WOMEX 2015 Announces Program Jury

World music expo WOMEX has announced the names of the two members of the jury that will select conference program. WOMEX 2015 will take place in Budapest, Hungary, October 21 – 25, 2015.

The two conference Samurai for 2015 are (in alphabetical order):

– Jody Ackland (Ireland), City of London Festival
– Mehmet Dede (Turkey/USA), Drom

Jody Ackland

Jody Ackland is the Creative Programmer for the City of London Festival, an independent project consultant and agent for Irish acts including ALDOC, Donal Lunny’s TRIAD and NOTIFY.

She started her career with Scotland’s Heart Beat World Music in 1988 and has since programmed Dublin’s Project Arts Centre, produced love:live music, Ireland’s National Music Day and was the founding director and programmer of the Festival of World Cultures; for which she received a Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Public Service Excellence Award.

Mehmet Dede

Mehmet Dede is a curator, festival producer, educator and art presenter. He has produced concerts at influential American institutions like Lincoln Center, Central Park SummerStage and Kennedy Center in Washington DC.

He is the co-founder of the NY Gypsy Festival and currently serves as Programming Director at music venue Drom. Previously, he worked at creative agency Giant Step and Universal Music Group.

Dede sits on the faculty at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, where he teaches concert management, curation and touring.