Ilona is the Project Manager of European Talent Exchange and EU Policy Officer at ESNS (Eurosonic Noorderslag), Europe’s leading platform for emerging music. She oversees one of Europe’s largest talent-development networks, connecting 130 festivals, 27 music export offices, major media partners and the EBU to boost the international careers of new European artists. With a background in project and policy management, Ilona leads the year-round, Europe-wide programme focused on artist mobility, sustainability, and equitable career development.

Ádám is the Head of Operations at Sziget Cultural Management. He is responsible for delivering a stress-free and safe Sziget Festival for visitors and the crew as well. This includes the oversight of the daily operations of the Sziget office, the internal communications, the Customer Service, the Volunteer Program, and the Szitizen Care, Sziget’s health and well-being program. Ádám graduated in communications & history, started as a journalist, then left his media career for the festival industry. He spent 10 (minus Covid) years in project management and communication roles, gaining experience in various fields, especially understanding the net of love-hate relations between staff, visitors, locals, officials and the public. His main interests are health & safety, the role of communication in festival (staff) experience and the public image of festivals.

Festival & large scale event professional, enthusiast in 3D & lighting design. He has been working in the Finnish event industry since 2010. The first five years, he worked at the best rock club in the world, Tanssisali Lutakko in his hometown Jyväskylä. After 2016, he has been specializing on festivals and large scale event production. Since 2023, he is Festival Director of Provinssi Festival that he had joined in 2016 as production manager.

Brechje is an experienced Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and People & Culture professional with a broad international background spanning leadership, talent development, change management, analytics, operations, and stakeholder engagement. With more than seven years dedicated to DEI, she is driven by a single ambition: creating environments where people feel valued, respected, and able to contribute at their full potential. Her career has taken her across global organizations and complex matrix environments where she has led strategic DEI initiatives, shaped culture, implemented global processes, and supported large-scale change. She complements her professional work with her voluntary role as DEI Coordinator at VESTROCK, where she helps shape inclusive experiences within the cultural sector. 

For nearly seven years, Manon has multiplied her professional experiences with a fairly obvious thread: it’s live music or nothing! For the past three years, she has been part of the Rock en Seine team, one of the most renowned festivals in France. She holds the position of “Project & Development Manager”, a broad title that reflects an equally wide-ranging playground. Manon now develops everything that surrounds the festival’s main programming (Mini Rock en Seine – the kid area, the Club Avant Seine lineup with emerging groups, the Step Up professional program, conferences and exhibitions or the high-school talent competition).

Marta Pallarès is a music journalist from Barcelona with a master’s degree in cultural journalism, who has developed a career beyond media to dive into music business. After some years in Mexico City, she joined Primavera Sound, first coordinating the livestream with Red Bull TV, and later as head of the international comms and head of press for the event. Marta was the company’s official spokesperson for initiatives such as the event’s pioneering commitment to gender balanced lineups, until she left the company in late 2025. She now works as head of events at Sound Diplomacy, a global music, culture and creative economy consultancy which works with cities and communities to demonstrate the economic and social value of the creative industries, and which runs the global Music Cities Convention and Music Cities Awards. She is an honorary member of YOUROPE and used to serve on the association’s board.

Isabel is co-founder and managing director at Höme – For Festivals. She has lost her heart to festivals since university and is committed to making the industry a more sustainable, fair and innovative place. After working for the Berlin PR agency Snowhite, lunatic Festival, Ms Dockville and a number of other events, she is now building a home for festivals & live music events with Höme, where these topics are the key to her work. In addition, as co-founder and board member of the volunteer organisation fæmm, she is supporting FLINTA* behind and on stage, building networks and educating on feminist themes.

Pavla is head of booking and artist liaisons at the Colours of Ostrava festival in the Czech Republic. She has been with the festival since 2009 and she is part of the programming team. She is also involved in Meltingpot discussion forum – multi topic conference taking place on the festival site at the same time as the festival. In April 2026, she was elected as a board member of YOUROPE.

Katharina Weber is lead project manager at Bonn Promotion Department (BN*PD) and is as such also heavily involved in YOUROPE – The European Festival Association. In the various projects the association is a part of, Katharina works on creating tools and guidelines that help festivals become fit for the future. Her most recent key topics are event sustainability and DEI at festivals. She is part of the pan-European sustainability think tank GO Group (Green operations Europe) and founding member of YOUROPE’s WIRE (Wellbeing, Inclusion, Responsibility, Equity) Group. At German festival Das Fest, Katharina is part of the awareness management team. Before joining the music industry, she had worked as a journalist at newspapers and radio stations in Germany for seven years. She received degrees in English Studies (BA) and Applied Linguistics (MA) from the University of Bonn, Germany.