Werner Binnenstein-Bachstein
Porticus
Werner Binnenstein-Bachstein joined Porticus in 2013 as Regional Director for CEE/MENAT. In 2016, he assumed a new role as Director of the Community Arts Laboratory (CAL) within Porticus. CAL concentrates on arts initiatives with a social impact and on creating an international network in this field. He is the co-founder and chairman of the Community Arts Network (CAN).
Until 2013, Werner worked at Caritas Vienna, where he fulfilled multiple roles: Starting as a socio-political advisor and head of the Immigration Department, he ultimately became the CEO. Previously, he was director of the Competence Centre for NPOs at the Vienna Business University and Assistant Professor at the Department for Social Policy.
Werner has always had a close connection to the world of arts. He initiated “Tanz die Toleranz”, ((superar)) and the community art location “brunnen.passage”. Werner collaborates with many renowned artists and institutions such as Royston Maldoom, Marin Alsop, Martin Grubinger, Gustavo Dudamel, Maestro José Antonio Abreu, Wiener Konzerthaus, Vienna State Opera, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Carnegie Hall.
Len Leroux
Synergos
Len le Roux is a Managing Director at Synergos based in Windhoek, Namibia. His focus is almost exclusively on strengthening and promoting Bridging Leadership as a leadership development approach on a global scale, while also providing support to colleagues in the organisation and the Synergos networks around the world.
Before joining the Synergos staff, Mr. le Roux was previously Director of the Rössing Foundation, a non-governmental organization established in 1978 as part of Rössing Uranium’s Corporate Social Investment Programme to empower Namibians to improve their quality of life. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Science and has attended numerous management training workshops.
Mr. le Roux is an expert in the area of financial sustainability of grantmaking foundations and has conducted training exercises and consultancies both in Namibia and internationally. He has been instrumental in the formation of a number of Namibian foundations, is a founding member of the Namibian NGO Forum, and sits on the Boards of a number of local foundations. He has a personal interest in leadership and transformation.
David Simas
Managing Director, Research and Impact, Emerson Collective
David Simas is the Managing Director of Research and Impact at Emerson Collective, where he works to develop in-depth research projects and distributes findings and analysis in service of Emerson’s priorities including democracy, immigration, education, and climate.
A native of Taunton, Massachusetts, David was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff to Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick in 2007. He then joined President Obama’s administration in 2009 as a Deputy Assistant to the President, working with senior advisors David Axelrod and David Plouffe. In 2012, he served as Director of Opinion Research for President Obama’s reelection campaign. Following the reelection, Mr. Simas returned to the White House as Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Political Strategy and Outreach. In 2016, President Obama selected Mr. Simas to serve as Chief Executive Officer of the Obama Foundation. Mr. Simas holds a B.A. in political science from Stonehill College and a J.D. from Boston College Law School. He is the son of two Portuguese immigrants and lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Shauna, and their two daughters.
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Father Timothy Radcliffe
Priest, honorary Oxford University fellow and Author
Timothy Radcliffe OP joined the English Province of the Dominican Order in 1965, and was ordained a priest in 1971. He studied in Oxford University, and Paris. He was a chaplain to the University of London in 1974 – 76, before returning to Oxford, where he taught for twelve years. In 1992 he was elected Master of the Order of Preachers (the Dominicans), finishing his term in 2001. He is now an itinerant preacher and lecturer, based in, Oxford, spending half the year traveling until covid! He was a Trustee of the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development for fourteen years and is a patron of ‘Embrace the Middle East’.
He is an Honorary Fellow of St John’s College, Oxford, and Doctor of Divinity hon. causa of Oxford University, and also from Fribourg University and ten other universities in Italy, France and the United States. He has written several books, which have been translated into 24 languages, the most of which is ‘Alive in God: a Christian imagination’ (2019). He was awarded the Michael Ramsey Prize for theological writing in 2007. He is a Sarum Canon of Salisbury Cathedral and has the freedom of the city of London.
Dr Rukudzo Mwamuka
Psychiatrist
Dr Rukudzo Mwamuka is a psychiatrist living and working in Zimbabwe. For the past 6 years, she has been providing clinical care to patients from marginalised communities at the referral psychiatric units in the capital city of Harare. Her experience in working with patients and understanding their challenge to access to mental health services ignited her interest in community mental health interventions. To pursue her interest, Rukudzo joined the Friendship Bench, an organisation that trains community health care workers to provide Cognitive behavioural Therapy with emphasis on Problem Solving Therapy, activity scheduling and behavioural activation.
In her role as the Clinical Programs Manager and member of the organisation’s Senior Leadership Team, Rukudzo provides oversight and strategy for the Implementation teams. She is currently focusing on ensuring fidelity of the program as it scales across the country with support from the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation under the special initiative for mental health.She is a member of the Catalyst 2030 movement.
