Lidia Varbanova has twenty years of professional experience in the management, training, advancement and research of national and international cultural policy development programs, capacity building and project management for cultural organisations in Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Canada and USA. She has an extensive experience internationally on diverse issues related to international cultural cooperation, cultural policy, cultural economics and arts management. Lidia consults on complex international projects on intercultural cooperation, networking, promotion, innovative fundraising, partnership building, managing cultural content online. She has considerable track records in leading international cultural events as a keynote speaker, panelist, workshop leader and moderator.

In the period 2000-2003 she has served as the Program Director of the Arts and Culture Network of the Open Society Institute (the Soros Foundation headquarter in Budapest).  She was also Head of Department of Social and Cultural Management and full time professor at the University of National and World Economy, Sofia. In her professional and academic career, she has received numerous awards and fellowships, among then: FULBRIGHT Fellowship in cultural economics; Fellowship Grant by the Japan Foundation; Project Grant by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation; ARTSLINK visiting fellowship, Scholarship by the Webb Memorial Trust, Oxford. She obtains Ph.D. in Economics, MA in Industrial Management and Minor in Journalism.

Currently Lidia is the Website Manager of the www.labforculture.org (the Laboratory of European Cultural Cooperation - an initiative of the European Cultural Foundation and partners). She also runs the Center for Intercultural and Social Development in Montreal, Canada where she lives.

Contact details:
Lidia_global@yahoo.ca