Associate Members
Mauricio Delfin (Peru) currently serves as technical secretary of the Peruvian Alliance of Cultural Organizations and as founder and director of Asociación Civil Solar, a non-profit organization that promotes the open government of culture in Peru. He founded and directed Realidad Visual (2001-2010), the Peruvian National Summit of Culture (2011-2014) and Culturaperu.org (2009-2015). Mauricio has worked as research associate for Tándem, a cultural policy think-tank, and R&D strategist for La Factura, a civic software company. He is a doctoral candidate in Communication Studies at McGill University. mauriciodelfin.pe
Arianna Mazzeo (Italy) is leading the Global Social Impact Design Network. She is Professor of Contemporary Practices and Social Digital Innovation at MDE Harvard University as well leading the Impact trough Design International Initiative in design education and research to align the UN Sustainable development goals in the design institutions curricula and research agenda worldwide. She is co-leading with Ezio Manzini a design for social innovation research program, with the Desis Network Cluster "Design for City-Making. Collaborative Cities" to explore how cities can play a role in generating or regenerating urban commons.
Silja Suntola (Finland) was the initiator and Project Director for Creative Industries Finland (CIF), which became the main national network for creative economy development in Finland. Her background in the music business as well as active role in furthering discussion between policy-makers and the private sector in Finland and internationally have given her a strong overall understanding of the challenges and opportunities in creative economy development. Silja currently works with creative industries at Xamk University of Applied Sciences.
Michele Trimarchi (Italy) is Full Professor of Public Economics (Università di Catanzaro “Magna Graecia”), teaches Cultural Economics (Università di Bologna “Alma Mater”) and Lateral Thinking (IED Venezia, Roma). Michele extensively writes on cultural economics and policy. He is an economic expert in projects of international cultural co-operation (including for World Bank and UNESCO). Michele has worked as a consultant with many Italian public administrations and private organisations, for the design of cultural policy and strategy.
Valerie Visanich (Malta) Valerie Visanich (Malta) has a PhD in Sociology and is a resident lecturer at the department of Sociology at the University of Malta Her areas of specialization are Sociology of the Arts and Cultural Studies. Valerie is the chair of the European Sociological Association, the Arts Research Network. She is also the co-founder and chairperson of the Malta Sociological Association. She led numerous arts research national projects and is the co-author of Malta's new Cultural Policy for 2020-2025.
Andrej Srakar (Slovenia) is research associate at Institute for Economic Research in Ljubljana, assistant professor for macroeconomics and quantitative methods at the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana and editor-in-chief of Review of Economics and Economic Methodology. He counts as one of leading and most active younger cultural economists, with numerous publications in leading world journals and monographs. He is Slovenian correspondent for Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends, past member of scientific committee of the jubilee 20th International Conference on Cultural Economics in Melbourne, and past president of the largest Slovenian umbrella organization of nongovernmental organizations and freelancers in culture and the arts, Asociacija.