Barbara Buser is an architect and one of the pioneers of the circular economy in construction in Switzerland. As early as 1996, she founded the first building materials exchange in Basel together with Klara Kläusler. Since then, she has initiated and implemented numerous repurposing projects with her firm baubüro in situ, in collaboration with Eric Honegger. In numerous projects, she has extensively engaged with participatory urban development and the transformation of spaces.

Theresa Gehringer has been Project Manager for Promotion at the Foundation for Art, Culture and History in Winterthur since 2023 and supports museums throughout Switzerland that enable greater participation in cultural heritage. She is co-founder of the Stiftungslabor, President of the Board for Good Foundation, and former researcher on corporate philanthropy at the Center for Philanthropy Studies (CEPS). She studied business administration and sustainable development at the Universities of Bayreuth and Basel and holds a PhD in foundation management. Theresa is committed to promoting greater participation in the cultural sector and greater diversity in the Swiss foundation sector.

Andreas Geis is responsible for promoting the Foundation for Art, Culture, and History and has shaped its impact-oriented, learning-oriented, and participatory funding logic. He studied art history and sociology and holds an MBA from the University of St. Gallen. He has worked for the Körber Foundation in Hamburg and the Stapferhaus in Lenzburg, among others. He likes cultural venues that are open, take a stand, and take their audience seriously.

Amy Goedhart is an urban anthropologist and co-author of Come Stay Grow – The Art and Science of Places that Connect Us. As a researcher at includi, she investigates the social potential of places.

Her work combines research and practice: she brings together insights from different disciplines with participatory processes to develop inclusive third places together with communities.

Benedikt von Peter studied musicology, German language and literature, law, and voice in Bonn, and directs productions in the independent theater scene as well as at theaters and opera houses in Germany and Switzerland. From 2012 to 2016, he headed the musical theater department at Theater Bremen, for which he was awarded the Kurt Hübner Prize. From 2016 to 2021, he served as artistic director of the Lucerne Theater. Since the 2020–21 season, he has been artistic director and creative director of the Opera at Theater Basel. The Foyer Public there was his brainchild: it became the catalyst for a comprehensive process of change toward greater openness and structural renewal.

Anna Rose is an architect and urban planner with over twenty years of experience in the design and analysis of complex urban spaces, cultural institutions, and public places. Her work focuses on the architectural and urban quality of spaces that facilitate social interaction, cultural exchange, and informal use: key characteristics of so-called third spacesin a cultural context.

Sabine Turner is a business economist and passionate cultural manager who has held senior positions in the cultural sector for 30 years—whether in cultural marketing agencies, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, the Staatsballett Berlin, the Zurich Opera House, or most recently as CEO of the "Stiftung Zukunft Opernhaus Zürich" (Zurich Opera House Foundation). She is involved in various projects for the development of cultural buildings of the future. Her focus is on the front of house and third places.

Max Wagner is a singer and lawyer. His career has taken him to senior positions at the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the Gärtnerplatztheater, the Gasteig in Munich, and most recently to the Beisheim Foundation, where he initiated the Dritte Orte (Third Places) program at four cultural institutions in Munich.