Our Consultative Council has changed its shape. Several people, due to an overabundance of responsibilities, have ended their cooperation with us. However, we have invited new activists and activists. They are active in the space of ecology and shaping public spaces, among others.
The new composition of the Consultative Council is as follows:
Andrzej Bogdanowicz – has a secondary vocational education, retired for 5 years, still socially active. Social activist and activist for 30 years. Originator and founder of the Association of MS Patients, was president of the association for more than 20 years. Creator of the Rehabilitation Center for MS patients. Co-founder of the Silesian NGO Forum KAFOS and vice president for many years. In 1998 honored with a special award and statuette “Ordinary Unusual”. In 2009 honored with the “Super Lodołamacz” statuette of the Silesian Province. Co-founder and active organizer of the action ,,Urban Jungle” in Katowice 11 editions. Chairman of the Senior Citizens Club at KAFOS for 4 years.
Agnieszka Bugno-Janik – architect, urban planner, is engaged in scientific research, didactic work at the Faculty of Architecture of the Silesian University of Technology and inclusive design for residents. She works with local governments, community organizations and groups of residents, supporting processes of change in cities. She designs interiors, houses and urban space, and supports the activities of urban movements and community organizations. She is co-founder of the Silesian Urban Lab, which aims to bring activists and residents together with scientists. She recently enjoyed the Planty Godula in Ruda Śląska, completed last year, where as part of the project team she was responsible for, among other things, activities with residents. She enjoys traveling to out-of-the-way places, disappearing into the woods and swimming in the Mazurian Lake District. She loves dogs. Culture, in her opinion, is about relationships – what connects us and everything that results from relationships – such as the quality of the space in which we live.
Anna Dęboń – educator, art therapist, educational activist, leader and president of the dOPAmina lab Association, mother of two teenagers, social advocate for children’s rights and the rights of learners, creator of the O!PA brand (a place of therapy and education for children and adolescents), co-initiator of the movement for women’s rights “Everyone is important”, expert on the subject. leadership supporting well-being, and relational culture in schools, teams, organizations, a lady of collaboration, a member of the Watchdog Poland Civic Network and the Parents for the Climate Parents of Future movement, passionate about intuitive dance and contemporary dance, sticking things out of clay, fulfilling dreams of travel, finding peace in the woods.
Dagmara Gumkowska – a graduate of Cultural Studies (specializations: film and theater studies), Postgraduate Studies in Journalism and Media Communication and Postgraduate Studies in Management in Culture, Art and Cultural Tourism. On a daily basis, she works as an international cooperation and impresariat specialist at the Silesian Theater; she is a program curator of the OPEN THE DOOR International Festival organized. She is the winner of the Golden Mask in the Special Award category for her original artistic concept of the “HartOFFanie Teatrem” project and shaping the artistic program of the International Festival “Teatromania” in Bytom. He likes to search and discover. He likes to tell stories. She likes meetings, getting to know new people and phenomena. She is interested in contemporary theater, especially experimental theater; performance; contemporary art, especially new media art, video art, cinema. She also loves traveling. Culture is a natural environment for her. An inseparable part of life, a way of dialoguing with the world, trying to understand it, seeking her own path in it and trying to communicate with others. It is also a chance to tame new social phenomena, to become aware of belonging to a community – a community of people troubled by similar anxieties, doubts, facing difficulties, looking for solutions, asking questions.
Waldemar Jan – graduate of social sciences and political science at the University of Silesia and postgraduate studies in negotiation and mediation at the Upper Silesian Academy. He works at the Association Factory of Local Initiatives. For nearly 25 years he has been professionally associated with Katowice’s Nikiszowice, in (and about) which he revitalizes, presides, educates, creates, manages… And from which he sometimes escapes to various places and institutions to help in activities that foster the development of local communities. Among his most important achievements he counts… passing the high school math exam. Then it was downhill from there – changing Nikiszowiec, the Zimbardo Center, Jarmark Na Nikiszu… In life, he seeks the golden mean, trying to believe that people are generally cool, although it seems to him that, unfortunately, at least half of them are not. He hopes to run into the latter half as rarely as possible. He is passionate about synthesizers, tomatoes from his home garden and making something out of nothing. Culture for him is something between Sagrada Familia, rodeo, Wojciech Kilar and carminade… And some three or four hundred more words. His whole life is Upper Silesia: Bytom, Chorzow, Katowice, Siemianowice Slaskie… With all its baggage. With and without borders, today as part of the Metropolis. Filled to the brim, ready to discover and explore. And that’s why…
Halina Khalymonyk – a project manager in the media and culture sector and editor from Ukraine, has lived in Gliwice since March 2022. She works as a journalist for Gazeta Wyborcza in Katowice and the international magazine Sisters.eu. Her main areas of interest include the history of Ukrainian refugees, the process of integration into the Polish community. In Ukraine, she has been an organizer of many cultural events for the local community and acts as an ambassador for community cultural projects.
