NEW MEMBERS OF THE CPH STAGE BOARD

When CPH STAGE welcomes its three new board members, it aims to strengthen the board's competencies in a number of key areas. The three members will thus contribute competencies in fundraising, law, international work, organisation, communication and political advocacy. At the same time, the festival establishes an Advisory Board.

The new board members and the Advisory Board will support the Board's strategic focus on organisational development while ensuring the fulfilment of CPH Stage's new national obligations in connection with the festival's financial appropriation. Both initiatives support the development the festival has undergone over the past few years. The Board of Directors of the Festival has worked purposefully towards a clearer Board focus on the consolidation of the festival's finances and organisation, while at the same time it has wanted to ensure an even broader grounding in the theatre industry. This is now done with a strong theatre advisory board that can contribute to the development of CPH STAGE as a Danish theatre festival.

FAREWELL TO THE FOUNDERS OF THE FESTIVAL

With the new members, the festival simultaneously says goodbye to three of the original board members, namely Pelle Koppel (Teater V), Laura Ramberg (Hamlet Scene), and Søren Normann Hansen (The Royal Danish Theatre). However, all three of them are carrying on the work of the festival as members of the festival's new Advisory Board.

Regarding the change in the organization, Chairman of the Board Pia Allerslev comments:

“First of all, we want to say a huge thank you to Laura, Pelle and Søren for their tremendous efforts for CPH STAGE over the years. Without their dedicated, committed and persistent efforts, we would not have been able to celebrate the 10th anniversary this year.

I am delighted that they are continuing the work of our new Advisory Board, which will help ensure that the new Board will have the best possible basis for decision-making in the performing arts.

And I am very pleased that we have been able to attract 3 new — and very strong — members to the Board of Directors. Natasha, Mette and Camilla will give us an even greater breadth on the board and will help bring us even stronger into the next 10 years of CPH Stage's history.”

Outgoing Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and future Chairman of the Advisory Board, Pelle Koppel, says:

“When Teater V, Husets Teater, Teater Grob (Blaagaard Theatre) and CafeTeatret (Teater Sort/Hvid) founded CPH STAGE back in 2013 and conducted the first festival, it was with huge ambitions and the dream of creating a large annual national festival. It was supposed to bring together the best possible performances from all over the country, as well as present international performances that could inspire everyone. I am super proud that today, 10 years later, we are presenting a festival that, in my view, has largely succeeded in exactly this - and we have also been included in the financial bill. But we need to move on and continue to evolve. Therefore, it is now time to shake up the bag further and bring new blood on board. I look forward to continuing to make my mark on the further development of the festival, as chair of the festival's Advisory Board.”

FOCUS ON INSPIRATION AND DEVELOPMENT The new Advisory Board will consist of 10-12 people from the performing arts industry and will give the festival an even broader grounding in the performing arts industry. The Advisory Board will assist with evaluation, inspiration and input to the festival. It must also help to ensure quality and adapt the festival's development measures. It thus helps to strengthen the festival's efforts as a unifying national festival for the entire performing arts scene with audiences across the country. The first meeting of the festival's Advisory Board is in autumn 2023.

Together, the two initiatives mean strengthening the festival's board in a number of essential areas. They also mark the festival's focus on an even broader grounding in the performing arts industry, which can help develop and ensure quality of CPH STAGE's many initiatives and areas of action for the benefit of both the performing arts and the audience.

‍

FACTS ABOUT THE NEW BOARD MEMBERS

Mette Marcus works with art and management and has a particular focus on creating new opportunities for the visual and performing arts. For 10 years she was responsible for developing and running the art area of the Bikuben Foundation. Prior to that, she was for 10 years a museum inspector at Louisiana. She is trained as an art historian and since then in management and has experience in creating constructive development and cooperation processes - including in board work.

Camilla Mordhorst Since 2018, she has been CEO of the Danish Cultural Institute, which has departments in Brazil, the Baltic States, India, China, Turkey and leads several EU and Danida programmes.

Camilla is vice president of the worldwide network of European cultural institutes EUNIC. Camilla has had a long career in the museum world as deputy director at the National Museum and director of M/S Maritime Museum of Denmark. She graduated with an MSc and holds a PhD from Roskilde University.

Natasha Al-Hariri is a lawyer specialising in immigration law and human rights. Former director of DFUNK - Dansk Flygtningehjælp Ungdom, just joined as project manager at TrygFonden.