Dr. Petya Koleva
is a European expert based in Sofia, founder of the research and consultancy company Intercultura Consult (2004), specialised in innovation for the arts and creative sectors.
Dr. Koleva is the author of analytical report "Collaboration and Innovation Analytical Study on the Northern Dimension Countries“ covering opportunities, practices and innovation policy of the NDPC, 2021.
She is currently leading the ICC team in its third project incubating cultural organisations to adapt to the digital shift and of hybrid cultural practices as well as build vitality in their audience engagement. The project „Collaboration or Hybrid Sustainability Cultural and Creative Industries, supported by the Creative Europe programme of the EU is an international collaboration project involving partners in five European countries (BG, RS, EL, DK, IT). It provides capacity building, networking, and cascade funding to the participating organisations to pilot new cultural/mixed offers and services, including green and sustainable tourism.
Projects led by Intercultura consult in 2023 include "Vitality" -an initiative that supports the cultural sector and creative industries in Bulgaria and Humans at Play: Creators and Users focusing on the video game industry as a creative industry with significant economic potential in Bulgaria. Both projects are realised with the support of the National "Culture" Fund, Bulgaria and in collaboration with Bulgarian and international experts, including industry partners, cultural organisations and academic institutions.
For the last 18 years Dr. Koleva has been providing expertise to the Research Executive Agency and to the European Education and Culture Executive Agency of the European Commission; she was key expert of several Eastern Partnerships as well as sector specific (e.g. Cultural heritage) EU policy and innovation initiatives for the cultural and creative sectors.
Dr. Koleva holds a PhD in Economics of Culture from the,University of National and World Economy, Sofia; an MA (with Distinction) in Society and Politics from the CEU, Budapect/Warsaw and is a post-academic research Laureate in Theory of the Jan van Eyck (art) academy, Maastricht, Nl. She has specialised with the European Institute for the Media, Dusseldorf, DE and holds an MA in English Philology and British Studies from the VTU, Bulgaria as well as an A level Diploma with specialised knowledge of Russian Language and Literature.
Dr Koleva started her career in international research and innovation with the European League of Institutes of the Arts in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. When she moved back to Sofia, she launched the first specialised courses on "Cultural Entrepreneurship and Innovation" and on "Network Entrepreneurship and Social Networks" at NATFA "Krastyo Sarafov" in Sofia. Since 2009 she has offered specialised seminars to Cultural professionals in the Balkan region and to associations working with Music and Contemporary arts as well as to Arts Councils and international foundations and has acted as an advisor of the European Cultural Foundation, the National Fund for Culture Bulgaria, Plovdiv and Sofia municipal programmes for culture and capacity building.
She works in Bulgarian, English, Russian and French. As well as uses Dutch, Spanish, German and Polish languages.
