Space for International Co-operation in Athens.
Eddie Hatitye
Eddie Hatitye is the executive director of the Music In Africa Foundation (MIAF), a non-profit pan-African initiative that he has led since its establishment in 2011. Headquartered in Johannesburg, MIAF stands as one of the most active cultural organizations in Africa. Over the course of more than a decade, Eddie has actively engaged in the culture and creative sector, making significant contributions to the establishment of crucial structures across the continent.
Paola Leoncini Bartoli
Ms. Leoncini Bartoli is Director for Cultural Policies and Development in the Culture Sector at UNESCO, documenting and harnessing culture's contribution across the broad policy spectrum in the perspective of the UN2030 AgendaforSustainable Development. Ms. Leoncini Bartoli, a historian, completed her studies at Paris IV -Sorbonne University in the area of contemporary history, focusing on migration studies. She began her professional career with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as a consultant in 1989 and joined UNESCO in 1992. She has spent over 18 years conducting research and analysis on the linkages between culture and development.In 2010, she joined the Office of the Director-General of UNESCO where she was responsible for relations with Western European countries, USA and the Arab Region, with a view to broadening strategic cooperation at policy and operational levels. From 2014 to 2017, she was appointed Director of Cabinet in the Office of the Director-General, providing organizational leadership and strategic guidance on policy and programmatic matters.