Milena Dragićević Šešić, prof. emerita is the Head of UNESCO's chair in Interculturalism, Art Management and Mediation, at the University of Arts in Belgrade. She is a professor of Cultural Policy & Cultural Management; Cultural Studies and Media Studies. She was the former President of the University of Arts in Belgrade and member of the National Council for Science. In 1990, she received a PhD degree in Literature and Communication. She was a Board member of the European Diploma in Cultural Project Management; Board member of ENCATC and ELIA; adviser to the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, and Board Member of Trencin ECoC 2026. 

She provides guest lectures at world universities and published 20 books and more than 250 essays. Additionally, she is expert in cultural policy and management for, among others, UNESCO and the Council of Europe with whom she realised and developed more than 50 projects in cultural policy and management (in Egypt, India, Cambodia, Mali…). She got numerous awards: Commandeure du Palme Academique of French Ministry of Education (2002); University of Arts Awards 2004 and 2019; ENCATC award for life achievement (2019), Doctorat Honoris Causa of the University of Montpellier (2023) and UCLG- Agenda 21 individual award, Mexico 2024. 

Researcher and lecturer

Hristina Mikić is a head of the R&D department at the Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ICEI) and works as a lecturer at the UNESCO department for cultural policy and management (University of Arts in Belgrade). She previously worked as a lecturer for higher business school in Novi Sad, as a financial adviser for the Swiss Arts Council PRO Helvetia at the Swiss embassy in Belgrade and as an analyst of media economics for the media department of the Serbian Ministry of Culture. Mikić holds a Ph.D. in cultural economics of the Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade.

Mikić has been an advisor or consultant for numerous national and international bodies in the area of economic development policy of cultural heritage and creative industries, such as the Council of Europe, UNESCO Institute for Statistics, UNDP, UN, the World Bank, the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, the Serbian Ministry of Culture and Information and the Association of Belgrade Economists. She was involved in numerous international projects, such as ’UK SEE forum’ (British Council), ’Entrepeneurship Serbia’ (UNDP) and ’Measuring economic contribution of cultural industries (UNESCO Institute for Statistics). Mikić has received several awards for an exceptional contribution to the affirmation of creative economy and published multiple books and articles.

Researcher and lecturer

Goran Tomka is a researcher and lecturer in the field of audience studies, new media, cultural diversity and cultural policy and management. He is assistant professor at the TIMS Faculty from Novi Sad, and UNESCO Chair in cultural policy and management from Belgrade, Serbia. He holds a doctoral degree in culture and media studies from the University of Arts in Belgrade. Outside academia he is active as consultant, trainer, critic and advocate: he was a trainer in Al Mawred Abbara programme for capacity building in the Arab region and a coordinator of long-term cultural planning of the city of the Novi Sad European capital of culture 2021. His latest book “Audience Explorations: Guidebook for Hopefully Seeking the Audience” was published by international theatre network IETM, Brussels.