The Board of Trustees
The Board of Trustees acts as a creative and advisory body. Comments and suggestions can be sent via e-mail to kuratorium@berlin-music-commission.de.
Thor Hagedorn – La By’le
Music Production, Label & Diversity
Thor Diogo Hagedorn (Pronoun He/him, born in Bremen) is a rapper, singer, producer, dj, eventmanager, mentor and visual artist. Hip-Hop, graffiti, Capoeira along with traditional and urban Brazilian sounds have a central role in the establishment of his artist sound and image.
Thor began his musical career as an autodidact in the late 90s and worked with local and international artists over the next few years. He has a B.A. in Literature and Latin American studies. In 2017 he founded the Tropical Bass collective La By’le together with Luana Madikera, Tâmera Bak, Pitota, Sera Kalo and Babix, with the focus on equality of marginalized groups in their line-ups, music productions and the design of La By ‘le events. Since 2019 he has been an active mentor in the youth project Zukunftsmusik in the field of music production.
Peter Hayo – Get Physical Music
Music production, label & publishing
Peter Hayo is one of the six founders and shareholders in the Berlin label Get Physical. As managing director of the Perky Park Music production company, he has been active in the music business for over 20 years, both as a composer and producer.
Ima Johnen
Ima Johnen was born in Paris and grew up in Berlin, where she studied music and communication sciences as well as journalism. Parallel to her studies, she gained her first experience as a music journalist, founded and managed various projects such as the socio-cultural media project BLN.FM and the association CreAid e.V. with the aim of supporting and promoting refugee musicians.
After many years of working for Riverside Studios, which she helped to shape and manage, Ima Johnen set a new focus in 2023. She trained as a systemic organizational developer with a focus on transformation design and as a CSR manager. This targeted reorientation not only reflects her personal development, but also underlines her ongoing dedication to promoting sustainable practices in the cultural and creative industries. Her path is characterized by creative entrepreneurship and a clear commitment to social responsibility.
Ralf Kollmann – mobilee/ I-Am-Mgmt
Music Rights, Music Monitoring & New Revenue Streams
Ralf Kollmann formed mobilee in partnership with Anja Schneider, and what began as a side project quickly expanded into a fully-fledged career as mobilee blossomed from a small, homegrown label into a full-on music and entertainment enterprise. mobilee is committed to facing the realities of rapid change within the music industry, and adapts to technological and cultural transformations through a continual process of re-invention. More a fully-fledged company than just a traditional record label, mobilee looks towards an integrated clubbing experience, bringing label management, booking, publishing, press and artist studios together under one roof, while placing an explicit primacy on developing and utilizing innovative modes of promotion for its artists.
From 2015 to 2019 he was Executive Board Member of the AFEM (Association Of Electronic Music) representing the Rights Holders Section and pushing the Get Played Get Payed initiative which aims on changing the distribution of royalty fees by connecting track identifcation technology to the global system of Collecting Societys like GEMA, SACEM, PRS, etc. Since 2019 he is Member of the AFEM Advsiory Board.
In 2017 he joined the Board of Bridges For Music – a non-prophet organization building an academy for music education and entrepreneurship in Langa / Capetown – South Africa.
Björn Krass (Tim Thaler) – BLN.FM / Folivox
Youth work & media
Bjoern Krass (aka Tim Thaler) is a trained journalist and rhetoric coach. He founded the media service provider BLN.FM, the voice training company Thaler & Rehor and the podcast production and distribution company Folivox. Since 2012 he has been working as a freelance author for Deutschlandradio and Funkhaus Europa, among others. Between 2013 and 2018 he was a lecturer for journalism, marketing and voice training at the School of Audio Engineering in Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne. Since 2014 he has been a lecturer for journalism, voice training and creative industry management at the SRH School of popular arts (SOPA, formerly hdpk) and since 2015 he has been a lecturer for cross-media and voice training at the Business and Information Technology School. Besides his teaching activities, Bjoern Krass is a rhetoric trainer and also deputy chairman of the board of trustees of the Berlin Music Commission. Bjoern sees his task in the interaction between media, politics and business. With 20 years of cultural work in Berlin, Tim is very well connected in these areas. He also wants to connect the coming generations, whom he teaches in the universities, directly with the decision makers.
Mahide Lein – AHOI artists & events
Cultural Mediator, Event Organizer, Feminist, LGBTI- & Human Rights Activist
Born in 1949 in Frankfurt am Main, works with stars and starlets from music and all kinds of art & lifestyles – a bridge between art, culture, politics, social engagement, cross-border issues with a pleasant balance between audience and stage.
