Greece in USA is a non-profit organization with a global reach that promotes knowledge of contemporary and ancient Greek Culture while fostering international cultural cooperation, experimentation and social engagement. The organization’s extensive programming includes commissioned artists’ and curators’ projects, residencies, educational and ecological initiatives and the commitment to cultivating a sensible culture of innovation and thought leadership.
We are dedicated to offering innovative and unique programs in education and the arts, all exploring the evolving diversity and richness of Greek and Cypriot cultures. The non-profit organization seeks to generate new thinking about the arts and promote cross-cultural dialogue through partnerships and new platforms of creation.
The organization promotes international exchange of practice and knowledge in the arts – visual and sound art, dance, architecture, theatre – research on the methods used in curatorial and performing practices and investigation of points of intersection between the arts, science and the public sphere by means of interventions, collective actions, educational programs and publications.
Greece in USA aims to collaborate and build long-lasting partnerships with leading institutions and individuals who actively engage with Greece and its culture and to convey a comprehensive and distinctive representation of Greece and Cyprus by producing cultural and educational programs that encourage intercultural dialogue and enable cultural involvement.
OUR PRINCIPAL GOALS ARE:
> To shape and envision the image of contemporary Greece in the United States beyond existing stereotypes
> To recalibrate the assumed center of Greek national narratives to include those who have often been denied historical recognition.
> To transform the way Greek histories are told and produce projects that reflect the vast, rich complexity of Greek culture.
> To support Greek inspired cultural practices by welcoming and nurturing new ideas and influential perspectives
> To commission, produce and present contemporary Greek and Cypriot culture that grapple with many of the pressing social and political issues of our time
> To foster Greek scholarship and cultural research within the American educational system
> To develop a transatlantic network for the exchange of culture and ideas
> To strengthen the development of structures in cultural policy & leadership and foster worldwide mobility.
Greece in USA is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization registered in the State of New York, tax-exempt ID no. 85-0828531. Contributions to Greece in USA are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.
Greece in USA‘s launch is under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Culture.
FOUNDING DIRECTOR
Sozita Goudouna
Dr. Sozita Goudouna is a professor, curator and the author of “Beckett’s Breath: Anti-theatricality and the Visual Arts” published by Edinburgh Critical Studies in Modernism released in the US by Oxford University Press. According to William Hutchings’ review, Goudouna’s book is “surely the most ever said about the least in the entire history of literary criticism.” She holds a PhD from the University of London on art and respiration. Her internationally exhibited projects include participations at Performa Biennial in New York, Documenta, Onassis Foundation Festival, New Museum, Hunterian Museum, Benaki Museum, Byzantine Museum, EMST Contemporary Art Museum among others. She is head of operations at Raymond Pettibon Studio and visiting professor at City University New York (CUNY) and New York University. She is researcher at the Organism for Poetic Research supported by New York University and Brown University and has taught from 2015 at New York University as the inaugural Andrew W. Mellon Curator fellow at Performa Biennial in NYC. Prior to joining Performa she was the three year artistic director of the 1st EU funded research and exhibitions program in Athens under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture. During her directorship, she curated and commissioned projects by Martin Creed, Santiago Sierra, Lynda Benglis, Roy Ascott and has collaborated in 2014 with Marina Abramovic for the production of “Seven Deaths.” She is the founding director of the US non-profit “Greece in USA” for the promotion of contemporary Greek art. Sozita served as treasurer of the board of directors of AICA Hellas International Art Critics Association and as member of the board of directors at ITI International Theatre Association, UNESCO. More at: https://cuny.academia.edu/ DrSozitaGoudouna
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Catherine A. Peila
Pella has 30 years of experience in business and non-profits in the cultural and investment sectors. She holds a master’s in policy and non-profit administration with 20 years of experience working with international governments in transition creating policy for privately owned and city-funded organizations; linking financial stability to organizational and government strategic planning; and social good programs for minority groups, youth, and elderly communities at home and abroad. She has held positions of executive director and financial director for non-profit and for-profit organizations working in partnership with financial advisors from some of NY and Europe’s top financial firms. She advises on financial and programs developed with executives and boards for organizations and educational departments with budgets under $4 million setting benchmarks to reach financial goals. Ms. Peila is very honored to be working with the Stonewall corporation on its financial planning and growth.
