AECFest CAMP 2026

2026
EDITION

Asia-Europe Cultural Festival 2026 | AECFest CAMP Pilot Edition

The new AECFest CAMP is a capacity-building and professional networking platform for mid-career performing arts producers and curators, designed to strengthen Asia–Europe cultural exchange. It responds to the growing challenges of international mobility and the need for festivals to generate long-term impact, providing structured opportunities for dialogue, knowledge-sharing, and collaboration between cultural professionals across both regions.

Embedded within a live festival context, the 4-day pilot edition in 2026 will take place as part of the 8th Asia–Europe Cultural Festival in Utrecht from 19–23 May, in partnership with SPRING Performing Arts Festival. 

The AECFest CAMP 2026 brings together a small, curated cohort of 7 mid-career professionals from Asia and Europe, including participants from the Baltic region, Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia. The selection was carried out in close consultation with ASEF’s partner institutions, ensuring a balanced group of independent producers and professionals affiliated with festivals and cultural organisations. This diversity allows for meaningful exchange across different production contexts, funding structures, and curatorial approaches.

Participants will engage in in-depth conversations with featured artists and festival organisers, take part in peer-to-peer networking sessions, and gain insight into festival production models, curatorial strategies, and international partnership frameworks. The programme also encourages reflection on how festivals operate as spaces of cultural diplomacy, shaping artistic circulation as well as the narratives and power dynamics of Asia–Europe exchange. Participants will be invited to explore potential co-commissioning opportunities and develop initial concept ideas for future collaboration within ASEF’s broader programming frameworks.

Rather than a standalone training initiative, the AECFest CAMP is conceived as an embedded learning environment within a live festival, fostering experiential learning, peer exchange, and critical reflection.

The AECFest CAMP is planned as an annual platform that reinforces ASEF’s role as a convener of sustainable and future-oriented performing arts ecosystems. It aims to support mid-career cultural professionals as key multipliers in strengthening long-term Asia–Europe collaboration in the performing arts.

HENELIIS NOTTON

ESTONIA

Heneliis Notton is a dramaturg, curator and writer based in Tallinn, Estonia. She's currently working as a dramaturg in a performing arts centre Kanuti Gildi SAAL. Since 2022 they've been part of the curatorial team of an international performing arts festival SAAL Biennale and since 2024 she's the lead producer of the festival Baltic Take Over. At other moments she works as a dramaturg with various artists in Estonia and elsewhere. At moments other than those she writes stuff - her play "Emesis" won special recognition at the 2021 playwriting competition by the Estonian Theatre Agency and their 2025 book "Tähed Agnesele" has been nominated for the Literary Award of the Estonian Cultural Endowment and the Estonian Women's Literature Award.
Heneliis Notton is a dramaturg, curator and writer based in Tallinn, Estonia. She's currently working as a dramaturg in a performing arts centre Kanuti Gildi SAAL. Since 2022 they've been part of the curatorial team of an international performing arts festival SAAL Biennale and since 2024 she's the lead producer of the festival Baltic Take Over. At other moments she works as a dramaturg with various artists in Estonia and elsewhere. At moments other than those she writes stuff - her play "Emesis" won special recognition at the 2021 playwriting competition by the Estonian Theatre Agency and their 2025 book "Tähed Agnesele" has been nominated for the Literary Award of the Estonian Cultural Endowment and the Estonian Women's Literature Award.

BYUNGJUN LEE

KOREA

Byungjun Lee (Jun) is an arts administrator and performing arts project manager based in South Korea. He currently works at the Incheon Foundation for Arts & Culture, where he manages public support programmes for artists and arts organisations, with a focus on performing arts planning, programme operations, and space management. His work centres on building practical support structures for artists and fostering collaboration among cultural institutions, venues, and local arts communities. He is particularly interested in international cultural exchange, sustainable cultural ecosystems, and collaborative models that connect artistic practice with public engagement. With a background in theatre, arts management, and audio engineering, he brings both administrative and artistic perspectives to his work.
Byungjun Lee (Jun) is an arts administrator and performing arts project manager based in South Korea. He currently works at the Incheon Foundation for Arts & Culture, where he manages public support programmes for artists and arts organisations, with a focus on performing arts planning, programme operations, and space management. His work centres on building practical support structures for artists and fostering collaboration among cultural institutions, venues, and local arts communities. He is particularly interested in international cultural exchange, sustainable cultural ecosystems, and collaborative models that connect artistic practice with public engagement. With a background in theatre, arts management, and audio engineering, he brings both administrative and artistic perspectives to his work.

