Jó étvágyat!

Gergely Talló has been the director of the Workshop Foundation – a platform for international residencies and co-productions in Budapest – since 2000. During this time he has gotten to know the representatives, problems and backgrounds of Hungarian and international contemporary art life, especially contemporary dance. In 2013, the WSF opened a center with three new dance studios and an open-plan office that can accommodate 10-12 artists/art managers at the same time. The WFS offers 50 movement-based and dance courses per week, has 4 professional dance studios in two different locations in Budapest and works with/for more than 200 artists from the local and international contemporary performing arts scene. Gergely Talló is active as a curator and expert in various international networks and projects, e.g. Aerowaves, Life Long Burning, Nature of Us, Philadelphia-Budapest-Sofia Trilateral Cultural Exchange Program and he is a partner of the Movement Research GPS Program.

Brigitta Kovács is a freelance cultural producer and has been an official partner of the Workshop Foundation since 2023. Together with Director Gergely Talló, she is responsible for international orientation and development and works as project manager of the “Life Long Burning Creative Europe” project. She also heads a management program within the WSF called “Next Stage”. The initiative aims to support the work of artist management internationally. Since 2018, she has been working with individual artists and collectives such as Beatrix Simkó, Ladder Art Company and Imre Vass. In 2021 she became a CEC ArtsLink fellow and in 2022 she was a guest at Movement Research (NYC) for a 7-week residency. Since then, she has developed and realized several exchange projects between the US and Hungary. She is the producer and co-curator of the “Hungary L!ve Festival”, an interdisciplinary festival presenting contemporary Hungarian art in New York. Her mission is to improve the precarious working conditions of artists and cultural workers in the performing arts and to initiate partnerships that contribute to more sustainable career paths.

Dávid Somló is a Budapest-based sound artist. He is an associated artist of the performance network for public space IN SITU and the Placcc Festival as well as co-director of the Performance Studies program at the alternative teaching institution FreeSZFE.
The aim of the FreeSZFE association is to create an autonomous creative space in which theater performances, films, short stories, visual design and other art can be created and which is worthy of the tradition of the former University of Theater and Film Arts (SZFE). It was founded to create space and opportunities for those who can no longer tolerate the lack of dialog and the suppression of artistic freedom. At the FreeSFZE, former and current students, teachers and staff of the SZFE work together in the name of free artistic creation. The educational activities are carried out as part of the “Emergency Exit” program. Within the framework of “EMEX”, foreign universities recognize the education at the FreeSZFE by awarding academic degrees and thus offer a way out for students and teachers who believe that the conditions of academic freedom and autonomous creative work are not given due to the reconstruction and its circumstances at the SZFE.

György Szabó has been active in the promotion of contemporary artists since the 1980s and has created numerous platforms where innovative dance productions are created and shown. He is the co-founder of two central cultural institutions in Budapest: in 1992, he established the Workshop Foundation with the aim of supporting the work of contemporary Hungarian dancers and choreographers. At the request of the Ministry, he also developed the national tendering system in the 1990s, which was in force until 2010. In 2008, he was involved in the first stages of funding a new law for the performing arts. This initiative led to the founding of Trafó – House of Contemporary Arts in 1998, a versatile contemporary venue that has developed over the years into an established platform showcasing some of the most interesting Hungarian and international music, dance, theater and circus productions.

Martin Boross is a theater and film director, and the artistic director of STEREO AKT, a Budapest-based progressive theater collective. He earned his diploma in 2013 at Budapest’s University of Theatre and Film Arts. Since 2011, he has directed 22 original theater productions including on-stage, site-specific, opera, documentary, and participatory works. His work has been presented in over 40 cities in 13 countries. His post-dramatic pieces are political and interdisciplinary, often documentary-based and experimenting with the unconventional positioning and participation of the audience. In recent years, STEREO AKT has addressed social issues and phenomena such as gender inequality, homelessness, refugee movements, LGBTQ+ rights, freedom of expression and propaganda, equal opportunity, racism and education.
Martin Boross started filmmaking in 2017. Since then, he has directed a feature film, 2 short films and a documentary. In 2016, he received the Junior Prima Prize, a prestigious award for Hungarian artists under 30.

Judit Böröcz is an independent cultural worker with a background in International Relations and Theatre Studies. She has worked as performing arts programmer and curator in various institutional contexts: Trafó House of Contemporary Arts, Contemporary Drama Festival, Arcus Temporum Festival and FÜGE – Jurányi Art Incubator House among others. She was the coordinator of the 2023 edition of dunaPart, the biannual platform for contemporary performing arts in Hungary (in tandem with Luca Kövécs). Currently, she is a freelance creative producer, researcher, and co-creator of performing arts and multidisciplinary projects. She is a member of the Dutch-Hungarian artist collective SPACE and regularly collaborates with the visual artist and theatremaker Bence György Pálinkás and the theatre director and playwright Kristóf Kelemen since 2018. Starting January 2025, she will be Head of Programme alongside the new director, Katalin Erdődi at Trafó House of Contemporary Arts.

The Goethe-Institut has a worldwide presence as the cultural institute of the Federal Republic of Germany. It promotes the German language abroad and fosters international cultural cooperation. It also conveys a comprehensive picture of Germany by providing information about cultural, social and political life in Germany. The cultural and educational programs of the Goethe-Institut promote intercultural dialogue and enable cultural participation. They strengthen the development of civil society structures and promote worldwide mobility. The Goethe-Institut is a partner for all those who actively engage with Germany and its culture, independently and non-politically.
The Goethe-Institut Budapest, with its cultural programs, library and language work, has been working closely with Hungarian stakeholders since 1988. First and foremost, it is in constant and active exchange with the independent cultural scene in order to strengthen German-Hungarian cultural relations.

Katalin Erdődi is an independent curator and dramaturg based in Vienna and Budapest. She works across disciplines, with a focus on socially engaged art, experimental performance, and site-specific collaborations in rural and urban public space. Currently, she is co-curator of the Biennale Matter of Art (Prague, 2024) with Aleksei Borisionok, and the artistic research project SALT. CLAY. ROCK. (nGbK Berlin, 2023-2024). Starting 2025, she will be the artistic and managing director of Trafó House of Contemporary Arts (Budapest).
Previously, she has worked as a curator / programmer for institutions and festivals, such as steirischer herbst (Graz), brut & imagetanz festival (Vienna), Impulse Theater Festival (Cologne/Düsseldorf/Mülheim), GfZK – Museum of Contemporary Art (Leipzig) and Trafó House of Contemporary Arts (Budapest) among others. With Fanni Nánay, she co-founded and co-curated PLACCC Festival (Budapest), a festival for site-specific performance and art in public space. In 2020 she received the Igor Zabel Award Grant for her locally embedded and inclusive curatorial practice. As a dramaturg, she has collaborated with artists such as Igor and Ivan Buharov, Philipp Gehmacher, Sonja Jokiniemi, Gin Müller, Amanda Piña, Oleg Soulimenko, Sööt/Zeyringer and Doris Uhlich. Erdődi was member of the curatorial board for dance, theatre and performance of the City of Vienna (2019-2020), advising on the municipal funding of the independent performing arts field.