Education · Culture · Audiovisual · Music

Mónica Ibáñez Fernández de Lis

Educator · Documentary filmmaker · Cultural manager · Musician

I connect technology, culture, critical thinking and creation to turn knowledge into experiences that transform.

One journey. Different languages. The same way of seeing.

Tell me what you need Explore my experience

Studio portrait of Mónica Ibáñez Fernández de Lis: a woman with curly blonde hair smiling at the camera, wearing red lipstick, against a dark background

About

A journey that doesn't fit in a single label

Portrait of Mónica Ibáñez Fernández de Lis appearing from behind an orange lace shawl, wearing a red earring, with one arm raised, against a dark background

I began in photography, as a graphic and written press correspondent, and everything else grows from that way of seeing. For more than four decades I have worked in education, documentary film, cultural management and music. They may look like different paths, but they have always been the same one: to observe, research, understand, narrate, teach, create and accompany processes of transformation.

As an educator and mentor, I help companies, professionals and the wider public adopt artificial intelligence and digital tools with good judgement, without losing sight of the people. In the audiovisual field I have worked in directing, production, filmmaking and screenwriting, specialising in documentary, with projects broadcast on national and international television. As a cultural manager, I have created and directed festivals, showcases and forums. And as a musician — Mona, on stage — I research the story living inside each song and bring it to the stage.

Everything I do springs from the same conviction: knowledge transforms when it becomes shared experience.

How I can support you

What we can build together

I work with companies, training centres, public administrations, universities, cultural organisations and social projects through different forms of collaboration: training, talks, strategic mentoring and project development.

Pedagogical audit and human quality of AI-created content

I review and redesign courses, guides and materials developed or accelerated with artificial intelligence so that they are rigorous, clear, inclusive, pedagogically sound and true to the voice of each organisation. I combine AI-assisted analysis with human review, critical thinking and more than 2,000 hours of teaching experience.

Fact-checking: data, sources and unsupported claims
Clarity of language and real understanding for the learner
Pedagogical soundness: objectives, sequence, activities and assessment
Inclusive language and accessibility of the materials
Detection of bias, stereotypes and omissions
Consistency with each organisation's voice, criteria and context
Redesign and rewriting of the reviewed content
A report of findings and applicable recommendations

The aim is not to correct a text, but to let each organisation use its materials with confidence: that they teach what they claim to teach, that anyone can understand them, and that they still sound like whoever signs them.

Let's review your materials

Training and capacity building

Learning in order to understand, decide and apply.

I design and deliver courses, programmes and workshops — in person, online or hybrid — adapted to each organisation, to the people taking part and to their starting level. Practical, understandable training, connected to real situations, combining the use of tools with critical thinking, creativity and autonomy.

Artificial intelligence applied to everyday work
Digital transformation, data culture and decision-making
Responsible automation and process improvement
Security, privacy and the development of digital skills
Media literacy, critical thinking and disinformation
Training for teachers, teaching teams and trainers
Environmental education for children and young people, based on care, observation and the discovery of their environment

Every proposal is built so that the learning can be carried into practice and last beyond the training itself.

Let's work on it

Mentoring and support for companies

Transforming the organisation without losing sight of the people.

I support SMEs, teams and organisations that want to adopt artificial intelligence and digital tools in a useful, gradual and conscious way. Not a one-off course, nor distant consultancy, but a shared process adapted to their goals, resources, knowledge and working pace.

Assessment of needs, resources and working processes
Identification of problems and opportunities for improvement
Selection and prioritisation of use cases with real impact
Design of a viable, step-by-step roadmap
Responsible choice of useful, sustainable tools
Team training and the creation of protocols for use
Follow-up on goals, results and new needs

The aim is not to adopt technology for its own sake, but to help each organisation understand it, make good decisions and use it with autonomy.

Let's make it happen

Cultural and audiovisual projects

Creating is also researching, connecting and making visible.

I design, direct and develop cultural, educational, documentary and audiovisual projects from an interdisciplinary perspective. I work across the whole life of an idea: from initial research and writing through to production, programming, exhibition and the encounter with audiences.

