presented by TIMES
What makes a good conference programme into a great one? Curation.
In this special forum, Sónar+D brings together some of the brightest minds you’ve never seen on a stage before: the curators. Come and hear what makes them tick, and how they put together their programmes of speakers, talks and panels.
Hildreth England has gone from Austin, Texas to Mälmo, Sweden, where she curates the The Conference, a two-day meeting of minds from various walks of life. A designer by trade, her work draws on research, community and creativity to tackle issues relating to food, health, social mobility and environmental justice for clients across the public and private sector (from the USDA and the State of Texas to Ferrero and Toyota).
Ida Faldbakken is the CEO of KatapultX and co-founder of Katapult Future Fest, the annual Oslo gathering that brings together tech entrepreneurs, impact investors and changemakers to deliver positive global change. Having dedicated two decades to the “craft of gathering and convening” she sees conferences as natural venues for inclusivity, diversity and collaboration.
Laurent Bigarella is director of the Ideas department at Arty Farty, the Lyon-based association behind Nuits Sonores. He’s responsible for the curation of the European Lab programme, which hosts debate forums in Lyon, Paris, Brussels, and other EU cities on a wide range of topics. He also coordinates the Reset! Network, a grouping of independent media and cultural organisations across Europe, supported by Creative Europe.
Juliette Josse works as a programmer for the Ideas department at Arty Farty, working on European Lab, Nuits Sonores, and Intérieur Queer festivals. She’s interested in breaking down barriers between disciplines, developing hybrid offerings that bridge the gap between artistic and discursive content. Her curation explores topics that range from feminism, and post-colonial politics to social justice and the environment, all seen through a cultural lens.
Pep Salazar curates OFFF, the largest gathering of contemporary visual creativity in the world. Every year since 2000, it’s welcomed thousands of attendees and participants to Barcelona to explore design, art, creativity, post-digital culture and more, bringing together and helping inspire the most creative minds in the world.
Simone Ross is the tech curator at TED, the global digital conference brand. Starting out as a content strategist, she’s spent 20 years working as a conference programmer, observing how technology, economy and society intersect, with stops at Techonomy and Fortune. That experience has given her unprecedented insight into the ideas, individuals and companies who are shaping the present and future.
Zuraida Buter has been curating A MAZE./ Berlin since 2020, bringing her experience in playful arts curation to the leading European festival for experimental and artistic gaming, virtual reality and playful media. A specialist in putting together programmes that combine the physical and digital worlds, at A MAZE./ she manages a progamme that includes talks, workshops, interactive exhibitions, performances and music, all in the name of showcasing talent and creativity.
