Liesbeth Levy
founder, Levy in Debat; formerly artistic director, De Unie, Rotterdam
For over twenty years Liesbeth Levy has been active as organiser, lecturer and publicist at the intersection of politics, art and public debate. From 2008 to 2012 Liesbeth Levy was artistic director of the Rotterdam Debating -centre De Unie. From 1996 Liesbeth Levy was also head of the Debate section of the Rotterdam Council for Arts and Culture (formerly the Rotterdam Art Foundation). In this period she also served as executive Rotterdam 2001 European Capital of Culture, as quartermaster for the Rotterdam House for Cultural Dialogue and as a lecturer for institutions such as the Willem de Kooning Academy and the Academy of Architecture.
Liesbeth is now a PhD candidate at University of Humanistic Studies, Utrecht. The Subject of her thesis is ‘[Dialogue, subversion and diversity: public versus political debate in Rotterdam since 2001’]. She is also active as a moderator, speaker and debate organizer uner the name Levy in Debat. Inspiration comes from dialogue philosophy as explored by Plato and Socrates, and twentieth-century Jewish thinkers such as Martin Buber, Emmanuel Levinas and Hannah Arendt. Diversity as a value can only be taken seriously when its core essence, respect for the other, is exercised through dialogue and encounter.