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Valentina Montalto
Valentina Montalto has 13 years of professional experience as a cultural and creative sectors (CCS) specialist, combining work in the public and private sectors.
She worked for six years at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (2016-2022), as the main researcher and project lead of the ‘Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor’.
Prior to joining the European Commission, Valentina worked for seven years at the Brussels-based research and advisory company KEA where she conducted multiple research assignments (e.g. to assess the quality of available cultural statistics/indicators to support evidence-based policies, to design policy/evaluation strategies), on behalf of both European institutions and local governments.
Her professional experience is backed by a multidisciplinary educational path in cultural economics, statistics, and tourism management.
Valentina also holds a Ph.D. in geography from the Paris-Sorbonne University. On YouTube her TEDxTalk on how to measure culture in European cities.
Branislav Krsak
Associate professor at the Department of Geo and Mountain Tourism at Technical University in Košice.
Experienced professional in the field of tourism development through the introduction of innovative information and communication technologies with more than 20 years of project manager experience.
Focused on the area of comprehensive decision-making and planning in the market conditions of tourism and on the implementation of modern and innovative information and communication technologies in tourism represented by his practical and publication outputs.
In last years with focus on the study and analysis of the relationships between elements of tourism and implementation of this knowledge in the assessment model.
Michal Hladký
Michal Hladký is the director of Creative Industry Košice, the legacy organization after Košice European Capital of Culture 2013.
He is an author of the Košice ECoC bid project concept and has over 15 years of experience with its implementation and sustainability strategy.
Michal is leading on and is part of international projects for CCI’s development, education, mobilities, and business models. He represented Slovakia in the OMC expert group for export and internationalization 2012-2014.
He is co-chair of the European Creative Bussines Network with the role of EU project lead. He is one of the authors of Košice Creative Economy Masterplan and Košice Cultural Strategy and the culture and creative industries policy advisor on the city and regional level.
Michal participates in several EU programs such as Urban Innovative Actions, Erasmus+, Erasmus for young entrepreneurs, Creative Europe, COSME, Interreg, or Urbact II. He has also years of experiences with cross-sectorial projects and collaboration with a focus on CCI spillovers.
CIKE is the focal point responsible for Košice UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts and UCCN membership activities.
Maria Garcia Rosa
Ferenc Csák
Ferenc Csák, born in Budapest in 1974, is a Hungarian and German citizen. Since July 2015, he has been the head of the Cultural Office of the City of Chemnitz and the project officer of the City of Chemnitz for the European Capital of Culture Programme Chemnitz 2025.
He studied art history and political science at the University of Regensburg and has held various management positions in the cultural sector since 2005.
Csák worked as a government representative for the European Capital of Culture 2010 in Pécs, Hungary, between 2006 and 2010 and as State Secretary for Culture in the Ministry of Education and Culture from 2008 to 2010 in Hungary.
From 2010 to 2012, he was Director General of the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest.
From 2017 to 2020, he was head of bidding for the city of Chemnitz and the Chemnitz cultural region in the European competition for the title of European Capital of Culture 2025.
Since 2016, he has been a board member of the Cultural Policy Society (Kulturpolitische Gesellschaft).
Franco Bianchini
Dr Franco Bianchini is one of the Associate Directors of the Centre for Cultural Value, based at the University of Leeds, UK. Franco is also Visiting Professor at the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland, and a member of the Council of Founders and of the Board of Trustees of the Fitzcarraldo Foundation, Turin, Italy.
He was Professor of Cultural Policy and Planning – and Director of the Culture, Place and Policy Institute (CPPI) – at the University of Hull from 2016-2020. CPPI was in charge of the evaluation of the processes, outcomes and impacts of Hull UK City of Culture 2017.
From 2010-2014 he was a member of the team preparing Matera’s successful bid for the European Capital of Culture 2019 title.
Dr Bianchini’s books include Focus on Festivals (co-edited with C. Newbold, C. Maughan and J. Jordan, Goodfellow, 2015), Urban Mindscapes of Europe (co-edited by G. Weiss-Sussex with F. Bianchini, Rodopi, 2006), Planning for the Intercultural City (with J. Bloomfield, Comedia, 2004), The Creative City (with C. Landry, Demos, 1995) and Cultural Policy and Urban Regeneration: the West European Experience (co-editor, with M. Parkinson, Manchester University Press, 1993).
His research interests range from the role of culture in urban regeneration (with a particular focus on port cities and on European Cities/Capitals of Culture), to cultural diversity and interculturalism as resources for innovation in urban policy, and the development of urban cultural strategies in the context of the current political, economic, health and environmental crises.
Image copyright: University of Hull
