Workshop Leader

Cynthia Cohen, PhD, directs the Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts at Brandeis University, where she leads an undergraduate minor in Creativity, the Arts, and Social Transformation. Cindy is co-editor of the 2-volume anthology Acting Together: Performance and the Creative Transformation of Conflict (New Village Press, 2011) and co-creator of a film by the same name. She has served as co-convener of the Arts and Peace Commission of the International Peace Research Association; before her tenure at Brandeis, for ten years she founded and directed a community-based anti-racist oral history center in Boston, and worked as a coexistence facilitator. She writes on ethical and aesthetic dimensions of peacebuilding.

Hanane Haj Ali, Institute for Woman’s Studies in the Arab World, Theatre maker, writer, and researcher, Chargée de cours at IESAV/Saint-Joseph University, Trainer in cultural management and culture policies, Co-founder and general assembly member of SHAMS (The Cooperative Cultural Association for Youth in Theatre and Cinema), 1999 – present. Co-Founder of Al- MAWRED ATHAQAFY organization (Culture Resource), 2004 – present, president of the artistic board / (2009 -2012), board member (2015), Member of experts council of ETTIJAHAT Organization, 2012- present, Board member of ACTON FOR HOPE Initiative, 2015, Member of “ Censorship Observatory”/Lebanon, Member of “Saving Beirut Theatre” Group

François Matarasso has worked as a community artist, researcher and writer for 35 years, in the UK and internationally. As an artist and producer he has worked on theatre, visual arts and writing projects in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, care institutions, prisons and other settings. His research includes the influential Use or Ornament? (1997) on the social impact of participation in the arts, and most recently a series of books under the title Regular Marvels.

Dr. Hannah Reich is on the one hand engaged at the Institute for intercultural relations (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen ifa) within the area called „partnerships for transformation“ with the Arab world. On the other hand she works as a freelancer in the field of Drama education and peacebuilding. Currently, she is part of the leading team of the project: „Non-violent and civic education in Jordan“ of the Berghof Foundation, where she is responsible for the implementation of the interactive theater part. She completed her Phd as an action research on using interactive theater for post-war peacebuilding in Lebanon and holds an M.A. in Islamic Studies and M.A. Phil in Cultural Geography.

Gillian Slovo is a South African born writer whose twelve published books include her family memoir, Every Secret Thing; Red Dust, which won the Temoin du Monde prize in France and was made into a film starring Hilary Swank and Chiwetel Ejiofor; and Ice Road, shortlisted for the Orange Prize. She has written two verbatim plays: Guantanamo- Honour Bound to Defend Freedom which played in theatres all over the world and The Riots based on the 2011 English riots. She is currently at work on a novel set in a fictional riot which will be published in 2016. Gillian also served three years as the President of English PEN and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Frédérique Lecomte is the founder of Theatre and Reconciliation method. She is a sociologist, writer and a stage director, born in Belgium in 1958. Trainer and expert in rebuilding traumatised and conflicted communities, she organises theatre workshops and shows WITH the community and FOR the community in war areas. Creating a safe space for all parties, she uses theatre to address issues such as justice, trauma, elections, land or ethnic conflicts. In Belgium, she works with prisoners, psychiatric patients, diasporas, illegal migrants and asylum seekers. Lecomte also offers trainings and conferences about Theatre and Reconciliation for NGOs, associations and individuals.

Dr Ananda Breed is Reader in the School of Arts & Digital Industries at the University of East London (UEL). Applied performance practitioner and scholar, Breed is the author of Performing the Nation: Genocide, Justice, Reconciliation (Seagull Books, 2014) that analyses performances and performatives related to the gacaca courts in Rwanda, in addition to several publications that address transitional systems of governance and the arts. She has worked as a consultant for IREX and UNICEF in Kyrgyzstan on issues concerning conflict negotiation and conducted workshops in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Indonesia, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Palestine, Rwanda and Turkey. Breed is co-director of the Centre for Performing Arts Development (CPAD) at the University of East London and former research fellow of the International Research Centre ‘Interweaving Performance Cultures’ (2013-2014) at Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.

Michelle LeBaron joined the Allard School of Law in 2003 as a full professor and was Director of the UBC Program on Dispute Resolution from 2003-2012. From 1993-2003, she taught at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution and the Women’s Studies program at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Prior to moving to the US, she directed the Multiculturalism and Dispute Resolution Project at the University of Victoria. Professor LeBaron has lectured and consulted around the world on intercultural conflict resolution, and has practised as a family law and commercial mediator. She was called to the Bar of British Columbia in 1982 after articling at Campney and Murphy in Vancouver. Professor LeBaron’s research focuses on how the arts can foster belonging and social cohesion across cultural and worldview differences. Her current project investigates how dance, movement and kinesthetic awareness can enhance practitioners’ and parties’ capacities to transform conflict and is the subject of her new book The Choreography of Resolution: Conflict, Movement and Neuroscience. Professor LeBaron has also published on creativity, intuition, spirituality and intercultural relations.

