Meet the isacs International Festival Programmers at National Circus Festival 2025

Dré Demet led Antwerpen Kunstenstad (formerly Antwerpen Open) from 2010 to 2020, developing large-scale cultural projects and festivals in collaboration with the city of Antwerp. His work spans themes like creative entrepreneurship, architecture, fashion, arts education, urban development, and circus—always focused on building networks and creating site-specific programming.

From 2004 to 2020, he was Artistic Director of the nomadic Wintervuur Festival, and since 2020, he has founded and directed the MAD Circus Festival and programs projects at the Arenberg Theatre in Antwerp.

Josa Koelbel has been Managing Director and Artistic Director of the Berlin Circus Festival since 2015. He is a director, choreographer, curator (Kultursommer Berlin, Zili Art Space), jury member (Fonds Daku, circusnext), and speaker (Bundesverband Zirkus). He has worked in artist management at Martin-Gropius-Bau and mentors for PAP Berlin.

Trained at the national circus center in Châlons-en-Champagne, he performed across Europe including at the Edinburgh Fringe and Marseille Biennale. Recent choreography credits include Staatstheater Kassel, Schauspielhaus Dortmund, and Deutsche Oper Berlin. He also leads workshops and curates the digital Zili Art Space.

Jodie Adams is the Senior Programmer at Underbelly, where she programmes a wide variety of work, including circus, at both the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Underbelly’s permanent venue in London, Underbelly Boulevard Soho. Underbelly is one of the largest and most prominent curated Fringe venues, and the only venue with a dedicated Circus Hub. She leads the curation of around 170 shows at the festival every summer. Prior to that she was the Senior Programmer and Producer at Assembly Festival, where she programmed and produced a wide variety of international circus and other programming at the Fringe.