Diversity Agent Course

The aim of the course is to offer tools for developing diversity in the arts and culture sector.

The course introduces participants to topics related to diversity, familiarizes with the arts and culture sector and cultural policy in Finland and offers an opportunity to work concretely with diversity in an institutional context. Participants are asked to actively contribute their own expertise and offer sparring to each other.

There are 11 arts and culture professionals participating in the course. They have been selected through an open call procedure in March 2019.

Some of the course program is open to all those interested in diversity. Read more about our open lecture series in the events section of our website.

Presentation of the Agents

Back from left to right: Daria Agapova, Anastasia Artemeva, Anna Litewka-Anttolainen, Laura Gazzotti, Tatiana Solovieva, Sheung Yiu
Front from left to right: Arlene Tucker, Ilaria Tucci, Sadjad Shokoohi

Daria Agapova is a museum educator and a curator of educational projects for kids, teens, and families, including the festival “Children’s Days in St Petersburg”, in which more than 50 museums have participate annually for already 15 years. She is a Master in Art History from the European University in St Petersburg. She was a co-organizer of a US–Russia Participatory Museum project and a chief editor of the guidebook “Participatory Culture: Museum as a Forum for Dialogue and Collaboration”. Currently, she is working on the "Mediation as a Means of Cultural Integration" programme, aiming to implement approaches of art mediation into community engagement work in order to enhance cultural participation of the Russian-speaking community in Finnish society.

Pablo Alvarez is the director of Marino Clown Company. The company's work is about making clown projects inclusive, adaptable, comfortable and fun for people. Pablo believes art and creativity can help break down differences, encourage empathy, and make people happier. His company values collaboration, accessibility and flexibility. Their vision is to create a clown society for better health and wellbeing of the people. #marinoclown / @marinoclown

Anastasia Artemeva is a visual and relational artist, born in Russia, raised in Ireland, and currently based in Helsinki.  Her antisocially-engaged art investigates and introduces spaces for communication. Conceptually, it draws from the codes of social norms and accepted truths, questioning transparency and exclusivity affected by socio–political, cultural and personal restrictions. Artemeva is the founder of Prison Outside project that is focused on artistic practices around the subject of incarceration. 
anastasia-artemeva.com
prisonspace.org

Laura Gazzotti has an MA in Arts from the University of Helsinki as well as a degree in Educational Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires specializing in Non-Formal Education. Since 2004, she has been working as a freelance cultural producer in Helsinki, specializing in creating multidisciplinary, multicultural, intergenerational and multilingual events in Cultural Centers and Public Libraries in Helsinki and the metropolitan area.
www.kolibrifestivaali.org

Anna Litewka-Anttolainen has a MA in Polish and Classical Studies from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan as well as a MA degree in Cultural Production in Creative Industries from Oulu University of Applied Sciences. She is a humanist and cultural producer actively involved in actions for diversity, migrant inclusion and cultural equity in the arts and culture sector. Anna is a Member of Immigrants Council of the city of Oulu. She is currently working on a project called Ho’Oulu which is designed to develop a new, innovative and creative approach to promote diversity in the Oulu region as well as develop strategic collaboration between local cultural institutions and different immigrant associations and their communities.

Kemê Pellicer is a visual artist, poet and culture worker based in Helsinki. Her current artistic practice is focused on the project "Villi Akka" in the intersection between, identity, representation, art, community, intersectional feminism and the quality of myths as an open source. Kemê is a member of the group Critical Friends (in the project “An inclusive cultural sector in the Nordics” led by Arts Council Norway) and works on development and analysis of best practices and inclusion within art and culture institutions and organisations in the Nordic countries, addressing especially cultural diversity, migration and antiracism. She also works at Globe Art Point (G.A.P.) as project coordinator.
kemetheartist.com

Sadjad Shokoohi is a researcher (MA in educational planning and administration, MA in intercultural communication and administration) and a visual artist (woodart, marquetry techniques). Some of his research interests include cultural diversity, intercultural communication, social cohesion, identity, and multimodal critical discourse analysis. Currently, he is a research assistant at CERADA Research Center, University of the Arts Helsinki; and he also sits on the board of Helsinki International Artists' Association (HIAA).

Tatiana Solovieva is one of the millions Europeans who are trying to make life better. As an event and project producer she gives support to artists and helps them achieve their dreams. Sometimes she dreams too.

Ilaria Tucci is a theatre practitioner (BA in acting) and peace scholar (BA, MA in Peace Studies). During the last ten years, she has been developing her own applications of theatre as a tool of dialogue among people, participation, peacebuilding and empowerment. Since January 2013, Ilaria has been living in Tampere, and now she is a PhD candidate at the Tampere University (TAU) in the Peace and Conflict Studies Program with an interdisciplinary research which combines ethnography, applied theatre and peace research.

Arlene Tucker is an artist and educator, and her work focuses on finding ways to connect and make meaning in our shared environments. Her process-based artistic work creates spaces and situations for exchange, dialogue, and transformations to occur, surprise, and activate all players. As she has roots in Taiwan and USA, but has spent most of her life roaming Europe, semiotics and translation studies have been inspirational in finding ways of challenging concepts and modes of communicating, understanding, and listening. 
arlenetucker.net

Sheung Yiu is a Hong Kong image-based artist and writer based in Helsinki. His work explores the concept of epistemological images – the visual record of human knowledge.  His work is exhibited internationally, including Fotogallery Wien, Guangzhou Image Triennial 2017 and Hong Kong International Photography Festival Satellite Exhibition 2018.