Marie Normand - Artistic Director of CREA - Festival Momix (Kingersheim - France)

Cali Kroonen - Artistic Director of Théâtre De La Montagne Magique (Brussels - Belgium)

Hakan Silahsizoglu - Artistic Director of Atta Festival (Turkey)

Edgars Niklasons - Artistic Director of Liepāja Puppet Theater (Latvia)

Michelle Guerra - Artistic Director of Colectivo Teatro Espiral, Festival

Director and University Professor (Mexico)

Jutta Staerk - Artistic Director, Dramaturg (Germany)

Marie Normand

An actress and director for almost 20 years with the company Rêve général!, holding a master's degree in performing arts administration, Marie Normand has always been deeply interested in young audiences and democratizing access to performing arts. She has created numerous shows for young people, always in collaboration with living authors, and has developed several innovative forms of cultural and/or performance actions to facilitate encounters between (young) audiences and artistic works. Heavily invested for years in the Vosges territory (Eastern France), in addition to national tours in Belgium and Switzerland with the company, she has now suspended her creative activities and has been directing CREA in Kingersheim (France) and its international youth festival MOMIX since January 2024.

Cali Kroonen

After obtaining a master's in Romance Languages and Literature, a teaching degree, and a master's in Theatre Action Culture at Insas, Cali Kroonen discovered youth theater in 2001 and never left it. Initially an animator at the Evere Cultural Centre, she then joined the Chamber of Theatres for Children and Youth (association of French-speaking Belgian youth theater companies) where she held various positions including co-director. Simultaneously, she taught Literature History and Theatre History at the Verviers Conservatory, provided training for teachers, and directed a show for Groupe TOC, which she also supports in various artistic ventures. Since June 2015, she has been directing the Theatre La montagne magique in Brussels.

Hakan Silahsizoglu

Hakan trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in England. He worked at Talimhane Theatre as an actor as well as producer and coordinator in national and international projects including EU projects. He was member of Yapi Kredi Afife Jale Theatre Awards Jury in Istanbul between 2012-2018 theatre seasons. He's been a global fellow at International Society of Performing Arts (ISPA) between 2016 - 2018. Hakan was on the selection committee and served on the board of International Performing Arts for Youth (IPAY). He is on the board of Theatre Cooperative and International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People (ASSITEJ) Turkey. Hakan worked as the head of children's theatre department at Watermans Arts Centre in London between 2020 and 2024. Hakan is the founder and director of Atta Festival, Turkey's only international arts festival for babies and children.

Edgars Niklasons

He is a qualified theatre director, playwright, and scenographer. He began his professional career in 2011/2012 at the Latvian National Theater and Dirty Deal Teatro. Since last December, he has served as the artistic director of the Liepāja Puppet Theater. In recent years, he has directed performances for children and young audiences at the Latvian Puppet Theatre, Mikhail Chekhov Riga Russian Theater, Rēzekne Theatre Joriks, and other venues. He has also been involved in independent performing arts projects, collaborating with the foundation Initium to create theatre performances in various communities, blending documentary with visual and physical theatre elements. Niklasons often explores the theme of social exclusion in his works and experiments with various visual means of expression, including text and drama. His performances have been nominated multiple times for the Latvian annual theatre prize Player's Night award.

Michelle Guerra

Director, producer, and teacher. Master of Arts from the Autonomous University of Baja California focusing on the Methodology of theatrical direction for children aged 0-3 years. Since 2005, she has directed the Teatro en Espiral Collective. Director of festivals: Baja California Children's Theater Week "Ray Garduño" since 2009 and International Performing Arts Meeting for Early Years: Childhood, Territory of Peace since 2021. Since 2009, she has been a faculty member of the Theater degree at the Faculty of Arts of the Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC). Professor in the Master's in Stage Direction at the University of Arts of Yucatan. Founding member of VINCULAR: Latin American Network of Performing Arts Creation for Early Childhood and board member of Small Size Network and member of Red Miradas México. She is a member of the National System of Art Creators.

Jutta M. Staerk

Jutta M. Staerk worked as dramaturg at the Staatstheater Braunschweig and was artistic director of u/hof, the theatre for young audiences at Landestheater Linz/Austria. 2001 to 2007 she was the artistic director of Junges Theater Konstanz. There she programmed the International Festival TRIANGEL (2001+2004) as well as the Festival for the Children's Theatres of Baden-Württemberg in 2007. She has written theatre adaptations of prose and storybooks. Since January of 2008, Jutta M. Staerk is artistic director of COMEDIA Theatre, Cologne. Here she is directing and programming festivals, such as Westwind Festival (2011/2018/2021), Spurensuche Festival (2016) and the annual "Spielarten" Festival. Until 2023 she was member of several juries and the team of "Directors in TYA" organised by ASSITEJGermany. Jutta M. Staerk has been a member of the board of ASSITEJ Germany since 2009, vice president since 2018. From 2025 on she will work as a freelance Dramaturg and Curator.