Rukudzo holds a medical degree (MBCHB) from the University of Zimbabwe and a Master of Medicine degree (Psychiatry) from the same university and she continues to tutor undergraduate medical students from the university’s mental health unit.
Gabriela Gandel
Board Director, Impact Hub
As an experienced leader of innovative global organisations, organisational and personal development consultant and experiential learning designer Gabriela is committed to building organisations and systems that enable people and planet to thrive and meaningful visions to get accomplished.
She spent her last 15 years working as an executive manager with a mix of not for profit and for profit global organisations spanning over 50 countries around the world. As an executive manager she worked for AIESEC International and Romania, Future Considerations and Impact Hub global. As a consultant her clients included HSBC, KPMG, BP, TATE Britain and 10 key art galleries in England, ProVita Romania, RoPot, Human Invest. Throughout her career Gabriela had coaching engagements with over 40+ leaders. This all was fun and makes up for her more than 5 passports used up to date.
Currently she happily serves the Impact Hub network as a Board Director, helping build strategic partnerships and policy influencing initiatives. And with this pursuing her stand of a connected humanity acting as a power for good.
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Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller
Sound Installation Artists
Canadian artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller live and work in British Columbia, Canada. The artists are internationally recognized for their immersive multimedia sound installations and their audio/video walks. They have created recent video walks at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles (2019), and for the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh (2019). Over the last few years, Janet and George have shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (2019) Museum of Contemporary Art in Monterrey, Mexico (2019); Oude Kerk, Amsterdam (2018); 21st Century Museum, Kanazawa, Japan (2017); Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris (2017); ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Denmark (2015); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (2015); Menil Collection, Houston (2015); 19th Biennale of Sydney (2014); the Cloisters, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2013); and Documents 13, Kassel (2012). In 2020 they were awarded the Wilhelm Lehmbruck prize for sculpture and in 2011 they received Germany’s Käthe Kollwitz Prize. In 2001, Cardiff and Miller represented Canada at the 49th Venice Biennale , for which they received the Premio Speciale and the Benesse Prize.
Click here to learn more about Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller.
Read on for an exclusive Q&A with Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller ahead of the Summit:
What does wellbeing mean to you?
Well-being is a state of mind that is essential to the healthy functioning of our whole body. I find that my own sense of well being is connected not only with treating my body and mind well but also by the action of creativity. Through playing in the studio I’m able to feel fuller and happier.
Why are you looking forward to being part of The Wellbeing Summit?
When creating monumental sculpture, I consider how our architectural surroundings influence and affect our state of mind.
How does your work connect to wellbeing?
We are creating an artwork that uses the concept of “voice toning”, a therapeutic practice where the natural vibrations of voices help to contribute to healing and well being. Our piece will play back a collection of “voice tones” creating a calming listening environment. Additionally, we will invite audience members to participate in the making of the piece over the course of the conference by adding their own “voice toning” that will then be mixed into the piece. We believe that creating as well as experiencing artworks contributes to wellbeing. In this piece we are excited that each audience member will be able to both experience the therapeutic elements of the artwork but also contribute their own voice to the wellbeing of others in the community.
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Gerald Wirth
Professor and Choirmaster
Prof. Gerald Wirth received his first musical training as a member of the Vienna Boys Choir and at the Anton Bruckner University in Linz, Austria, where he studied voice, oboe and piano. In 2001, he became artistic director of the Vienna Boys Choir, in 2013, its president.
Wirth was a choirmaster of the Vienna Boys Choir and chorus master at the state theater Salzburg. After 1991, he took over the direction of the Calgary Boys’ Choir, became musical director of the Calgary Civic Symphony in Canada. Gerald Wirth has conducted choirs and orchestras all over the world. His first love is the human voice. He holds workshops all over the world, and he can get practically anyone and anything to sing.
Most of his compositions are vocal works. He has written three children’s operas, several large oratorios, motets, and songs. “Carmina austriaca”, his most recent large-scale work, is a cycle of medival songs for large orchestra, mixed chorus, and boys’ choir. Gerald Wirth is often inspired by myths and philosophical texts.
Over the years he developed his own method of music pedagogy. In 2003 he founded the wirth music academy in order to educate music teachers and choir directors according to the wirth method which combines classical music theory, consciousness for sound, training in listening, rhythm training and singing within a holistic approach.
Gerald Wirth trains teachers in schools with little or no access to music, and supports a number of organisations offering workshops for refugees – children and adults – in Jordan, Greece and others. To him, music is the language of emotions understood by everyone; through music, other subjects become accessible. “Music is a gateway to learning, and this is particularly important for children who have never been to a school.”
