Leonidas Donskis is a Lithuanian philosopher, historian of ideas, and writer. A former Member of the European Parliament (2009–2014). Donskis has written and edited over fifty books, twenty of them in English. His works have been published in eighteen languages. He serves now as Professor of Politics and Philosophy at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania. Donskis holds an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Bradford, the UK (2011), and an Honorary Degree of Doctor Honoris Causa from Valahia University in Târgovişte, Romania (2014).

Julia is a multi-talented cultural producer focusing on photography, in 2004 she initiated the 24 hour people's competition Auckland Photo Day, + founded the annual Auckland Festival of Photography. Auckland Festival of Photography is New Zealand's only photography festival at present. In 2010 instrumental was in Auckland being a founding member of Asia Pacific Photoforum. In 2013 invited judge on 34th Nikon Photo Contest in Tokyo, Japan & a Portfolio Reviewer for Kaunas Photo & Pingyao Photo Festival. In 2014 a invited judge in Beijing CHIPP, an international press competition & Portfolio Reviewer in Kaunas Photo, Lithuania, Pingyao International Photography Festival, China & Angkor Photo Festival. In 2015 Portfolio Reviewer at Kaunas Photo, Lithuania, nominator for the 6th Prix Pictet Award Disorder theme, nominator for the Lou Stoumen Prize 2016 at Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, USA. Invited to attend + portfolio review at Higashikawa International Photography Festival, Japan & Pingyao International Photography Festival, China & Guatephoto in 2015. Auckland Festival of Photography has presented international exhibitions 2014 Annual Commission, Tanu Gago at Head On Photo Festival in Sydney, Australia. 2015 Annual Commission, PJ Paterson exhibition in Pingyao, China in Sept 2015. Annual Commission photographers collection is in a Projection programme at Guatephoto & Angkor 2015.

Alasdair Foster was born in the UK, migrating to Australia in 1998. He has 20 years’ experience heading national arts institutions in Europe and Australia and over 35 years of working in the public cultural sector. He was the founding director of Fotofeis, the award-winning international biennale of photo-based art in Scotland (1991–1997) and, more recently, director of the Australian Centre for Photography (1998–2011). He has held many previous positions including President of the Contemporary Art Organisations of Australia, editor of Photofile magazine and Chair of the Conference for European Photographers. An award-winning curator, he has organised several hundred exhibitions for some of the world’s top institutions including Photographers’ Gallery, London; Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona; Museum of Photography, Seoul; Singapore Art Museum; National Gallery of Thailand and Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei. Based in Sydney, he develops intercultural visual art projects globally.

Jean-Marc Lacabe (1952) established ARPA (Action et Recherche Photographique en Aquitaine) in 1978. He organized numerous exhibitions and was an art director of two festivals; he so contributed to the movement of recognition of the photography as art, in France. Since 2001, he is director of Le Château d’Eau in Toulouse. His programming, developed in an educational approach of the public, articulates exhibitions of big names of the photography and openings to the emerging artists.

Mindaugas Kavaliauskas is a curator, consultant, publisher of photography. In 2004 he founded KAUNAS PHOTO festival, that he has been directing ever since. KAUNAS PHOTO is the longest-running art photography festival in the Baltic states. Mindaugas Kavaliauskas was studying photography and art history in Kaunas Vytautas Magnus Universty, Ecole Nationale de la Photographie in Arles, ENSB-A Paris and UNIL Lausanne. He was interning at the Rencontres d’Arles and Musee de l’Elysee, Lausanne. Consequently, he has been teaching photography in different universities, schools and consulting artists. He has curated a number of exhibitions in photographic festivals, galleries, museums in Europe and Asia – Pacific region: FotoGrafia (Rome), Fotohonap (Budapest), Photaumnales (Beauvais, France), Photodemer (Vannes, France), Backlight (Tampere, Finland), Pingyao and Lishui festivals (China), Auckland festival of photography (New Zealand) etc.

