Our team / Europe
The initial partners on the SMartDe project are Magdalena Ziomek-Frackowiak from Berlin and Gabriele Koch from Bremen. Nowadays, the team has welcomed advisors Henrietta Mehlis and Alicja Adamczyk. Doris Kleemeyer is responsable for bookkeeping. Christian Rost started as an advisor for the Touring Artist project and is now part of the cooperative’s advisory board.
SMartDe Netzwerk für Kreative e.V. was created in June 2013. The association has a partnership with ITI Germany and IGBK, offering information and guidance related to mobility in and outside Germany. More information can be found on the Touring Artist website.
In 2015, a Cooperative -Genossenschaft- was founded allowing for a transparant and democratic management of the project. SMartDe Genossenschaft offers the core services such as the activity management, the mutual guarantee fund and debt collection.
Find out more at www.smart-de.org.
Alicja Adamczyk
Alicja Adamczyk finished Cultural Studies with a focus on the art market and her masters degree in Culture Management and Cultural Tourism at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder). Her professional experience is specialized in the cultural and creative field, based on many years of engagements as project manager and coordinator for international of music and art projects (Eidotech GmbH, Kollegen 2,3 – Büro für Kulturelle Angelegenheiten). Besides that she works as a musician for several bands and supports the Audiovisual Laboratory „Antje Öklesund“ in Berlin with the organisation of concerts and exhibitions on a voluntary basis.
Henrietta Mehlis
Henrietta studied business administration and cultural studies in Germany. At SMartDe she is an advisor, she provides consultations on taxes, insurances and mobility of artists and she is responsible for the development of the SMart services.
Besides that she is chief financial officer of MM e.V., partner of the Kulturnetzwerk Neukölln in Berlin, a network of local institutions, associations and initiatives. She is involved in the conceptualization and organization of art exhibitions, currently within the context of 48h-Neukölln, Berlin’s largest free art festival.
Before she joined the SMart project she worked in the field of live-communication and gathered experience in project management internationally throughout Europe and Asia.
Doris Kleemeyer
Christian Rost
Christian studied geography with a focus on economic, urban and regional development in Leipzig.
Early 2014 he founded the Office for Urban Transitional Spaces and has since worked with his interdisciplinary team and national and international partners in various projects. Christian is an expert on local governance processes and investment management in the field of urban and regional development. He also likes to rely on unconventional methods. His area of special interest is the economic development of sole trader and small enterprises.
Christian is a voluntary board member for the trade association for cultural and creative industries in Leipzig, Creative Leipzig e.V. Prior to founding the Office for Urban Transitional Spaces, he was a project leader for Germany’s Competence Centre for Cultural and Creative Industries.
Gabriele Koch
Gabriele has a degree in cultural studies and leads the festival LA STRADA (an international street circus festival), organised by Theaterkontor. She is similarly involved in Bundesverband Theater im öffentlichen Raum and Schaulust.
Theaterkontor is an independent theatre for performance arts which hosts a youth theatre school, a puppet theatre and a theatre for dramatic readings. On a yearly basis, Theaterkontor organises two festivals, rents out rehearsal space and produces up to two plays.
Magdalena Ziomek-Frackowiak
Magda studied art history in Poland and Germany. She has a long experience in curating contemporary art exhibitions and currently heads the association agitPolska to promote Polish culture in Germany.
This non-profit association, set up in 2005, works mainly from Bremen, Berlin, Gdansk and Bialystok. AgitPolska seeks to promote Polish culture in Germany and vice versa and does so by offering a platform for young and talented artists to share their work. Reducing prejudice on both sides and encouraging a critical dialogue are two strong ambitions the association carries.