Speaker

Lars Ebert is Secretary General of Culture Action Europe, the main advocacy organisation for the cultural sector in Europe. Previously, he was co-director of H401 in Amsterdam and Deputy Director of the European League of Institutes of the Arts.

He has a specific interest in participatory practices and publishes regularly on topics including new forms of collective leadership, cultural democracy and ecosystemic approaches to sector representation, as well as art-based research and the innovative potential of cultural practices for more sustainable societies. His recent publications include a.o. a contribution to the IFACCA World Summit on Arts and Culture (Seoul, 2025), a stock-taking article on artistic freedom in Europe in Boekman (#145), and a refelction on artistic research in Productive Archiving (Valiz, 2023).

He serves on the advisory boards of the Create to be Free Platform (Council of Europe), the Forum on EU–UK Cultural & Media Relations, and the European Heritage Hub. He is a member of the European Commission’s Expert Group on Cultural Heritage and a delegate of the Cities and Regions Network of EIT Culture and Creativity. He is also a board member of Stichting Herengracht 401 and Stichting House of Gisèle (both Amsterdam), and a founding board member of EQ-Arts. Together with his life partners, he has set up [SIC] – Space for International Cooperation in Athens.

Lars holds a postgraduate degree in theology, is of German nationality, and lives between Brussels, Amsterdam, and Athens.