Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE
Principal and CEO of The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and Artistic Director for The National Black Theatre of Sweden
Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE is Principal and CEO of The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and Artistic Director for The National Black Theatre of Sweden. Prior to this, she served as Director of Acting at Stockholm University of the Arts and Artistic Director for The National Touring Swedish Deaf Theatre ensemble Tyst Teater Riksteatern.
Josette is an award-winning actor and director whose career has included performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and the Manchester Royal Exchange. She was the chair of the Community Advisory Group for the Mayor of London’s Black on the Square festival 2024-2025 and is co-chair for the Clean Break theatre company. She is also a trustee of Hackney Empire and the University of London.
In 2016, Josette was awarded an OBE for Services to the Arts. Her other awards include H.M. The King’s Medal 8th Order of the Seraphim by H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf, CinemAfrica Arts and Culture Award 2023, Freedom of the City of London 2024, The Judy Craymer Award for Innovation, and Southbank Cultural Diversity Award.
Katie Mitchell
Director, Professor in Theatre Directing at Royal Holloway University, Professor of Practice at Central School of Speech and Drama and a Visiting Professor at Columbia University
Katie Mitchell has directed over 100 productions in a career spanning 40 years. She directs text-based theatre, Live Cinema and pioneers work about climate change. In the UK she has directed at all the leading theatres including the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and The Royal Court. Since 2008 she has worked mainly in Europe and she is a Resident Director at the Schaubuhne (Berlin) and the Deutsches Schauspielhaus (Hamburg).
She has won numerous awards, including four Theatertreffen prizes and two Golden Masks. She was presented with the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2009, the British Academy's President's Medal for her services to theatre in 2017 and the Tonic Award in 2018 for her nurture of female talent.
She is currently a Professor in Theatre Directing at Royal Holloway University, Professor of Practice at Central School of Speech and Drama and a Visiting Professor at Columbia University.
Frida Edman
CEO of Göteborgs Stadsteater
Frida Edman is the CEO of Göteborgs Stadsteater (Gothenburg City Theatre), a role she assumed in August 2025, taking over leadership of the city theatre as well as Backa Theatre, and Stora Teatern. She previously led the Gothenburg Book Fair, the Nordic countries biggest cultural event. Today her role covers the overall management of the city's premier cultural institutions. She is the initiator of Gothenburg being a UNESCO City of Literature and the political top meeting of literature in Gothenburg, during the years she has expressed the importance of culture and freedom of expression in a lesser democratic world.
Barbara Ferrato
Head of Artistic, Planning and Educational Department at Fondazione del Teatro Stabile di Torino – National Theatre; ETC Board Member
Barbara Ferrato graduated in classical literature, with a cross-curricular thesis on the history of the theatre and classical Greek literature in Milan. She has obtained a Master's Degree in Organisation and Distribution of Theatre Productions at the Piccolo Teatro/Teatro d’Europa directed by Giorgio Strehler, where she started her career that proceeded in other theatres and companies in Milan.
In 2002 she began to work for the Teatro Stabile di Torino/NT first at the Regional Circuit of Piedmont (40 theatres in the network) and then became the head of artistic, planning and educational department under the directions of Mario Martone and Valerio Binasco.
His position as head of the artistic area encompasses production, programming and organizational management skills, with an eye to the specific artistic needs that each theatrical production brings with it.
These aspects include not only the prose programming of the Turin theatre, but also extend to the international festival Torinodanza, which since 2009 has represented an essential point of reference for modern Italian and international choreography.
Added to this is the responsibility of the school for actors founded by Luca Ronconi in 1992, one of the Italian excellences in the training of new generations of interpreters for the theatre and cinema scene.
Since 2019 she is a member of the ETC Board of Directors.
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