An End to a Momentous Year

ELIA Executive Director, Maria Hansen looks back on the success of the ELIA Biennial 2020, and takes stock of what ELIA has achieved in the past two months.

Dear ELIA members,

What a treat it was to see so many of you during the ELIA Biennial 2020 conference last month. We have missed you since! Over 1600 people registered for our first ever ELIA digital conference. We had hoped that the Biennial online would provide you with meaningful connections and content which would inspire you in your work. Thankfully your feedback has told us that we succeeded in bringing you an event you wanted to be part of, that you found stimulating in a positive and hopeful way, despite Covid-19, economic upheaval and the many challenges that this year has brought to you. A huge thank you to everyone who was part of it – presenting, speaking, workshopping, hosting, moderating. It was an incredible experience, especially for my colleague Janja Ferenc, ELIA’s conference manager, and I as we were in Zurich with the team at ZHdK, producing it directly on location.

Our pre-programme preceded the main event and I was delighted that this brought in such a large crowd, talking about topics that are part of ELIA’s strategic focus. Our working groups and platforms had prepared a programme around priorities such as: careers, internationalisation, European funding, climate change, gender relations, artistic research and arts in schools. Many of you contributed to the discussion and we are taking your input forward as we embark on next steps for all of these topics in the coming year.

Only a few days after the Biennial, another first for us: ELIA General Assembly online, including electronic voting. Thanks to meticulous preparation and ELIA President, Andrea Braidt’s effective chairing, it worked like clockwork and rendered some very important decisions for ELIA. We welcome three new members to our Board of Representatives : Vȋt Havránek, Academy of Fine Arts Prague, Ana Telles, University of Évora, School of Arts and Úna Henry, St. Joost School of Art & Design, Master Institute of Visual Cultures.

No rest for the wicked, as the call for contributions for the ELIA Academy is awaiting your enthusiastic proposals!

ELIA continues to grow in strength and number, and we are humbled to welcome ten new members in the last couple of months. Read our newsletter for more details.

Now that the bizarre year 2020 draws to a close, I wish you all well. This has been a difficult year – many of you have experienced loss due to the pandemic. Our thoughts are with you as the festive season brings with it so many memories.

All of you, and all of us, have worked a much heavier load than perhaps ever before. This week the ELIA team found time to meet together on Zoom for an evening of wine tasting. You too are due a break and I hope that you will find time to recharge your own personal batteries.

That is what I will do – unable to travel to my family in Germany, my husband, three (big) kids and I are staying at home in Haarlem. In the kitchen, there is a growing list of Covid-safe things to do, food to prepare and games to acquire. This will be good. In 2021 I look forward to deepening our connection with all of you in many ways. I might not be able to visit you and your teams in person for a while, but an online ‘team visit’ will be part of our offer in the coming year. Let us know if you are interested and keep an eye on our news updates.

Happy holidays and a happy and healthy 2021 to you all!

Warmest regards,

Maria Hansen

ELIA Executive Director