From 1968 she promoted women in the underground and avant-garde in particular; has lived in Berlin since 1977; from 1992 she also opened up to queer artists through the first Russian-German cultural exchange; because of her first trip to Africa Zimbabwe in 1996, she works with everyone on this planet and founded the concert & event agency AHOI with many festivals and concert series to maintain the joy of life. She is also a film and fashion maker, does catering and in the association www.KuenstlerHilfeJetzt.org
Olaf „Ole“ Möller – OM Consult & Event GmbH
Beratung/Förderung & Netzwerke
Olaf Möller is the political spokesman of LiveKomm (LiveMusikKommission – Verband der Musikspielstätten in Deutschland e.V.), which was founded at the end of May 2012, and was the 1st chairman of Clubcommission Berlin e.V. until the end of 2016. He is part of the project team of Music Pool Berlin, studied geography and operated – after various intermediate stations – the techno club “FATEclub” in Berlin for 5 years. In 2009 he founded the event agency “OM PartyEvents UG” and organizes himself or on behalf of the most diverse parties / events and event services, as well as supervises and advises in the field of cultural management and creative industries, among others, for the CoachingBonus program of the Investitionsbank Berlin. At the end of 2019, the agency was renamed “OM Consult & Event GmbH”.
Karin Mueller – MA Music Academy Berlin
Youth work & networking
Karin Müller is a choir director, singer, music educator, lecturer, organizer and manager. She studied school music and German language and literature (University of Potsdam), theater pedagogy (UdK Berlin) and choral conducting (Royal Academy of Music Aalborg/Denmark) and is a trained CVT singer (Complete Vocal Technique).
Karin is the founder and director of the pop/jazz choir Moving Colours and initiated the Landesjugendchor Berlin together with Carsten Albrecht.
She is networked worldwide in the a cappella choir scene and repeatedly brings ensembles to Berlin for high-profile concerts.
Since 2019, Karin has been leading the [MA] Music Academy Berlin, a private music school for modern music instruction. Here she has created a place where people of all ages can develop musically and personally, while at the same time shining outward as a cultural venue. The student body and teaching team of active artists are diverse and international, reflecting Berlin on a small scale.
Michael Sachse – Touralarm
Rainer Scheerer – Springstoff
Publishing & Network
Rainer Scheerer is in search of the development of an artistic expression through music, along the parameters of narration, identification and technology. He works as an artist manager and is the owner and founder of the music label & publishing house SPRINGSTOFF.
Christine Seraphin – Diasporic Arts Alliance
Christine Seraphin (she/they) is a professional singer-songwriter, performer, and co-founder of the newly formed metaverse concert agency Diasporic Arts Alliance. With academic and practical experience in developing safe spaces in marginalized communities, Christine has a special interest in promoting social awareness and empowering people with BPOC and FLINTA identifications through interdisciplinary approaches that include music, performing arts, and creative technology. She is an advocate for equal and fair representation of diversity in Berlin’s music industry. Christine also loves mentoring young people interested in music production and performance, and enjoys performing Caribbean, South American, and Afro-electronic music.
Natasha Silvestre – ARRUDAS PROD
Natasha grew up with a strong musical influence from her paternal family and got in touch with event production, so when she was 16 she decided to study artistic production in Lisbon, Portugal. Since then, they have worked on numerous events and festivals in Europe, gaining extensive insight into behind-the-scenes work, including Nós Alive!, Meo Sudoeste and Boom Festival.
Today, Natasha works as a software engineer with over 5 years of experience in Berlin’s fintech and startup industry. She also splits her time between founding Arrudas Prod and working as a product manager focused on finding strategic partnerships to bring Brazilian artists to Europe and promoting and producing cultural events that support diaspora culture and LGBTQAI+.
Staab – R.O.T
Management & Networking
STAAB is co-founder and partner of the artist and label collective R.O.T / respectortolerate from Berlin. His responsibilities include booking, promotion, artistic artist management, accounting and live productions. He learned drums at the conservatory in Halle and at the music academy in Weimar and played in various bands for many years. He also worked for many years as a light and show designer and as a cook.
Adele Vosper – Strawberry Curl
For Australian-born Adele Vosper – living in Berlin since 2012 – it is the combination of her love for music and dance and her talent in networking people that naturally paved the way into event management. So, alongside her main job in international healthcare, she started organizing her own concerts in 2017; the first for South Africans Sibusile Xaba and Thabang Tabane. Since then, she has collaborated with a number of national as well as international artists*. While she supports musicians from all over the world and genres, it is freelancers, as well as those on smaller labels, who are particularly central to her work. A monthly gig guide curated by her is available since 2019 and her own label for event management – “Strawberry Curl” – she founded in 2022.
Nicole Wuttke – mediapool
Sustainability, Political Communication & Mentoring
Nicole is a project manager for major events and conferences and heads the Conceptual Design and Sustainable Event Management departments at mediapool. As an engineering graduate and master’s degree holder, she worked for Melbourne Fashion Week in event conception until 2008. Since then she has been involved in various projects in the fields of music, politics and media.
As a mentor, Nicole helps students enter the professional world, is a founding member of the Berlin Music Commission with mediapool and supports the campaign “Plus1” – Refugees Welcome. In addition, Nicole implements the topic of accessibility in the planning of major events as an inclusion officer.