Lucie Mirkova has worked in the dance sector for over 15 years in a variety of roles – as a performer, teacher, choreographer, producer, manager and programmer. Currently she
works as Executive Producer at DanceXchange, where she leads on programming regular performance seasons at The Patrick Centre and curates programmes for International Dance Festival Birmingham. She also leads and manages Artist Development programme including
the Associate Artists scheme and DX Choreography Award.

James Pidgeon is the Director of Shoreditch Town Hall in London. He is responsible for managing the multi-artform programme as well as all artist development and learning and engagement activity, and has produced  the likes of Nigel Barrett & Louise Mari’s Basement Grotto, and Andrew Schneider’s YOUARENOWHERE as well as recent productions directed by Jamie Lloyd. At the National Theatre, he was an assistant producer working with companies like Circa, WildWorks, Compañía Markeliñe, NoFit State Circus, Compagnie Luc Amoros and Gandini Juggling. Previous assignments include Battersea Arts Centre and Shakespeare’s Globe. He lectures at various Universities in London including the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama.

Selma Spahić has been the the Artistic Director of International Theater Festival MESS in Sarajevo since 2012 – one the most prominent theatre festivals in South East Europe. Born in 1986, she graduated with a degree in Direction from the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo. Since then she has directed plays, devised theatre pieces and led workshops in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia and the UK. She is the assistant teacher of A Director’s Work with an Actor at the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo.

James Yarker is Artistic Director of Birmingham’s much loved, Stan’s Cafe – a theatre company he co-founded in 1991 shortly after graduating from Lancaster University. The first four editions of BE FESTIVAL were hosted at the company’s base at AE Harris. With a reputation as prolific theatrical innovators, Stan’s Cafe have toured the world with a series of radical performances and installations including It’s Your Film, The Black Maze, The Cleansing of Constance Brown, Of All The People In All The World, The Steps Series and The Cardinals. In late 2017, they will tour the UK with Time Critical and are currently preparing The Capital, a spectacular new show for Summer 2018.

Salva Bolta developed his professional activities in the field of performing arts (production and management) and in the field of visual arts and museology. He was formerly director of the festival Escena Contemporánea in Madrid. Currently he is artistic director of the Tercera Setmana Festival in València. As Assistant Director and artistic assistant, he has worked with Mariano Barroso, Robert Wilson, Gerado Vera and Bigas Luna in theater and with Paco Azorín in opera, among others. In 1992 he made the leap to direction and was Coordinator of Artistic Direction of the National Drama Center between 2006 and 2012.