CAFEPESSOA.COM - Key Persons
Aviva Obst (USA, 11.04.1986) lived and studied until the age of 17 between the USA and Portugal. She has a degree in Art History (2005-2008) and completed a Postgraduate Degree in Communication Sciences - Specialization in Communication and Art, from Universidade Nova de Lisboa - FCSH (2012). Aviva collaborated since 2009 with different contemporary art galleries in Lisbon and, between 2013 and 2019, worked in the areas of press and PR, as well as commercial and institutional relations at Atelier and Fundação Joana Vasconcelos. She provides occasional services in the area of press consultancy and public relations in Portugal for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and was responsible for national and international communication and press for the Official Portuguese Representation at the 59th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia 2022, with the project Vampires in Space, by Isadora Pedro Neves Marques. Since 2021, she has been press officer and public relations for Walk&Talk - Azores Arts Festival (becoming a Biennial in 2025), and also collaborates with ARCOlisboa as a cultural consultant. She has worked as press officer for the Alkantara Festival since 2023 and is currently responsible for the area of press and part of the communication for A Vida Portuguesa.
Fernanda Cal graduated in Interior Architecture from Fundação Ricardo do Espírito Santo Silva, worked for half a year in the area and was soon challenged to join the Advertising department at Máxima, Máxima Interiores, City, and accompanied the launch of Vogue in Portugal from the beginning until 2013, when she decided to stop after 22 years with the same company to re-evaluate another way of being in life. Fernanda began collaborating with Café Pessoa in 2015 on the Lisbon Shopping Destination project. Two years later, while still working with Café Pessoa, she fulfilled another dream: to work in the field of Contemporary Art at the start of ARCOlisboa, sponsoring brands. For two years she returned to magazines, working in advertising sales. In 2023, she was once again challenged to work for Café Pessoa, and was very happy to be able to continue working with this team at ARCOlisboa.
Inês Teixeira (Lisbon, 1979) has a degree in Human Resources Management (1997-2001) which, by mere chance, never pursued. She worked for a decade at Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art as a producer, a position she held at Joana Vasconcelos Studio and which she accumulated with the position of Events Manager at Joana Vasconcelos Foundation (2014-2020). Throughout her career she has collaborated with artists and various institutions. For the last three years she has been Gallery Manager at UMA LULIK__. She is currently a cultural producer collaborating with various galleries, institutions and artists.
Isabel Sampaio is an accomplished event planner with over 30 years of experience organising and managing high-profile events across media, sports, and corporate sectors. Since 2012, she has worked as a freelance planner on events such as the Millennium Estoril Open as corporate manager, and ARCOlisboa, where, through Café Pessoa, she plays a key role in sponsorship sales and event coordination. Her career also includes roles in marketing and editorial assistance within the music and publishing industries.
Leonor Nogueira (Oporto, 1998) graduated in Art History from the University of Lisbon, and holds a Master's degree in Management and Enhancement of Historical and Cultural Heritage from the University of Évora. During her academic career, Leonor took part in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Curricular Internship Programme, integrating the Portuguese Delegation to UNESCO in Paris for six months. In addition, Leonor did an internship at the Palace of the Dukes of Cadaval in Évora, participating in the international exhibition ‘LOVE, Marrakech... opened my eyes to colour - Yves Saint Laurent'. Leonor is a Youth Member of Europa Nostra, in which she actively participates and is part of the informal group of the European Heritage Hub in Lisbon. In February 2023, Leonor joined the ARCOlisboa Contemporary Art Fair team through the Café Pessoa production company.
Born in Angola in 1973, she came to Portugal as a child and grew up in Lisbon, where she studied literature and administration. In 1991, she began working in the area of air safety for an American company. In 1996 she started working as an administrator / secretary at RMAC Brand Design, where she found her vocation: organising, managing, finding solutions and an aptitude for human relations. In 2000 she was a founding partner of Flúor Studio Design Advisors, where she was responsible for administrative and financial management. She currently works as an administrator at Café Pessoa.
Miguel Mesquita (Coimbra, 1990). Holds a degree and a Master in Architecture and a Master in Curatorial Studies from the University of Coimbra. In 2013 he joined the Centre for Social Studies as a Young Researcher in interdisciplinary projects focusing on the areas of architecture, sociology and art. He started his curatorial career at Serralves Museum with the curator João Ribas, having collaborated in several exhibitions. He was Artistic Director at the BAGINSKI gallery between 2015 and 2018. Among others he curated the exhibitions "Contention, Dispersion" (2016), Arthur Luiz Piza's last solo exhibition in life; "Force, Strength, Power" (2017); "Water, Wine and Flower Crowns" (2019); "Shiu! The Dialogue of Silence" (2019); "Through Windows" (2020). He is Founding-Director of PARTE - Portugal Arte Encounters a programa for curatorial research on the Portuguese contemporary art scene, and CEENTAA, a project that intertwines artistic practices with agriculture through the creation of an Agroforestry, that he develops with the artist Jérémy Pajeanc and the cultural producer Graça Passos. In 2023 he did a one year practical course on regenerative agriculture. He has participated as a moderator in conferences on art and architecture and is a writer for Contempor nea magazine, catalogs and other art publications. Since 2018 has joined Café Pessoa's team as cultural consultant for ARCOlisboa's.
In addition, Rita was also cultural attaché for the Portuguese Embassy in Canada between 2020 and the end of 2022, and has since then been coordinating several projects with Portuguese artists in Canada.
Rita holds a Master's degree in Arts Administration from Boston University - Massachusetts, having completed it with honors in July 2022, and is a guest lecturer at ISCTE, having in September 2023 began teaching Fundraising for the Arts as part of the Master's program in Art Markets.