Audiovisual direction, production and filmmaking, with a documentary specialisation
Research, screenwriting and narrative development
Design and coordination of cultural and educational projects
Programming of festivals, showcases, gatherings and forums
Cultural mediation and activities for different audiences
Memory, diversity, representation and social transformation
Support for projects from the initial idea through to their presentation

I am especially drawn to projects that recover voices, open conversations and use culture to understand the present and imagine other possibilities.

Let's get your idea moving

Music and Conciertos Ilustrados

Every song holds a story. Playing it brings that story back to the present.

Through Mike & Mona we bring together performance, musical research, dramaturgy and memory in stage productions where songs do not stand alone: they are presented alongside the stories, the contexts and the lives they contain.

More than thirty years working together allow us to build concerts that are both close and rigorous, adapted to theatres, festivals, museums, cultural centres, institutions and educational spaces.

Illustrated concerts and storytelling concerts with Mike & Mona
Historical, musical and documentary research
Dramaturgy, scriptwriting and stage creation
Themed repertoires designed for each context
Popular song, historical memory, exile and social transformation
Musical journeys through Spain and Latin America
Proposals adapted to theatres, festivals, institutions and educational spaces
Mediation and conversation with audiences

We do not offer only a repertoire: we build an experience in which music, words and memory breathe together again.

This is where our project begins ↗

Talks, lectures and public conversations

Creating spaces to think, talk, imagine, change

Talks for conferences, professional gatherings, universities, companies, cultural institutions and social organisations. These are not extended training courses: they are spaces for reflection, outreach and public conversation.

Artificial intelligence and critical thinking
Meaningful digital transformation
Risks and responsible uses of AI
Media literacy and disinformation
Technology, power, culture and citizenship
Inclusion and representation in the digital age
Creativity, education and culture
Documentary, memory and social transformation
Popular song as a historical document

Recent engagement: invited speaker at the International Intercultural Congress — “Interculturality, AI and Shared Futures” (Valencia, June 2026), at the invitation of SIETAR Valencia. Every talk is adapted to the organisation, the audience, the length and the context.

Propose a talk

Colour portrait of Mónica Ibáñez Fernández de Lis: curly blonde hair, smiling with red lipstick and an orange lace scarf, against a dark background

Experience

The experience behind the work

More than four decadesof professional experience, from photography to artificial intelligence

Teaching and mentoringin-person and online training for SMEs, professionals, teams and the wider public; design of contents and materials, and workshops for different topics and ages

Cultural and audiovisual projectsdirection, production and filmmaking of documentaries and series; management and content design for festivals, seminars and forums; gatherings and cultural mediation

Spain and beyondprojects, broadcasts and festivals in Spain and internationally

A selection of projects from the fields that represent the way I work:

Teaching & mentoring · Digital transformation & AI

AI training and mentoring for SMEs and professionals

Digital transformation, applied artificial intelligence, business intelligence and digital-tools training: programmes for SMEs, professionals and the general public, covering AI, data culture, process automation, digital security and technological skills. Delivered through public and private training organisations nationwide, within projects such as the Generación D programme, funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU and the Government of Spain (Ministry of Industry and Tourism), under the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, through the EOI Industrial Organisation School.

Audiovisual · Documentary

Documentaries, series and advertising campaigns

Direction, production, filmmaking and screenwriting, specialising in documentary: films broadcast on TVE’s La 2 —La Noche Temática— and ARTE, as well as Canal+ and regional broadcasters, including the series Acentos–Accents (eleven episodes), aired on Punt 2, Valencian public television, with international distribution. I have also produced advertising campaigns and worked as production manager for film and documentary.

Cultural management · Festivals

Film festivals and showcases

Director of the documentary film showcases Documenta-me and Indocumenta-2 (2nd and 3rd editions, Madrid, 2006 and 2007) and co-coordinator of the ECOZINE film and environment festival in the Valencia region (2019-2025), with training activities in several municipalities and projects such as the Citizen Environmental Observatory (OCA) in L’Eliana, training secondary-school students as environmental observers.

Cultural management · Forums & institutions

Forums, gatherings and institutional management

Production manager of Ciber@rt — 3rd International Exhibition of New Technologies: Art and Communication (Valencia, 1997); director and content developer of the seminar “Haciendo Latir la Tierra” (CERAI – University of Valencia, 2008) and of the forum “From Individual Change to Global Change: From Me, For You, For All” (CERAI – University of Valencia, 2009); and cultural manager of Geldo’s Cultural Capital 2023.

