, established in 2000, is a diplomatic mission to the United States. One of 22 such institutes around the world, it serves under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland.
The Institute is dedicated to nurturing and promoting cultural ties between the United States and Poland, both through American exposure to Poland’s cultural achievements, and through exposure of Polish artists and scholars to American trends, institutions, and professional counterparts.
The Institute initiates, organizes, promotes, and produces a broad range of cultural events in theater, music, film, literature, and the fine arts. It has collaborated with such cultural institutions as Lincoln Center Festival (
Obie Award); Art at St. Ann’s (TR Warszawa’s
, 2008); Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, CUNY Graduate Center; La MaMa E.T.C.; Film Society of Lincoln Center; The Museum of Modern Art; Jewish Museum; PEN World Voices Festival; Poetry Society of America; Yale University; and many more. PCI co-produced the off-Broadway run of I
, with Tovah Feldshuh, which ran on Broadway in 2009.
With its extensive contacts in both America and Poland, the Institute is in an excellent position to help such initiatives in a variety of ways that include fund-raising, facilitating contacts in both Poland and the United States, organizing cultural events and concurrent panels of artists and scholars, generating press coverage, and developing public outreach.
Monika Fabijanska (b. Warsaw, Poland, 1971) has been Director of the Polish Cultural Institute in New York since October 1, 2005. She was PCI’s Deputy Director from its founding in October 2000. Apart from her duties as Director, Ms. Fabijanska is in charge of visual arts, literature, historical, and Polish-Jewish relations programming at the Institute.
She graduated from History of Art Department of the University of Warsaw in 1998. During her studies she worked for Polish TV and the film industry in Poland, was chief editor at Film-Radio-TV Professional, a magazine devoted to film technology, and also worked as a free-lance journalist. She entered the Department of Cultural and Science Policy Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland in 1999. In 2000, she served for a short period of time as acting director of the Polish Cultural Institute in London, U.K.
Agata Grenda – Deputy Director Theatre and Dance Programming Agata Grenda (b. Kalisz, Poland, 1976) has been Deputy Director of the Polish Cultural Institute since March 2006. Apart from her duties as Deputy Director, Ms. Grenda is in charge of theatre and dance programming at the Institute.
She graduated in Polish philology from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland, in 2000, and in 2001 completed her postgraduate studies there in Psychology in Marketing and Administration, in the Social Sciences Department. In the year 2005-2006 she taught the course “Organizing Cultural Events” in the postgraduate program on cultural management at The Poznan School of Social Sciences. In the years 2004–2006 she was international relations manager at the Teatr Nowy – the biggest repertoire theater in Poznan. In the years 2003-2004 she was public relations manager at the Foundation Vox-Artis – Promotion of Polish Contemporary Art in Poznan.
Anna Perzanowska – Music Programming Anna Perzanowska (b. Warsaw, Poland, 1979) has been Music Programmer at the Polish Cultural Institute in New York since January 1, 2007.
Anna Perzanowska is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in ethnomusicology at the City University of New York at Hunter College. Music has been her passion since her very early years; she began her music education at the age of five at the Fryderyk Chopin Elementary Music School in Warsaw. After immigrating to New York at the age of 14, she continued her studies at the LaGuardia High School of Music, Art and Performing Arts. Upon attending music classes at Hunter College, Anna graduated from Baruch College with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing in 2003. In order to combine her interests, Anna worked with numerous New York institutions and musicians in preparation of concerts and various cultural events.
Sheila Skaff – Film and TV Programming
Sheila Skaff (b. Toledo, USA, 1971) has been Film and Television Programmer at the Polish Cultural Institute since September, 2008.
She received bachelors’ degrees in professional writing and literature from Carnegie Mellon University in 1993, a masters’ degree in journalism from Warsaw University in 1997, and a doctor of philosophy degree in comparative literature from University of Michigan in 2004. She was a 1993-1995 Peace Corps volunteer in Lezajsk, Poland. She became Assistant Professor of Film Studies at University of Texas at El Paso immediately after receiving her Ph.D., a position that she held until she joined the institute. Sheila is the author of
The Law of the Looking Glass: Cinema in Poland, 1896-1939 (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2008). She has published several articles and traveled throughout North America and Europe to give lectures on Polish cinema. In addition to her work with the institute, she teaches at Hunter College and is writing a second book on prewar cinema in Poland.
William Martin – Literature ProgrammingBill Martin has been Literature Programmer at the Institute since October 2008.
He is a Ph.D. candidate in Comparative Literature at the University of Chicago and a literary translator. Published translations (from Polish and German) include Natasza Goerke’s
Farewells to Plasma (Twisted Spoon, 2002), selected essays in
The Günter Grass Reader (Harcourt, 2004),
Erich Kästner’s Emil and the Detectives (Overlook Press, 2007), and Michal Witkowski’s
Lubiewo (Portobello Books, forthcoming). From 1999 to 2004 he was Fiction Editor of the literary journal
Chicago Review, for which he also edited the
New Polish Writing issue (2000) and co-edited the
New Writing in German issue (2002). He has taught in the M.A. Program in the Humanities and in the College at the University of Chicago, and is a 2008 recipient of an NEA Award for Translation.
Natalia Tulinski – Assistant to the Director
Natalia Tulinski (b. Lublin, Poland, 1981) has been Assistant to the Director of the Polish Cultural Institute in New York since February, 2008.
She moved to the United States in 2003 and spent four years in Chicago, before coming to New York in 2007. She has studied Sociology at Marie Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin and Real Estate at Oakton College in Chicago; she worked for three years as an Office Manager in a doctor’s office, and is currently completing a degree in Accounting at Baruch College in New York.
Dominika Zakrzewska – Marketing, Graphic Design, and Website Manager Dominika Ewa Zakrzewska (b. Gdansk, Poland, 1982) has been Marketing, Graphic Design, and Website Manager at the Polish Cultural Institute since September 2009.
Zakrzewska moved to the United States in 1999 and spent three years in Florida, where she graduated from the Alexander W. Dreyfoos Jr. School of the Arts. She received her BA in Communication Design from Parsons School of Design, in New York City. Before joining the Polish Cultural Institute’s team she worked for Apple Computers as a sales representative and the graphic designer.
Richard W. Adams - English Language ConsultantRichard W. Adams is a documentary filmmaker who majored in English and German at Yale University and spent a year at Warsaw’s Documentary Film Studio on a Fulbright in 1964-65. His films include “Exchange of Words”, shot in Poznan in 1965, “Citizens”, a portrait of the Solidarity movement, and “Democracy and Diversity”, on a graduate summer institute in Krakow.
Piotr Rogulski – Chief Administrative Officer Piotr Rogulski (b. Warsaw, Poland, 1974) has been Chief Administrative Officer of the Polish Cultural Institute in New York since January 20, 2007. Piotr Rogulski earned a Master of Science degree in Management and Information Systems at Warsaw University of Technology in May of 1999. He finished his MBA studies at ESSEC (France) and SGGW in Warsaw in June of 2000. In 2006, after 6 years of working for Alcatel-Lucent, he decided to leave Warsaw and take on a new role as Chief Administrative Officer at the Polish Cultural Institute in New York City.
