In our network, we have a lot of experts who work towards a better European festival sector in one of our dedicated working groups or project teams, who develop our tools and guidelines, or produce our events and communication campaigns. All of them are also regular speakers at international festival and live music conferences in their field of expertise. If you come with a specific question, they may be able to help you. Feel free to contact the YOUROPE office to get in touch with them. This is YOUROPE’s pool of experts (to be expanded).
Looking for a special topic? Here are the quick links:
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Since the end of 2023, Jacob Sylvester Bilabel has been leading the development of the federal government’s central Green Culture contact point in Germany. In the summer of 2020, he launched the Sustainability in Culture and Media Action Network, funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media (BKM – Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien). The network has since grown to over 50 of the most important cultural institutions from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In 2023, as part of a consortium, he developed the nationwide culture-specific climate accounting standards KBK & KBK+ and developed the free tool of the German Conference of Ministers of Culture that can be used for this purpose. In 2009, he founded the pan-European Green Music Initiative (GMI) a cross-sector innovation and research agency for the European music and entertainment industry. In 2011 he co-founded GO Group (Green Operations Europe) an independent, pan-European, cross-industry think tank to inspire people in the music festival and events industry to run their operations greener, smarter and more sustainable. Since then, GO Group stimulates exchange and leads the discussion about social and ecological responsibility. The group inspires and connects hundreds of festivals, initiatives and scientists. Jacob Sylvester Bilabel is also a member of the German technical mirror panel for the ISO 20121 standard for sustainability in event management. In 2015, he helped set up the Festival Kombinat, a network of more than 30 independent festivals. In 2016, he was appointed by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Energy as an expert on innovation processes in the creative sector. In 2017, he became an ambassador for the European Take A Stand project, which raises awareness of cultural values among young Europeans. In 2018, he became part of a European research consortium that develops and produces hydrogen fuel cells for festivals and events.
Special adviser and Festival manager, Roskilde Festival (DK) Henrik Bondo Nielsen has many years of experience in festival management. As division manager for safety and service at Roskilde Festival, he contributes with insight into logistics, infrastructure, and crowd safety management.
Henrik Bondo Nielsen is one of the initiators of YES-Group – the international network for Health and Safety at music festivals.
Mika Christoffersen is Head of DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) and behaviour at the Roskilde Festival group, working closely with safety to ensure that a more diverse group of people can participate and thrive at live events and festivals. Mika is the lead on Roskilde’s social sustainability work focused diversity leadership and equal access, as well as doing consultancy work with other festivals, venues and live-events to ensure the inclusion and well-being of young people in the cultural industries. Mika Christoffersen has a background in behavioural design, event management and teaching leadership and communications.
Passionate and dedicated environmental scientist with wide-ranging experience in data analysis, waste management, biodiversity assessment, environmental risk management, auditing and sustainability consultancy. Currently employed as the Environmental and Sustainability Manager for Shareridge Ltd. Also acts as a consultant on contract with A Greener Future (UK) to enhance the sustainability of the live event industry. Has 10+ years professional experience working in environmental analysis, with a particular focus on waste and biodiversity; sustainability management and project management in the Republic of Ireland and the UK.
Skilled in the preparation of License Applications and Environmental Impact Assessment Reports. Also has co-authored two sustainability guides for the live event industry “AGF’s Arena Sustainability Guidelines for the European Arenas Association” and the “European Green Festival Roadmap 2030.”
OHS Technician in Fujitsu. Accessibility Technician in “Music for all Foundation”. Embracing diversity, committed to making a difference with enthusiasm and teamwork and working towards a more inclusive future.
Kara Djurhuus is Head of Philanthropy at the Roskilde Festival Group, leading the philanthropic efforts to enhance the wellbeing, influence and engagement of young people to accelerate new ideas for a more sustainable world – from a climate, social and cultural perspective. Kara is spearheading Roskilde Festival’s current focus on UTOPIA as a theme and an approach. Before joining the Roskilde Festival Group in 2019, Kara Djurhuus’ professional career was in International Development working with the UN and the Red Cross across Africa, MENA and Europe.
A journalist for over 20 years, James is IQ Magazine’s Special Projects Editor, overseeing publications such as the European Festival Report, Global Arenas Guide, International Ticketing Report, Global Promoters Report and the Touring Entertainment Report. He is also editor of the Barbican’s monthly Guide magazine, and writes on culture for a variety of national and international publications. As a regular presenter James has appeared at conferences such as the ILMC, Canadian Music Week, MIDEM, and The Great Escape, and appeared on the BBC, France 24, ITV and more. He is former Managing Director of the UK and European Festival Awards.
Sabine Funk is a recognised expert in the field of event security and crowd management with extensive experience and in-depth expertise. She has been working in the event industry for over three decades and has established herself as one of the leading experts in her field.
Her expertise is reflected in her involvement in various standard-setting projects, including DIN SPEC 77202 on the professionalisation of event security services and DIN SPEC 91414-2 on mobile vehicle security barriers. Sabine Funk has also played a key role in the recommendations of the European Transport Safety Council (EVC) on traffic and crowd management for events and in the SiSaME 2.0 – Simulations for Safety at Major Events research project. She is also active in the working committee 1.9 of the Road and Transport Research Association (FGSV e.V.) on crowd safety and heads the working group 1.9.1 on recognising and preventing critical situations.
