Margarita Vladimirova

Monday, 18 May - Workshop Measuring what matters: Social impact and shared data practices in festivals

Margarita Vladimirova is a cultural manager, creative (re)searcher and practitioner with a background in music, visual arts, cultural studies, art education and cognitive science. She is interested in creativity as both an individual cognitive process and a collective social resource. She sees art and culture as generators of meaning and creative forward motion across fields, connecting education, scientific research, technology, industry and social innovation. 

Margarita represents Krakow Festival Office (KBF), one of Poland’s leading municipal cultural institutions, developing festivals and long-term cultural initiatives that connect artistic excellence with public value, audience development, urban culture, and international collaboration. 

She began her path in culture 20 years ago as a volunteer at film and art festivals and has worked professionally in the creative sector for 15 years. She has developed over 70 cultural projects, exhibitions, festivals, and educational programmes, from local formats to large international events, as well as socially engaged workshops with children, adults, people with disabilities, and incarcerated individuals. Before joining KBF, she managed and curated the Academy of Fine Arts Gallery in Kraków, where she delivered exhibitions, public programmes, and art-based learning initiatives. She also worked on international heritage and research projects at the Institute of European Heritage, part of the International Cultural Centre in Kraków. 

At KBF, she works with Sacrum Profanum, an experimental festival of contemporary music; the emerging Culture Quarter in Kraków’s Wesoła district; the Observatory for Culture Trends; and FEST FORUM, a national network of festival organisers developed by KBF with the support and participation of the European Festivals Association (EFA). As project manager and Programme Board member, she co-creates FEST FORUM as a space for knowledge exchange, collaborative research and reflection on the future of festivals. 

In the EXCENTRIC SROI pilot, she brings the perspective of a cultural practitioner to impact measurement, asking how festivals can better understand and communicate the value they create for and with artists, audiences, communities, and cities.