2024 Program Cohort

Ali Wagner, London, UK

Ali (she/her) is a London-based creative producer and DJ originally from Australia. Fusing music, culture, and social innovation, Ali leverages nightlife as a platform for social change. Notable projects include the Uhaul Dyke Rescue ‘Mobile Dyke Bar,’ co-created with Lucy Nurnberg, and the 'Dancefloor Intimacy' initiative, funded by a grant to champion inclusivity for disabled individuals in nightlife spaces. Deeply committed to sustainable and diverse club culture, Ali challenges conventional capitalist norms by amplifying marginalised voices and advocating for greater femme representation in the music industry. Her work reimagines the dancefloor as a space of radical inclusivity. aliwagner.com

Amina Imamović, Sarajevo, BA

Amina (she/they) is a queer Bosnian, a Bachelor of Security and Peace Studies, a human rights activist, and a feminist. She has been active in the field of human rights for LGBTIQ+ individuals since she was 17. Since 2018, she has been part of the Sarajevo Open Centre team, where she currently works as a Program Coordinator. Her work focuses on empowering LGBTIQ+ individuals and their families. As part of her involvement with SOC, she has organized five festivals of queer art and activism in Bosnia and Herzegovina— the Merlinka Festival in Sarajevo and the Kvirhana Festival. Amina has been involved in organizing the first and second Pride Parades in Bosnia and Herzegovina, contributing to the visibility and support of the LGBTIQ+ community. In her life and work, she is guided by the values of solidarity, love, empathy, and equality.

Ana Gheorghiu, Cluj-Napoca, RO

Ana (she/her) is a programmer and event manager originally from and based in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. She is the co-founder and programmer of ROOTS Rotterdam, a collective that organises multidisciplinary events with the aim of encouraging different communities/ scenes to share their stories through different artistic practices. She works as an event manager at an independent cinema in her hometown where she tries to create an alternative program that focuses on emergent local initiatives. Ana is really interested in the intersection between music and community; more specifically she wishes to understand music’s potential to bend boundaries between different communities and cultures. Also, she is passionate about understanding and diminishing certain issues of representation of such communities in her events.

Aya Mammetnazarova, Berlin, DE

Aya (she/her/he/him) is a DJ and community organizer originally from Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, and has been based in Berlin since 2020. As a key member of the queer Central Asian community “Slaystans,” Aya has helped organize events that provide a safe space for queer POC, particularly those from North and Central Asia. Passionate about addressing racism and the lack of representation of POC in Berlin’s techno communities, Aya is dedicated to creating inclusive environments where underrepresented voices can thrive. Aya’s work focuses on uniting and empowering marginalized communities through music and cultural events.

Azul Mar Cunha, Lisbon, PT

Azul Mar (he/they) works in harm reduction and is an organizer at Planeta Manas and Kosmicare. They have a masters’ in Pharmaceutical Sciences, and are currently working at Kosmicare, a harm reduction NGO, and Planeta Manas, a DIY queer rave venue on the outskirts of Lisbon, started by mina collective. Within Kosmicare, Mar runs the drug checking service and also creates content and science communication about drugs, pharmacology and harm reduction. Compounding this knowledge he helped develop Ravers' Care Corner, Planeta Manas' own harm reduction and queercare awareness team and expanded the concept of care in the whole venue. They're also part of Postcarbon Collective, where they organize workshops and create installations, usually merging science and art.

Bambi Ceren, Berlin, DE

Bambi (they/them) is an event producer and cultural curator based in Berlin, originally from Ankara, Turkey. Raised in a family with Kurdish and Cypriot roots, they grew up surrounded by storytellers and were deeply influenced by stories of displacement and conflict. After graduating from the Department of European Union Studies at Istanbul Bilgi University, Bambi became actively involved in LGBTI+ organizations and communities in Istanbul, such as Lambdaistanbul, Istanbul Pride, Istanbul Trans Pride, and Queerwaves, the city’s first queer party collective. With over a decade of experience in the entertainment industry, they have worked as a coordinator and event manager for various events and film festivals, including the !f İstanbul Independent Film Festival and the Istanbul Film Festival. Since moving to Berlin, Bambi has focused on queer history-making and archiving, driven by a passion for community building. They are currently working on their first documentary and film festival, aiming to connect the Berlin and Mesopotamian cultures, while also producing events for Magic Dyke, a masc-dyke stripping performance group based in Berlin. Bambi is also part of the Body Language (femme to the front queer party series), and they build awareness teams for venues and parties such as SO36, Gayhane, among others, to foster safer and more inclusive spaces.

