ENLIGHT European Dialogue 2025
Panel Discussion: Breaking the Mold: Joining Forces with the World of Culture & Creativity to Approach Urgent Societal Challenges
Moderator:
- Martha Middlemiss Lé Mon. Researcher in sociology of religion with particular interest in civil society and issues of religion, collaboration and welfare. Director of the Centre for Multidisciplinary Research on Religion and Society, CRS (www.crs.uu.se).
Also previously collaboration coordinator developing support structures for knowledge transfer and collaboration in the Humanities and Social Sciences at Uppsala University.
Actively involved in the European University Alliance ENLIGHT as Academic Coordinator from the disciplinary domain of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Participants:
- Helena Westin, Head of Art and Cultural Heritage Department at Uppsala municipalit
Helena works as the Head of the Department of Art and Cultural Heritage in Uppsala Municipality, Sweden's fourth largest city with approximately 245,000 inhabitants. She is responsible for the Uppsala Art Museum, Public Art, and Biotopia, as well as cultural heritage issues.
Helena has a broad background as a manager and change leader within culture, museums, and cultural heritage. She has worked at the Stockholm City Museum and City Archives, created a new Police Museum within The National Police, and developed work with industrial heritage at the National Antiquities Board.
Helena has been a board member of the Swedish Museums Association, correspondent of the European Museum Forum, and now has the honor of being the chairperson of ICOM Sweden
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Annela Laaneots, European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024 Southern Estonian coordinator
Annela belongs to the team that won European Capital of Culture title for Tartu city and 19 Southern Estonian municipalities. She was responsible for the 19 municipalities to fulfill the goals of the European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024 and got the recognition for that from the Minister of Regional Affairs and Agriculture of the Republic of Estonia and several Southern Estonian municipalities.
Annela has been communication manager for Estonian and international corporations more than 20 years and has twice been member of the board of Estonian Public Relations Association. Annela has been a leader of European Year of Cultural Heritage in Estonia 2018, she has been elected for Regent of The King of Setomaa in 2015 and belonged to the team that run Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture title year for 28 million Finno-Ugric people in Obinitsa, Setomaa in 2015. She has won several prizes for her work in cultural and communication field. She has written two books and has worked as an editor-in-chief of Estonian communication managers’ magazine. She has studied in the US and Germany and has taught communication science in Tallinn University for 17 years.
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Dr. Chris Tonelli is an artist-researcher and critical musicologist at the University of Groningen. One side of his work focuses on popular music in society, the ways it affords feeling, identity, and forms of cultural politicization. This work involves research and teaching about the institutions that support and shape popular music and he has developed research-driven Master's courses that foster collaborative research between students and musical/cultural institutions. His course Music, Careers, Industries, and Lives, has fostered research collaborations with the Association for Electronic Music and with one of Europe's most important music industry festivals, Eurosonic Noorderslag.
Another side of his work emerges from applied ethnographic and practice-based music research. As a community-service and a site for research, has founded several "Vocal Exploration" gatherings/choirs in cities around the world. This project creates spaces where anyone interested can gather and explore free and conducted group vocal improvisation in a space where all vocal sound is framed as aesthetically valuable and the process of improvising together is appreciated as a means of community-formation, self-exploration/expansion, and denaturalization of dominant aesthetic norms. In his work, he researches the wellness and socio-cultural benefits of these and other diverse forms of music making.
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Amani El Haddad, Coordinator of Gents Kunstenoverleg (Organisation that was responsible for the project Ghent European Capital of Culture 2030).
Amani El Haddad is a cultural strategist and networker based in Ghent, Belgium. As Content Coordinator at Gents Kunstenoverleg, she fosters dialogue, solidarity, and shared ownership within the arts and cultural sector. She works at the intersection of culture and urgent societal challenges, translating field signals into policy recommendations and building strategic platforms for exchange and engagement. Amani was part of the bidding team for Gent2030 (European Capital of Culture), where she was responsible for shaping the artistic narrative. She is also co-founder of the community space Palestine Café Ghent and actively engages in cross-sectoral initiatives to strengthen social and cultural resilience.
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Professor Florian Schneider, Director fo the Institute for Creativity at the University of Galway
Professor Florian Schneider is the founding director of the Institute for Creativity, a new Research Institute at the University of Galway, where he holds a full professorship.
He is also Professor of Art Theory and Documentary Practices at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the President of the Society for Artistic Research (SAR).
Since March 2024, he has been the scientific coordinator of PACESETTERS, a Horizon Europe-funded research initiative exploring how arts and culture can not only adapt to the climate crisis but also drive the transition towards sustainable and regenerative economies.