Producer · Researcher · Artist
Masha (Maria) Sloeva
Program direction, producing, creation and research across performing arts, culture × innovation

Now

Based in Paris. Most recently Program Director of CultTech Summit, Vienna (2024–2026). Researching the economics and producing side of the creative industries, alongside the language, philosophy and aesthetics of performing arts. Making and producing theatre productions and cultural projects. Recording a public voice-diary of productions seen (90+ episodes since 2024 → t.me/masha_salon).

Cities Paris, Vienna, Helsinki, St Petersburg, Kyiv, Heidelberg — Languages Russian, English, French, German — Roles producer, curator, researcher, artist — Areas performing arts, theatre, dance, traditional and academic music, site-specific and immersive art, libraries & public institutions, science×technology×creative industries

About

Fifteen years designing art projects and culture programmes across Europe — from a public library system of ten sites and 3,000+ events a year, to an international culture×technology summit in Vienna with 100+ speakers, working directly with industry leaders, partners, leading artists and researchers. Also dozens of independent projects and productions, and two theatre companies built from zero. Trained as a producer at the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts (Specialist Diploma with distinction, 2016). Paris-based since 2022.

The range — fields, roles, languages, cities — isn’t decoration. It’s the method: put people and disciplines that don’t usually share a room, and let the encounter do what art actually does — shift what people can sense and know, which is where new tolerances, capabilities and imagination start.

Her projects have landed in the Philharmonie de Paris, the MuseumsQuartier Wien and the Macau Cultural Centre — and, the same time, in dozens of private spaces across 25 countries in a single day, or on a thirty-day festival in one car.

Scholarships and residencies: DAAD, Pro Helvetia, Goethe-Institut, ITI, ASSITEJ, L'Atelier des artistes en exil (member since 2022). Awards: Russian Book Union (Best Project), Golden Mask “Maska Plus” selection.

Calendar

Upcoming

• Nov 2026 Podcast “33 Sisters” — release

• 23 Nov 2026 "Tears and Flags" performative lecture on autofiction theatre

• Dec 2026 Writing and tours on Diaghilev

Past

• 8 Oct 2026 100th episode of the theatre voice-diary (100 minutes)— author, speaker

• 10 Nov 2025 Talk, “A Man Lives in Want” — LIRIS/IRET colloquium, Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris — speaker

• 9 Nov 2025 Workshop, “Funding Futures for Culture and Impact,” CultTech Association & Arthur Steiner — DAAD-Galerie, Voices Festival, Berlin — organiser

• 22–23 Oct 2025 CultTech Summit — CultTech Association, House of Science, Vienna — program director

• 1 Jul 2025 Performative lecture, “The Art of Coming Out: When Queers Take the Stage,” with Grigorii Buklei — Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI), PhD Students and Researchers 4 Gender Equity, Laboratorio Radici, L’Aquila — speaker, performer, author

• 14–15 Nov 2024 Documentary “Artem Tomilov”, by Oleg Tsiplakov, Premiere — 50+ cities — producer

• 5–6 Nov 2024 CultTech Summit — CultTech Association, MuseumsQuartier, Vienna — program director

• 21 May 2024 Performance, “Burn Your Diaries” — Cité internationale des arts, Paris — author, performer, director

• 24–29 Apr 2024 CultTech Camp — CultTech Association, Constructor University, Bremen — producer

• 26 Feb 2024 Lecture, “Le Théâtre temporaire” — Sorbonne Université, Paris — author, speaker

• 24–25 Jun 2023 Festival, “Jardin en Suspensions,” by/with Yoann and Marie Bourgeois, and private events — Le Moulin Jaune, Paris — manager

• 30 Apr 2023 Performance, “Gypsy Baron” — Résidence des Récollets, Paris — singer, performer

• 17 Jan & 25 Apr 2023 Performance, “There Are Not Here,” by Artem Tomilov — performed online from Paris, staged St Petersburg — performer

• 1–4 Dec 2022 Performance, “Rizni,” by uzahvati — Festival “Visions d’exil,” Forum des Halles, Paris — producer

• 21–23 Sep 2022 Performance, “Dalen. På Jorden,” by Klockriketeatern — Konstfabriken i Borgå, Porvoo — assistant to the set designer & production team

• 24 May 2022 Panel, “What Can the Arts Do in the Time of War?” — Taidepiste, Uniarts Helsinki — speaker

• 26 March 2022 Show, Helsinki International Drag Fest — Savoy Theatre, Helsinki — volunteer

• Jun–Dec 2022 Web lab, “all songs about me,” 6 editions — online — author, teacher

Works 

(selected)

Research

(selected)

Her research moves between the language, philosophy and aesthetics of performing arts — chiefly theatre — and the business, economics and politics of creative industries, theatre companies, festivals and productions, in historical and contemporary perspective.

