Barbara Engelhardt

Barbara Engelhardt

Barbara Engelhardt was an editor at Theater der Zeit in Berlin from 1996 to 2002, before curating the international festival LE STANDARD IDEAL at MC93 Bobigny in Paris until 2012.

From 2005 to 2015, she was the artistic director of the European emerging artists’ festival PREMIERES in Strasbourg and Karlsruhe. In 2010, she founded FAST FORWARD, the European Festival for Young Directors at the Staatstheater Braunschweig, which she curated until 2017, including its first edition in Dresden.

In addition to numerous publications, teaching, and jury work, Barbara Engelhardt also works as a dramaturg. Since the 2017/18 season, she has been Artistic Director of Maillon, Théâtre de Strasbourg – Scène européenne.

Fatima Çalışkan

Fatima Çalışkan

Fatima Çalışkan is a theatre maker, moderator, and author. Her work combines in-depth research with entertainment. She writes, performs, and directs dramatic and satirical productions. Her engagements include the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz and Ballhaus Ost, where her critically acclaimed production “Faserland-Boys und Ich — Labern über Männerliteratur” was staged.

As a moderator, Fatima blends knowledge-sharing, critical analysis, and research with an engaging sense of entertainment. She curates and hosts regular discussion formats, including “Demo-Tape: The Political Song Salon” with Martin Kaluza at the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz.

Since 2018, Fatima Çalışkan has been a board member of FUMA – the Specialist Unit for Gender and Diversity in North Rhine-Westphalia. From 2020 to 2022, she was co-director of the advisory office of the Performing Arts Program Berlin (LAFT Berlin). As part of the model project FAIRSTAGE (2021–2023), she served as co-editor and co-project manager, contributing to a catalogue of measures for discrimination-free and fair working conditions at Berlin’s theatres. From 2021 to 2024, she was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Fonds Darstellende Künste, and from 2022 to 2024, she was elected deputy spokesperson of the Council for the Arts Berlin.

Julian Warner

Julian Warner

Julian Warner is a German-British artist and curator. From 2023 to 2025, he was Artistic Director of the Brecht Festival Augsburg, and in 2022 he directed the Festival of the Cultural Region Stuttgart. Previously, Julian conceived festivals and large-scale spectacles for Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Münchner Kammerspiele, and many others.

He maintains long-standing collaborations with conceptual artist Anta Helena Recke, choreographer Joana Tischkau, theater-maker Oliver Zahn, and musician Markus Acher.

Julian is the editor of an anthology on the challenges of postcolonial critique in Germany, After Europe. He has published writings on decolonial critique (Verbrecher Verlag, 2021) and, since 2018, has been training as a group analyst at the Seminar for Group Analysis Zurich (SGAZ). In summer 2025, Julian took up a position at the Stuttgart University of Music and Performing Arts (HMDK).

Daria Holme

Daria Holme

Daria Holme studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie for Fine Arts & Design in Amsterdam and has worked on the conception and production of artists’ books, museum catalogues, and magazines, as well as on the conception and dramaturgy of cultural projects.

In 2010, Daria Holme founded the art magazine "Kindertseitung", which she published until 2017. In 2017, she co-founded "EinTanzhaus" in Mannheim, where she has since served as Artistic Director and Executive Director.

Jule Köpke

Jule Köpke

Jule Köpke studies scenography and art history at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (HfG) and ERG Brussels. Their practice, often collaborative, moves between text, video, scenography, and costume design.

Jule explores political storytelling, questions of future narratives, and fiction as a means of disrupting history as a fixed concept. These concerns are frequently linked to (queer) relationship structures and their resistance within capitalism, as well as to site-specific spatial politics.

Projects and works have been presented at venues including Staatstheater Darmstadt, CCW Research Centre London, Academy of Performing Arts Ludwigsburg, de Verffabriek Ghent, de Studio Antwerp, Galerie für zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig, and Hellerau Dresden. Jule has also published and edited with Accidental Interests Books, UMBAU, and Am I Evil* Brussels Edition.

Manfred Jahnke

Manfred Jahnke

Manfred Jahnke is an independent theater scholar, dramaturg, curator, and theater critic, working among others as a freelance contributor for Deutsche Bühne. Through his reviews, he has brought public attention to theater for children and young audiences.

He has taught as a lecturer at LMU Munich, at the Stuttgart University of Music and Performing Arts (Department of Puppetry), and at the acting academy adk-ulm. He has served as curator and juror for festivals and institutions including AUGENBLICK MAL!, the Traumspiele Festival NRW, LaFT Baden-Württemberg, Theatertreffen der Jugend, and the Bavarian Theater Festival.

Manfred Jahnke is a recipient of the ASSITEJ Award and has published numerous writings on theater for young audiences, including several books.