Author: Anne de Man

Director, Strategic Neighbourhood Development, New Orleans Business Alliance.
Educator, event producer, author, and performer, Ms. Asali Ecclesiastes brings her deep roots in New Orleans’ indigenous culture to the New Orleans Business Alliance (NOLABA) as Director of Strategic Neighbourhood Development. In designing equitable development strategies for high impact neighbourhoods, she believes in empowering neighbourhood leaders and making bold commitments to address entrenched disparities.

Prior to joining NOLABA, Ms. Ecclesiastes served as Claiborne Corridor Programme Manager in the office of Mayor Mitch Landrieu, where she advanced place-based projects and secured funding within six priority areas:  economic opportunity, cultural preservation, affordable housing, transportation choice and access, environmental sustainability, and safe & healthy neighbourhoods.

Before her brief and exciting life in government, Ms. Ecclesiastes worked as Congo Square Coordinator for N.O. Jazz & Heritage Festival, Artist Relations Director/Empowerment Seminars Author for Essence Music Festival, and Executive Producer of Tremé 200 Festival, N.O. Juneteenth Festival, Treme/7th Ward Arts & Culture Festival, and Akoben Words-In-Action Festival.  She has taught in New Orleans public schools, universities, and prisons, and continues to utilise her spoken and written word as a platform for societal change through art and social justice for all humanity. Asali has toured nationally with the critically acclaimed, ‘Swimming Upstream’, a play she co-wrote with a cohort of extraordinary NOLA women, exploring life in New Orleans after the post-Katrina flood, produced by the author of the ‘Vagina Monologues’, Eve Ensler. 

Ms. Ecclesiastes is a graduate of McMain Magnet High School and Vanderbilt University, where she earned Bachelors of Science in English Literature and Secondary Education, with minors in African Diaspora Studies and Biology.

Asali DeVan Ecclesiastes is a speaker at the Co-creating the City event on Thursday, June 21 at Pakhuis de Zwijger.

Alicia Bonner Ness is an experienced design facilitator and civic entrepreneur. She is the CEO of Heptagon Productions, a brand activation agency that helps mission-driven organizations engage in change, and a senior advisor to LabGov, an Italian nonprofit focused on reimagining the city as a commons. She previously served as a Field Organizer for the Florida Democratic Party and the Senior Manager of Marketing and Communication for PYXERA Global, a global nonprofit. Alicia holds a Masters in Applied Economics from Johns Hopkins and a BA in Political Science from Barnard College. She is a LUMA Institute certified Human-Centered Design facilitator.

Simone d’Antonio is a Rome-based journalist covering innovation, sustainability and urban issues. He works at the Italian Association of Cities and Municipalities (ANCI) in Rome as communication and dissemination officer. He is in charge of the activities of the National Dissemination Point for Italy of the URBACT Programme, as well as responsible of the communication activities of the Co-City project in Turin, funded by the EU Programme Urban Innovative Actions.

Certified URBACT ad hoc expert on integrated urban development and governance, supported the action of many Italian and European cities in the framework of the URBACT III Action Planning Networks. He is a free-lance contributor of Citylab-The Atlantic, The Guardian, Citiscope, the Italian editions of The Huffington Post and Wired, Il Sole 24 Ore, Il Manifesto, The Good Life and other magazines covering urban affairs in Italy and in Europe. He is one of the main organizers of the Urban Journalism Academy Programme, launched by UN-Habitat to promote urban journalism.

Mariska Vlot is al heel lang een stadmaker. In samenwerking met vele anderen bedacht en produceerde ze onder meer ‘tHuisfront (de tegenhanger van De Woonbeurs) in Loods6, Het Zomerrestaurant aan de Gaasperplas, Poort DOK op het strand van Almere, een spontane kraakactie met designers en kunstenaars op datzelfde strand en nu Freelodge Village in Tuinen van West.

Ook Freelodge is ontstaan als spontane actie: laten we iets bedenken om te maken met het mooie ecologische hout van Landgoed Welna, op de Veluwe. De door Jan van Erven Dorens ontworpen huizen op poten – freelodges zweven vrij boven de grond – werden vorig jaar in een serie van zeven gebouwd in Tuinen van West. Daar proberen we nu met de Freelodge partners en een heleboel enthousiaste vrijwilligers het ‘andere’ Amsterdam-toerisme vorm te geven: overdag naar de stad, ’s avonds genieten van de rust en de natuur rondom die stad. Samen met de andere Freelodge partners werkt Mariska inmiddels ook aan een ‘blotevoeten-hotel’ van hout, ook in Tuinen van West.

Pieter Ploeg and his family (wife Nakyta + two kids) lead a very ‘urban green’ life. They’ve built their own tiny house on the premises of Freelodge Village, they find their work in several places in de Tuinen van West and are very ‘into’ organic farming, social entrepreneurship and new ways of finding sustainable solutions for our planet. Pieter finished a Master Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability in Karlskrona and is happy to tell WeMakeTheCity and Freelodge visitors (and kids!) what grows around, how we fight the weeds (and why) and nourish the other greens, which noteworthy plants and animals can be found in the surroundings and how he sees the (urban) landscape. Children are welcome to come with Pieter on our short polder-expeditions!

Dini Janssens of Sparklingfood is a natural talent behind any stove. But since she fell in love with the unique, handmade French Lancanche stoves, there’s just no way to stop her from making wonderful dishes and pastries, lots of them by slow-cooking. Slow cooking is very energy-efficient, failure-proof, tasteful and healthy. Dini is glad to show us how slow tourism and slow cooking add up to a ‘different’ Amsterdam experience. Of course, Dini will use local ingredients – from our neighbours in the area. Together with Loes Starreveld, our second Kitchen Queen of Freelodge Village, Dini will gladly tell you about the wonders of slow-cooking and let you have a taste. There’s local beers, lovely wines and fresh juices – all available at small prices.