Festival Curation
Designing programs and curatorial frames for festivals as spaces of participation, translation, access, and encounter.
Curator | Producer | Networker
Sepehr Sharifzadeh
International collaboration and mobility consultant for festivals, institutions, and performing arts.
In a very real sense, we are all aliens on a strange planet. We spend most of our lives reaching out and trying to communicate. If during our whole lifetime, we could reach out and communicate with just two people, we are indeed very fortunate.
Gene Roddenberry
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What I Do
International Mobility
Advising artists, producers, and institutions on touring, co-production, funding realities, and cross-border collaboration.
Cultural Strategy
Supporting festivals, networks, and initiatives with program design, dramaturgical thinking, and international positioning.
Facilitation & Mentorship
Giving keynotes, moderating conversations, mentoring artists, and creating rooms for shared inquiry on equity, solidarity, and care.
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Projects
Founder
PADA
Producers, Agents and Distributors Alliance: a peer network of 180 performing arts professionals across more than 30 countries, advancing horizontal collaboration and knowledge-sharing.
Curator · Executive Producer
New Narrative Showcase
An online platform connecting Iranian contemporary theatre artists with international curators, producers, and festival directors through showcases, pitches, workshops, and a digital catalogue.
Co-founder · Co-programmer
Re-connect
A volunteer-led online performance festival launched during the global lockdown, bringing together artists, panels, and audiences across geographies.
Co-curator · Producer
Micro-theatre Festival
A research-oriented festival structure in Iran combining monthly performances, concentrated festival days, panels, lectures, and cross-disciplinary experimentation.
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Advisory
Sepehr advises festivals, networks, artists, and cultural institutions on international collaboration, cultural mobility, curatorial strategy, access, and the politics of exchange.
Live Arts Lab New York Program Advisor
External Evaluator in Several Funding Schemes
Former IETM Advisory Committee Co-chair
Salzburg Global Seminar Fellow
ISPA Fellow
The Festival Academy Alumnus
KASK Curatorial Studies
About
From creating works to creating contexts.
Current practice · 2026-present
East-West Divan
East-West Divan is Sepehr's independent arts and cultural exchange practice, building artistic bridges between the SWANA region and Europe through project strategy, festival programming, co-production, curation, and mobility support.
Sepehr Sharifzadeh is a curator, festival researcher, and cultural intermediary originally from Iran, now based in France. His practice bridges performing arts, cultural policy, and international collaboration, with a focus on building meaningful connections across artistic communities and geographies.
Originally trained as a playwright and having worked as a filmmaker and actor with several national awards and international recognition early in his career, Sepehr later shifted his focus from creating works to creating contexts, moving into production, curation, and cultural facilitation.
Over more than 13 years, he has worked across Europe, Australia, and Iran, developing market opportunities, advising festivals, and creating platforms for underrepresented artists and isolated communities. His work consistently seeks to shape spaces where collaboration can emerge from genuine encounter and mutual care.
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