Sabine Funk has been working for IBIT GmbH since 2010, where she acts as event manager and consultant for security and public order services. She regularly holds lectures and seminars on topics such as crowd management or emergency planning. Her teaching activities include a guest lectureship at the Federal Academy for Civil Protection and Civil Defence (BABZ).
Sabine Funk is not only theoretically sound, with qualifications as a master craftswoman in event technology, occupational safety specialist and business economist, but also looks back to nearly 30 years of practical experience with events of all types.
She is a member of the Steering Board of the Yourope Event Safety Group (YES Group), second chairwoman of the Association for the Promotion of Major Events (VFSG e.V.) and NATO Civil Expert for High Profile Events.
Since 1993, Christof Huber is active in the Live Entertainment business. Since January 2020, Christof Huber is partner of the new formed Gadget abc Entertainment Group Switzerland, one of the biggest live entertainment companies in Switzerland. He is director festivals of the group and responsible for the OpenAir St.Gallen, one of the most important music festivals in Switzerland, Summerdays Festival, Seaside Festival and Unique Moments at the National Museum in Zurich. He also books the Stars in Town Festival. He is board member of Yourope, the European Festival Association since its founding in 1998 and from 2003-2021, he was general secretary of the association. Since 2021, he is working chairman of the association. He is a co-founder of the European initiative Take A Stand which was launched in 2017, a movement within the music industry encouraging social cohesion in our society, promoting awareness and tolerance for all cultures, genders, races, colours and religions.
Co-Founder of Höme. He’s been starting and running events and media projects in music and action sports since 2002. Currently, he loves building a company called Höme together with friends to change things in the festival sector for the better.
Professor Chris Kemp, CEO of Mind Over Matter Consultancy Ltd (MOM), has a wealth of experience and a proven record of accomplishment in the fields of event safety, risk management, crowd safety, leadership, emergency planning, crowd science and counterterrorism. Chris has provided expert support for indoor and outdoor arenas, greenfield sites, transport hubs, retail centres and almost every conceivable crowded space and business environment.
Chris is qualified both academically and as a practitioner. He has an undergraduate degree in Human Movement Sport & Recreation Management, a Master’s degree in Arts Administration and a PhD; rated as excellent, in Cognitive Psychology and Musicology from the Jyvaskyla University in Finland.
Chris has worked in the crowded space arena for over 35 years, initially working as one of the top five club rock promoters in the UK, and as a venue manager. Then, as an academic, where he blazed the trail of both music and crowd management education, moving into consultancy he worked on a range of projects in railway stations, at festivals, on event sites, and in other crowded spaces.
New Media & Marketing Manager at Alter Art Festival (Open’er Festival, Orange Warsaw Festival).
Mariana Macedo (BOOM Festival, PT)
Mariana was born in Lisbon and is passionate about nature, people and travel. She holds a master’s degree in Cultural Management and a degree in Permaculture. Mariana has worked in the area of event production since 2006, in the areas of financial and commercial management and executive production.
She is one of the directors of the cultural organization Good Mood Lda, producer of the Boom Festival event, a project that has proven itself in the sustainability sector and has won international awards in this area in every edition since 2008 (Greener Festival Award, European Festival Award, member of the United Nations Music & Environment Stakeholder Initiative). In addition to the festival, the organization has developed other projects that were born in this area, such as Being Gathering, a medium size festival focused on well being, nature arts and music; the consultancy Balance, which aims to support other entities in making their events more sustainable and with a positive impact, and Boom Bazaar, a marketplace for products and producers that, in order to be included in the platform, must comply with certain sustainability criteria.
Besides being one of the directors of Boom Festival and the Being Gathering, two transformational and changemaking festivals, he is also a member of the board of directors of Portuguese Association of Shows, Festivals and Events – APEFE.
University degree in Social and Organisational Psychology (ISCTE – University of Lisboa), later started an MA in Culture Management. Studies on permaculture, ecovillages design, organic agriculture, THNK School of Creative Leadership, and design thinking. Sports, meditation, and culture journalism are part of his background too. The will to support change led him to work on the social sector on ICE – Instituto das Comunidades Educativas, Associação Khapaz, and CET – Centro de Estudos Territoriais. He became active in the electronic music scene in Portugal in the mid 90s. He has been involved with Boom since the early days as party-goer and production staff besides organising and curating events of several genres.
Andy Mestka has more than 20 years of experience as a Health & Safety Manager for festivals, football matches and other cultural and sporting events. As Head of Security for the OpenAir Festival St.Gallen, he is also part of the YES Group, the YOUROPE Event Safety Group. He is the appointed Safety & Security Manager for the UEFA Womens EURO 2025 in Switzerland. Having obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Crowd Safety Management at Bucks New University, he also passes on his experience and knowledge as a consultant to security companies, event organizers and authorities.
For more than 10 years Ivan Milivojev had been a board member of YOUROPE. Today he is a lifelong honorable member and acts as its anchorman in international projects. Ivan is one of the original founders of EXIT Festival. He is also co-founder of numerous other festivals, like: Warriors Dance Festival and DEV9Tindependent art festival from Serbia, Sea Dance Festival from Montenegro, Sea Star Festival from Croatia, R:EVOL:UTION Festival from Romania. Ivan participated in founding and establishing various companies and organizations connected with music and the event business: AAA Production (RS), Equal by Nature (Dubai, UAE), SMMF, Serbian Music Manager Forum (RS).