Ieva Meilutė-Svinkūnienė studied Art history and criticism at Vilnius academy of Fine Arts. In 2008 she started working for the Lithuanian Photographers Association, where she was responsible for an ongoing program of exhibitions. From 2012 to 2015 she worked for Kaunas Photography Gallery as a curator and projects coordinator. She has curated personal and group exhibitions of Lithuanian and foreign artists, also she was responsible for the international art residency program of the gallery. Since April 2015 she has taken the Head position of the newly established Vitas Luckus Photography Center. She has reviewed portfolios at different local and international photo-events since 2010. Ieva is especially interested in original projects with strong vision in conceptual and/ or aesthetic approach. Projects including other media welcome. Less interested in fashion, nudes, “picture postcards” and strictly commercial work. She interested in seeing both complete series and the work in process.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 2010-2016 Founder and Art Director: TBILISI PHOTO FESTIVAL 2012-2016 Expert on portfolio reviews of international photo festivals 2009 Coordinator: Art Zona Poland/Tbilisi - Festival of Polish Culture in Tbilisi 2007-2010 Founder and Editor in Chief: Magazine PHOTO 2009 Local production manager: project GEORGIAN SPRING by Magnum photographers 2006-2016 Curator of photo exhibitions

Donatas Stenkevicius (born 1984 in Kaunas). Teaching contemporary photography in University of Applied Sciences, art director in photo studio of Kaunas technology university. Also works in the Union of Lithuanian Art photographers and in the International photo festival Kaunas Photo

Enrico Stefanelli is a photographer and journalist and teaches photography in workshops. He is the founder and artistic director of Photolux Festival the biennial of photography in Lucca. He has curated several exhibitions at the Lucca Photo Fest such as, Tim Hetherington, Jan Saudek, Horst P. Horst, VII Agency, Nobuyoshy Araki, Boris Mikhailov and David Douglas Duncan. Since 2010 is the Italian curator of Epea, European Photo Exhibition Award. He has written articles and contributions on photography for several catalogs, books and magazines. It been appointed to the expert as for portfolio reviews for: - Les Rencontres d'Arles - CENTER - Santa Fe - Colorado (USA)- Kaunas Festival – Lithuania - CIPAFE - China and Lodz - Poland. Currently a member of the international jury of the prize: The Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation For Documentary Film & Photography. He's also involved in World Press Photo Foundation as nominator for the Joop Swart Masterclass.

Laura Toots (b.1986) is an artist, curator and educator based in Tallinn. Toots studied photography at the Estonian Academy of Arts (MA 2011) and at the Aalto University School of Art and Design, Finland and Bergen National Academy of the Arts, Norway. Since 2008 she has taught at Estonian Academy of Arts, working on numerous exhibition projects with the students from various disciplines. Currently she is teaching in the Department of Graphic Design. In 2013 she was an intern at WIELS Contemporary Art Centre in Brussels, assisting Senior curator Elena Filipovic and at International Foundation Manifesta in Amsterdam working in their Education Department. In 2015 Toots joined Lugemik publishing for extended activities with artists beyond publishing projects. Toots is the artistic director of the 2017 edition of Tallinn Photomonth.

Salvatore Vitale is a Swiss based photographer born and raised in Palermo, Italy. During his studies in Communication Science he started to develop his interest in photography. During the years he worked as editorial photographer moved by the wish to keep on his research on the photography media and the way it is related to human environment. In 2012 he has been nominated to Reflexions Masterclass by Giorgia Fiorio and Gabriel Bauret. During these years his research moved into a more documentary approach and, in particular, in how several approaches to photography can be used to enhance storytelling. In 2014 he attended The International Center of Photography – ICP’s class with Allen Frame. In 2014 he has been selected for the ISSP International Masterclass by Andrei Polikanov and Yuri Kozyrev. In 2015 he has been awarded with Die Besten 2014 at Swiss Photo Awards. In 2015-2016 he is in the recipient of the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia’s grant for his long term research on the production of security in Switzerland. He is also the co-founder and editor-in-chief of YET magazine, a Swiss-based international photography magazine which showcases works by both emerging and estabilished photographers as well as in-depth content focusing on the evolution of photography with a particular eye on the contemporary field. He has been featured and published internationally. He is giving lectures and talks about his work.