Nicholas Karytinos
Nicholas Karytinos is the founder of Tacet Creations in New York City. He holds a Bachelor of Architecture and Masters of Architecture in Urban Design from Cornell University and has taught at Cornell University, Roger Williams University and has been a juror at Columbia University, Harvard, RISD, among other universities. Karytinos’ architectural installations have been showcased at prominent cultural venues such as the Museum of Science and Technology Leonardo Da Vinci, in Milan, under the patronage of the Greek Consulate-General in Milan and ’T’-Space NY, a non-profit organization founded by Steven Holl and operated by the Steven Myron Holl Foundation that has presented artists Pat Steir, Martin Puryear, Richard Artschwager, Ai Weiwei and Carolee Schneemann. Karytinos has collaborated with the architectural practice Forward Slash ( / ) ARCHITEKTUR who was the winner of the competition to design the Performa 15 Hub for Performa Biennial in New York, the leading arts organization dedicated to exploring the critical role of live performance. Karytinos researches perceptual leaps through architecture incorporating the ecological and visual and his designs have been selected as the official participation of Greece in the 21st Triennale in Milan, Italy, responding to the theme “21st Century. Design After Design” and “Sustainability”.
Yannis Orfanos
Yannis Orfanos is a data scientist and technologist with a design background. Currently, Yannis is Director of Global Data & Insights at WeWork providing business intelligence to the executive leadership. He is also the founder of Keramos Labs, a Web3 organization focused on reinventing ancient greek art legacy via NFT projects. Before moving to New York, he worked as a researcher at Harvard University and the MIT Sloan School of Management. His research included applications in machine learning, urban systems, and algorithmic design. Yannis received the Harvard Campus Innovation Fund award, published 6 scientific papers, and contributed to 7 books, while he has given 27 invited talks at academic, corporate, and governmental organizations. Prior to Boston, he was the Director of Pollalis Inc. in Athens and led the design of large-scale projects such as the masterplan for a new city of 600,000 people in Karachi. Yannis served on the board of the Greek Institute of Architects in New York. He holds a Masters degree from the AA Design Research Lab of London and a Diploma in Architectural Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens.
RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
Christina Banalopoulou
As a Director of Education at the Center for Kinesthetic Education in New York, Dr. Banalopoulou explores the interconnections between the somatic and the political. She holds a PhD in Performance Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park and a Certification in Movement Studies from LIMS in New York. She teaches performance workshops internationally both in public spheres and institutional spaces. Her work has appeared in The Journal of Philosophical Economics, Rethinking Marxism and Performance Philosophy. Christina is currently working on an ethnographic project titled “Performing Mediterraneaness in the American South: An Ethnography of Mediterranean Solidarity in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
ADVISORY COUNCIL FORERUNNERS
Nektarios Antoniou
Nektarios Antoniou is the Director of Culture at the National Cathedral of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. President of The Treasury NYC, curating and producing the annual “Icons of Sounds” Concerts Series at the Historic Cathedral of the Holy Trinity and Executive Director for the Axion Estin Foundation best known for presenting the Byzantine Pop-Ups at the Metropolitan Museum of New York. As the Founding & Artistic Director of Schola Cantorum, he has presented and recorded several programs, including the Grammy Nominated “A Story of the City: Constantinople-Istanbul” for Dunyainc, the Boston based musicians collective-of which he is a founding member and fellow ensemble conductor. For a decade he served under the auspices of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture & Education, teaching, researching and curating programs for the Conservatory of Northern Greece, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Mount Athos Center and the Dimitri Mitropoulos Conservatoire. At Yale University he served as the Lead Editor for Music for the Yale Palimpsest magazine, curated the music installations for the Yale Art Gallery’s alternative audio guide, introduced and procured the summer greek art studio at the YALE ISM. He is the recipient of two consecutive ‘Yale Institute of Sacred Music Director’s Prizes’ awarded by Margot Fassler, the Yale ISM Director and President Emeritus of the Medieval Academy of America. He was hired by the BSO President and Harvard Professor Dr. Nicholas Zervas to reconstruct, edit and translate, the earliest known manuscript of the legendary NYS Maestro Dimitri Mitropoulos’ Autograph Notes on the History of Music Morphology which was published by Livanis in 2011. Among his most celebrated contributions is his voicing the installations as principal cantor and director of his Schola Cantorum for the celebrated UCLA/USC Soundscapes of Byzantine Thessaloniki project “Of Bodies and Spirits”. Nektarios is a member of the celebrated Beyond Music organization headed by Tina Turner. Production credits include music for award winning documentaries and films.
