Wassim Ibrahim was born in Damascus, Syria in 1978. In 1998 he finished his first undergraduate study in civil engineering assistant at Damascus University. He began the study of harmony and counterpoint with Prof. Bella Tagezieva. Committed to completing academic musical study at the highest level, Ibrahim entered the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus in 2005; graduating in 2010. Ibrahim completed a Master of Music degree in composition at the Music Academy of Krakow, Poland in 2015 under the direction of Prof. Józef Rychlik. in 2019 he got his PhD in Music Composition at the Music Academy of Krakow, Poland, under supervision of Prof. Wojciech Widłak. Beginning in 2010-2013 Ibrahim launched his professional teaching career at the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus. Courses included the history of international music, harmony, and ear training. Ibrahim was a lecturer guest at the Academy of Music of Cracow- Poland, Jagiellonian University of Cracow, Viterbo University, La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA and Wisconsin University, La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA.
Ibrahim’s professional work as a composer began in 2002, when six of his original songs, were included as part of a CD for children Stay with Us! His compositions have been premiered and performed in many festivals, countries and concert halls throughout the Middle East, Europe and North America.
Michał Kuźmiński (born in 1981) is a journalist, editor, writer, songwriter and occasional food writer. Together with Małgorzata Fugiel-Kuźmińska he wrote a series of crime novels in which conflicts of identities, cultures and memory play a prominent role (Śleboda 2015, Pionek 2016, Kamień 2017, Mara 2019). Previously also a co-author of two retro thrillers with a plot set at Krakow’s Kazimierz district short before and after World War II. As a journalist he was covering social issues, influence of technologies on people, popular culture and relations between science, culture and food. In 2019 he published a popular science book on science in a kitchen (Nauka w kuchni). He wrote a number of lyrics to songs by Michał Łanuszka. They created among others a project with new translations of Leonard Cohen’s songs (Łanuszka/Cohen, 2014). He lives in Krakow.
Matthis Behrens researcher in education, I finished my career as director of an important research institute in Switzerland. As such, I was the main actor in the implementation of most educational reforms. We contributed to the establishment of educational standards and conducted major evaluations and surveys.
In the cultural domain, I was a founding member and president of Corona Mundi in Geneva. It was a cultural association that promoted the idea of peace through culture in collaboration with the Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York.
Jarosław Płonka was born in 1984 in Łódź, where he first graduated at the Aleksander Tansman Primary School State, and then Henryk Wieniawski Secondary Music School in the cello class. In 2003 he started studies in the Musicology Department of Jagiellonian University. Between 2004 and 2009 he was a student in the Composition, Interpretation and Musical Education in Department of the Music Academy in Krakow, where he studied composition under Krystyna Moszumańska-Nazar and Wojciech Widłak. He has hold scholarship of the Birmingham Conservatory (England) in the class of Joe Cutler and Edwin Roxbourgh. In 2009, Płonka graduated with distinctions from the Academy of Music in Krakow. In autumn of the same year, he had undertaken Masters of Music studies at the Conservatory in Rotterdam, where he studied composition with Peter Jan Wagemans and Rene Uijlienhoet (electronic music) and graduated with distinctions 2011.
Once he had receivedved his Ph.D. from his alma mater, Płonka started lecturing at the Academy of Music in Krakow in the Composition Department. He both conducts classes and organizes academic sessions.
Płonka participated in number of festivals, workshops and symposiums (Amsterdam, Apeldoorn, Birmingham, Bratislava, Budapest, Oostburg, Rotterdam, Wrocław, Łódź, Krakow). He has worked with renewed ensembles and soloist musicians such as: musicFabrik, Klangforum Wien,
Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej, Sinfonia Rotterdam, Asko Schoenberg Ensemble, Kreutzer Quartet, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Kwartludium, Gośka Isphording.
As a cellist, Płonka participated in projects related to experimental improvised music and performs with light music bands (including Icelanding band Myrra Ros and DJ collective Koeju).
Agata Schweiger – born in 1982, a graduate of Theater Studies at the Jagiellonian University, as well as the Laboratory of New Theater Practices (module: producer/curator).
For 14 years professionally associated with the Juliusz Słowacki Theater in Krakow, where she first served as stage manager and coordinator of the Krakow Poetry Salon. Since 2017, she has been working as a producer, preparing performances with Agnieszka Glińska, Anna Augustynowicz, Mirek Kaczmarek, Radek Rychcik, Kuba Roszkowski. She prepared large open-air performances of the Theater – “Invasion”, spectacle-course and “SMOK!” spectacle in the Wawel courtyard. He also collaborates with the Divine Comedy Festival in Krakow.
For many years, Agata Duda-Gracz’s assistant in performances realized all over Poland.
She conducted theatre workshops with young people, incl. as part of the programs “Bon Kultury” and “Summer in the theater”.
Adam Góra – a scientific mind with an artistic soul. A telecommunications engineer by education, but also an avid dancer, a unique baritone and a nosy photographer. He is professionally involved in ICT, and has been passionate about music and dance since childhood. He supports the Foundation with his technical and organizational sense.