Mikko Niemelä is CEO and promoter of Ruisrock which is one of the oldest and leading cultural events in Finland established in 1970. The Festival with a capacity of 35 000 daily visitors is known for its magical atmosphere and it takes place in the beautiful island of Ruissalo in Turku. Mikko has been working with Ruisrock since 2006 as a producer, production manager and at his current position as a promoter since 2011. The 45-year-old Mikko lives in Helsinki and besides leading Ruisrock he is also an active DJ and a board member of Yourope.
CEO and Co Founder of international not for profit AGF – A Greener Future (formerly A Greener Festival) and Co Founder of green energy specialists, Grid Faeries. Claire O’Neill is a pioneer in sustainability for the live sector, establishing AGF following her research in 2005. Since then she has worked with the world’s leading events and venues such as HM the Queens Platinum Jubilee Pageant, Glastonbury Festival, The O2, Wembley, BST Hyde Park, UEFA Champions League, ASM Global, AEG, HM the Queens Funeral, and artists such as Bring Me The Horizon and Massive Attack. Claire organises the Green Events & Innovations Conference (GEI) & consults as sustainability expert to industry bodies throughout Europe. Trail blazing best practice including the world’s first Greener Festival Certification, the Green Artist rider with Wasserman Agency now adopted by major artists globally and sparking the Greener Tour division, plus the Greener Arena and Venue Certification. Grid Faeries emerged in 2022 in collaboration with Dale Vince of Ecotricity, to help events to get off diesel by connecting to grid, building new renewables, and providing the world’s first 3MWh battery to be used on a festival. Claire is on the Board of charities In Place of War and Naam Festival, Kenya. Additionally, Claire is an aerialist performing globally from the 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony as Mary Poppins, to Arcadia Spectacular’s iconic Spider shows worldwide.
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.
Back home after some years in Mexico City, and following two editions coordinating the Primavera Sound festival livestream with Red Bull TV, Pallarès got in charge of the international comms for the event. In 2023, she became its Head of Press, a position where she continues handling the relationship with media partners, while building strategies with national and foreign press and leading Primavera’s press team.
Pallarès is the company’s official spokesperson for initiatives such as the event’s pioneering commitment to gender balanced lineups. Since 2019, she coordinates the partnership with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals campaign.
She is also one of members of the board of YOUROPE, the European Festival Association that represents 122 festivals and associated members from 30 European countries.
Greg Parmley is Managing Director of the International Live Music Conference (ILMC). ILMC is the leading annual conference for the international touring and festival businesses, and the organisation also organises the International Festival Forum (IFF) and other events. Additionally, ILMC publishes IQ, the leading source of news and content for the business read by 100,000 professionals each month. Greg is a co-founder and former CEO of the UK’s umbrella trade association LIVE, and due to one too many pub conversations, he also holds the Guinness World Record for Most Music Festivals Visited in 30 Days.
Co-Founder of and Head of Communications at Höme. Passionate about festivals, live music, journalism and empowerment of women and young talent.
Marie Sabot is director of the WE LOVE GREEN festival and associate director of WE LOVE ART. She has been shaking up the contemporary music scene for twenty years. In 2004, Marie founded WE LOVE ART, which in the space of fifteen years has established itself as a major catalyst in the arts and cultural industries. Since 2011, with WE LOVE GREEN Paris, she has been creating a pioneering laboratory committed to eco-responsibility in France. Today, WE LOVE GREEN is recognised as a benchmark for responsible events both in France and abroad.
Marie Sabot is also Vice-Chair of the Festivals Committee of Ekhoscenes, the national union of producers, promoters, festivals and venues for music and variety shows, and a member of the board.
Holger Jan Schmidt (YOUROPE, DE)
Holger is one of Europe’s leading networkers in the music festival branch. Among various topics he has a special focus on sustainability and social responsibility for festivals and events. Holger is General Secretary of YOUROPE – the European Festival Association, the most important representation of European popular music festivals with more than 100 members from 25 European countries. He also leads the pan-European think-tank GO Group (Green Operations Europe) that focuses on sustainability related and environmental issues at events. Holger looks back at 30 years working at festivals including the legendary RhEINKULTUR and Bizarre Festival. Today Holger is a booker, consultant and part of the management teams of various major festivals among those DAS FEST in Karlsruhe and SUPERBLOOM Festival in Munich. Holger is contributing his expertise to various European funded projects such as YOUROPE’s “3F – Future-Fit Festivals” (Creative Europe). He is co-author of the book „stay SOUND & CHECK yourself“ dealing with stress and mental health in the live music, festival and event industry and co-wrote the „Sounds For Nature guidelines for environmentally friendly events“.
Founder of the Green Touring Network, Member of Music Declares Emergency, Sustainability consultant, and more
Linnea Vågen Svensson (Greener Events, NO)
Linnéa is a project manager and sustainability consultant working in the event industry with cultural, social and sporting events. She project managed and wrote the Green Roadmap for Cultural Institutions for the Nordic Council of Ministers, as well as project manage the European Festival Green Roadmap 2030 and is the author/co-author of multiple practical guides in sustainability for culture, festivals and sporting events. She is one of the co-founders of Green Operations Europe and holds several board positions in the Norwegian music industry. Through non-profit foundations, and her own company, Konglomerat/Greener Events, she now works full-time to make the Norwegian culture, nightlife and event industry greener. Linnéa gives consultancy within project management and sustainability for organizers of cultural and sporting events, translating sustainability policies into concrete actions, creating tools and implementing best practices for businesses and public organizations alike.
