Advisory Committee
Mary Ann DeVlieg founded the EU working group Arts Rights Justice. She is a co-creator of the Arts Rights Justice Academy at Hildesheim and a co-founder of IARA - International Arts Rights Advisors. She evaluates international cultural collaborations for private foundations and the European Commission's science and international development programs. She has been working with artists at risk since 2010.
Sidd Joag is a co-ordindator of ArtistSafety.net, a hybrid consultancy and volunteer network supporting artists at the front lines of social change. He is an editor and producer at ArtsEverywhere.ca and a member of Amber Art and Design.
Todd Lester is a co-ordinator of ArtistSafety.net. He had the ideas for freeDimensional, a network that helped artists in danger by providing safe haven in participating artist residencies, and the Arts Rights Justice Academy at the University of Hildesheim that holds its archive. Senior Fellow at the World Policy Institute and Partnerships Director for ArtsEverywhere.ca, Todd serves on the boards of arts and rights organizations in India, Mexico, Brazil and the US.
Helge Lunde has been executive director of the ICORN-International Cities of Refuge Network since 2005. Before that, he ran Kapittel, an international festival of literature and freedom of speech in Stavanger, a Norwegian City of Refuge for persecuted writers.
Nik Kowsar is on the board of Cartoonists Rights Network International. A writer and cartoonist, he has published everywhere from major Canadian, American, and British newspapers to Scholastic Upfront and the School of Advanced International Studies Review.
Svetlana Mintcheva is director of programs at the National Coalition Against Censorship. She has written on emerging trends in censorship, organized public discussions, and mobilized support for individual artists. She is the co-editor of Censoring Culture: Contemporary Threats to Free Expression.
Srirak Plipat is the executive director of Freemuse. Before that, he was director for Asia Pacific at Transparency International and a member of the Working Group for the Establishment of the ASEAN Human Rights Mechanisms,
Diana Ramarohetra is the former program manager of Arterial Network, in charge of Artwatch Africa. She began her career as a journalist in Madagascar, and has managed artistic productions and worked for festivals in Madagascar, Rwanda, and Ivory Coast.
Henry Reese is the co-founder and president of City of Asylum. An entrepreneur and the former treasurer of Cave Canem: A Home for Black Poetry, he has served on the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust Programming Advisory Committee and the board of ICORN.
Joshua Wolf Shenk is executive director of the Black Mountain Institute. His books include Powers of Two: How Relationships Drive Creativity and Lincoln’s Melancholy. He also created the Erikson Prize for Mental Health Media and is director of Arts in Mind.