Janina Neustupny is a cultural worker with a passion for promoting and connecting artists and bringing cultural projects to life. Since 2022, she has been the Head of Outreach, managing communications and press relations for Norient. She also co-edited the latest Norient book Home is Where the Heart Strives (Norient Books, 2025). Janina is also part of the core team of the Musikvielfalt-Initiative, which advocates for diversity and fairness in public music funding. In 2026, she has launched Rio Aare Sessions, a new concert series in Bern. From 2018 to 2025, she worked as the press manager of Swiss Music Prizes of the Federal Office of Culture, for the Cycloton – Tour de Suisse en Musique in 2019 and 2024 and was previously active in the cinema collective at the cultural center Reitschule in her hometown of Bern, Switzerland. 

In 2015, Janina graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in musicology degree at the University of Bern. During her studies, she was involved as a tutor and help assistant in several lectures and projects of the Musicology Institute, notably the publication of the Verdi-Handbuch’s second edition (Metzler 2013) and basic research on the Music Theatre Activities at the Hôtel de Musique from 1766 to 1905 in Bern.

At the same time, she gained practical experience at the multidisciplinary venue Bühnen Bern, where she was assistant to the former opera director Xavier Zuber, served a dramaturgy internship for the staging of Richard Wagners Lohengrin and worked as music librarian and subtitle stage manager from 2014 to 2018.

As a cultural journalist, she has written articles for Berner Kulturagenda and has worked as a freelancer communications specialist and for communication agencies.

From 2017 to 2025, she has worked as communications and press manager for the Swiss Music Prizes of the Federal Office of Culture (Bundesamt für Kultur BAK). In this position, she has collaborated with outstanding and innovative musicians and culture professionals from Switzerland, such as: Sylvie Courvoisier, Irène Schweizer, Yello - Dieter Meier and Boris Blank, Ganesh Geymeier, Sol Gabetta, Thomas Kessler, KT Gorique, Sebb Bash, Erika Stucky, Big Zis, Elie Zoé, Lionel Friedli, Louis Jucker, Tom Gabriel Fischer, Daniel Fontana (Bad Bonn), Martina Berther and Béatrice Graf among others.

Her friendship with the composer and drummer Béatrice Graf and her interest in sustainable and participative culture production led to the collaboration for the festival Cycloton - Tour de Suisse en Musique (2019 and 2024), a music tour under the sign of soft mobility through Switzerland, including a muscle-powered sound system for the performances and SLOW (2020), a mobile festival with concerts, roundtable discussions and participatory workshops on ecological change.

From 2016 to 2020, she was a collective member and curator of film cycles about Gender-based violence (GewaltFrei!), age discrimination (Hey Alter!) and animal rights (Pfoten hoch! Für die Rechte der Tiere) at the Kino in der Reitschule Bern.

At Norient, Janina has been working as a communications and project manager for collaborations, digital publications, and several anthologies by Norient Books. She has helped shaping three editions of the Norient Festival which will take place next time from January 15-17, 2026 in several venues in Bern. In 2025, she co-edited the new Norient book Home Is Where the Heart Strives which explores what place means in relation to music and sound.

Janina is part of the core team of the Musikvielfalt-Initiative, a Swiss initiative that advocates for diversity and fair pay in cultural promotion. The association has published an investigative report that received significant media and public attention, which examined public music funding in Switzerland acrosas six Swiss cities. The study and data is available in German, French, and Italian.

In 2026 she started an open-air concert series called Rio Aare Sessions in Bern, Switzerland. The sessions take place nearby the Aare river and want to foster low-key access and cultural participation for a diverse audience and offer a platform for local artists and their projects.

Photo by Dimitri Howald