Fruzsina began her career as a band and tour manager at the age of 18. She is the managing director and festival director of Superbloom and Lollapalooza Berlin. Prior to that, she was the programme director of Sziget Festival for seven years. Fruzsina founded the Hungarian Music Export Office and is co-founder of Take A Stand, a movement that promotes respect, tolerance and diversity in the music industry. She also developed the EU project CEETEP (Central-Eastern European Talent Exchange Program) that became part of the European Talent Exchange Programme in 2016. Fruzsina is a board member of YOUROPE.
With over 15 years of experience in the live music and festival sector, Maiju has developed a versatile skill set from artist liaison, exec production, leadership to strategic development. Passionate about driving change, she is dedicated to making the music industry more inclusive and socially sustainable. She serves as a consultant, expert advisor and board member in various industry organisations and her core values are fairness and kindness.
Morten is the Director of Safety and Guest Relations at Roskilde Festival Group. Here he is responsible for the safety and guest relations at one of the largest and oldest festivals in Northern Europe (Roskilde Festival), but also responsible for the department that provides safety services for external clients such as Live Nation, All Things Live and UEFA. Morten Holds a bachelor degree in Crowd Safety management and a Masters degree in Crowd Places and Public Safety Management.
As a former festival producer, Rob has a very practical approach with sustainability. While working for 20 years in the festival industry he has shifted completely to sustainability over the last years. In this time, Rob has worked at Innofest for 5 years, testing sustainable innovations at festivals. He is also the sustainability coordinator for ESNS for the last six years. His focus was making sustainability part of the DNA of ESNS and launching and scaling programmes to help the event and music sector become more sustainable. Rob created a roadmap canvas to help festivals put their sustainable ambitions into a plan for their future. He personally guided over 20 festivals with the roadmap. ESNS is part of the Green Deal Circular Festivals.
Pascal Viot is head of Department Safety, Security and Services at Paleo Festival, one of the major event in Switzerland. He is also coordinating the YES Group (Yourope Event Safety Group) alongside Henrik Bondo Nielsen (Roskilde Festival). Being a sociologist and researcher in the field of risk and urban safety analysis, he has developed emergency and crisis management plans for major concerts/events. He also provides education programmes in this field through iSSUE (the Swiss Institute for Urban and Event Safety), the Institute he created in 2016.
Alexandra has been in the entertainment industry for over 20 years and has been working in health & safety as well as safety & security and as a licensing consultant/officer for several years. Being part of the YOUROPE Event Safety (YES) Group Managing Board, her focus is on gaining and spreading knowledge in the field of event safety.
Codruța Vulcu is the Director and Founder of the ARTmania Festival, one of Romania’s most established events, now in its 17th edition, focused on rock and metal. She also founded Blaj aLive Festival in 2013, featuring alternative and world music, and Romanian Music Export. In 2017, she launched the East European Music Conference & Showcase Festival to foster discussions between Romania’s music sector, international experts, and state authorities. Codruța is the President of AROC (Romanian Association of Concert Promoters) and served as Director of Large-Scale Events for Timișoara – European Capital of Culture 2023. She has over 20 years of experience in the arts, including organizing logistics for the official 2019 ceremonies with Pope Francis in Blaj. In 2020, she received the European Festival Award for Excellence and Passion, and in 2019, ARTmania won Best Small Festival. Codruța holds a bachelor’s degree in Art Photography and a master’s in Art History from the National University of Arts in Bucharest. She exhibited her work at the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest and Kiasma Museum in Helsinki and was a press correspondent for major European festivals.
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 all of 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 diverse festivals. 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 and Applied Linguistics from the University of Bonn, Germany.
Markus Wiersch is deputy CEO at the Karlsruhe Marketing and Event GmbH. In 2000 he specialized in the planning and coordination of security structures and activities at major events. Markus is an Active member since 2004 of the YES Group (Yourope Event Safety Group). Since 2007 he is responsible for the planning and implementation of the Health and Safety concepts for major events of the city of Karlsruhe. Since 2010 he is the project manager of DAS FEST Karlsruhe.
Fabienne is a festival booker and manager at Gadget Entertainment Group Switzerland with a master’s degree in Arts Administration.
Programming director of the biggest music festival in Ukraine – Atlas Festival (600k+ visitors in 2021). Partnership manager at the Music Saves UA initiative established by the Ukrainian Association of Music Events (UAME). Its main goal is to provide humanitarian help to civilians in Ukraine – evacuation, humanitarian supplies, heating/charging points and rebuilding. We harness the power of music and unity by collaborating with festivals, artistsand music organizations worldwide. We help book Ukrainian artists, build special locations at festivals, create fundraising campaigns and find other ways to raise money and awareness via the world of music in order to save lives.
Consulting in crowd safety, event security management, security consultant. Specialties: Clearance concepts for meeting places, crowd & safety management, occupational Health & Safety. Compiling safety concepts for events & venues, crowded spaces safety, crowd management. Teaching at IBIT, the International Training Centre for Event Safety.
Mikolaj Ziółkowski is founder and director of Alter Art, the promoter of Poland’s biggest festival Open’er.