Wayne Ashley
Wayne Ashley is a program director, producer, and curator with twenty years experience in developing and implementing hybrid projects with nationally and internationally recognized artists and cultural institutions. He has directed and administered programs at Seattle Art Museum, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and was the Founding Executive Director of CPR—Center for Performance Research in New York. He has curated and organized conferences, online/offline exhibitions, and symposia, and helped to make artistic, financial, intellectual, and administrative links across disparate institutions and organizations through innovative programming. He has a B.A. in dance and theater from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the Department of Performance Studies, New York University.
Tressa Berman
Tressa Berman, Ph.D. is an anthropologist and curator that specializes in art and heritage. Author of two books, her contributions to international art writing include for Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, Art Papers and New Art Examiner (USA), Arte Al Limite (Spain), Oi (Vietnam), and an occasional column for Cultural Weekly, Los Angeles. She has held teaching and research positions at Arizona State University, California College of the Arts, San Francisco Art Institute, University of Technology, Sydney, the California Academy of Sciences, and as a guest lecturer for a range of museums and cultural centers. As an arts organizer, she was Founding Director of BorderZone Arts (San Francisco) and served as Arts Conference Director for the International Conference on the Arts in Society, working with major arts festivals, including Documenta, the Venice Bienale and the Edinburgh Festivals. As an arts and culture consultant, she has contributed to UNESCO heritage documents, and as special advisor and curator on Indigenous and global art programs and cultural exchanges. Currently, she works as a consultant and creative coach through her Institute of Inter-Cultural Practice. She brings mindful leadership values and practices to her collaborations, and is currently at work on a collection of poems, essays and photographs documenting her work as a visual ethnographer.
Ioannis Kaplanis
Dr Ioannis Kaplanis is Director General of Hellenic Festival S.A. (Athens & Epidaurus Festival). He is an economist with degrees from the London School of Economics (PhD, BSc) and the University of Manchester (MSc). He has worked as an economist for the OECD, at the Directorate for Public Governance and Territorial Development as well as the Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs. On official secondment from OECD, Dr Kaplanis served as Director General of the Hellenic Industrial Property Organization (OBI), in Athens. In the past, he worked at the Economic Team of the Mayor of London as well as in academia at the London School of Economics, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Panteion University and the Athens University of Economics and Business. Dr Kaplanis has extensive experience advising national and regional governments on public governance, economic and development policies in order to promote sustainable and innovative cities and regions (UK, China, Mexico, Chile, Serbia and Greece). He has served as a representative of Greece at the Administrative Council of the European Patent Office (EPO), as an elected member of the Supervisory Board of the Reserve Funds for Pensions and Social Security of the EPO, an elected member of the Bureau of the Working Party in Industry Analysis of the Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation of the OECD and as a member of the Committee of Experts for setting the minimum wage in Greece. Dr Kaplanis has delivered numerous speeches on innovation, labour economics and regional development at international scientific conferences and forums. His research has been widely published in academic journals and reports of major international organisations. His interests include theatre and creative writing.
Elinda Labropoulou
Elinda is an award-winning multiplatform storyteller with in-depth understanding of the history, social structures, cultural uniqueness and complexities of Greece set in a global context. A senior on-camera journalist, she has led CNN coverage out of Greece throughout the country’s financial meltdown, the refugee crisis that followed and the covid-19 pandemic. Her work has featured in leading world media including The Washington Post, BBC, Al Jazeera and Deutsche Welle.
Her acute analysis on Greece and the region, a direct product of her international upbringing, education and extensive travel reaches millions of viewers and readers worldwide and her talks and academic work serve as a cultural bridge between Greece and the world. Her extensive research and multifaceted storytelling are visible in diverse projects including The Washington Post’s A New Age of Walls which won the US National Press Foundation’s 2017 Innovation Award.
Elinda is the founder of a boutique production company with a portfolio of multi-platform art projects. In 2020 she was the field producer of Life in a Camp, a pioneering CNN-Imperial War Museum immersive experience, filmed at the Greek island of Lesbos and displayed at the Museum, to great public and critical acclaim.
A dynamic environmental advocate and strong believer in the importance of place, history and landmark architecture Elinda is the founder and CEO of Villa Rossa Area, a green development hospitality company in her native Parga, in Epirus, Greece. Projects include the restoration of a historic villa blending old world charm with innovative design while focusing on energy-saving eco-principles. The Villa Rossa Area is also home to a digital museum and an art gallery. It hosts and promotes cultural events and serves as a salon-by-the-sea, connecting leading voices and visions in a landmark space set in an area of great natural beauty.
