Boards

Here you can learn more about the various committees of the Goethe-Institut as well as their tasks and members.

Board of Trustees

Advisory Boards

The task of the Advisory Boards is to provide expert advice to the Goethe-Institut in questions of principles and individual projects.

Specialized Advisory Boards
Ten specialized Advisory Boards meet for this purpose once a year.

Business and Industry Advisory Board
The Business and Industry Advisory Board is made up of leading representatives of German industry and the German Foreign Office. Project and events designed in collaboration aim to present Germany internationally with its interaction between politics, industry and culture.

Committee to the Goethe Medal
Once a year, the Goethe-Institut awards the Goethe Medal, an official decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Committee to the Goethe-Medal consisting of persons from the fields of science, literature, art and theatre pre-selects the awardees which have to be affirmed by the Board of Trustees.

Prof. Ulf Aminde, artist and Professor of Art + Design Foundation at the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee

Prof. Dr. Inés de Castro, Director Linden-Museum Stuttgart
 
Prof. Dr. Susanne Gaensheimer
, Director of the K20 K21 Art Collection North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf

Julia Grosse, Director of the art magazines Contemporary And (C&) and C& America Latina, Berlin

Prof. Dr. Susanne Leeb, Professor of Contemporary Art at the Institute for Philosophy and Art Studies (IPK) at Leuphana University Lüneburg

Dr. Mahret Ifeoma Kupka, Senior Curator, Museum Angewandte Kunst Frankfurt am Main

Dr. Matthias Mühling, Director Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, Munich
 
Dr. Ellen Strittmatter, Head of the Art Department of the ifa, Stuttgart
 
Prof. Dr. Ines Weizman
, Professor of Architectural Theory at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
 

Representative of the German Federal Government
 

Michael Hoffmann, Division 606, German Federal Foreign Office, Berlin
 
 
Representative of the Presidium
 

Oliver Scheytt, KULTUREXPERTEN Dr. Scheytt GmbH, Essen

Bettina Lantz-Okoye, Goethe-Institut Düsseldorf
 
 
As guest
 
Christiane Mennicke-Schwarz
, Artistic Director Kunsthaus Dresden, City Gallery for Contemporary Art, Dresden

Jun. Prof. Dr. Ulaş Aktaş
Universität der Künste Berlin
Fakultät Bildende Kunst

Dr. Vera Allmanritter
Leiterin des Instituts für Kulturelle Teilhabeforschung (IKTf), Berlin

Prof. Dr. Nikita Dhawan
Technische Universität Dresden
Professur für Politische Theorie und Ideengeschichte

Prof. Dr. Aladin El-Mafaalani
Universität Osnabrück
Institut für Erziehungswissenschaft

Sabine Faller
Stiftung Forum Recht
Leiterin Virtueller Standort/Digitale Strategie

Dr. Lorena Jaume-Palasi
Gründerin von The Ethical Tech Society, Berlin

Prof. Dr. Eva Horn
Institut für Germanistitk, Universität Wien
 
Anh-Linh Ngo
Arch+ Verlag GmbH, Berlin
Architekt, Autor und Mitherausgeber von ARCH+

Prof. Christoph Weckerle
Direktor des Zurich Centre for Creative Economies (ZCCE)
Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (ZHdK)

Dr. Mirjam Zadoff
Direktorin des NS-Dokumentationszentrum, München

Vertretung Präsidium:

Frau Prof. Dr. Carola Lentz

Präsidentin des Goethe-Instituts

Vertretung Auswärtiges Amt:
Petra Drexler
Auswärtiges Amt Referat 606, Referatsleiterin, Berlin

Dr. Catherine Colas, Editor for short and medium-length films at ZDF/ARTE, Mainz

Ellen Harrington, Director of Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum, Frankfurt/Main

Janine Jackowski, Film producer and founder of Komplizen Film, Berlin

Anne Leppin, Manager of the German Film Academy, Berlin

Roshanak Behesht Nedjad, producer, lecturer, member of the German and European Film Academy, group leader of EAVE (European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs), Berlin

Thorsten Schaumann, Director of film festival Hofer Filmtage, Hof

Georg Seeßlen, Movie critic, cultural theorist, Kaufbeuren
 
Prof. Nathalie Singer, Professor of Experimental Radio at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Weimar 


Representing the Federal Government

Clemens Stolzenberg, Federal Foreign Office, Department 606, Berlin


Representing the Board of Trustees

Prof. Dr. Gesche Joost, Professor at the University of the Arts Berlin; design research, Berlin          