Event Sustainability
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Since the end of 2023, Jacob Sylvester Bilabel has been leading the development of the federal government’s central Green Culture contact point in Germany. In the summer of 2020, he launched the Sustainability in Culture and Media Action Network, funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media (BKM – Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien). The network has since grown to over 50 of the most important cultural institutions from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In 2023, as part of a consortium, he developed the nationwide culture-specific climate accounting standards KBK & KBK+ and developed the free tool of the German Conference of Ministers of Culture that can be used for this purpose. In 2009, he founded the pan-European Green Music Initiative (GMI) a cross-sector innovation and research agency for the European music and entertainment industry. In 2011 he co-founded GO Group (Green Operations Europe) an independent, pan-European, cross-industry think tank to inspire people in the music festival and events industry to run their operations greener, smarter and more sustainable. Since then, GO Group stimulates exchange and leads the discussion about social and ecological responsibility. The group inspires and connects hundreds of festivals, initiatives and scientists. Jacob Sylvester Bilabel is also a member of the German technical mirror panel for the ISO 20121 standard for sustainability in event management. In 2015, he helped set up the Festival Kombinat, a network of more than 30 independent festivals. In 2016, he was appointed by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Energy as an expert on innovation processes in the creative sector. In 2017, he became an ambassador for the European Take A Stand project, which raises awareness of cultural values among young Europeans. In 2018, he became part of a European research consortium that develops and produces hydrogen fuel cells for festivals and events.
Passionate and dedicated environmental scientist with wide-ranging experience in data analysis, waste management, biodiversity assessment, environmental risk management, auditing and sustainability consultancy. Currently employed as the Environmental and Sustainability Manager for Shareridge Ltd. Also acts as a consultant on contract with A Greener Future (UK) to enhance the sustainability of the live event industry. Has 10+ years professional experience working in environmental analysis, with a particular focus on waste and biodiversity; sustainability management and project management in the Republic of Ireland and the UK.
Skilled in the preparation of License Applications and Environmental Impact Assessment Reports. Also has co-authored two sustainability guides for the live event industry “AGF’s Arena Sustainability Guidelines for the European Arenas Association” and the “European Green Festival Roadmap 2030.”
Mariana Macedo (BOOM Festival, PT)
Mariana was born in Lisbon and is passionate about nature, people and travel. She holds a master’s degree in Cultural Management and a degree in Permaculture. Mariana has worked in the area of event production since 2006, in the areas of financial and commercial management and executive production.
She is one of the directors of the cultural organization Good Mood Lda, producer of the Boom Festival event, a project that has proven itself in the sustainability sector and has won international awards in this area in every edition since 2008 (Greener Festival Award, European Festival Award, member of the United Nations Music & Environment Stakeholder Initiative). In addition to the festival, the organization has developed other projects that were born in this area, such as Being Gathering, a medium size festival focused on well being, nature arts and music; the consultancy Balance, which aims to support other entities in making their events more sustainable and with a positive impact, and Boom Bazaar, a marketplace for products and producers that, in order to be included in the platform, must comply with certain sustainability criteria.
Besides being one of the directors of Boom Festival and the Being Gathering, two transformational and changemaking festivals, he is also a member of the board of directors of Portuguese Association of Shows, Festivals and Events – APEFE.
University degree in Social and Organisational Psychology (ISCTE – University of Lisboa), later started an MA in Culture Management. Studies on permaculture, ecovillages design, organic agriculture, THNK School of Creative Leadership, and design thinking. Sports, meditation, and culture journalism are part of his background too. The will to support change led him to work on the social sector on ICE – Instituto das Comunidades Educativas, Associação Khapaz, and CET – Centro de Estudos Territoriais. He became active in the electronic music scene in Portugal in the mid 90s. He has been involved with Boom since the early days as party-goer and production staff besides organising and curating events of several genres.
CEO and Co Founder of international not for profit AGF – A Greener Future (formerly A Greener Festival) and Co Founder of green energy specialists, Grid Faeries. Claire O’Neill is a pioneer in sustainability for the live sector, establishing AGF following her research in 2005. Since then she has worked with the world’s leading events and venues such as HM the Queens Platinum Jubilee Pageant, Glastonbury Festival, The O2, Wembley, BST Hyde Park, UEFA Champions League, ASM Global, AEG, HM the Queens Funeral, and artists such as Bring Me The Horizon and Massive Attack. Claire organises the Green Events & Innovations Conference (GEI) & consults as sustainability expert to industry bodies throughout Europe. Trail blazing best practice including the world’s first Greener Festival Certification, the Green Artist rider with Wasserman Agency now adopted by major artists globally and sparking the Greener Tour division, plus the Greener Arena and Venue Certification. Grid Faeries emerged in 2022 in collaboration with Dale Vince of Ecotricity, to help events to get off diesel by connecting to grid, building new renewables, and providing the world’s first 3MWh battery to be used on a festival. Claire is on the Board of charities In Place of War and Naam Festival, Kenya. Additionally, Claire is an aerialist performing globally from the 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony as Mary Poppins, to Arcadia Spectacular’s iconic Spider shows worldwide.
Marie Sabot is director of the WE LOVE GREEN festival and associate director of WE LOVE ART. She has been shaking up the contemporary music scene for twenty years. In 2004, Marie founded WE LOVE ART, which in the space of fifteen years has established itself as a major catalyst in the arts and cultural industries. Since 2011, with WE LOVE GREEN Paris, she has been creating a pioneering laboratory committed to eco-responsibility in France. Today, WE LOVE GREEN is recognised as a benchmark for responsible events both in France and abroad.
Marie Sabot is also Vice-Chair of the Festivals Committee of Ekhoscenes, the national union of producers, promoters, festivals and venues for music and variety shows, and a member of the board.