Ciara Moloughney, Galway, IE

Ciara (she/her) is a Creative Producer based in Galway, Ireland. With a background in outdoor arts, circus and festivals (and DJing), she is now creating The Gore-Booth Project which aims to create and foster safe and inclusive spaces+events for the Queer folks of Galway and to also to help grow a community that is based in solidarity and resistance. The flagship event will be a Queer club night, which will concentrate on making its FLINTA members feel welcome but is open to all. Ciara is committed to improving the standards of safety and wellbeing for vulnerable people in clubs, raves and festivals. and to making events as accessible as possible (physically, financially, etc.) Inclusive to all isn't just a catch phrase.

Drew Lor / Daddy Dyke, Berlin, DE

Drew Lor (he/they) also known as Daddy Dyke, is a UK-born, Berlin-based community organiser and artist. From years experience in Drag Kinging, working behind the scenes in UK and Berlin gay clubs and bars to co-founding Magic Dyke*, a masculine stripping show by and for sapphics, lesbians, intersex, non-binary, trans and agender people in Berlin, that is now a Berlin nightlife staple. Daddy is also a DJ of many genres and still participates in working in all facets of queer culture in Berlin.

Katie Poltz, Amsterdam, NL

Katie Poltz (she/her) is the Founder and Director of Stichting Oost Rules!, an organization dedicated to nurturing and promoting live music in Amsterdam Oost. Stichting Oost Rules! creates opportunities for musicians from Oost to perform for (and with) their neighbors with the ultimate goal of opening a non-commercial, nonprofit live music venue and cultural center. She is a queer rights and environmental justice activist and scholar who has worked with a number of organizations across the globe to fight for a better world for all. Originally from the United States and having spent many years in China, she now lives in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Lana Krizaj, Ljubljana, SI

Lana (she/her/they/them) is a DJ, event organizer and activist based in Ljubljana. She is a member of queer feminist collective Ustanova and a co-founder of intiative Rave Utopia, that focuses on safer and inclusive nightlife. She is passionate about finding and realizing transformative potential via community organizing and radical care practices.

Mahasin Ahmed, Glasgow, UK

Mahasin (aka Salam Kitty) (they/she) is a DJ, promoter and community organiser based in Glasgow. They began their journey in nightlife and organising as co-founder of QTIPoC+ party Mojxmma, which was the only of its kind at the time in Scotland. They now also run Exhale.Group, a grassroots organisation working to support QTIPoC+ by delivering activities, building solidarity and campaigning for Queer and BPoC rights. With a background in public health and advocacy, they are passionate about untangling the systems of oppression that connect all of our struggles, and creating our own infrastructures to move away from the 'master's house'.

Nick Spalding, Manchester, UK

Nick (he/him) is a bar owner from Surrey, now based in Manchester. Lurid Ultra Hybrid and Mirage Queer Bar were/are a queer club and bar for alternative queer culture in Greater Manchester hosting art shows, club nights, gigs and cabaret events.

Ollie, Banja Luka, BA

Ollie (she/her) is a community organizer based in Banja Luka. She is a member of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Pride March Organizing committee, as well as one of the founding members of the LGBTQIA group oQUEERno. Ollie currently works at an artist/activist association in Banja Luka as the program manager of their social-cultural center, where her main focus is providing a space for strengthening the LGBTQIA community of Banja Luka.

Ranya Al-Asadi, Malmö, SE

Ranya (she/her) is a multi-hypenate artist and cultural producer based in Malmö, Sweden. She's the founder of the club concept Gahba Garage, Honeypot and a founding member of the collective FNGRLCKN. Her passion has always been to showcase and highlight the local scene in Malmö as well as provide much needed representation to the city's LGBTQIA+ SWANA population as well as underground subcultures.

Tubi Malcharzik, Vienna, AT

Tubi (they/them) is a performance artist, DJ and host based in Vienna and Hanover. As aua&angst they mix DJ sets, shifting between Ballroom and Breakbeats, distorted pop samples and electronic hybrids, empowering lyrics and femme attitudes. Among others, they played at Hyperreality Festival for Club Culture (Vienna), transmediale (Berlin), Unsafe+Sounds (Vienna) the Fuchsbau Festival (Hanover) and dyke*night (Witten). They are the co-founder of the queer-feminist collective ‘soft spot’, aiming to create spaces for experimental electronic sounds in Hanover and looking for queer-feminist politics on and off the dance floor. Besides its local activism, the group is building on an exchange with other queer-feminist collectives, for example with Chilldo 池糖(Chengdu) and Lokalni Poznańscy Voguerzy (Poznań). Together with DJs anxxxious_t and Madame Léa, aua&angst started organizing KISSEN, a Vienna-based series that aims to place trans, non-binary and queer people at the center.