ADVISORY BOARD

TransCultural Exchange’s Advisory Board is comprised of leading international curators, artist–in–residency directors and artists. They provide multiple perspectives and a broad range of expertise to ensure the long-term success of TransCultural Exchange.

Mira Bartók, Literary Consultant.
Mira Bartók is a Chicago-born artist and author of numerous books, including the 2011 New York Times bestselling illustrated memoir, The Memory Palace – winner of the 2011 National Book Critics Award; a picture book anthology of Sami (Lapp) Folktales, Fox Has His Day – Tales and Poems from the Far, Far North; a children’s book series on art and cultural traditions, the Ancient and Living Culture Series; a series on Native Americans for beginning readers, the Big World Read-A-Long Series; and a consultant and contributor for My History is American’s History – Fifteen Ways to Save America’s Stories, an education guidebook and website about family and community history, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the White House. In addition, Ms. Bartók has taught workshops and classes, and has developed public programs on the art, music and oral traditions of world cultures at many institutions, including the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, The Chicago Museum of Science and Technology, St. Lawrence University in upstate New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, the Oriental Museum at the University of Chicago and the Peabody Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology at Harvard University. She has also exhibited her artwork throughout the U.S. and abroad and runs Mira’s List,a blog that helps artists find funding and residencies all over the world and North of Radio, a multi-media collaborative.

Lisa Funderburke is the Executive Director of the Alliance of Artists Communities, an international association of 400+ artist residency programs and artist-centered organizations. She is the former Associate Director of the McColl Center for Art + Innovation, where she oversaw programs and strategic initiatives, community engagement and the flagship Environmental Program. Prior to McColl Center, she served as Director of Charlotte Nature Museum, and held positions as a science educator and mentor with the District of Columbia and Prince George’s County Maryland Public Schools. She has served on the boards of North Carolina Association of Environmental Education Centers, North Carolina Play Alliance, Jazz Arts Initiative and Lakewood Trolley. In the summer of 2015, she was appointed by President Barack Obama as a member of the National Museum and Library Services Board. She is dedicated to social practice and the convergence of art and science as a vehicle to improve lives and effect systemic change.

Rosie Gordon-Wallace is a recognized curator, arts advocate, community leader and pioneer in advancing contemporary Caribbean diaspora art. She founded the Diaspora Vibe Culture Arts Incubator (DVCAI) to serve as a local and global laboratory dedicated to promoting, nurturing and cultivating the vision and diverse talents of emerging artists from the Caribbean Diaspora, artists of color and immigrant artists. Twenty-five years later, DVCAI is recognized as a global resource and one of the region’s leading platforms dedicated to providing diaspora artists with a venue to explore and experiment with new forms and themes that challenge traditional definitions of the Caribbean and Latin American art. Her awards include the Knight Foundation Cultural Award, The African Heritage Cultural Arts Center Third Annual Calabash Amadlozi Visual Arts Award, International Businesswoman of the Year, One of South Florida’s 50 Most Powerful Black Professionals to name a few.

Teiko Hinuma is the Program Director of the Rikuzentakata Artist in Residence Program, a Professor of Art Produce and Museum Studies at Joshibi University of Art and Design, and a board member of AIR Network Japan. Previously, she worked for gallery management planning companies and art magazines as an editor. In 1999, she was involved in the foundation of Aomori Contemporary Arts Centre. Until 2011, she served as a curator there, planning many exhibitions, projects and residencies for artists. She has also served as the Program Director for the civilian artists support group “ARTizan” (Aomori), a project director of the “Saitama Triennnale 2016” and art director of UBE Tokiwa Museum.
Photo Credit: Hideki Nagase

Actor and Director Kassem Istanbouli is the Founder of the Arabic Culture and Arts Network, dealing with the design and implementation of online culture activities for Arab countries; manager and founder of the Lebanese National Theatre – Tyre; project manager at Tiro Association for Arts, Lebanon (dealing with various international projects related to capacity building, youth empowerment, equality, and working for UNESCO, DROSOS FOUNDATION, UNIFILprojects, among others); and, since 2014, leading the rehabilitation of historic cinemas, abandoned/destroyed after the war. Additionally, he is the founder and director of several cultural festivals, operating at the international level: the Tyre Short Films Festival (10 editions); the Lebanese International Theatre Festival; Women International Monodrama (4 editions); International Storytelling Festival (5 editions), Tyre International Music Festival (4 editions), as well as other international events on contemporary dance, painting and photography. Previously, from 2014 – 2020 he was a teacher of Theatre at South of Lebanon public schools.

Catherine Lee is the Director of the Taipei Artist Village and Treasure Hill Artist Village. Previously, she served as the project manager on community museums in the National Development Initiative Institute (2003-2004, Taipei), the executive secretary in the National Science and Technology Museum (2004-2011, Kaohsiung), and the residency manager and associate director of the Bamboo Curtain Studio (2011-2017, Taipei). Additionally, while at the Bamboo Curtain Studio, she participated in the project Art as Environment: A Cultural Action at Plum Tree Creek, as the education coordinator in the program of There is a river in front of my school. Since then, she has collaborated with curators, artists, designers, researchers, historians, scientists, ecological experts, environmental activists and community groups who are dedicated to environmental issues through cultural actions.

Bojana Panevska is a researcher and writer, with over 20 years’ experience working in the international cultural sector. Currently, she is an advisor at DutchCulture | TransArtists, Amsterdam – a platform that combines and shares knowledge and experience on artist-in-residence programs and works internationally. Bojana is also the President of On the Move, Brussels, – an international network that includes more than 70 organizations in over 20 countries across Europe and internationally – from national funders, other networks, and info points to centers for creation. All the members of the network share a commitment to promoting cultural mobility in all its forms while striving for a fairer sector.

