ROBE lighting s.r.o.’s commercial director, Josef Valchar Jr (JJ) says: “We are delighted to have Marketa onboard. We have known each other for some time, she has the right knowledge and extensive connections in the arts and education worlds, great communication and diplomatic skills, and we are all looking forward to working alongside her as she develops this important and exciting aspect of ROBE’s future vision.”

Marketa has over 10 years of university undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate teaching experience.

She has worked as a cross-cultural project developer, a diversity advocate and an international curator, actively involved in connecting emerging designers with international networks and contemporary theatre industry players.

She has worked in theatres, galleries and at visually inspiring sites and found spaces in both the United States and Europe. For the past seven years, she has been the artistic director of the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space (PQ), one of the most important festivals dedicated to scenography and performance design.

The scope and variety of all these activities has opened direct contact with theatre makers, designers, theorists, and emerging artists from over 100 countries, and enabled valuable experiences in cultural diplomacy, team building and cosmopolitan multinational collaboration.

Marketa, who is currently based in Prague, is equally as energised about joining Robe:

“This is a truly exciting opportunity and will be an excellent and creative use of my skills and experiences. Many of my own past curatorial and teaching efforts and thoughts align perfectly with Robe’s forward-thinking in aiming to integrate breakthrough designers and technicians via arts industry outreach.”

Marketa believes that Robe is a leading performance, entertainment and architectural lighting manufacturer with solid international relationships and comments: “Robe's leadership, the visionaries behind the NRG programme concept and myself see a real potential for the synergies between technology, art, and education.”

She notes that her significant experience of “numerous” university programmes in lighting design and technology all suggest “a strong and supportive industry connection,” and are a great asset for the company going forward.