Rapporteur of working groups

Iman Aoun is an actress, director & producer and co-founder of ASHTAR Theatre in 1991 and its artistic directorsince; award winning actress, acted and directed in tens of plays on Palestinian and international theatres; received various notifications for her work from different countries; written and published articles on Palestinian Theatre and participated in writing two books on theatre training; a panelist in various International Conferences and World Summits. An internationally known theatre trainer specialized in “Theatre of the Oppressed”.Initiator of the Euro-Palestinian project “100 Artists for Palestine” in 2003, and “The Gaza Mono-Logues” a global project to raise the voices of youth and advocate for the children’s rights in Gaza in 2010; coordinator of One Billion Rising for Justice in Palestine in 2014.

Jasper Walgrave started in the arts sector in Portugal, coordinating collaborative projects between then Danças Na Cidade (now Alkantara) and partners in Mozambique, Cabo Verde and Brazil. Between 2003 and 2006 Walgrave was coordinator for the SA-Flemish project for Community Arts Centres, based at the Department of Arts and Culture in Pretoria. From 2007 until 2014, he headed the Southern African liason office of Pro Helvetia. In Southern Africa, Walgrave has coordinated, supported and assisted activities in the arts, mostly forging international connections, nurturing networks. Since June 2014, he is Head of Liaison Offices at Pro Helvetia in Zurich.

Tamar Janashia is founder and director of the non for-profit organization Culture and Management Lab (CML), which is active in the realm of arts, cultural exchange and works on the issues of cultural policy and strategic development of creative industries in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Currently CML administers Regional Arts and Culture Program in the South Caucasus (funded by the Swiss Development Agency). In parallel Ms. Janashia provides consulting services to various local and international organizations, academic institutions and private companies in the fields of general management, project management and development. She holds her MBA degree from the University of Maine in Orono (USA) and BA from the Tbilisi State University in the field of classical philology (class of 1996).

Simon J. A. Mason is a senior researcher and head of the Mediation Support Team at the Center for Security Studies (CSS). He has been working in the Mediation Support Project (MSP, a joint project between the CSS and swisspeace, supported by the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA)) since 2005 and in the Culture and Religion in Mediation project (CARIM, supported by the Swiss FDFA) since 2011.
He holds a Doctorate in environmental science from ETH Zurich and is a trained mediator, accredited by the Swiss Mediation Association SDM. Between 2002 and 2004, he co-organized a series of dialogue workshops between Egyptians, Ethiopians, and Sudanese on cooperation in the Eastern Nile Basin. Simon J. A. Mason has contributed to training workshops on conflict, negotiation, and mediation for people living in conflict contexts (e.g. Sudan and Palestine) as well as at various policy related and academic institutions (e.g. Addis Ababa University, the Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources, the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP), the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies in Malta, the United Nations, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and at the ETH Zurich). He also co-organizes the peace mediation course of the FDFA and is one of the coordinators of the Mediation Support Network. His main research interests lie in the use of mediation in peace process; the use of mediation in conflicts where religious and cultural issues play a role, and the nexus between environment, natural resources and conflict.

 Julius Heinicke studied Culture and Theatre at Humboldt University in Berlin. In 2012, Julius defended his PhD-thesis on Theatre and Politics in Zimbabwe at the Department of African Studies. He received a scholarship for his doctoral dissertation from the Heinrich-Böll- Foundation. In the last years, Julius spent time researching and teaching as well as working as a dramaturge in performance projects and in theatre in education, mainly in Africa and Europe. Furthermore he maintained an Artistic Coordinator position at the „Zimbabwe Arts Festival in Berlin“, in cooperation with the Federal Foreign Office.  

Céline Yvon has been navigating the worlds of arts, peace-building and human development for the last 15 years, building bridges between practitioners, activists and policy-makers. She supported mediation processes, stakeholders’ dialogues or cultural cooperation projects in countries such as Iraq, Libya or the Central Africa Republic as well as in Central Asia, the Caucasus or Southern Africa. Her areas of expertise include strategy, management and impact assessment. In Europe, Céline advised or worked with organisations such as the International Film Festival on Human Rights, EUNIC, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. She also served on the board of several organisations (e.g. UNWomen National Committee). Céline holds Master Degrees in international relations and in economics; she is a trained musician

Sandro Lunin Festival director of Theaterspektakel Zurich

Petra Bischof, Strategic Direction and Development in Belgrade, Serbia of artAngle – Balkans -Culture – Development is an independent organization dedicated to the development of inclusive, democratic, and prosperous societies in the region by actively engaging in and supporting cultural development