Our board

Elise Cuny

Chair of the Board

elise.culturesolutionseu@gmail.com

Areas: EU ICR, Africa-Europe partnerships, Memory policies, Youth in culture, Culture and democracy 

 

Elise was elected Chair of culture Solutions in August 2024. In this position, she coordinates projects and supervises the strategic development of content production, partnerships and network. 

She has extensive experience in the field of international relations and diplomacy from the capacity building and research perspectives, as well as on the topic of democracy and citizen participation. She has developed projects strengthening administrative cooperation and diplomatic skills in bilateral and regional programmes. She has also designed and monitored national training programmes for experts deployed in EU Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) missions.

Elise specialises in Africa-Europe partnerships with a focus on youth support and international exchanges in the development of cultural and creative industries. She spent three years in Rwanda as part of an international investigation team on the 1994 Genocide of the Tutsi, and developed knowledge and expertise on the field of memory policies. She is an alumna from the College of Europe (MA, International Relations and Diplomacy Studies of the EU) and Sciences Po Lille (MA European Affairs).

hiba

Hiba Touihri

Treasurer

hiba.culturesolutionseu@gmail.com

 

Hiba has graduated as an IT Engineer and is working as Project Management Officer (PMO), Project Management Consultant & IT consultant.

She has a solid experience in managing cultural, e-government and digital transformation projects within the Ministry of Cultural Affairs – British Council, the Ministry of Interior (Local Affairs) – GIZ, the Ministry of Vocational Training and Employment – World Bank and the University of Tunis El Manar.

Her experience within Tfanen Tunisie Créative and the Ministry of Cultural Affairs allowed her to see the different facets and the richness of the cultural field and led her to better explore it.

Dr. Linda Mbeki

Co-secretary

linda.culturesolutionseu@gmail.com 

Areas: Cultural heritage, Black heritage and identity, Colonial memories, Bioarcheology 

 

Linda is a Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge. She has a strong academic foundation, holding a PhD in Bioarchaeology from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, an MSc in Organic Chemistry from the University of Cape Town, and an A.B. in Liberal Arts from Barnard College, Columbia University.

Though Dr. Mbeki is an archaeologist, historian, and cultural heritage practitioner, she trained as a chemist in the United States and South Africa. Having lived on three continents, she is most comfortable in multicultural settings. She has extensive experience in stakeholder engagement, academic publishing, and cultural heritage.

Dr Mbeki’s academic endeavours focus on the lived experiences of enslaved peoples in colonial Cape Town, and coerced workers in the copper, gold, and diamond mines during South Africa’s mineral revolution. By studying labour organisation over 170 years of Southern Africa’s history, Dr. Mbeki assesses whether and to what extent the migrant labour system of the latter part of the 19th century was a legacy of the slave society in Cape Town. She writes transnational history that spans the early modern and modern periods and explores continuities and ruptures in legal traditions, migration, and labour organisation. As an Assistant Curator of Archaeology at Iziko Museums of South Africa, she developed exhibitions and engaged with local communities to promote cultural heritage.

Celia Zayas

Co-secretary

celia.culturesolutionseu@gmail.com

 

Celia is interested in the intersections of intercultural dialogue, culture and human rights. Her experience at the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe and the EU External Action Service led her to understand the potential of culture for driving social change, especially linked to gender equality and human rights promotion, an area that she developed working for the Spanish Development Agency (AECID), at the Spanish Cultural Centre of Malabo.

She worked with culture Solutions on the development of a knowledge-sharing strategy for EU Delegations, and her area of research focuses on culture and decolonisation.

She is a graduate on Political Science and Law from the Universidad de Granada and holds an MA on European Interdisciplinary Studies from the College of Europe. She also has experience in leading cultural projects and arts performances, particularly linked to photography and creative writing.

Damien Helly

Co-founder

damien@culturesolutions.eu

 

Damien initiated the launch of culture Solutions by running a feasibility study in 2018 on the need for innovative action in EU international cultural relations. He served as the Chair of culture Solutions between 2018 and 2024.

In his professional life, he is an independent cultural advisor and runs his consultancy dh creative partnerships.

Damien is also a Visiting Professor at the Department of International Relations and Diplomacy at the College of Europe in Bruges where he teaches a course and supervises master-level theses on “Culture, States and Societies: National Factors in EU External Action”.

He has worked as Head of Cultural Skills, EU for the British Council (Arts, Europe) and as Senior Programme Manager with ECDPM, EUISS, Crisis Group, Saferworld.

He holds of a PhD in political science from the Institute of Political Studies of Paris (Sciences Po) and has published extensively on the EU’s external action and international cultural relations.

ASA 2015

Felipe Basabe Llorens

Co-founder

felipe@culturesolutions.eu

 

Felipe is a co-founder of culture Solutions. He is fully convinced and passionate about the need to innovate and develop new effective strategies in EU internal and external cultural relations.

He has an extensive professional experience in the fields of budgetary and administrative management at the Spanish national Cultural Institute (Instituto Cervantes) and co-operates in several cultural and academic projects with European cultural foundations and networks in Germany, France and Belgium (i.a. Allianz Summer Academy (2004-2019) with Allianz Kulturstiftung as external Co-ordinator).

He has worked as Jean Monnet Lecturer at ICAI-ICADE (UPCO-Madrid) and as Director of the binational cultural Foundation Rei Afonso Henriques (FRAH). He has taken part in several Interreg II-III, Culture 2000 and Creative Europe projects (1999-2016).

He holds a MA in European Political & Administrative Studies from the College of Europe (Bruges). He also lectures on Cultural Policies and EU Project Management and has published on EU policies and trans-border co-operation in the fields of Education and Culture.

 

See also our Collaborators.