ELIA Finds Time To Celebrate

ELIA Excecutive Director, Maria Hansen announces exciting news for the network, while raising a glass to 30 years supporting higher arts education. Happy 30th Anniversary ELIA!

In the midst of a second wave of the pandemic, we celebrated a little bit last week. The cause: ELIA turned 30 years on 5 October! To mark the occasion, we invited members, partners and friends to an online celebration and were delighted with the crowd that came and cheered with us during this small but heart-warming event. It was my pleasure to chat with my predecessor and ELIA founder, Carla Delfos, about the past, present and future of ELIA. Many members and colleagues sent us congratulatory messages, flowers and gifts – thank you all.

During our celebration we were able to share good news – ELIA has just launched a new website and online community engagement platform. This new technology will help us to provide you with a virtual space where you can meet and exchange online e.g. as a working group, platform or taskforce. It’s still a bit under construction, but we hope you enjoy this space and are keen to hear your feedback!

Our anniversary also was the moment to share with our members that ELIA – for the first time in our history – is now introducing a tiered membership fee system based on the economic strength of countries. Starting in 2021, membership fees will not only depend on the size of your institution but also on the area you live in. We put in a lot of time devising a structure that we feel is equitable and fair, and we are hoping that our members will embrace it with us, even if that means paying a little more. Letters with more specific information will go out to our members in the coming days.

Speaking of historic, our first ever ELIA Biennial (Digital) Conference is drawing a crowd! Lots of member institutions are signing up for institutional packages. Together with the team at Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), we are now deep into the preparations. Want a sneak preview or haven’t booked yet? Check out the teaser clips that our presenters have created, which show the enormous breadth of ideas and concepts of their contributions!

Of course, we are looking ahead to the coming years and, with our fingers crossed that physical meetings will eventually be possible again, are announcing in this newsletter the locations of ELIA’s signature events in 2021.

Last week ELIA’s Representative Board held its (online) meeting, together with the ELIA Team. For two days, we took time to share, explore, brainstorm and look forward. For me, this is always a highlight, as this discourse reflects and represents the great depth of diversity of our membership. Elections for three vacancies on the Representative Board will be held at the General Assembly on 24 November. Thank you to all ten candidates from all over Europe who applied to fill these spots!

Finally as you wrap up warm and enjoy the Autumn hues, I encourage you register for the ELIA Biennial 2020, if you haven’t already – an event which we’re sure will be a meaningful and connective experience for all involved. See you then!