Where her productions are made for a wide public, this research is built for practitioners — artists and producers — as a way to see their own work differently. She is currently finding its place between academia and a general audience, balancing economics and critical theory against the aesthetics of art.

• History, Theory and Practice of Producing and Art Management · Diaghilev, the Ballets Russes & festival economics
  Article “Bar Lectures: How the Library Attracts New Visitors,” Handbook for Directors of Cultural Institutions (2020)
  Article “No Festival Today”, Peterburgsky Teatral (2018)
  Article “St Petersburg Unculture Forum, or Producer Post-Post Meta-Meta,” Peterburgsky Teatralny magazine (2018)
  Article “Diaghilev as an Exemplary Producer,” TEATR magazine (2017)
  Interview Aleksey Platunov (producer, Alexandrinsky Theatre), Peterburgsky Teatral (2019)
  Interview Series with three producers (Kirill Krok, Vakhtangov Theatre; Feodor Elutin, Impresario Company; Anastasia Tarasova, Artishok Theatre, Almaty), Peterburgsky Teatral (2018)
  Interview “Everything Is Changed,” with Yuri Schwarzkopf (director, Comedy Theatre), Peterburgsky Teatral (2017)
  Lecture “Le Théâtre temporaire,” Sorbonne Université (2024)
  Lecture “No Exit”, Vakhtangov Producers’ Forum, Moscow (2021)
  Lecture “How to Stop Visiting Theatres and Libraries, but Still Love and Follow Them,” Sold Out Conference, online (2021)
  Lecture “My First Theatre Production,” Student Spring Forum, Nizhny Novgorod (2020)
  Lecture “How to Cry, to Love and to Produce Theatre,” online, Tyumen (2020)
  Lecture “Diaghilev: Practical Advice,” Diaghilev Festival, Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre (2019)
  Lecture “On Project Activity and Its Resources,” Astrakhan Opera and Ballet Theatre (2019)
  Lecture “Producer? In the Theatre? It Is a Pity,” Mayakovsky Library, St Petersburg (2019)  
  Talk “Repertoire Theatre versus Project,” Northern Cultural Forum, Syktyvkar (2019)
  Workshops monthly, for library project leads, St Petersburg (2021)
  Program Committee Member Vakhtangov Theatre Producers Festival, Moscow (2019, 2021)
  Research Trip For students, Munich & Berlin — meetings with the Bavarian State Opera, the Prinzregententheater, the Schaubühne and the Berlin Philharmonic (2015) 

• Contemporary theatre · Theatre in  German
  Book “SCHAG 6” anthology of new German-language plays, Goethe-Institut, with Natalia Kemper-Bakshi and Alexey Platunov (2020–2021)
  Short Movie director, editor, camera and author, “First Simple Home Theatre,” in a frame of MAZARUSSIA production, Perm Manufactory (2019)
  Article “Additional Set of Standards,” L’Officiel Ukraine (2019)
  Article “How Theatres Are Managed in Germany,” TEATR magazine (2017)
  Article “DAS IST NICHT MEIN THEATER” — review of the Heidelberger Stückemarkt, TEATR.COM.UA (2017)
  Thesis “Theatre Art in Germany,” graduation thesis, Russian State Institute of Performing Arts (2016) 
  Interview Heiner Goebbels, Goethe-Institut cultural magazine (2019)
  Interview Jörg Karrenbauer, L’Officiel Ukraine (2019)
  Interview Ilya Moschitsky (director, Misanthrope Theatre), Peterburgsky Teatral (2019)
  Interview “Turn This Off!” with Daniil Pikturny (electronic music project), Peterburgsky Teatral (2017)
  Talks on Milo Rau, Boris Nikitin and Roland Schimmelpfennig’s work, for Goethe-Institut (2022–2023)
  Lecture “Contemporary African Theatre,” Voznesensky Centre Moscow, New Stage of the Alexandrinsky Theatre, OKKO-TV (2021)
  Performative lecture with Viktor Vilisov, “Walking to the Crossroads and Turning: A Guide for the Contemporary Spectator,” TEO: space, Odesa (2019)
  Lecture “Cursed Art: On Independent Theatre in Berlin, Saint Petersburg and Kyiv,” Molodoy Theatre, Kyiv (2018)
  Lecture “Modern German-Speaking Dramatic Art,” for dramaturgs from Germany, Russia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, Goethe-Institut, St Petersburg (2017)
  Conference Program Committee Member “20th–21st-Century German Dramaturgy on the World Stage,” Alexandrinsky Theatre, St Petersburg (2014–2015)
  Expert laboratory “Workshop for Contemporary Theatre,” St Petersburg (2019)
  Expert Theatre and ecology festival “Ecotopia,” Alexandrinsky Theatre, St Petersburg (2021)
  Research Trip Guest Programme for young foreign theatre people (Goethe-Institut, Munich (GI) and the Zentrum Bundesrepublik Deutschland des Internationalen Theaterinstituts (ITI), Heidelberg (2017)
  Research Trip, Ruhrtrienale, Programm of mobility, Goethe-Institute, Germany (2019)

