Team
Jamila Adler
Project Consultant social affairs and education
Jamila Adler studied sociology in Marburg und Frankfurt with a special emphasis on anti-racism migration research and gender studies. In Mainz she worked on regional and national migration policy projects as the deputy managing director of a migrants’ self-help organisation. Subsequently she became a consultant with an educational provider, advising clients on options for increasing interculturality in administrations and SMEs as well as on vocational qualifications for refugees. Most recently she was active as an educational consultant, mentoring young adult participants in a voluntary work programme. She has also been a freelance trainer since 2013, teaching people about anti-discrimination measures and enhancing diversity. She joined the Crespo Foundation as a consultant for the SABA project in 2021, helping female migrants to receive educational scholarships.
Renate Bacher
Executive Assistant
After graduating from school and training as a bilingual secretary/PA, Renate Bacher worked for various international consultancy companies and law firms. In 2012 she became Ulrike Crespo’s PA and managed her private office. This role included administering Glenkeen Garden in Ireland. After Ulli Crespo’s death she was responsible for implementing the terms of the will and administering the estate. In 2021 she oversaw the transfer of Ulli Crespo’s office to the Crespo Foundation and has since supported the foundation’s supervisory board and executive board.
Chiara Eich
Project officer art and education
Chiara Eich studied theatre, film, media and art/media/cultural education at Goethe University in Frankfurt, where she is currently taking part in a vocational training programme about the publishing and media sectors. Parallel to her studies she worked for four years as a childcare assistant at a Frankfurt primary school. She has completed internships in editorial offices and production companies for film, TV and festivals, and amassed experience as a freelance editor from 2019 to 2021. Since 2022 she has been a trainee in the aesthetic education and art section of the Crespo Foundation.
Dr. Natalie Failla-Grahn
Project Consultant
Dr. Natalie Failla-Grahn studied sociology at the universities of Mainz and Malta. Her empirical doctoral dissertation at the University of Vienna analysed process for integrating refugees. From 2008 onwards she held several management positions connected with migration and integration at non-profit organisations in Austria. In 2016 she made the transition to public administration in Germany, where she worked for a local authority. Her responsibilities included managing the finances and HR for up to 330 staff as well as strategic development in those fields. Dr. Failla-Grahn has been a project consultant at the Crespo Foundation since 2018.
Katrin Frank
Office Management
After graduating from high school, Katrin Frank trained in hotel management and subsequently amassed professional experience working on the front desk of various hotels in Germany and other countries. From 1995 onwards she performed roles in various companies as an executive assistant, office manager, administrator and bookkeeper. She has been part of the office management team at the Crespo Foundation since 2022.
Erik Gebbert
Project officer art and education
studied Fine Arts and Fine Arts Education (Diploma) at the Braunschweig University of Art (HBK) and has been a master student of Asta Gröting (Sculpture) since 2015. During his studies, he worked as a research assistant at the HBK Braunschweig in the fields of "Fine Arts" and "KUNST.Lehramt". He worked in several museums in Leipzig as a freelancer in art education and supported a non-profit organisation for political art in the acquisition of funding. Since 2022, Erik Gebbert has been working for the Crespo Foundation in the field of "Culture and Education" and is responsible for "The Flying Artists' Room at Schools".
Nillufar Hossaini
Project consultant social affairs and education
Nillufar Hossaini studied business with a special focus on economics at the Goethe University in Frankfurt and is currently doing her master’s degree in Iran Studies at Marburg’s Phillipps University. She has extensive experience working in international cultural policy, political education and in the field of internal and international displacement and migration. In 2019 she completed vocational training as an anti-discrimination consultant. Most recently she was active at Bildungsstätte Anne Frank in Frankfurt as an educational consultant and adviser for people affected by right-wing, racist and anti-Semitic violence. Since 2021 she has been a project consultant for SABA educational scholarships at the Crespo Foundation.
Guriya Ismailova
Office Management
From 2009 until 2011, Guriya Ismailova completed a diploma in business, bookkeeping and accounting at the Dagestan State Technical University in Makhachkala, Russia. After coming to Germany she took her secondary school certificate (Hauptschulabschluss) as a mature student from 2015 to 2016 with the help of a SABA scholarship from the Crespo Foundation. Between 2017 and 2020 she trained part-time in office management at VbFF, an association that supports women with their careers, and at the partner organisation AWO Hessen Süd e.V. in Frankfurt. She has been part of the office management team at the Crespo Foundation since 2021.
