FEDORA - FEDORA Ambassadors

FEDORA's Philanthropists

We had a conversation with Mirja Telzerow, European People Director at Kearney, and member of the Next Stage Grants Jury. Kearney is the FEDORA Digital Prize sponsor and Next Stage pro-bono expert partner.

Mirja shared her perspective on the importance of pro-bono partnerships, innovation, digital transformation, and a strong community. We share similar values with Kearney: ensuring social impact for all our stakeholders and engaging different people and audiences to do more for the community.

Kearney is a leading global management consulting firm with offices in more than 40 countries, and have been trusted advisors to the world’s foremost organisations since 1926. Kearney is a partner-owned firm, committed to helping clients achieve immediate impact and growing advantage on their most mission-critical issues.

Since 2019, Kearney has been the sponsor of the FEDORA Digital Prize, strengthening their belief that digital innovation should be harnessed as a driver of excellence and creativity. Through our partnership together, Kearney has supported new generations of artists in the development of ideas and has encouraged interdisciplinary approaches to unleash the potential of digital innovation in the fields of opera and dance.

In 2021, Kearney conducted a pro-bono study with 100 opera houses and dance companies all over Europe in order to identify challenges, opportunities and best practices for the future of opera and dance. Based on this study, the Next Stage Initiative was launched, driving change and stimulating innovation in the fields of sustainability, inclusion, and digital transformation, on, behind, and beyond the stage.

In 2023, Kearney conducted a follow-up impact assessment of the first three years of the Next Stage Initiative. They analysed results from capacity-building and assessed key achievements of the five Next Stage Grant Recipients, identified best practices and learnings for the performing arts sector, and determined priorities and feedback points for the Next Stage Initiative going forward. The full report can be accessed here.

“I think we helped identify impactful and replicable new ideas and analysis that really support FEDORA and the performing arts sector. The level of innovation was very impressive for me. As a consultancy firm, what we focus on with our clients is digital transformation; it is about being adaptive and thinking in an agile way, how to use the new opportunities and what we can learn from opera and dance.”

Mirja Telzerow
European People Director at Kearney
Member of the Next Stage Grants Jury