Nelly Dzhamanbaeva, Bishkek

Capacity Building Foundation.

Nelly is an artist, art manager and curator from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. She graduated from the ArtEast School of Contemporary Art, and is director of the Capacity Building Foundation, which focuses on the promotion of art and education. Since 2010, she has been curating exhibitions and educational projects in the field of contemporary art. Her projects include Trash-festival, Trash-festival II, the Vkl/ Vikl First Youth Central Asian Exhibition of Contemporary Art in Bishkek, Live Cinema, Cinema Camp, Advertisement Break, Eco Bashtyk, and the Future Shorts Festival.

She has taken part in international conferences including Common Ground for Museums in a Global Society (China), Youth Art Camp (Kazakhstan), Youth Exchange (Hungary), and New Dynamics in Museums: Curator, Artwork, Public, Governance (Brazil). Nellya also studied at the Leadership Programme for Art-Managers by CEC Arts-Link (USA).

Oleg Bondarenko, Bishkek

Association of Publishers and Book Distributors.

Oleg Bondarenko was born in 1960 in Western Ukraine, graduated from a university in Donetsk with distinction, and then worked at a bank on the Southern Kuril Islands. In 1992 he moved to Bishkek where he contributed to newspapers and the radio and was a manager at several private companies. Oleg runs a multi-language digital online library www.literatura.kg, which he developed and launched in 2008.

Since 2010 he has been the head of the Association of Publishers and Book Distributors of Kyrgyzstan. Oleg publishes children’s books in Kyrgyz.

Oleg is a member of the Union of Writers of Kyrgyzstan. He is the author of publications in many local and foreign literary journals, several collections of works of fiction and a number of scientific and philosophical papers. His hobbies include science: he has developed a layered systems theory and ethnic prognostics.

Raushanna Sarkeyeva, Bishkek

Founder of Urban Initiatives Foundation.

From 2012-2013 Raushanna worked as a managing director of the Loft Tseh creative cluster (Bishkek).

In 2013 she participated in creating a development strategy for Bishkek, and in 2014 she created a non-governmental organisation, the Urban Initiatives Foundation, with the Bishkek Urban Forum as its first project. The mission of the foundation is to promote engagement of citizens in the development of the city. 

Raushanna oversaw all discussion and educational platforms: a series of meetings Urban Talks (2014-2015), the Osh Urban Forum (2015), the School of Applied Urban Sciences (2016) and the Forum of Cities (2017). 

Now, in 2017 the foundation is actively developing “urban data” and “the quality of the urban environment” and is participating in the work of the Green Bishkek initiative group. 

Rovshan Saliyev, Tashkent

Project Co-ordinator at the Foundation for Development of Culture and Arts of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

From 1995 to 2006 Rovshan studied at the National School of Fine and Applied Arts and obtained a Diploma in Drawing, Painting and Composition. In 2006-2010 he studied at the Tashkent State University of Economics in the faculty of IT and Management.

From 2011 to 2017 Rovshan held various positions at the Ministry of External Economic Relations and Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Umida Vakhibova, Tashkent

Head of Department of the Tashkent Institute of Textile and Light Industries.

Umida actively participates in organisation and holding of national fashion festivals and shows, master classes and exhibitions. She is the main organiser of annual Tashkent Fashion Week, the national festival of children’s fashion Bolazhonlar-shirintoilar and the festival Khon-atlas.

Umida is one of the judges in Architecture and Design section of the national competition for talented youth Yurt kelazhagi, which is held annually. 

Victoria Yurtayeva, Bishkek

Prima Non-Governmental Foundation.

Viktoria was born in 1982. She graduated from the Gnessins Russian Academy of Music. Viktoria is a founder and president of the Prima Non-Government Foundation, the author, a thought leader and organiser of TENGRI music, an open-air festival of classical music, a vocal ensemble teacher and a concertmaster. She is a laureate, prize winner and participant in national and international competitions, festivals and master classes.