Arnika Kluska – a political scientist by education, a civil servant by profession, a Silesian at heart. For 10 years she worked on acquiring grants for culture and cultural heritage in the Office of the Marshal of the Silesian Voivodeship, cooperated in the creation of the Technological Monuments Route and the organization of INDUSTRIADY. Street screamer, feminist, activist for the LGBTQ+ community. Social activist, she co-organized Manifa, black protests and the Katowice Equality Marches. Member of the collective Silesia Przegięty. Graduated from the Academy of Articulated Songs, performs and entertains with an entertainer as drag queer Aunt Rajcula. She exalts that there is no life without dogs, cats and art. She likes bad cinema and dislikes discrimination. She believes that culture is for telling the truth and nurturing relationships, and that art will save us. He believes that GZM deserves the title of European Capital of Culture 2029, because the people who live in the region deserve a haymaker that recognizes them and that they co-create.
Oliwia Myczkowska – a young activist and social entrepreneur. She has already worked in 20 NGOs and many project teams, including the Youth Climate Strike, which she represents on the council. She is also president of BEE HEALTHY HONEY, co-organizer of numerous events, founder of the international psychological initiative NO PAIN IN YOUR BRAIN and the pro-freedom social campaign Vote.Land. Currently, she supports young people in the implementation of social actions and has advisory roles (including as an expert for MRM Katowice). She is a humanist with an artistic soul. She loves to come up with creative solutions to relevant problems. She wishes to use her abilities to have a positive impact on reality.
Dr Jerzy Parusel – a graduate of the Forestry Department of the Agricultural Academy in Cracow, interuniversity Postgraduate Study of Nature Protection in Cracow, Postgraduate Study of Museology at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow and doctoral studies at the Department of Biology and Environmental Protection at the University of Silesia in Katowice, forester, botanist, phytosociologist, zoologist, ecologist, nature researcher and nature photography enthusiast. In 1980-1994, scientific and research assistant and curator of the Babia Góra National Park Museum. Member of the Editorial Board of the quarterly “Pod Diablakiem” (1990-1994). Organizer and long-term director of the Upper Silesian Natural Heritage Center in Katowice (1994-2020), the only unit of provincial self-government in Poland, acting for the benefit of nature from 1994 to 2022. Initiator, creator and coordinator of many projects in the development of, among others: regional red lists of threatened species and plant communities, the concept of ecological corridors, strategies for nature protection, the database on nature of the Silesian province BIOGEO-SILESIA ORSIP. Active in the fields of science, nature conservation, education and publishing. Author and co-author of 580 publications, including more than 280 scientific ones. Long-time member of the Regional Council for Nature Protection in Katowice (1992-2020), serving many times as Deputy Chairman. Member of the Committee on Nature Protection of the Polish Academy of Sciences during the 2007-2011 term. Since 2010, he has been a lecturer at the Stefan Myczkowski Postgraduate Study of Nature Protection at the University of Agriculture in Cracow. Member of national and foreign scientific societies. Long-time editor of the publications of the Upper Silesian Nature Heritage Center, including the quarterly “Nature of Upper Silesia” published from 1995-2020. From 2016-2022 member of the Ecological Forum under the Director General of the State Forests. From 2022, member of the Expert Committee on Climate and Space at the Ombudsman. Awarded in 2009 with a diploma of recognition “Green Cheques” by the Provincial Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management in Katowice for multifaceted popularization of environmental education and fostering respect for the nature of Upper Silesia. In 2022, he was awarded for his activities for nature protection with the “Eagle Pen” of the Club of Naturalists for his merits in the protection of Polish nature, especially Upper Silesia, and the popularization of natural knowledge as a long-time director of the Upper Silesian Nature Heritage Center and editor of the quarterly “Nature of Upper Silesia.”