Holger Jan Schmidt (YOUROPE, DE)
Holger is one of Europe’s leading networkers in the music festival branch. Among various topics he has a special focus on sustainability and social responsibility for festivals and events. Holger is General Secretary of YOUROPE – the European Festival Association, the most important representation of European popular music festivals with more than 100 members from 25 European countries. He also leads the pan-European think-tank GO Group (Green Operations Europe) that focuses on sustainability related and environmental issues at events. Holger looks back at 30 years working at festivals including the legendary RhEINKULTUR and Bizarre Festival. Today Holger is a booker, consultant and part of the management teams of various major festivals among those DAS FEST in Karlsruhe and SUPERBLOOM Festival in Munich. Holger is contributing his expertise to various European funded projects such as YOUROPE’s “3F – Future-Fit Festivals” (Creative Europe). He is co-author of the book „stay SOUND & CHECK yourself“ dealing with stress and mental health in the live music, festival and event industry and co-wrote the „Sounds For Nature guidelines for environmentally friendly events“.
Founder of the Green Touring Network, Member of Music Declares Emergency, Sustainability consultant, and more
Linnea Vågen Svensson (Greener Events, NO)
Linnéa is a project manager and sustainability consultant working in the event industry with cultural, social and sporting events. She project managed and wrote the Green Roadmap for Cultural Institutions for the Nordic Council of Ministers, as well as project manage the European Festival Green Roadmap 2030 and is the author/co-author of multiple practical guides in sustainability for culture, festivals and sporting events. She is one of the co-founders of Green Operations Europe and holds several board positions in the Norwegian music industry. Through non-profit foundations, and her own company, Konglomerat/Greener Events, she now works full-time to make the Norwegian culture, nightlife and event industry greener. Linnéa gives consultancy within project management and sustainability for organizers of cultural and sporting events, translating sustainability policies into concrete actions, creating tools and implementing best practices for businesses and public organizations alike.
As a former festival producer, Rob has a very practical approach with sustainability. While working for 20 years in the festival industry he has shifted completely to sustainability over the last years. In this time, Rob has worked at Innofest for 5 years, testing sustainable innovations at festivals. He is also the sustainability coordinator for ESNS for the last six years. His focus was making sustainability part of the DNA of ESNS and launching and scaling programmes to help the event and music sector become more sustainable. Rob created a roadmap canvas to help festivals put their sustainable ambitions into a plan for their future. He personally guided over 20 festivals with the roadmap. ESNS is part of the Green Deal Circular Festivals.
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 all of 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 diverse festivals. 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 and Applied Linguistics from the University of Bonn, Germany.
Event Safety & Security
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Special adviser and Festival manager, Roskilde Festival (DK) Henrik Bondo Nielsen has many years of experience in festival management. As division manager for safety and service at Roskilde Festival, he contributes with insight into logistics, infrastructure, and crowd safety management.
Henrik Bondo Nielsen is one of the initiators of YES-Group – the international network for Health and Safety at music festivals.
Sabine Funk is a recognised expert in the field of event security and crowd management with extensive experience and in-depth expertise. She has been working in the event industry for over three decades and has established herself as one of the leading experts in her field.
Her expertise is reflected in her involvement in various standard-setting projects, including DIN SPEC 77202 on the professionalisation of event security services and DIN SPEC 91414-2 on mobile vehicle security barriers. Sabine Funk has also played a key role in the recommendations of the European Transport Safety Council (EVC) on traffic and crowd management for events and in the SiSaME 2.0 – Simulations for Safety at Major Events research project. She is also active in the working committee 1.9 of the Road and Transport Research Association (FGSV e.V.) on crowd safety and heads the working group 1.9.1 on recognising and preventing critical situations.
Sabine Funk has been working for IBIT GmbH since 2010, where she acts as event manager and consultant for security and public order services. She regularly holds lectures and seminars on topics such as crowd management or emergency planning. Her teaching activities include a guest lectureship at the Federal Academy for Civil Protection and Civil Defence (BABZ).
Sabine Funk is not only theoretically sound, with qualifications as a master craftswoman in event technology, occupational safety specialist and business economist, but also looks back to nearly 30 years of practical experience with events of all types.
She is a member of the Steering Board of the Yourope Event Safety Group (YES Group), second chairwoman of the Association for the Promotion of Major Events (VFSG e.V.) and NATO Civil Expert for High Profile Events.
Professor Chris Kemp, CEO of Mind Over Matter Consultancy Ltd (MOM), has a wealth of experience and a proven record of accomplishment in the fields of event safety, risk management, crowd safety, leadership, emergency planning, crowd science and counterterrorism. Chris has provided expert support for indoor and outdoor arenas, greenfield sites, transport hubs, retail centres and almost every conceivable crowded space and business environment.
Chris is qualified both academically and as a practitioner. He has an undergraduate degree in Human Movement Sport & Recreation Management, a Master’s degree in Arts Administration and a PhD; rated as excellent, in Cognitive Psychology and Musicology from the Jyvaskyla University in Finland.
Chris has worked in the crowded space arena for over 35 years, initially working as one of the top five club rock promoters in the UK, and as a venue manager. Then, as an academic, where he blazed the trail of both music and crowd management education, moving into consultancy he worked on a range of projects in railway stations, at festivals, on event sites, and in other crowded spaces.
Andy Mestka has more than 20 years of experience as a Health & Safety Manager for festivals, football matches and other cultural and sporting events. As Head of Security for the OpenAir Festival St.Gallen, he is also part of the YES Group, the YOUROPE Event Safety Group. He is the appointed Safety & Security Manager for the UEFA Womens EURO 2025 in Switzerland. Having obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Crowd Safety Management at Bucks New University, he also passes on his experience and knowledge as a consultant to security companies, event organizers and authorities.