With a BA in Philosophy and Politics and an MA in War Studies from King’s College London, Elinda is a 2021 Yale World Fellow.
Cindy Sibilsky
Cindy Sibilsky is a producer, marketing director, writer, journalist, panelist, and moderator with a focus on global cultural exchange. She attended American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA), Stage One London, and worked alongside Broadway and international theatre producer, Mel Howard.
In 2011 Cindy Sibilsky formed an entertainment company specializing in producing, touring, marketing/advertising & PR, consultancy, and representation: InJoy Entertainment LLC. InJoy Entertainment LLC also offers all-inclusive, multimedia needs for shows and artists including writing/storyboarding, filming/videography, editing/after effects, music composition, and photography. Highlights include multiple shows at Edinburgh Fringe, Off-Broadway, Broadway, US, and international tours.
As a writer/journalist Cindy has published hundreds of pieces in multiple languages and is a regular contributor for Broadway World, StageBiz, Film Inquiry, and Anime News Network. Her writing is featured in JRock News, The Beirut Times, and The Panama Good Times. She was the guest editor, lead contributor, and curator for American Theatre Magazine’s May/June 2019 international edition focusing on Japanese Contemporary Theatre. Cindy is also a professional copywriter and the staff writer for Eryc Taylor Dance Inc.
Rachel Katwan
Rachel Katwan is an arts administrator living in Brooklyn, New York (ancestral lands of the Canarsee tribe of the Lenni Lenape). She currently serves as the General Manager for Pomegranate Arts, a Creative Producer dedicated to the realization of international performing arts projects. Rachel previously served in various roles at the Brooklyn Academy of Music from 2004-2016 and was a key team member on the internal producing team for some of the Academy’s most ambitious programming initiatives including the citywide Si Cuba Festival, Muslim Voices: Art & Ideas, The Bridge Project international tours, three seasons of RadioLoveFest, and the annual DanceAfrica festival.
Michael Klien
Kliën’s choreographies have been performed and situated in many countries across the world. Commissions include New Museum (NY), Ballett Frankfurt, Martha Graham Dance Company, ZKM (Karlsruhe), Tanzquartier Wien and Volksoper Wien; exhibitions include IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art), Benaki Museum (Athens), and Hayward Gallery (London). During his work at Ballett Frankfurt, Kliën also acted as artistic consultant to William Forsythe. He received a PhD from the Edinburgh College of Art in 2009 and, as a committed teacher, has been lecturing about his findings at numerous distinguished academic and non-academic institutions. He has been co-founder and Artistic Director of the London based arts group Barriedale Operahouse (1994—2000) and Artistic Director/CEO of the visionary Daghdha Dance Company (2003—2011). From 2012-2017 he worked as an independent artist in Greece. In 2017 he was appointed Professor at Duke University and is now living in North Carolina with his family, where he leads the Laboratory for Social Choreography at the Kenan Institute of Ethics.
Nadia Taiga
Nadia Taiga is an independent Exhibitions Producer, Art Consultant and Curator. For ten years, Taiga has been professionally engaged with contemporary art by developing exciting and dynamic exhibitions, projects, and art-related events. Based upon client interests and needs, we are happy to connect individuals in our worldwide network to best support projects.Taiga’s experience includes eight years of project management experience of Collateral Events at the Venice Biennale of Art and nationally recognized museum exhibitions; work as an Art Consultant and Dealer with collectors globally; and project collaboration with over 100 artists from distinct countries. Thorough knowledge of international contemporary art and a cross-cultural background make Taiga a reliable expert in producing projects with exceptional audience impact and assisting new and established collectors in making a unique and valuable investment.