Agnieszka Stefaniak-Zubko – political scientist by education, specialist in local government, city and public relations. A Sosnowiec woman by birth and by passion. For 15 years she described the local reality in the media, including Gazeta Wyborcza Sosnowiec. Co-owner of Projekt Marka, a strategic marketing agency and local brand Zagłębiarki – good design from Zagłębie Dąbrowskie. Co-author of permanent exhibitions in urban spaces: Gallery under the Women’s Rights Roundabout in Sosnowiec and Known Zagłębian Women/Known Zagłębiecy. She focuses her social activities around the themes of improving the quality of life in the city, including the areas of culture, mobility, ecology and social activation of female residents. In July 2023, she decided that she would walk all 705 streets of Sosnowiec and has already completed more than 50% of the plan. She invites others to join her in the walk as part of the It’s all about Sosnowiec project.
Justyna Szklarczyk-Lauer – Doctor of Art in the field of design arts. Academic teacher. Professional successes: dean of the Faculty of Graphic Arts, Painting and Design, and then of the Faculty of Design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice (2006-2012), head of the Department of Graphic Design (2012-2020), head of part-time studies at the Academy of Fine Arts (2012-2020). He also counts among his accomplishments: (almost) cooking dinner every day for 5 people with different culinary preferences, converting 600 pages of tables on Katowice’s budget into a 24-page visualization, the so-called Katowice City Budget in a Nutshell every year (since 2015), abstaining from smoking tobacco products every year from October 1 to May 31 (for the past 5 years). The list of her successes also includes: supervising doctorates entitled Art Exhibition as a Service for a Hearing Doctoral Student, Dictionary of Art in Sign Language g/Deaf Doctoral Student, learning about the Rava River bed and creating the Rava River Color Pattern, and about 100 graduates who defended between 2014 and 2023 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice and the Faculty of Art at the University of Ostrava, and who hopefully now have a better understanding of how design can help someone. Life idea: The world suffers from an excess of things and images. Before you create anything, think carefully about whether it is really needed. Her passions are people, help, work, design, reading, cooking, food and dogs.
Dominik Tokarski – a sociologist, works as an accountant and is also an entrepreneur – he co-runs the bistro “Frykasy” and also online stores: Katowice KATO and saucer YY. Outside of work, he is active in the third sector as head of the NEON Katowice Foundation. For 13 years he ran the KATO bar, which was an important cultural spot on the city map. He also co-founded the Geszeft store. He was active in the My City Association (Concrete Cube competition, Super Units, collecting old neon signs and many others). He was also the originator of the summer project KATOZWEI, and the pop-up cafe YY on the terraces of Spodek. He conceived and produced a booklet on modernist architecture called KATOZESZYT with his team. He is interested in urban sociology in the broadest sense, all activities that occur in the city. He collects glass from the Ząbkowice Economic Glassworks in Dąbrowa Górnicza. He likes modernist architecture. He is interested in issues related to life, culture, society and functioning in the GDR. He enjoys going to the woods for walks with his dog, and is passionate about plants – those on balconies, in gardens and in urban areas. His idea in life: Locality is a value. Culture, in his opinion, is a collection of various factors that surround us, nurture us, have a direct impact on us and shape us and our relationships and everything that follows. The ECC title can give us a kick start!
Wiktor Wysocki – a student of the 3rd C. K Norwid High School in Bedzin. Passionate about acting and a social activist. Guest actor at the Rawa Theater. Co-founder of the informal group Dance for Stress and Young Scene. Loves theater, nature and good food. Spirituality and looking inside himself are his other self. He loves reading books, especially those on personal development. He believes that change starts with us. Therefore, his biggest priority in life is to do good.
Piotr Wójcik – master’s degree in political science, journalist, publicist, writer. Member of the editorial board of Krytyka Polityczna, regular contributor to Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, Tygodnik Powszechny and Przewodnik Katolicki, author of a series of crime novels “Metropolia”. He is passionate about Paradox strategy games, turn-based strategies (Civilization), RPGs and Football Manager. He likes to spend his time at the gym, running or dancing to techno music. Culture is a key tool for him to critique reality and explore/discover human behavior. The title of ECC is due to GZM, because the potential dormant for years in the Metropolis is finally slowly awakening, so it is worth giving it another developmental boost. The diverse social structure of the agglomeration’s residents makes it an ideal place for artists to draw inspiration from.