Morten is the Director of Safety and Guest Relations at Roskilde Festival Group. Here he is responsible for the safety and guest relations at one of the largest and oldest festivals in Northern Europe (Roskilde Festival), but also responsible for the department that provides safety services for external clients such as Live Nation, All Things Live and UEFA. Morten Holds a bachelor degree in Crowd Safety management and a Masters degree in Crowd Places and Public Safety Management.
Pascal Viot is head of Department Safety, Security and Services at Paleo Festival, one of the major event in Switzerland. He is also coordinating the YES Group (Yourope Event Safety Group) alongside Henrik Bondo Nielsen (Roskilde Festival). Being a sociologist and researcher in the field of risk and urban safety analysis, he has developed emergency and crisis management plans for major concerts/events. He also provides education programmes in this field through iSSUE (the Swiss Institute for Urban and Event Safety), the Institute he created in 2016.
Alexandra has been in the entertainment industry for over 20 years and has been working in health & safety as well as safety & security and as a licensing consultant/officer for several years. Being part of the YOUROPE Event Safety (YES) Group Managing Board, her focus is on gaining and spreading knowledge in the field of event safety.
Markus Wiersch is deputy CEO at the Karlsruhe Marketing and Event GmbH. In 2000 he specialized in the planning and coordination of security structures and activities at major events. Markus is an Active member since 2004 of the YES Group (Yourope Event Safety Group). Since 2007 he is responsible for the planning and implementation of the Health and Safety concepts for major events of the city of Karlsruhe. Since 2010 he is the project manager of DAS FEST Karlsruhe.
Consulting in crowd safety, event security management, security consultant. Specialties: Clearance concepts for meeting places, crowd & safety management, occupational Health & Safety. Compiling safety concepts for events & venues, crowded spaces safety, crowd management. Teaching at IBIT, the International Training Centre for Event Safety.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
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Mika Christoffersen is Head of DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) and behaviour at the Roskilde Festival group, working closely with safety to ensure that a more diverse group of people can participate and thrive at live events and festivals. Mika is the lead on Roskilde’s social sustainability work focused diversity leadership and equal access, as well as doing consultancy work with other festivals, venues and live-events to ensure the inclusion and well-being of young people in the cultural industries. Mika Christoffersen has a background in behavioural design, event management and teaching leadership and communications.
OHS Technician in Fujitsu. Accessibility Technician in “Music for all Foundation”. Embracing diversity, committed to making a difference with enthusiasm and teamwork and working towards a more inclusive future.
Co-Founder of and Head of Communications at Höme. Passionate about festivals, live music, journalism and empowerment of women and young talent.
Founder of the Green Touring Network, Member of Music Declares Emergency, Sustainability consultant, and more
Fruzsina began her career as a band and tour manager at the age of 18. She is the managing director and festival director of Superbloom and Lollapalooza Berlin. Prior to that, she was the programme director of Sziget Festival for seven years. Fruzsina founded the Hungarian Music Export Office and is co-founder of Take A Stand, a movement that promotes respect, tolerance and diversity in the music industry. She also developed the EU project CEETEP (Central-Eastern European Talent Exchange Program) that became part of the European Talent Exchange Programme in 2016. Fruzsina is a board member of YOUROPE.
With over 15 years of experience in the live music and festival sector, Maiju has developed a versatile skill set from artist liaison, exec production, leadership to strategic development. Passionate about driving change, she is dedicated to making the music industry more inclusive and socially sustainable. She serves as a consultant, expert advisor and board member in various industry organisations and her core values are fairness and kindness.
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 all of 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 diverse festivals. 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 and Applied Linguistics from the University of Bonn, Germany.
Fabienne is a festival booker and manager at Gadget Entertainment Group Switzerland with a master’s degree in Arts Administration.
Communication & Marketing
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A journalist for over 20 years, James is IQ Magazine’s Special Projects Editor, overseeing publications such as the European Festival Report, Global Arenas Guide, International Ticketing Report, Global Promoters Report and the Touring Entertainment Report. He is also editor of the Barbican’s monthly Guide magazine, and writes on culture for a variety of national and international publications. As a regular presenter James has appeared at conferences such as the ILMC, Canadian Music Week, MIDEM, and The Great Escape, and appeared on the BBC, France 24, ITV and more. He is former Managing Director of the UK and European Festival Awards.
New Media & Marketing Manager at Alter Art Festival (Open’er Festival, Orange Warsaw Festival).
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.
Back home after some years in Mexico City, and following two editions coordinating the Primavera Sound festival livestream with Red Bull TV, Pallarès got in charge of the international comms for the event. In 2023, she became its Head of Press, a position where she continues handling the relationship with media partners, while building strategies with national and foreign press and leading Primavera’s press team.
Pallarès is the company’s official spokesperson for initiatives such as the event’s pioneering commitment to gender balanced lineups. Since 2019, she coordinates the partnership with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals campaign.
She is also one of members of the board of YOUROPE, the European Festival Association that represents 122 festivals and associated members from 30 European countries.
Greg Parmley is Managing Director of the International Live Music Conference (ILMC). ILMC is the leading annual conference for the international touring and festival businesses, and the organisation also organises the International Festival Forum (IFF) and other events. Additionally, ILMC publishes IQ, the leading source of news and content for the business read by 100,000 professionals each month. Greg is a co-founder and former CEO of the UK’s umbrella trade association LIVE, and due to one too many pub conversations, he also holds the Guinness World Record for Most Music Festivals Visited in 30 Days.