• Creative Industries, Innovation and Technology ·  Site-specific & immersive art
  Article “Domination Lessons”, The Access Point Brochure (2021)
  Interview “Kicking the Alive,” with Gundega Laiviña, Peterburgsky Teatralny (2019)
  Talk “A Man Lives in Want,” LIRIS/IRET colloquium, Sorbonne Nouvelle (2025) — on Central Asia, from fieldwork on the Mesto-Deystvie festival, Bishkek
  Lecture “Theatre on the Move,” Bolshoye Savino Airport, Perm (2021)
  Lecture “We Call It Theatre” — site-specific/immersive art for game designers, St Petersburg (2020)
  Discussion “Theatre and Technology,” Future Theatre Festival, Gorky Art Theatre, Moscow (2020)
  Workshop assistant Site-specific practice with Gian-Maria Tosatti, The Borders Lab (2021)
  Program Director CultTech Summit, Vienna (2024–2026)
  Research trip Festival Belluard Bollwerk International, Pro Helvetia (2017) 

• New Dramatic Art, Contemporary Literature & Comics on Stage · Theatre for young audiences
  Talks on Milo Rau, Boris Nikitin and Roland Schimmelpfennig’s work, for Goethe-Institut (2022–2023)
  Lecture “You’re All Just Jealous of My Jetpack,” Cosmos Youth Centre, Tyumen (2021)
  Lecture “Modern German-Speaking Dramatic Art,” for dramaturgs from Germany, Russia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, Goethe-Institut, St Petersburg (2017)
  Video series “Drama an der Küche,” on new drama, Goethe-Institut (2020)
  Curator “TETRIS” theatre party, Goethe-Institut, with Ivan Demidkin (2021)
  Curator comics-festival installation programme, BOOFEST, with Artem Tomilov, St Petersburg (2020)
  Lab Curator Directors’ lab for young-audience theatre, with critic Yulia Kleiman, “Harlequin” national festival, St Petersburg (2016–2018)
  Jury Student theatre, Student Spring, Perm (2021)
  Expert Production and project grants, Theatre Centre for Young Audiences, Tyumen (2021)
  Research Trip Next Generation Program for young artists of the Theatre for Young Audience, ASSITEJ, Cape Town (2017)

• Autofiction · Queer performance · Women and theatre
  Lecture “The Art of Coming Out,” with Grigorii Buklei, GSSI, L’Aquila (2025)
  Performance “Burn Your Diaries,” Cité internationale des arts, Paris (2024)
  Performative lecture “Feel at Least Something,” with Viktor Vilisov and Yulia Platonova, Krasnodar (2022)
  Lecture “Sisters Festival,” with Alisa Balabekyan — on sisters in art, activism and business, Tyumen (2021)

• Traditional dance & music · Contemporary dance, physical theatre
  Trainings movement, dance with Swerwoood Chen (body weather), Nina Dipla (Pina Bausch and around), Olga Dukhovna (recyclage), Fouad Nafili (breakdance), La Ménagerie de Verre, between 2024-2026, Paris
  Trainings classical ballet (2009-2011), physical theatre with Anna Budanova (2015, 2017), contemporary dance with Vladimir Varnava (2016), St. Petersburg
  Trainings traditional dance, “Kudesy” theatre, Veliky Novgorod (2006–2012)
  Interview Vladimir Varnava (choreographer), Peterburgsky Teatralny (2017)
  Thesis Wedding ritual of the Novgorod region, Academic Conferences, St. Petersburg, Moscow (2010)
  Expeditions collecting traditional music, dance and rituals, North-West Russia (2000-2008)
  
  The results of her research have often fed directly into her producing or artistic work: studying contemporary literature and dramaturgy for young audiences, for instance, opened the way to producing the documentary-fiction play "Livia, 13" on bullying and abuse — a production that ran for years and was shown in dozens of theatres and schools across Russia. In other cases the research has stayed inside the artistic work itself, as with all her engagements with circus.

Press 

(selected)

• 1922/2022: Quotes from artists on emigration then and now, Thesis Media, Russia, 01.02.2023, Helena Pogorelova

• I used to be an artist, now I’m a Russian artist, TINFO, Finland, 12.05.2022, Helena Autio-Meloni

• Ryska scenkonstnärer som rannsakar sig själva, paper version, TEATERTIDNINGEN, Sweden, 2022

• Stories of people who lost their jobs due to the war, Republic Media, Russia, 23.03.2022, Alexandra Mikhailova

• Podcast with Maria Sloeva and Evgenia Davydenko, “Andrei otkroi!”, Russia, 10.17.2021, Dasha Chesnova and Olya Lepinskaya

• Podcast with Maria Sloeva, “Protiv Teatra,” Russia, 23.07.2019, Ivan Demidkin