Maria Hansen

Maria Hansen is Executive Director of ELIA, globally connected European network of Higher Arts Education. She worked in the performing arts for more than 30 years, in Canada and the Netherlands, served as board member of the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) from 2009–2016 and received ISPA’s Patrick Hayes Award honoring transformative leadership in 2020. Maria is a member of the University Council of Nuremberg University of Music, board member of Oorkaan and (until recently) the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. She chairs the Hogenbijl Foundation which awards two annual prizes in film making and classical music in the Netherlands.