Nadia Taiga brings seven years of experience managing Collateral Events at the Venice Biennale of Art and nationally recognized museum exhibitions. This was proceeded by seven years as Project Management Director of Berengo Studio in Venice, Italy. As a Project Management Director of Berengo Studio (2010-17), a leading institutional voice in glass works by world-acclaimed and emerging artists, Taiga organized an umbrella project titled GLASSTRESS, which was included in the 54th, 55th, and 56th Venice Biennales of Art’s series of Collateral Events. GLASSTRESS travelled globally to museums in the United States, Baltic countries, Europe, and Middle East. CONVERSION, a project Taiga organized with Russian art-duo Recycle Group was listed as one of the top-ten “must see” Collateral Events at the 56th Venice Biennale. Furthermore, Taiga worked closely with The State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia to organize Tony Craig’s retrospective exhibition and GOTIKA, a group exhibition featuring 56 glass works by international artists and 56 Middle-Age era objects from the museum collection that had not been exhibited to the public in over 200 years. Throughout her rich career in the arts, Taiga has met exceptionally talented artists, museum and gallery professionals and passionate collectors that have enabled her to launch ambitious projects in collaboration with a wide network of partner organizations. Ron Arad, Miroslaw Balka, Hans op de Beeck, Chapman Brothers, Matt Collishaw, Tony Cragg, Michael Joo, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Tony Oursler, Thomas Schutte, Joana Vasconcelos, and dozens of other world-acclaimed artists have exhibited in shows launched under Taiga’s direction, often creating new works for the presentation.
Andreas Takis
Andreas Takis, Director of The Metropolitan Organisation of Museums of Visual Arts of Thessaloniki – MOMus and assistant professor of Philosophy and Methodology of Law at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
PRODUCTION ASSOCIATES
Eva Kostopoulou
Eva Kostopoulou is exhibitor services assistant at Frieze Art Fair. Prior to joining Greece in USA, Eva has worked for ATOPOS cvc, a nonprofit cultural organization in Athens. During her period of employment, she contributed in the organizing of various art performances. In her most recent position, she was employed by Minas Designs in the context of a photography exhibition ‘Clarity of Shapes’ at the Benaki Museum. With a BA in International and European Studies, and an MSc in Culture and Conflict in a Global Europe, from the university of London School of Economics and Political Science, Eva’s will is to explore the broadness of arts environments and the interconnectedness of culture between the political and public realms.
Odette Kouzou
Odette Kouzou (1994) is a curator and researcher based in Athens, Greece. She holds a Masters’s Degree in Performance Studies from Tisch School of the Arts / NYU (2019) in the United States and a BA Degree in Art History and Theory Department from Athens School of Fine Arts (2017). Her curatorial research and practice focus on contemporary and performance art cases, operating through the lens of various feminisms and critical studies. In 2020 she was nomitated as an emerging curator for the NEON Curatorial Exchange 2020, an initiative organised by the Whitechapel Gallery in London and supported by NEON Organisation in Athens. She has worked and collaborate with both institutional and independent organizations such as Snehta Residency, Ύλη [matter]HYLE, Art Athina 2019 and Documenta 14.
Theoni Androulidaki
Theoni Androulidaki is an incoming History of Art student, currently finishing her undergraduate studies in Business Management at the University of Bath. Prior to joining Greece in USA, she has worked and collaborated with Documenta14 as part of the Shortness of Breath project and has interned in NEON Organisation in Athens, supporting the City Project. Having lived in London, she gained experience on touring exhibitions and collections during her time working in The Exhibition Agency. Moving forward, she strives to combine her Management studies and year of work in asset management, with her passion and continued interaction with the art world.
Effie Rama
Effie Rama is a production associate. She graduated in Florence, Italy with a Bachelor’s in Interior & Product Design. Effie has experience working with the Marubi National Museum of Photography, the Art House; both in Shkodër, Albania, and at Victoria Square Project, a nonprofit cultural organization; in Athens, Greece, where she assisted with mediation, events, exhibitions, and translations. She hopes to further cultivate her skills in exhibition design and production so she can assist and mediate between artists, artworks, and spaces, and how to create a symbiotic relationship between these components and the public.
Adam Brown
Adam Brown is a visual artist. He received his BA from Bard College and currently works as communications associate at Third Eye Collective. He joined the Opening Art Initiative in 2022 as Gallery Associate at Opening Gallery in Tribeca, New York focusing on communications and organization development.
As Featured In
ABOUT
Artists:
Artists:
PROJECTS
Argyropoulou Yota/Michalis Konstantatos (Blindspot theatre group)
Projects:
Chatzipavlidou Despina & Mouriadou Anthi
Projects:
Markopoulou Yolanda (Mind the Fact)
Projects:
Migliaressi-Phoca Olga & Damaskou Despoina
Projects:
Papakonstantinou Elli (ODC Ensemble)
Projects:
Stylianidou Vassiliea (aka Franck-Lee Alli-Tis)
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VASKOS (Vassilis Noulas & Kostas Tzimoulis)
Projects:
ARTISTS