Curator Name: Maka Chkhaidze
Residency Dates: November 2025
Born: 1984
Hometown: Tbilisi, Georgia
Lives & Works: Tbilisi, Georgia
URL: platforminform.com | Instagram @inform_pim
Education:
2011 – MA, Social, Cultural and Political Psychology, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi, Georgia
2006 – High School Diploma, Actress of Cinema and Theatre, Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film Georgia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia
Bio/Statement:
Mariam (Maka) Chkhaidze is a curator and cultural manager based in Tbilisi, Georgia. With a background in theatre and social psychology, she combines these two disciplines into a deep commitment to use the performing arts as a tool for fostering connections between marginalized and underrepresented social groups. In 2022, Maka founded InForm – Platform for Inclusive Minds, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing disability narratives into the performing arts scene in Georgia. Under her leadership, InForm has established an inclusive contemporary dance theatre group that includes dancers and actors of mixed abilities. The troupe produces original and collaborative performances both locally and internationally, and conducts educational programs to nurture an inclusive arts community.
Maka has worked on a number of projects in different capacities: curator and playwright project manager of “FOLKS” (2024) – a journey in search of, and creation of, safe territories—spaces where people find each other through movement, sound and stories. By strengthening each other, through solidarity and care, they confront an uncertain, ever-changing reality, co-produced by InForm (Georgia) and SZENE ZWEI (Germany); author and curator of “Contact Zone” (2023) – a three-part performance exploring physical and spatial connections between the self and the outside world, where the audience and the artists create a contact zone between people and groups living in parallel realities otherwise separated from each other; author and creative producer of “In C – Tbilisi” (2022) – inclusive adaptation of the piece of Sasha Waltz, performed by mixed-ability dancers from Georgia and the Berlin-based dance company Sasha Waltz & Guests. Maka Chkhaidze’s previous experience also includes working as an independent curator and researcher on numerous arts projects and with cultural institutions in Tbilisi, Georgia. She was the Artistic Director and Producer at Art-Jera – Integrative Art Centre (2011-2021), as well as the Media Manager of ADAMI Media Prize for Cultural Diversity in Eastern Europe (2015-2018). Maka Chkhaidze is one of the participants of the 2025 ArtsLink International Fellowships program by CEC ArtsLink with US Residency hosted by Art Spark Texas.