Co-Founder of and Head of Communications at Höme. Passionate about festivals, live music, journalism and empowerment of women and young talent.
General Festival Planning
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Since 1993, Christof Huber is active in the Live Entertainment business. Since January 2020, Christof Huber is partner of the new formed Gadget abc Entertainment Group Switzerland, one of the biggest live entertainment companies in Switzerland. He is director festivals of the group and responsible for the OpenAir St.Gallen, one of the most important music festivals in Switzerland, Summerdays Festival, Seaside Festival and Unique Moments at the National Museum in Zurich. He also books the Stars in Town Festival. He is board member of Yourope, the European Festival Association since its founding in 1998 and from 2003-2021, he was general secretary of the association. Since 2021, he is working chairman of the association. He is a co-founder of the European initiative Take A Stand which was launched in 2017, a movement within the music industry encouraging social cohesion in our society, promoting awareness and tolerance for all cultures, genders, races, colours and religions.
Co-Founder of Höme. He’s been starting and running events and media projects in music and action sports since 2002. Currently, he loves building a company called Höme together with friends to change things in the festival sector for the better.
For more than 10 years Ivan Milivojev had been a board member of YOUROPE. Today he is a lifelong honorable member and acts as its anchorman in international projects. Ivan is one of the original founders of EXIT Festival. He is also co-founder of numerous other festivals, like: Warriors Dance Festival and DEV9Tindependent art festival from Serbia, Sea Dance Festival from Montenegro, Sea Star Festival from Croatia, R:EVOL:UTION Festival from Romania. Ivan participated in founding and establishing various companies and organizations connected with music and the event business: AAA Production (RS), Equal by Nature (Dubai, UAE), SMMF, Serbian Music Manager Forum (RS).
Mikko Niemelä is CEO and promoter of Ruisrock which is one of the oldest and leading cultural events in Finland established in 1970. The Festival with a capacity of 35 000 daily visitors is known for its magical atmosphere and it takes place in the beautiful island of Ruissalo in Turku. Mikko has been working with Ruisrock since 2006 as a producer, production manager and at his current position as a promoter since 2011. The 45-year-old Mikko lives in Helsinki and besides leading Ruisrock he is also an active DJ and a board member of Yourope.
Holger Jan Schmidt (YOUROPE, DE)
Holger is one of Europe’s leading networkers in the music festival branch. Among various topics he has a special focus on sustainability and social responsibility for festivals and events. Holger is General Secretary of YOUROPE – the European Festival Association, the most important representation of European popular music festivals with more than 100 members from 25 European countries. He also leads the pan-European think-tank GO Group (Green Operations Europe) that focuses on sustainability related and environmental issues at events. Holger looks back at 30 years working at festivals including the legendary RhEINKULTUR and Bizarre Festival. Today Holger is a booker, consultant and part of the management teams of various major festivals among those DAS FEST in Karlsruhe and SUPERBLOOM Festival in Munich. Holger is contributing his expertise to various European funded projects such as YOUROPE’s “3F – Future-Fit Festivals” (Creative Europe). He is co-author of the book „stay SOUND & CHECK yourself“ dealing with stress and mental health in the live music, festival and event industry and co-wrote the „Sounds For Nature guidelines for environmentally friendly events“.
Fruzsina began her career as a band and tour manager at the age of 18. She is the managing director and festival director of Superbloom and Lollapalooza Berlin. Prior to that, she was the programme director of Sziget Festival for seven years. Fruzsina founded the Hungarian Music Export Office and is co-founder of Take A Stand, a movement that promotes respect, tolerance and diversity in the music industry. She also developed the EU project CEETEP (Central-Eastern European Talent Exchange Program) that became part of the European Talent Exchange Programme in 2016. Fruzsina is a board member of YOUROPE.
Codruța Vulcu is the Director and Founder of the ARTmania Festival, one of Romania’s most established events, now in its 17th edition, focused on rock and metal. She also founded Blaj aLive Festival in 2013, featuring alternative and world music, and Romanian Music Export. In 2017, she launched the East European Music Conference & Showcase Festival to foster discussions between Romania’s music sector, international experts, and state authorities. Codruța is the President of AROC (Romanian Association of Concert Promoters) and served as Director of Large-Scale Events for Timișoara – European Capital of Culture 2023. She has over 20 years of experience in the arts, including organizing logistics for the official 2019 ceremonies with Pope Francis in Blaj. In 2020, she received the European Festival Award for Excellence and Passion, and in 2019, ARTmania won Best Small Festival. Codruța holds a bachelor’s degree in Art Photography and a master’s in Art History from the National University of Arts in Bucharest. She exhibited her work at the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest and Kiasma Museum in Helsinki and was a press correspondent for major European festivals.
Programming director of the biggest music festival in Ukraine – Atlas Festival (600k+ visitors in 2021). Partnership manager at the Music Saves UA initiative established by the Ukrainian Association of Music Events (UAME). Its main goal is to provide humanitarian help to civilians in Ukraine – evacuation, humanitarian supplies, heating/charging points and rebuilding. We harness the power of music and unity by collaborating with festivals, artistsand music organizations worldwide. We help book Ukrainian artists, build special locations at festivals, create fundraising campaigns and find other ways to raise money and awareness via the world of music in order to save lives.
Mikolaj Ziółkowski is founder and director of Alter Art, the promoter of Poland’s biggest festival Open’er.