Barbara Raes (*1977) graduated in Arts History and specialized in Performance studies at the Univesity of Ghent in Belgium. During her studies she worked as an intern with Jan Fabre on the production "Het Nut van de Nacht". From 2000 till 2007 she was the dance programmer of arts centre Vooruit. During this time she curated different events (such as B-Visible, Connexive#1, Lovepangs, DASverwanten ...) in which she each time collaborated with different other curators. Collaboration is a crucial issue in her work. Since 2007 she is the artistic director of arts centre BUDA in Kortrijk. Together with 5 different institutions in the Eurometropole Lille-Courtrai-Torunai she organises yearly the international arts festival NEXT.