Simone Dudt studied cultural sciences in Hildesheim, Germany and Marseille, France focusing on Fine Arts and Music. She has been working for the European Music Council since 2004. Today, she is Secretary General of the European Music Council in dual leadership with Ruth Jakobi. Ruth and Simone are responsible for EMC’s strategic development, for advocacy work in cultural policy, as well as for the planning and implementation of international cooperation projects. One of the most relevant advocacy tools coordinated by the EMC in cooperation with a huge number of stakeholders across the European music sector is the European Agenda for Music. From 2010-2014 Simone served on the Board of Culture Action Europe, a European umbrella organisation that advocates for culture at the EU institutions. She is author of diverse articles on music and cultural policy as well as a speaker on these topics at European conferences.

Lars Ebert is the Secretary General of Culture Action Europe, the major European network of cultural networks, organisations, artists, activists, academics and policymakers, advocating for access to the arts, participation in culture and for public investment in arts and culture. Until 2022, Lars Ebert was co-director of the cultural centre H401 in Amsterdam, whilst maintaining an independent practice as advisor, facilitator and curator. At H401 Lars implemented international collaboration projects such as Heritage Contact Zone, that investigated the role of contested heritage for community engagement and as laboratories for participatory research. Previous¬ly he was deputy director of The European League of Institutes of the Arts, focussing on the implications of the Bologna Process for Higher Arts Education, including the establishment of a sector specific Qualifications Framework, Quality Assurance processes and capacity building towards a shared understanding of the European Higher Education Area for the arts.
He serves on the board of various organisations in the areas of culture, education and research such as EQ-Arts, the first interdisciplinary and transnational accreditation agency for higher arts education institutions and programmes.

Working as publicist initially within companies, Laurence Farreng (MoDem) became director of communications for her city, Pau, from 2015 to 2019 after having been deputy mayor. She has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2019, elected on the Renaissance list (presidential majority). She was elected Regional Councillor for the Nouvelle Aquitaine region in 2021. Laurence Farreng is a full member and coordinator of the Committee on Culture and Education (CULT). She is as well as a substitute member of the Regional Development Committee (REGI). She was a member of the Conference on the Future of Europe. In the European Parliament, Laurence Farreng fights for the emergence of a strong European cultural sector through the support of the artists and the recognition of their importance for the European Union. She works on the democratisation and adaptation to environmental challenges of the European Union's flagship programmes in the field of education and culture: Erasmus +, the mobility programme for students and apprentices, the European Solidarity Corps for volunteering and Creative Europe, which supports and finances creation and production in Europe.

Benjamin Guillaume Glorieux is a Belgian musician with a unique profile. He switches easily between different musical worlds from Bach's cello suites to other genres, such as a current collaboration with break dancers. In 2023, as preparation for the integral performance of Bach's 6 cello Suites at Brussels Klarafestival, he travelled on foot across Germany, following Johann Sebastian's Bach's footsteps from Arnstadt to Lübeck. A musician who knows the classical repertoire through and through and interprets it in a virtuoso manner, he doesn't stop there and recycles that repertoire as building blocks for the most inventive sidesteps, as a singer songwriter, as a composer or as a cellist. Recently he wrote the music for the exhibition 'Facing Van Eyck' in BOZAR (2021), currently 'Zoom On Van Eyck' in the Gemäldegalerie Berlin (D). From September 2024 onwards Benjamin will start a 4-years PhD at KCB/VUB Brussels, concentrating on the revival of the 19th century Brussels cello school.

Audrey Guerre is the coordinator of Live DMA, the European network for live music associations. Her experience in studies, job opportunities and personal beliefs early led her to specialise herself into European cooperation and live music. She now provides Live DMA members with a political monitoring, tools, and opportunities to meet & exchange best practices. She also represents their interests to European institutions and partners. Audrey Guerre is the chairperson of the European Music Council, and a board member of the French music venue Trempo in Nantes.

Erica Romero is a music artist and cultural manager. After obtaining a PhD in psychology, she specialized in the development of international innovation projects. Currently, as the international strategy coordinator of RNR Producciones, she works on issues such as digitization and greening of live music, capacity building for emerging artists, diversity and inclusion in the music sector, or sustainable ecosystems for music venues, among others.

Marcos Ros Sempere is a doctor of architecture and a Member of the European Parliament in S&D Group. He is the Socialist coordinator of the Committee on Regional Development and a full member of the Committee on Culture and Education. As an architect he has extensive experience in restoration and rehabilitation of historic heritage buildings. In 2015 he was awarded an Architecture Prize of the Region of Murcia for the development of the Integral Plan for the Rehabilitation of Façades in Cartagena. As part of his activity as an MEP, Marcos has been very active in the New European Bauhaus.

*1973 Studied musicology, philosophy and history in Berlin. Since 2002 he has supervised cultural productions in the field of contemporary music theatre and new music and has also been a member of various bands and other experimental music projects. Since 2006 co-operator of the project space Antje Öklesund. Planning and organisation of exhibitions/installations, performances and concerts. In 2010 he founded the cultural office Kollegen2,3 and in this context also the artist network “Selbstgebaute Musik” (self-build music).

Self-build music is all kinds of things: Instrument invention platform, artists' group, ideas network and also the "Festival for Self-Built Music". The artist group “Selbstgebaute Musik” experiments with participatory performance concepts and musical material in a wide variety of spaces. Collaboration with spaces, objects and musical amateurs in any form plays a key role.

Wim Wabbes has been working as a music director at Arts Centre Vooruit in Ghent Belgium for 25 years (1987-2012), before becoming the artistic director of Ha Concerts in the same city ( since 2013). He has been organizing concert series in contemporary music, jazz, world music, and rock and pop. He was and is involved in numerous festivals focusing on alternative and progressive music: Vooruit Geluid Festival (1995-2005), Istanbul Ekspres festival ( Turkish music scene 2006-today), Etoiles Polaires (Icelandic and Greenlandic Music Scene - 2004); China Express (Chinese Music Scene -2005); Etoiles Polaires Finland (2006); Petersburg – Moscow Ekspres (Russian Music Scene - 2008); Etoiles Polaires Montréal (Canadian Music Scene -2009), Ha’fest (2013- today) ; De Gentse Lente -Djema el Fna (since 2018) ; Soirée Harira (focusing on the Moroccan music scene – since 2016).

As a music director he has commissioned work for many Belgian and international composers. Currently he is the president of the Europe Jazz Network (largest jazz network in Europe with 200 members in 34 countries), and was a member of the jury advising the Minister of Culture of Flandres/Belgium on subsidies for music organizations. Ha Concerts ( Gent) is a mayor venue in the Belgian music scene. It presents 170 bands a year, spread over concert series, festivals and special formats in the fields of jazz, pop/ rock, world music and music for young audiences. It is housed in a historical venue dating from the 18 century, has 350 seated and 800 standing capacity infrastructure and is supported by the local government and the Flemish government.

Željana Zovko is a Croatian diplomat and politician. Since 2016, she has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament. Zovko is EPP Group Vice-President, Vice-Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Vice-Chair of the Delegation for relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo and Member in the Delegation for relations with the United States and the Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly. Zovko is a Member of the Committee on Culture and Education and the Subcommittee on Security and Defence as well as EPP Group Foreign Affairs Vice-Coordinator. Before her election to the European Parliament, Zovko had an extensive diplomatic career.