Guests

Simone Baumann, Head of German Films, Munich

Anja Flicker, Director of City Library Essen

Heike Gleibs, Head of Education, Science and Culture, Wikimedia Germany

Volker Heller, Director and General Manager of the Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin (ZLB)

Elisa Lindinger, Managing Director SUPERRR Lab, Berlin

Sven Instinske, Head of Digital Services Bücherhallen Hamburg

Frank Seeliger, Head of Library of the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau 

Çiğdem Uzunoğlu, Managing Director Stiftung Digitale Spielekultur, Berlin

Thorsten S. Wiedemann, Founder and Director of A MAZE, Berlin


Representing the Federal Government

Johanna Dietrich,  Federal Foreign Office, Division 606, Berlin


Representing the Board of Trustees

Prof. Dr. Gesche Joost, Professor at the University of the Arts Berlin; Design Research, Berlin

René Aguigah, moderator and head of department “Literature, Philosophy, Religion” Deutschlandfunk Kultur, Berlin

Olga Grjasnowa, writer, Berlin

Julia Grosse, Artistic Director “Contemporary And”, Vienna

Anna Henckel-Donnersmarck, curator and director of the Berlinale Shorts, Berlin​​​​​​​

Matthias Lilienthal, dramaturge and artistic director, Munich/Berlin

Thomas Oberender (Chairman and representative of the Presidium), author and curator, Berlin​​​​​​​

Antje Rávik Strubel, author, Potsdam​​​​​​​

Andrea Zschunke, Head of Music WDR3, Cologne​​​​​​​




Representative of the Federal Foreign Office

Ralf Beste, Federal Foreign Office, Head of the Department for Culture and Communication, Berlin


Representatives of the Goethe-Institut


Johannes Ebert, Secretary General of the Goethe-Institut

Prof. Dr. Carola Lentz, President of the Goethe-Institut e.V.

Lars Birken-Bertsch: Managing Director of the German Literature Fund

Karoline Bofinger: comics editor at the German edition of Le Monde diplomatique

Elisa Diallo: Author and Head of Book Licensing at S. Fischer Publishers.

Tanja Graf: Director of the Literaturhaus München and Managing Director of the Literaturfest München

Elżbieta Kalinowska: cultural manager, publisher and translator

Dmitry Kapitelman: writer, freelance journalist and musician

Dr. Kathrin Kunkel-Razum: Dudenverlag

Dr. Holger Pils: managing director of the Lyrik Kabinett Foundation in Munich

Dr. Michael Schmitt: 3sat Kulturzeit, Literary Critic

Antje Rávik Strubel: Author and winner of the German Book Prize 2021

Representing the Board of Trustees of the Goethe-Institut: Prof. Dr. Susan Neiman, Director of the Einstein Forum and Author

Representing the Federal Government, Division 606: Siyuan He
 

Dr. Elizabeth Beloe, Chairwoman of the Federal Association of Networks of Migrant Organizations

Prof. Dr. Naika Foroutan, Director, Head of the Department "Integration Research and Social Policy", Project Director of JUNITED

Isabell Halletz, Managing Director, Employer Association Care, Berlin

Rainer Ohliger, Board of Directors and founding member of the Network Migration in Europe e.V., Berlin

Christina Ramb, Chair of the Administrative Board of the Bundesagentur für Arbeit (BA)
 
Prof. Dr. Hannes Schammann, Professor of Migration Policy at the University of Hildesheim, Hildesheim
 
Dr. Cornelia Schu, Managing Director of the Expert Council on Integration and Migration, Berlin

Marko Walde, Chief Representative Delegate of German Industry and Commerce in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi Office


Representing the Board of Trustees

Sophie Engel, Head of Language Department and Deputy Director Goethe-Institute Serbia

Representing the Federal Government

Claudia Spahl,
deputy head of division, dpt. 605, Federal Foreign Office, Berlin

Mark Andre, composer 

Dr. Thomas Burkhalter, music ethnologist, music journalist, director of the Norient Plattform

Yesim Duman, curator, moderator

Margareta Ferek-Petric, composer, curator
 
Julia Hülsmann, 
composer, Jazz pianist

Prof. Dr. Jin-Ah Kim, musicologist

Arno Raffeiner, journalist

Lydia Rilling, curator, musicologist

Dr. Thomas Schäfer, Head of Darmstadt Summer Course

Andrea Zschunke, Head of Music WDR3
 
Representing the Federal Government
Michael Hoffmann,
Federal Foreign Office, Division 606, Berlin
 
Representing the Board of Trustees
Prof. Dr. Oliver Scheytt, 
KULTUREXPERTEN Dr. Scheytt GmbH, Essen

Guest
Prof. Martin Maria Krüger,
president of Deutscher Musikrat e.V., Bonn

Prof. Dr. Hans Jaskulsky, president of Bundesvereinigung Deutscher Chorverbände

Prof. Martin Maria Krüger, president of Deutscher Musikrat e.V.