He is convinced music has a positive influence on every aspect of a person’s being.
Hope Masike
Musician
Hailed as one of Zimbabwe’s Mbira music custodians, Hope Masike has been bringing her brand of Zimbabwean music to diverse global audiences since 2007.
Masike’s music is a fun-filled hybrid of music styles tied together by her signature sublime Mbira playing, sultry voice, and highly-charged performances. She mostly sings in little-known African languages like her mother tongue, Shona. Her live performances seamlessly move from classic Zimbabwean traditional music to her compositions of of the traditional mbira together-blended with different music styles.
Hope Masike draws her inspiration from all things Art and Africa, leaning very heavily on nearly a century of a strong Mbira music legacy but not ignoring the obvious influences from modernity. She has brilliant hopes for the future of Africa and basks in carrying her African culture with her all the time. Fans come to a Hope Masike concert to have fun, feed their spirituality and experience the beautiful Zimbabwean culture. She takes pride in her culture and heritage, often challenging colonial-induced stigma against it and championing it’s documentation and youthful re-packaging both through her music and brand.
Masike has three studio albums to her name, namely ‘HOPE’ (self-released in May 2009); ‘MBIRA, LOVE AND CHOCOLATE’ (self-released in May 2012) and ‘THE EXORCISM OF A SPINSTER’ released on London-based label Riverboat. She has also published two poetry anthologies; one in English titled ‘Ask Me Again’ and published through Amazon on February 7 2020 and an anthology of Shona Erotic Poems called ‘Dzevabvazera’ published on February 11 2022.
Hope Masike has collaborated with other musicians such as Salif Keita, the late Oliver Mtukudzi, Steve Dyer and Loius Mhlanga. She has several international tour credits including performing in Southern Africa, Asia, Europe and the west coast of America. Her versatile music approach has seen her venture into different music collaborations of note such as with the Afro-Nordic outfit, Monoswezi, the Southern African collaborative, Mahube and the Austrian-Zimbabwean collaboration named ‘Kunzwana’. She has also collaborated with Zimbabwean alternative Hip Hop outfit The Monkey Nuts and American horn band, The Huntertones among many others. In the early years of her career she was part of the Norwegian cultural exchange programme Umoja CFC which composed Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa and Norway; and Onebeat music exchange programme which comprised numerous different countries including Zimbabwe and USA.
She has thrilled music lovers and critics globally. She has graced numerous cooperate and national events as well as festivals in Zimbabwe, playing at presidents’ inaugurations, product launches, weddings and many other kinds of events.
Besides performing, Masike is a music teacher, offering lessons in Mbira, voice and Music Theory. She also ventures into mentoring younger musicians through her TribeHope Trust program called ‘The Seven of Us’. Masike has featured in Zimbabwean local soap opera Muzita rababa’; acted in and done scoring for the short film on child marriages called ‘Ruvimbo’s Wedding’; as well as directed her NAMA-nominated 10 years of Hope autobiography documentary ‘One Woman and her Mbira’.
Hope Masike holds a Degree of Music from the Zimbabwe College of Music in affiliation with Africa University, a Diploma in Fine Art and National Certificates in Applied Art and Design and in Musicology. Currently she is studying for a Master of Philosophy in Art with Arrupe Jesuit University in Harare and also studying French with the Alliance Francaise de Harare.
Hope Masike’s work – collaborative and otherwise- has earned her several awards and nominations both locally and internationally, including Zimbabwean NAMA awards, KORA Awards, ZNCC Women in Enterprise Awards and The Zimbabwe Achievers Awards. She has been interviewed by CNN Newsroom, BBC, SABC’s Morning Live, ZTV’s Good Morning Zimbabwe and numerous other platforms in and around Zimbabwe.
Hope Masike is a board member of the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe, and a member of the Zimbabwe Music Rights Association and Zimbabwe Writers’ Association.
Press
‘An accomplished mbira player and vocalist with a watertight backing band, she balances tradition and experimentation to carry ancient rhythms effortlessly into the 21st century.’ -Liam Brickhill – Mail and Guardian
‘Hope Masike is a mbira musician making a big name for herself.’ -Kumlar Dumor – BBC
‘In motion picture, Hope Masike’s video to Huyai Tinamate can only be likened to Madonna’s epic Frozen video …,’ -Tapiwa Zivira – News Day Zimbabwe..
Links to music
Click here to listen to Shuwa.
Click here to listen to Ndinewe.
Click here to listen to Tsubvubone.
Click here to listen to Huyai Tinamate (Winner Best Video of the Year, NAMA Awards and nominated for KORA Awards under Best Female).
Click here to listen to Povo m’povo.
Click here to listen to Idenga .
