Prague Cultural Forum 2024

Dr Beatriz Garcia is an expert in international cultural policy and mega-events, specialising in the development of multidimensional research and evaluation frameworks. She is Associate Director of the Centre for Cultural Value (CCV, University of Leeds), member of the Culture & Olympic Heritage Commission (International Olympic Committee), and former member of the European Capital of Culture Selection Panel – nominated by the European Commission.
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Beatriz has been at the forefront of research on the rhetoric, impact and long-term legacy of culture-led regeneration interventions since 1999, conducting fieldwork on the cultural dimension of every edition of the Olympic Games since Sydney 2000 and researching the medium to long-term legacy of every European Capital of Culture since the programme’s launch in 1985.
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She directed and is the author, amongst others, of Impacts 08: European Capital of Culture Research Programme (2005–2010), the 30-year assessment of European Capitals of Culture Programme, Success Factors (European Parliament, 2013), and the Evaluation of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad (2013). She also coordinated the co-creation of the UK’s first commonly agreed Evaluation Principles for Culture (CCV, 2022). She has published over 200 refereed papers on the impact of major cultural interventions on cities.
In 2024, she is the lead advisor for the evaluation of the Paris 2024 Cultural Olympiad, Chair of the International Expert group for the Evaluation of Bodø 2024 European Capital of Culture and Chair of Walk the Plank.

Anne is founder of The Audience Agency, a non-profit organisation whose purpose is to help the cultural sector shape a vibrant, relevant offer that better serves our audiences and communities.
Designed to support an informed, innovative and resilient sector, TAA offers a five-pillar programme of training and advice – participation and engagement, impact and evaluation, creative place-making, digital transformation, and creative economy. These are supported by a suite of popular, reliable data products TAA also developed the world-first cultural data and analytics platform Audience Finder (now Audience Answers). TAA works across the UK and internationally, with an extensive range of cultural organisations, academic partners, local authorities and funding bodies. As a leader in the cultural sector, Anne has campaigned for change and innovation in policy and practice towards an audience-centred approach and better use of data and other evidence.
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Prior to setting up The Audience Agency in 2011, she set up the regional agency Audiences London and before that was director of marketing and audiences with various UK cultural organisations. She is a specialist in audience research and strategy, trends and patterns of public engagement with particular interests in human centred design, audience insight, cultural democracy and organisational change. She is also a researcher and facilitator and has developed toolkits and capacity development programmes based on design thinking. She is author of various guides and publications on these subjects. She is Co-Director of the Centre for Cultural Value, funded by the AHRC and based at the University of Leeds, an experienced trustee – currently of Europeana – and a regular speaker on audiences and research in the UK and internationally.

Björn Wijers has been assisting organisations in realizing ideas and needs through Open Source software development, Open Standards, and Interaction Design for almost twenty years under the name Burobjorn.nl. He strives for affordable, secure, accessible, user-friendly, privacy-friendly, sovereign, and sustainable solutions. Björn has been advocating for fairer copyright and increased privacy awareness for some time. As an unpaid board member of Vereniging Open Nederland, NLUUG, and Chapter Lead of Creative Commons Nederland, he pursues the practical implementation of public values, not only in his work but also in his broader community engagement.

Within PublicSpaces, Björn holds the role of 'Chief Community.' In this capacity, he is responsible for the "De Digitale Spoelkeuken" approach, the "Hersenspoeling workshop", supporting PublicSpaces partners, maintaining contacts within and outside the PublicSpaces network, and co-programming the PublicSpaces conference.

PublicSpaces is a unique coalition of public organisations in public media, cultural heritage, festivals, museums and education. We are working together to reclaim the internet as a force for the common good and advocating a new internet that strengthens the public domain. With a select few large organizations that control much of the internet and make their money using our data, it has become increasingly urgent to develop alternatives.