NAGARA WADA

JAPAN

Nagara Wada graduated with a degree in film and performing arts from Kyoto University of Art and Design, and then completed the art studies master's program at the same university. In February 2011, she began working as a theater director based in Kyoto and founded her own theatre unit, shitatame. With a deep interest in the act of acting, Wada deciphers texts and motifs as if zooming into them, aiming to establish a distinct language for acting with each performance. She actively pursues collaborative projects, and through the medium of theater, she connects with artists from various fields, including visual art, photography, architecture, music, sculpture, and dance. Since 2018, she has served as a member of the booking team for the multidisciplinary art space UrBANGUILD, where she organized 3CASTS, a performance series that focuses on actors. She is The Saison Foundation 'Saison Fellow I' from 2025.
Nagara Wada graduated with a degree in film and performing arts from Kyoto University of Art and Design, and then completed the art studies master's program at the same university. In February 2011, she began working as a theater director based in Kyoto and founded her own theatre unit, shitatame. With a deep interest in the act of acting, Wada deciphers texts and motifs as if zooming into them, aiming to establish a distinct language for acting with each performance. She actively pursues collaborative projects, and through the medium of theater, she connects with artists from various fields, including visual art, photography, architecture, music, sculpture, and dance. Since 2018, she has served as a member of the booking team for the multidisciplinary art space UrBANGUILD, where she organized 3CASTS, a performance series that focuses on actors. She is The Saison Foundation 'Saison Fellow I' from 2025.

RED

VIET NAM

RED is a video artist and independent art producer working across dance, theater, experimental music, and interdisciplinary art whose works aim at re-examining the meaning of “dance” in the Vietnamese context, creating safe spaces for performance practices that defy established systems, and opening possibilities for artists to explore alternative ways of thinking and creating performance work. Red co-founded and is co-directing MORUA (an artist-driven residency focused on supporting young local performance makers) and PROJECT ĐẨY SÀN (a Saigon-based project focused on learning, collaboration, and experimentation for new performance makers). Red has curated and produced projects such as Dealing in Distance (mini traveling festival by Goethe Institut Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Manila, 2025-2026). She collaborates with Southeast Asian artists and producers through initiatives like MORASUM (co-founded by producers from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and South Korea) and Southeast Asia Choreographer Networks (SEACN).
RED is a video artist and independent art producer working across dance, theater, experimental music, and interdisciplinary art whose works aim at re-examining the meaning of “dance” in the Vietnamese context, creating safe spaces for performance practices that defy established systems, and opening possibilities for artists to explore alternative ways of thinking and creating performance work. Red co-founded and is co-directing MORUA (an artist-driven residency focused on supporting young local performance makers) and PROJECT ĐẨY SÀN (a Saigon-based project focused on learning, collaboration, and experimentation for new performance makers). Red has curated and produced projects such as Dealing in Distance (mini traveling festival by Goethe Institut Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Manila, 2025-2026). She collaborates with Southeast Asian artists and producers through initiatives like MORASUM (co-founded by producers from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and South Korea) and Southeast Asia Choreographer Networks (SEACN).

UNA VALAINE

LATVIA

Una Valaine is a Riga-based creative producer, performer, and educator. Her work is shaped by an interest in the body as a space for knowledge, eco-feminist thinking, and a belief that performance can bring people together in ways that matter. She co-created the street performance Drowned Galway for the "Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture" programme. Since returning to Latvia, Una has worked closely with the New Theatre Institute of Latvia across several editions of the Homo Novus festival and Creative Europe projects such as "ACT: Art, Climate, Transition" and "The Big Green". Now she is a project manager working on performance accessibility. Most recently, she has trained in devised theatre at the Summer School of Community Art "Deciphering the Scripts: Ludza" (led by Sodja Zupanc Lotker).
Una Valaine is a Riga-based creative producer, performer, and educator. Her work is shaped by an interest in the body as a space for knowledge, eco-feminist thinking, and a belief that performance can bring people together in ways that matter. She co-created the street performance Drowned Galway for the "Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture" programme. Since returning to Latvia, Una has worked closely with the New Theatre Institute of Latvia across several editions of the Homo Novus festival and Creative Europe projects such as "ACT: Art, Climate, Transition" and "The Big Green". Now she is a project manager working on performance accessibility. Most recently, she has trained in devised theatre at the Summer School of Community Art "Deciphering the Scripts: Ludza" (led by Sodja Zupanc Lotker).

YOI JARIYAPUN

THAILAND

Yoi Jariyapun is a producer, researcher, and actress based in Bangkok. A key member of BIPAM and co-founder of the Thai Theatre Foundation, she works across research, production, festivals, and advocacy to support Thailand's theatre ecosystem, with a particular focus on widening access to the arts for regional and rural communities. She also teaches theatre and arts management at universities. Her ongoing commitment is to strengthen long-term career sustainability for theatre practitioners, with an emphasis on improving cultural policy and legal frameworks.
Yoi Jariyapun is a producer, researcher, and actress based in Bangkok. A key member of BIPAM and co-founder of the Thai Theatre Foundation, she works across research, production, festivals, and advocacy to support Thailand's theatre ecosystem, with a particular focus on widening access to the arts for regional and rural communities. She also teaches theatre and arts management at universities. Her ongoing commitment is to strengthen long-term career sustainability for theatre practitioners, with an emphasis on improving cultural policy and legal frameworks.

PARTNERS

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

SUPPORTED BY

Asia-Europe Cultural Festival 2026 Programme Partner - Insituto Cervantes