Mariam C. Said was born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon and currently resides in New York. Together with Daniel Barenboim, she is a major force behind the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra (WEDO) and serves as the Vice President of the Barenboim-Said Foundation USA. The WEDO was co-founded in 1999 by her late husband, the literary critic…

Saskia Sassen is the Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology, and Chair of The Committee on Global Thought, Columbia University. She is a student of cities, immigration, and states in the world economy, with inequality, gendering and digitization three key variables running though her work. Born in the Netherlands, she grew up in Argentina and…

Jordi Savall is a Catalan conductor, viol player, and composer. He has been one of the major figures in the field of Western early music since the 1970s, largely responsible for reviving the use of viol family instruments (notably the viola da gamba) in contemporary performance and recording. His characteristic repertoire features medieval, Renaissance and…

Mirko Tobias Schäfer is Assistant Professor for New Media & Digital Culture at the University of Utrecht and director of the Utrecht Data School. Schäfer studied theater, film and media studies and communication studies at Vienna University, Austria and digital culture at Utrecht University, Utrecht. Currently, he is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre…

Prof. dr Paul Schnabel is university professor at Utrecht University and director of the Social and Cultural Planning Office and advises the government in the latter capacity. Schnabel is also a columnist for NRC Handelsblad and Financieele Dagblad and board member of among others the Oranjefonds and the Van Gogh Museum, and member of the…