Moderation & Facilitation
When I moderate debates about human rights or the life of artists, I like to think of myself as part traffic controller, part cheerleader, and part peacekeeper.
I’m proud to create a space where tough questions and bold ideas can be exchanged - but I also know my job isn’t to be the star of the show. I’m there to make sure everyone gets their turn, that the conversation doesn’t go completely off the rails, and that we can laugh a little along the way.
For me, the best debates are the ones where people leave with new perspectives, some inspiration - and maybe the feeling that a serious conversation doesn’t always have to be heavy.
Looking for a moderator?
Reach out, I´m here!
Sell out? Are there real ways to make money from art? Culture Kicks Back, October 2025.
Place: Kunstnaer, Culture Kicks Back, Odense
Moderator: Jonas Groen, The Independent of Culture
Facilitators: Louise Bjerkstad, Kunstnær and Henriette Hellstern, The Creatives` Business & visual artist.
Join us as Louise from Kunstnaer invites you into her creative universe at Brandts Klaedefabrik. In this break out session, we delve into how you can find alternative ways to make money from artistic skills - and get your hands dirty in the creative workshop. Together, we will investigate whether it is a "sell-out" to do commercial activities, teaching and having a shop? Or is it the future that artists learn to sell products "on the market" to a much greater extent and are involved in selling the products themselves? Join us for an exciting conversation, where we are both in the workshop and talk about artists' living conditions.
To put the conversation into perspective, we will also be visited by experts who help artists and creatives create a sustainable way of life.
How is the cultural ecosystem doing? Odense, October 2025.
Place: Posten, Culture Kicks Back, Odense
Moderator: Torben Vinter, The Independent of Culture
Facilitators: Esben Danielsen, Danish Institute for Cultural Analysis, Jenny Rossander, Lydmor, Henriette Hellstern, The Creatives’ Business & visual artist, Selma Staal, Nymph Productions
Together with Lydmor and three sharp industry professionals, we’re putting a spotlight on the gaps in the cultural sector’s ecosystem.
We’ll explore how to create the best possible conditions for emerging talents and grassroots initiatives by zooming in on funding models and the collaboration between public cultural institutions and the commercial industry.
Look forward to an engaging conversation that’s sure to shed light on where we need to focus our efforts to make more room for diversity and strengthen the future of the arts and culture scene.
Conversation Bingo, The Cultural Meeting in Mors, August 2025
Place: Lysskoven, The Cultural Meeting, Nykoebing Mors
Moderator: Marie Carmen Koppel
Facilitators: Rose Heiberg, Katrine Bidstrup & Henriette Hellstern
What would happen to us - and to our society - if performing artists disappeared? How do you actually make a living as an artist? What challenges do artists face in their everyday lives - and what prejudices do we hold about them, and about ourselves as cultural consumers?
In Conversation Bingo with De Kreatives Forretning, moderated by singer and songwriter Marie Carmen Koppel, the audience is invited into a lively, humorous, and thoughtful conversation about the creative life.
The panel - made up of professional artists from pop and classical music, arts and crafts, and visual art - will discuss real-life dilemmas and scenarios. The audience can take part actively through bingo cards filled with words and themes from the artist’s life: from financial insecurity and work-life balance to invisibility in creative work and lifelong dedication. Every time a word is spoken on stage, it can be crossed off - and lucky winners will receive prizes, including artist meet-ups, sponsored gifts, and creative surprises.
Join us for bingo, and discover the realities of an artist’s life through fun and meaningful conversation about the importance of art for us all.
Meet Up! The Cultural Meeting in Mors, August 2025
Place: Vaerkstaedet, The Cultural Meeting, Nykoebing Mors
Moderator: Mette Marie Karlberg
Facilitators: Christoffer Jakobson, Signe Klejs, Signe Sylvester, Katrine Bidstrup, Rose Heiberg & Henriette Hellstern
Working life as an artist and creative freelancer can be both inspiring and lonely.
Where do you go with doubts, ideas, and the big questions about finances, development, and well-being? You go to MEET UP! - an informal Friday bar focused on networking, sparring, and sharing experiences.
OVATION, together with Entreprenerdy, De Kreatives Forretning, and KKArt, invites you to a Friday bar with purpose: MEET UP! - a two-hour drop-in networking space for anyone with a creative or performing practice.
Come and meet colleagues and like-minded people, and expand your professional network across art forms and career stages. Together we create a safe and open space to share ideas, challenges, and good advice – and maybe even discover new collaborators along the way.
We’ll put relevant themes on the table - such as motivation, collegiality, business development, artistic stamina, parental leave, co-creation, and diversity – and let the conversations unfold with support from experienced advisors and industry professionals, who will also contribute sparring and concrete tools.
Come as you are, grab a beer or a soda - and leave with new knowledge, new connections, and fresh energy.
Queer in the Cultural Landscape, Copenhagen Pride, August 2025
Place: The Debate tent, Pride Square, Copenhagen Raadhusplads
Moderator: Henriette Hellstern
Facilitators: Ellie Jokar, Cecilie Bau
A conversation about visibility, queerness, and creative power in the world of art.
What is it like to be queer in a cultural sphere still so often shaped by heteronormative structures? In this talk, we dive into that very question - and much more.
"Queer in the Cultural Landscape" brings together three female artists and cultural creators from different creative fields for a lively and honest conversation about how sexuality plays a role in their artistic expression, branding, and professional practice.
Meet an exciting queer panel featuring actor and rapper Ellie Jokar, comedy’s rising talent, Cecilie Bau, who will share personal experiences and reflect on what it means to stand outside the norm - and how that often becomes a powerful catalyst in creative work. Visual artist and moderator Henriette Hellstern will guide us through a debate on whether “otherness” can be a strength, and what it means to be open about one’s sexuality in a cultural industry still largely geared toward the heteronormative.
We’ll talk about everything from visibility and typecasting to collaborations, rejections, and the new opportunities that emerge in the wake of identity. Are you offered certain projects - or overlooked - because of your sexuality? And how does that influence the creative choices of queer artists?
At the same time, we’ll debate whether queer visibility in art and culture actually changes perspectives for audiences. Is it enough simply to be present and honest - or does it take concrete works, exhibitions, or performances to challenge assumptions and open new horizons?
Watch the full debate right here.