Alice Ferl graduated in Applied Theatre Studies in Gießen and Reykjavík. She works in the fields of directing, dramaturgy, performance, sound design and art education. She has worked on numerous local and international projects that have been shown in Germany (e.g. Sophiensaele Berlin, Mousonturm Frankfurt, Theater Rampe Stuttgart, Impulse Festival) and internationally (e.g. Junge Hunde Festival Arhus (DK), Fringe Festival Beijing (CN), InTime Festival Chicago & Light Box Detroit (USA), Lagos Live Festival (NG)). She has worked for many years with the FFT Düsseldorf, where, in addition to numerous artistic works and project dramaturgy, she has also conceived experimental mediation formats for children and young people and currently heads the #TakeHeart residencies programme as a freelancer. In NRW, she founded the collective LUKAS UND, an open collaboration structure with which she tested cross-disciplinary and cross-specialty theatre works from 2012 - 2020. As a performer and sound designer, she has worked for MONSTER TRUCK, Drama Köln and bigNOTWENDIGKEIT, among others. In addition to her own artistic work, she advises and supports other artists and groups conceptually and dramaturgically and has been active as a spokesperson for the independent dance and theatre scene in Düsseldorf since autumn 2017. In 2020/2021 she was also a co-opted member of the "Council of the Arts" and was recently elected to the board of the newly founded association "Freie Szene Düsseldorf - Performing Arts e.V".
Esther Schneider has lived and worked in Düsseldorf/NRW since 2013. Her education as an event manager at the FFT Düsseldorf was followed by employments in the artistic administration office and as an assistant to the artistic director and management. Since 2015, she has been working independently as a production manager and company manager in various contexts of the independent performing arts. One of her main focuses is on theatre for young audiences, where she has a long-standing collaboration with director Wera Mahne and the joint performance collective Leute wie die (Düsseldorf/Berlin) as well as with the performance group pulk fiktion (Cologne, 2016-2021). Further works and theatre productions were created with the Krux collective, waltraud900, Zwoisy Mears-Clarke, among others. She also works regularly for various events and festivals, e.g. Festival Theaterformen, Impulse Theatre Festival, flauen+bundesnetzwerk and KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen. In the 2021/22 season, she took over the interim management of the international festival Theaterformen (Hanover/Braunschweig). Esther is also a communications assistant for German Sign Language.
Franziska Hauser is a freelance cultural manager. From 2011 to 2019 she was part of the artistic administration office at tanzhaus nrw, from February 2018 in the position of deputy director. In 2021, she joined the production management team at Ringlokschuppen Ruhr. Since 2020 she has been production manager of the festival tanz nrw. Since 2021 she has supported the Kulturbüro Krefeld in the organisation of the event series at Fabrik Heeder. Since 2020 she complements the Klangkollektiv Düsseldorf as a producer. Together with Mara Nedelcu, she founded the production office Nedelcu&Hauser and is in charge of the production of the international tanzmesse nrw 2022 and 2024. In Düsseldorf, they have developed the exchange format More is More.
Hannah Busch is a freelance production manager in the performing arts. From 2017-2020 she worked regularly at düsseldorf festival! Since 2019 she is working as production manager for the kainkollektiv from Bochum as well as the fabien prioville dance company from Düsseldorf. In 2022 she supported the international tanzmesse nrw as venue manager. In 2022 she was also production manager for "Ein Mensch wie Ihr" - a theater evening in the Stadthalle Mülheim with 3 productions, co-hosted by Ringlokschuppen Ruhr, Mülheimer Theatertage and Theater an der Ruhr.
Lisa Zehetner is a cultural and media scientist, cultural pedagogue and cultural manager. From 2011 to 2017, she was a dramaturge with a focus on children's and youth theatre at the FFT Düsseldorf. From 2017 to 2020, she was dramaturg at the Junge Nationaltheater Mannheim and worked there with Monstertruck, James & Priscilla, Mathias Becker, subbotnik and Carlos Manuel, among others. She has been a member of the board of ASSITEJ Germany since December 2018. She is currently working as a freelance dramaturg with pulk fiktion, tanzhaus nrw and is part of the conception team of Spurensuche 2022.
Mara Nedelcu has been active as a cultural manager in the performing arts since 2012. Navigating between disciplines and challenging existing structures, she has developed a rich network through various collaborations with independent artists, curators and institutions from the region and beyond (focus on Eastern Europe and East and Southeast Asia): Choy Ka Fai, Maria Judova, MichaelDouglas Kollektiv, Bettina Masuch, Florian Malzacher, Andreea Capitanescu, WASP Bucharest, Tanzfabrik Berlin, tanzhaus Düsseldorf, NRW Kultursekretariat. Together with Franziska Hauser, she founded the production office Nedelcu&Hauser and is in charge of the production of the international dance fair nrw 2022 and 2024. In Düsseldorf, they have developed the exchange format More is More, which addresses professionals in the performing arts and beyond.
Melissa Müller is a freelance performing arts producer. She completed her training as an event manager at tanzhaus nrw in 2017 and began studying media and cultural studies at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf in 2018. As a production assistant she worked for tanzhaus nrw, asphalt Festival, Festival tanz nrw, kainkollektiv and Impulse Theater Festival where she was also Assistant to the Artistic Director in 2021 and Production Manager of the City Project in 2022. For the realization of the Impulse Theater Festival 2023 she will be part of the production management team. Since the end of 2021, she has also been the production manager of the theater collective Pièrre.Vers in Düsseldorf.
Yala Pierenkemper studied at Leibniz University Hanover and University College Cork and has a master's degree in literature, linguistics and sociology. She has been working in the cultural sector for over 10 years with a focus on communication and concept development across all genres: as head of the marketing department at Theater Hagen, Landestheater Tübingen and the PACT Festival Tübingen, as programme coordinator of the TANZ_TAUSCH network, project manager at the moersfestival, organisational director of the International ComedyArts Festival, conceptual advisor for public relations at the Theater am Torbogen in Rottenburg. Since 2022 she has been co-managing director for Zirkus ON, a creation alliance for contemporary circus.
