Heba Y. Amin is a Berlin-based multi-media artist, researcher, and lecturer exploring the intersections of politics, technology, and architecture. Her work has been featured in major outlets like The New York Times and CNN and showcased at venues such as the Mosaic Rooms (London, 2020) and the 10th Berlin Biennale (2018). Professor of art at ABK-Stuttgart, co-founder of the Black Athena Collective and a Field of Vision fellow, she is renowned for subversive art interventions, including the globally recognized Homeland graffiti action. Amin was recently honored with the Sussmann Artist Award for her commitment to democracy and anti-fascism.

Kim Conniff Taber is the editorial director of the Art for Tomorrow , the Athens Democracy Forum, and the entity that organizes them, the Democracy & Culture Foundation. She is responsible for shaping the foundation’s overall editorial vision, as well as conceiving the program and identifying speakers for its events. A journalist and editorial consultant, Kim was previously the culture editor of the International New York Times, directing arts coverage from Paris.

Dimitris Daskalopoulos is the founder of DAMMA Holdings, a financial services and investment company, NEON, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing contemporary Greek culture closer to everyone, and diaNEOsis, a research and policy think tank. Daskalopoulos is also an entrepreneur and contemporary art collector. In 2022, he donated key works from his collection to four major museums:the EMST, the Tate, the Guggenheim, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago fostering new collaborations and synergies among these institutions.

Curator, author, educator, administrator, and public advocate for reimagining the role of art museums in society, Sandra Jackson-Dumont has served as Director and C.E.O. of the new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art since January 2020. She has held leadership roles at the MET, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Seattle Art Museum, collaborating with artists, communities, and historical materials.

Renowned for iconic sculptures like Rabbit and Balloon Dog, Jeff Koons has exhibited globally since 1980. A recipient of numerous recognitions for his cultural achievements, he co-founded the Koons Family International Law and Policy Institute in collaboration with the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), where he also serves as a board member.

Dr Sebabatso Manoeli-Lesame serves as the Executive Director of Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity (AFRE). She is the founding editor-in-chief for literary magazine Moya, and the founding host and producer of the podcast Race Beyond Borders. Author of Sudan's "Southern Problem": Race, Rhetoric and International Relations (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), Sebabatso is an historian of Africa, and has worked as a lecturer at the University of Oxford, among others. She was the acting Deputy CEO and Innovation Director at the DG Murray Trust, one of South Africa’s largest private foundations, where she provided strategic support to several incubated nonprofits. A Rhodes Scholar, Salzburg Global Fellow and Moremi Initiaive Fellow, she has also worked at African Leadership Academy.

Simon Njami is a Paris-based independent curator, lecturer, writer and art critic. Njami was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of “Revue Noire“ a journal of contemporary African and extra-occidental art. He has been artistic director of the Bamako Photography Biennale for ten years. He co-curated the first African pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007 and curated the first African Art Fair, held in Johannesburg in 2008. He has served for ten years (2000/2010) as a cultural advisor for the AFAA, the cultural branch of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (today Institut Français), in their cultural cooperation policy. He was a member of numerous art and photography juries (including 10 years at Worldpress Photo). Njami has curated numerous major exhibitions of contemporary art and photography, including Africa Remix (2004-2007) and The Divine Comedy (2014-15), and has been the artistic director of two editions of the Dak’Art Biennale (2016/2018).

Adama Sanneh is the Co-Founder and CEO of the Moleskine Foundation, where he has built a global network of changemakers using creativity to tackle the world’s biggest challenges. Focused on cultural transformation and social impact, the network empowers underserved communities to drive meaningful change. Adama advocates for creativity as a tool for building a more equitable and just future.