Johan Pousette is an independent curator, writer, and senior advisor within contemporary art. He is also on the board of Dupont Underground in Washington DC, and editor of a new publication on international residency practice. Pousette has been the director of IASPIS, the International Artists Studio Program in Sweden 2014-2020. Before that, his position was manager for Contemporary Art Development in Sweden at Riksutställningar, the Swedish Exhibition Agency 2011-2014. His curatorial practice includes the Gothenburg Biennial in 2009 and the October Salon in Belgrade in 2010. He is also the founding director of BAC, the Baltic Art Center, and served as director at BAC between 2001 -2007. Additionally, he has been a member of TransCultural Exchange’s international advisory board, and for five years he was the expert advisor to the Nordic Council of Ministers regarding artist-in-residence programs in the Nordic and Baltic countries, and a board member of Res Artis for four years.

Shabani Ramadhani is a musician, bass player, song writer, festival organizer and founder of the Marahaba music expo in Bujumbura, which allowed him to serve as an ambassador of Visa for Music in Morocco and in a range of musical events throughout Africa as well as Europe. He has extensive music industry training in U.K, Tanzania, Uganda, the Ivory Coast, Malawi, Morocco, Mayotte Island, Egypt, Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, Burundi and Kenya and has served as an intern in music industry in the British Council in Tanzania and the British Council in London, financially funded by the European Union. He also has performed as a musician in Tanzania and abroad and been a teacher of music in Tanzania, notably at the House of talents (THT).

Caitlin Strokosch is the President & CEO of the National Performance Network/Visual Artists Network – an international nonprofit supporting the development, touring, and exhibition of new work throughout the U.S., Latin America, and Japan by visual and performing artists; and advocating for greater equity and resources for artists and arts organizations at the forefront of social justice. Previously, she served as Executive Director of the Alliance of Artists Communities, working with the organization from 2002 to 2016. A frequent public speaker and recognized advocate for artists of all disciplines, she has presented at conferences and events around the U.S., Europe, Brazil and Taiwan. Her articles and publications range in topics from the intersections of art and science, the need for more support of research-and- development in dance, and the long-term organizational sustainability of artist residency centers. She has served as a grants panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, The Joyce Foundation, the Educational Foundation of America, the Rasmuson Foundation and Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. As a member of the Board of Directors of Grantmakers in the Arts, she serves on the Racial Equity committee and Support for Individual Artists steering committee; she is an Advisory Board member of Crosshatch Center for Art & Ecology; and she is a former Board Chair of Girls Rock! Rhode Island.

Felix Toro is the Executive Director of Instituto Sacatar — Brazil’s oldest art residency in continuous operation, located in the island of Itaparica, in the state of Bahia. Born in São Paulo, Brazil, his background is in community organizing and art education. Grounded in the philosophies of Paulo Freire and Lina Bo Bardi, Felix is an educator, curator, and cultural producer, with extensive experience in art and cultural institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art of Bahia, the São Paulo Biennial, and the Goethe-Institut. Felix has led education departments in museums, managed art residencies, and coordinated international projects. He has worked in different contexts (São Paulo, Salvador, New York, and Geneva) and, in addition to Portuguese and English (his native languages), he also speaks Spanish and French. Felix holds a BA in History from the University of São Paulo and an MA in Arts/Curating from HES-SO/Genève.

Cécile Vulliemin is the Head of Design & Interactive Media, Pro Helvetia, which promotes contemporary Swiss creation of design and interactive content with a view to ensuring its diversity as well as its national and international reach. Previously, she worked at ECAL, the University of Art and Design Lausanne, where she oversaw strategic partnerships and deals with R&D activities. Additionally she is the former Project Leader for Art/Science programs at swissnex Boston, Switzerland’s innovation outpost in the US, where she worked at the intersection of art, science and technology by bringing together Swiss creative projects with such renown US organizations as MIT, Harvard, MoMA, SXSW and the Society for Arts and Technology. With a MA in art history and museum studies, she has always been engaged in interdisciplinary and cross-cultural projects, ranging from the promotion of electronic cultures in Switzerland to the organization of residencies between traditional craftsmen and product designers from different geographies with the project Hors Pistes.

Tiffany Shea York joined the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 2000 to manage one of the oldest Artist-in-Residence programs in the US as well as all contemporary exhibitions, related materials, and public programs. She has worked with over 100 Artists from around the world and helped to realize 50 exhibitions and artist’s projects there. Tiffany received her B.A. from Tufts University and holds a diploma from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Before coming to the Gardner, she worked as a studio jeweler and co-founded/directed Boston’s White Elephant Gallery in the Fort Point Channel which exhibited work of up-and-coming artists in all media.

In Remembrance: Margaret Shiu, TransCultural Exchange Advisory Board Member from 2009-2021. Margaret Shui was the late founder and director of Taiwan’s Bamboo Curtain Studio residency program and Bamboo Culture International’s cultural exchange research and facilitation division. She used these two platforms to advance art and culture as vital components for creating a civil society and global understanding. For the past 17 years, she has worked to discover and support artistic talent by providing artists with the time and space for creative incubation. She also worked closely with the Taipei city government on cultural space policies – in particular, creative regeneration – and the promotion of public and private support for international exchange. Additionally, she served as a regional representative for a number of international organizations, including TransCulture Exchange, Arts Network Asia and the International Network for Culture Diversity. We greatly mourn her passing on August 29, 2021.