Public Announcement: ERIAC Executive Leadership Transition
Public Announcement: ERIAC Executive Leadership Transition
Berlin, 5 January 2026
The European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC) is completing a planned transition in its executive leadership, following a period of institutional renewal and strategic development.
Over the past year, ERIAC has undertaken significant governance renewal, including the reconstitution of its governing bodies—the Pakiv Board and the Barvalipe Academy—and the adoption of its revised Strategy 2026–2030. In line with this process, the Pakiv Board has proceeded with the implementation of its decision regarding the Executive Leadership Transition.
As of 1 January 2026, Ms Anna Mirga-Kruszelnicka has assumed the mandate of Executive Director of ERIAC. She brings extensive experience in institutional leadership, policy engagement, and programme development, and has been closely involved in ERIAC’s work over a number of years. The Board expresses its full confidence in her capacity to guide the organisation through its next phase, ensuring continuity, stability, and the further advancement of ERIAC’s mission.
Ms Timea Junghaus concluded her mandate as Executive Director on 31 December 2025. The Pakiv Board extends its sincere appreciation for her contribution to ERIAC since its founding in 2017, and for her role in establishing the organisation as a recognised European institution for Roma arts and culture. Ms Junghaus continues her professional engagement with ERIAC, and further details regarding her role will be communicated as appropriate.
This leadership transition reflects ERIAC’s institutional maturity and its commitment to clear governance, orderly succession, and long-term sustainability. The organisation’s programmes, partnerships, and strategic priorities will continue as planned, in accordance with Strategy 2026–2030.
As Chair of the Pakiv Board, I reaffirm the Board’s commitment to supporting ERIAC’s staff, partners, and stakeholders throughout this transition and to ensuring a stable and forward-looking path for the organisation.
Mensur Haliti
Chair of the Board (Pakiv)
European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC)
Photo by: Jens Gyarmaty/ OSF
Dr. Anna Mirga-Kruszelnicka is a Polish-Roma anthropologist, scholar, and activist known for her work on Roma rights, ethnic mobilization, and cultural representation. She earned her Ph.D. in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) in 2016 and also holds master’s degrees in European Integration (UAB, Spain) and Comparative Studies of Civilizations (Jagiellonian University, Poland).
Mirga-Kruszelnicka has conducted extensive research with Roma communities across Europe and Latin America, focusing on ethnopolitics, identity construction, the Roma Holocaust and Roma resistance, remembrance culture, antigypsyism, and the participation of Roma youth and women in social movements. As one of the leading voices in Critical Romani Studies, she has authored and edited numerous scholarly publications and co-edited books, including “Education for Remembrance of the Roma Genocide: Scholarship, Commemoration and the Role of Youth” (2015) and “Re-thinking Roma Resistance throughout History” (2020). In 2022, she published “Mobilizing Romani Ethnicity: Romani Political Activism in Argentina, Colombia, and Spain”.
Alongside her academic work, she has been deeply involved in Roma civil society. With over two decades of professional experience and sustained engagement with Roma issues, she brings extensive expertise at the intersection of civil society, academic research, cultural diplomacy, and advocacy.
She has served as Deputy Director of the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC) since January 2018.