Hanna Knell
Project consultant art and education
Hanna Knell studied theatre, film, media, visual anthropology, and theatre and orchestra management in Frankfurt and Seville. Since 2010 she has been working in a range of roles as cultural manager, dramaturge, and press officer at Frankfurt institutions such as the Weltkulturen Museum, Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt University of Music and the Performing Arts (HfMDK), and in the freelance dance and performance scene. In 2018 she was the artistic and organisational director of the site-specific performance festival IMPLANTIEREN, and headed the experimental performance venue Frankfurt LAB from 2018 until 2021. She has been with the Crespo Foundation since 2021 as a consultant in the dance and cultural education section.
Laura Kurtz
Project consultant art and education
Laura Kurtz studied cultural, theatre and orchestra management in Freiburg, Breda (Netherlands) and Frankfurt. While still a student she worked for Alte Oper Frankfurt, in the voice and musical theatre departments of the Frankfurt University of Music and the Performing Arts (HfMDK) and coordinated projects on a freelance basis for the Frankfurter Museums-Gesellschaft cultural association. After completing her master’s degree at the HfMDK she also directed several productions for the 2016 Wiesbaden Biennale 2016 at Staatstheater Wiesbaden. Parallel to that she was an associate for cultural education with Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain, where she led and developed the Kunstvoll development programme targeting projects for children and teenagers. At the Crespo Foundation she is responsible for projects connected with culture and education.
Nicole Lustig
Project consultant social affairs and education
Nicole Lustig studied education at the Goethe University in Frankfurt with a special focus on adult education and extracurricular education for teenagers as well as counselling. With many years under her belt as a counsellor for education, careers and employment, she also performed various management tasks connected with vocational, general and consumer education from 2009 onwards. Her role focused mainly on the needs and specific problems of people who would benefit from high-quality educational intervention, both in terms of their jobs and personal lives. At the Crespo Foundation she is responsible for the TELLUS programme, which takes the motto ‘teaching together, learning from each other’.
Yvonne Nünlist
TELLUS project consultant
Yvonne Nünlist studied history at the University of Zurich. Her career has taken her from being an equal opportunities officer for a Swiss canton and a research associate at a Swiss vocational education project into cultural management. In Zurich she was the press officer for Theater am Neumarkt, the production manager for numerous independent theatre and dance companies, and was responsible for staging the dance event Tanztag Zürich. Most recently she was the project manager for a renowned artistic agency in Frankfurt. Yvonne Nünlist has been working at the Crespo Foundation since 2021 on the TELLUS programme, which has the motto ‘teaching together, learning from each other’.
Dr. Maja Pflüger
Head of strategic implementation and funding management
Dr. Maja Pflüger studied German and geography in Tübingen and Hamburg. After initially working in publishing and the theatre, she did her doctorate on theatre studies. She then worked at Toruń University in Poland for three years as a German language and literature editor for the German Academic Exchange Service. Subsequently she was in charge of Ulm University’s German as a foreign language division. In 2000 she joined the Robert Bosch Stiftung, where she headed the International Cultural Exchange, International Education and Immigration Society teams. Dr. Pflüger has completed training in process consulting and agile coaching. She has been working in strategic implementation and funding management at the Crespo Foundation since 2022.
Ana Phuladze
Office Management
Ana Phuladze studied business administration and finance at Ilia State University in Tbilisi, Georgia. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree she came to Germany in 2011, where she passed the DSH German language test for prospective students. In 2014 she started studying sociology and business at the Goethe University in Frankfurt, and in 2023 she undertook vocational training in SAP ERP 6.0 Controlling (CO) with an additional qualification in financial accounting (FI). She has been working in the office management team at the Crespo Foundation since 2023.
Dr. Sandra Poppe
WORTMELDUNGEN project consultant
Dr. Sandra Poppe was a student of literature, Romance languages and book studies in Mainz und Dijon. After her doctorate on comparative media she worked as a research associate and junior professor for general and comparative literature at Mainz University. Most recently she headed the office coordinating the university’s research focus on media convergence. Parallel to that she completed an intensive course in managing foundations at the European Business School in Winkel, Austria. Dr. Poppe has been a project consultant at the Crespo Foundation since 2013, where she heads the WORTMELDUNGEN programme, which awards literary prizes for short texts written in German.