Education · Critical thinking & materials design

Critical thinking for active learning

Design and delivery of the courses on critical thinking for active learning aimed at teachers, through CEFIRE (the teacher-training network of the Valencia region), together with courses on media literacy and on the use of audiovisual language in the classroom as a tool for empowerment. Design of the reference teaching materials and delivery of the workshops “Anti-racist practices in the digital age”, promoted by ISCOD in collaboration with the University of Valencia, Jaume I University (Castellón), Miguel Hernández University (Elche) and the Castellón CEFIRE. Creation of contents and materials for courses on film, teaching portfolio and environmental awareness at various institutions.

Writing · Press & publications

Journalism, articles and publications

Professional beginnings as a graphic and written press correspondent. Article “Tengo amigos, son árboles” (“I have friends, they are trees”), published in the Lírica section of The Ecologist para España y Latinoamérica (no. 33, April 2008). Articles in issues 14 and 15 of the journal Tierra, published by CERAI (Centre for Rural Studies and International Agriculture), and member of its editorial board; director of issue 15, a special issue on the forum “From Individual Change to Global Change”. Writing — journalistic, screenwriting and outreach — runs through every other area of my work.

Music · Stage

Mike & Mona – Conciertos Ilustrados

A stage proposal where music and storytelling intertwine and every song is presented with its story and its context. I create the dramaturgy and the script for several of the illustrated concerts: the research behind them, the thread that links the songs and the narrative that holds them on stage.

More than thirty years working together, with repertoires grouped into themed lines and commissioned pieces for theatres, cultural centres, libraries, museums and festivals. I am also Mona

Approach

Technology with judgement. Culture with memory. Learning with meaning.

Critical thinking

Analyse before adopting. Assess the risks, limits and responsible uses of every tool — especially artificial intelligence.

Practical application

Real use cases, applicable to each organisation’s context. Knowledge is useful when it can be used.

Inclusive learning

Accessible design that embraces human diversity and respects each person’s pace and starting point.

Social and cultural responsibility

Sustainability, media literacy and an intersectional perspective as a concrete way of designing and developing projects.

Inclusion and accessibility are not decorative statements: they are decisions that shape how a course is designed, how a festival is programmed and how a story is told.

Music

I am also Mona

“Music is not a side activity in my career. It is another of the languages through which I research, perform and share memory. Together with Mike I develop Conciertos Ilustrados — Illustrated Concerts — where every song is presented with its story, its context and the lives that ran through it.”

Discover Mike & Mona ↗

Artistic portrait of Mónica as Mona: close-up with loose curly hair, red lips and an intense gaze, against a dark background

Contact

Tell me what you need

Professional email monica@monicaibanezfernandezdelis.com

LinkedIn LinkedIn profile ↗

Card My digital card ↗

Teaching Teaching and applied AI page ↗

Location Valencia, Spain

Availability In-person and online projects · National and international collaborations

Your message has been sent. Thank you for writing — I will reply as soon as possible.

If you have in mind a training programme, a talk, a mentoring process, a cultural or audiovisual project — or a mixture of several — write to me and we will find the right shape for it.

Or, if you prefer:

Open my email app

Surrealist black-and-white portrait of Mónica: with a playful expression, she bites a high-heeled shoe while holding a studio lamp above her head

Thank you

None of this is done alone

Thank you to all the people and institutions who have accompanied me on this life journey, and to those who will keep doing so. Among them, the ECOZINE festival; the Ciber@rt International Exhibition; the associations ARACOVA, CERAI and ISCOD; SIETAR Valencia; the town councils of Geldo and L’Eliana; the universities Jaume I (Castellón), the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) and the University of Valencia (UV); and EBC Comunitat Valenciana.

And thank you, above all, to my family, my friends, and every person who placed their trust in these projects… and to Divine Providence, who has also done her part. The full list would be endless: if you have been part of this path, these thanks are also for you.

Photographs: Elena Díez, photographer ↗
A website created by three hands. In the words of ChatGPT (OpenAI): “Mónica brought the life, Claude (Anthropic) built the house, and ChatGPT helped find the thread that connected the rooms.”