Prof. Dr. Ulrike Liedtke, chairwoman of the federal music council conference
 
Lorenz Overbeck
, managing director of Bundesvereinigung Deutscher Orchesterverbände
 
Stefan Piendl,
 Managing Director of the German Music Council
 
Representing the Board of Trustees:
Anja Geissel,
Goethe-Institut, Ber. 42
 
Representing the Federal Government:
Michael Hoffmann
, Federal Foreign Office, Division 606, Berlin 


Prof. Dr. Karin Aguado Padilla
Line Manager German as foreign and second language, University Kassel

Prof. Dr. Olaf Bärenfänger
Head of the language center University Leipzig

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Gerhard de Haan
Head of the Institute Futur
 
Prof. Dr. Marion Grein
Head of the Master Program German as foreign language, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz

Dr. Sarah Henkelmann
Network digital education

Dr. Alfred Kotter
Director academy for teacher training and human resources management

Prof. Dr. Mandy Schiefner-Rohs
Professor for Education, Technical University Kaiserslautern
 
Prof. Dr. Torben Schmidt
Professor of English Didactics at the Institute of English Studies at Leuphana University Lüneburg
 
Prof. Dr. Christoph Schroeder
Professor of German as foreign and second language, Institute of German studies, University Potsdam
 
Prof. Dr. Erwin Tschirner
Executive Director Herder Institute Leipzig, Philological Department, University Leipzig
 
 
Representing the Board of Trustees
 
Anja Geissel

Section Language Courses German as a Foreign Language Goethe-Intitute
 
 
Representing the Federal Government:
 
Oliver Bientzle

Federal Foreign Office, Berlin
 
 
Guests
 

Prof. Dr. Anastasia Drackert
Scientific Director, g.a.s.t. / TestDaF Institute
 
Prof. Dr. Henning Lobin
Director and Chairman of the of the Executive Board, Leibniz Institute for the German Language
 
Thomas Mayer
Assistant head of government department/ Bavarian state ministry of education and cult, science and art, Munich

Dr. Sven Werkmeister
Director Strategy, German Academic Exchange Service, Bonn

Eva Behrendt, Theatre critic at Theater heute, Jury member for the Berliner Theatertreffen, Berlin

Yvonne Büdenhölzer, Director of Suhrkamp Theaterverlag, Berlin
 
Julia Dina Heße, deputy chair Assitej e.V., board member Assitej international

Bettina Masuch, Artistic director of Festspielhaus St. Pölten

Tobi Müller, Free cultural journalist, Berlin

Barbara Mundel, Artistic Director of Munich Kammerspiele

Tim Sandweg, Artistic Director of Schaubude, Berlin

Carena Schlewitt, director of the European Centre of the Arts Hellerau, Dresden

Franziska Werner, Free dramatic adviser and curator, Berlin

Julia Wissert, director of Schauspiel Dortmund, Theater Dortmund

Representing the Federal Government
VLR Petra Drexler
, Head of department 606, Berlin

Representing the Board of Trustees
Sophie Engel
, Head of the language department at the Goethe-Institut Belgrad

Prof. Dr. h.c. Roland Berger, Honorary Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Roland Berger GmbH

Christina Foerster, Member of the Executive Board, Deutsche Lufthansa AG

Dr. Immanuel Hermreck, Member of the Executive Board, Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA

Christian Kullmann, Chairman of the Executive Board, Evonik Industries AG

Dr. Nicolas Peter, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt

Dr. Ariane Reinhart, Member of the Executive Board, Continental AG

Dr. Stefan von Holtzbrinck, Chief Executive Officer, Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck

Dr. Martin Wansleben, Managing Director, German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK)

Hauke Stars, Member of the Executive Board, Volkswagen AG

Judith Wiese, Member of the Executive Board, Siemens AG

Bettina Würth, Chair Woman of the Advisory Board, Würth Group

Dr. Reinhard Zinkann, Managing Director, Miele & Cie. KG


Representing the Federal Government

Ralf Beste, Head of the Department for Culture and Society, Federal Foreign Office


Representing the Board of Trustees

Dr. Tessen von Heydebreck, 2nd Vice-President of the Goethe-Institut e. V., Former Member of the Board of Deutsche Bank AG

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