Gianna Raser
Project consultant social affairs and education
Gianna Raser studied art history, German and psychology to master’s level in Koblenz und Heidelberg. Subsequently she completed a traineeship at Stiftung Kunst und Kultur Nantesbuch (formerly ALTANA Kulturstiftung), where she worked on the educational programme. For four years she headed a project for cultural education at a special needs school in Frankfurt, while also completing further part-time training in people-centred consulting. She has been with the Crespo Foundation since 2018 with responsibility for the TELLUS programme, which takes ‘teaching together, learning from each other’ as its motto.
Olivia Sarma
Project consultant social affairs and education
Olivia Sarma studied cultural anthropology, Romance languages and art education at the Goethe University in Frankfurt and at the Sapienza Università di Roma. As a qualified trainer focusing on migration and diversity and a systemic consultant, she has focused on the themes of racism, discrimination and empowerment since 2010. Up until 2020, she headed response, an advice centre at Bildungsstätte Anne Frank for those affected by right-wing, racist and anti-Semitic violence. Since then she has been based at the Crespo Foundation, where she is responsible for the SABA project, which provides educational scholarships for migrants.
Katja Schaffer
Project consultant art and education
Katja Schaffer studied theatre, film, media and cultural anthropology in Frankfurt and Seville, and has additionally completed a commercial apprenticeship. Over the course of her career she has worked in various sectors, specialising in communication, marketing, and event management. In 2018/19 she participated in the publishing and media vocational training programme at Goethe University in Frankfurt. After working on a freelance basis for clients such as the City of Frankfurt’s culture department, she has been part of the team at the Crespo Foundation since summer 2020, responsible for the WORTMELDUNGEN project, which awards literary prizes for short texts.
Friederike Schönhuth
Head of cultural affairs and education
Friederike Schönhuth studied visual communication with a specialism in sculpture at the Hessen State University of Art and Design in Offenbach as well as art history and sociology at the Goethe University in Frankfurt. After working freelance for foundations and museums in Frankfurt during her studies, she became an associate for fine art and curator of the ars viva prize for the Association of Arts and Culture of the German Economy at the Federation of German Industries, based in Berlin. From 2010 to 2016 she headed the cultural education department of Stiftung Kunst und Natur at its sites in Bad Homburg und Munich. She has been with the Crespo Foundation since 2016, project managing the concept and implementation of aesthetic education and art projects. Since 2020 she has been in charge of her own agency for art and cultural education, called RED PONY. In that same year she also took over the development and expansion of the existing culture and education programme.
Lena Sobczinski
Executive Assistant
Lena Sobczinski graduated in Frankfurt with a bachelor’s degree in German and empirical linguistics. After completing a traineeship at Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, she worked at Museum MMK für Moderne Kunst and the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company. Lena Sobczinski has been executive assistant to the Crespo Foundation’s board since 2023.
Cora Stein
Head of education and social affairs
Cora Stein studied cultural anthropology and European ethnology as well as Romance languages and historical ethnology at the Goethe University in Frankfurt and Università La Sapienza in Rom. Having focused on migration research and urban culture in her studies, she has since worked on a range of intercultural projects and in the fields of integration and social work.
In 2006 she became project manager for the SABA project, which provides educational scholarships to migrants. In the years that followed she was a consultant responsible for designing and implementing programmes for the Crespo Foundation, focusing on accompanying people through their educational journey, families, and aesthetic education. Since 2020 she has been responsible for developing and expanding existing educational and social projects.
Jana Weyer
Project Officer Art and Education
studied European Art History and English Studies (B.A.) in Heidelberg and Leeds and Cultural Education (M.A.) in Ludwigsburg. During her studies, she worked as a research assistant at the University of Stuttgart and as a working student at the Robert Bosch Stiftung. She worked as a freelancer in art education at several museums. After a one-year traineeship at the Crespo Foundation in the field of "Culture and Education", Jana Weyer has been working as a project officer at the German Children and Youth Foundation (DKJS) since 2022 and is responsible for the Crespo Foundation's "Flying Artists' Room in the Neighbourhood".