Who are we?

Noel Callebaut is a Ghent-based podcast creator, storyteller and actor with a great love for history in all its flavours. He is one of the inspirers behind the podcast ‘Smaak! Gentse geschiedenis in lekkere verhalen’ (Ghent history in tasty stories), in which he brings to life historical events and figures from Ghent through the theme of food.

As co-inventor of ‘Ratje’, a playful and tasty tour through STAM (StadsMuseum Gent), Noel knows how to excite young and old alike with a unique way of looking at the past. ‘Ratje’ is not just a museum trail: it is a sensory journey of discovery full of fragrant memories, hidden stories and unexpected links between past and present.

Noel likes to be inspired by the little stories of ordinary people in the big history. He believes it is often those personal anecdotes that make the past tangible and recognisable.

As a storyteller, he wants to give history a voice – one that sticks.

Dirk Holemans is an author, urban storyteller, keynote speaker and coordinator of Oikos.

In his work at Oikos, Dirk focuses on the tilt towards a sustainable society. You can read about that in the Oikos publication Enough. He is also editor-in-chief of the eponymous Oikos Magazine and one of the inspirers behind the ecoliterature festival Ecopolis.

With a basic education in bioengineering and studies in philosophy or economics, Holemans combines various perspectives. As a guest lecturer, he teaches young people about systems thinking and ecology. As a passionate keynote speaker, he shows organisations the ecological challenges our society faces, and how to tackle them.

Besides books such as ‘Het Ecologisch Kompas’ (The Ecological Compass, red.) and ‘Voor wie wil we zorgen?’ (Who do we want to care for, co-authored with Marie-Monique Franssen and Philsan Osman), he regularly writes essays and opinion pieces for De Standaard, De Morgen, Knack, SamPol and the Green European Journal.