Funding is awarded through Musicboard Berlin GmbH upon recommendation of an independent jury of Berlin-based pop experts and in consultation with the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion. Jury members are usually appointed for a period of three years. The following jury is currently appointed to the Festival Funding as well as the funding programmes Karrieresprungbrett Berlin and Pop im Kiez:
EDNA MARTINEZ
Edna Martinez is DJ and Music curator at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin. Martinez was born and grew up in Colombia. She holds a Diploma in Visual Arts/Photography from the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig, and takes parts in the curatorial advanced training at Universität der Künste Berlin. She is the woman behind projects like El Volcán, a unique night in Germany which showcases picó Sound System culture from the Colombian Caribbean, and LatinArab, which trades the Arab migration in the Caribbean and its diaspora. She also moderates a monthly show on NTS and often collaborates with RadioAlhara.
MELISSA KOLUKISAGIL
Melissa Kolukisagil has been involved in the music scene for several years, taking on a wide variety of roles, from curation to production at festivals, concerts and clubs. In August 2019, she was selected for the vut association’s mentoring programme for women, trans and non-binary people in the music business. That same year, she launched her own passion project İç İçe, a festival dedicated to new Anatolian music, which has meanwhile has succeeded beyond Berlin, touring in Heidelberg, Vienna, Hamburg, and Munich. Since August 2020, she has also been running the project Diversitygerechtes Ausgehen in Berlin, a cooperation between the association Eine Welt der Vielfalt and the Clubcommission, where she pushes for structural change within the nightlife industry, making it less discriminatory while also increasing the visibility of diversity in the cultural sector.
SILVIA SILKO
Silvia Silko is a pop culture journalist. She has been a fixed member of Tagesspiegel’s editorial team for three years, overseeing a small team that focuses mainly on the cultural happenings in Berlin. Furthermore, she writes about music, feminism, and pop culture for the cultural and society section, also occasionally appearing as a guest on radioeins’ Soundcheck programme and Deutschlandfunk’s Tonart. Previously, she worked as a freelance journalist, writing for Missy Magazine, ZEIT Online, and Musikexpress. Besides music and feminism, she’s the proud dog parent of her little Lotti and continues her months-long search for the perfect vanilla sauce recipe.
ULRICH HARTMANN
Ulrich Hartmann studied drums and performs under the name Ullamatombak with his solo setup of organ, drums and loop station. He regularly works as a musical director and stage artist at theaters across Germany. Since 2018, he has been project director of luftsprung live, the funding programme for chronically ill musicians of the Frankfurt-based aktion luftsprung foundation. He has been a member of the board of trustees of the luftsprung campus scholarship since 2015. Between 2021 and 2022, he co-hosted the inclusive online talk show ›Der Mach Dein Ding Talk‹ with activist Raul Krauthausen.
WIELAND KRÄMER
Wieland Krämer studied sociology and political science in Marburg – but never worked in academia. In Berlin, he has been organising international tours with Powerline Agency since the early 90s, founded the music publishing company Flirt99, and served as manager for Stereo Total – but never really wanted to work in the music business. Playing bass in several Hamburg punk and post-punk bands, he recorded a few albums and toured through clubs big and small – but never considered himself a musician. He is a supporting member of Flüchtlingsrat Berlin e. V. and Kontakt- und Beratungsstelle für Flüchtlinge und Migrant_innen e. V. and plays basketball on Mondays.
