A Time for New Beginnings

ELIA Executive Director Maria Hansen tells how ELIA members are preparing to shape the narrative of Higher Arts Education as we come together and look to the future.

Spring has arrived in the Netherlands, and while I am still sitting here in my home office, I am intensely reminded of this period one year ago, during the first lockdown. Being used to a life of very frequent travel, my world dramatically reduced in size within the space of a few days. And strangely, personally I did not mind so much – I am blessed with a lovely family and a home that offers all five of us space to work and study.

How different it is now, as I am almost at the edge of my seat wanting to ‘get out’ again. You will recognise the strange mix of optimism and pessimism that is oozing through the media at the moment as we look towards the next few months. I can only imagine the challenges you face when running an educational institution in the arts, bearing responsibility for your teams and for thousands of students. And what it’s like to make decisions that are safe, and conducive to effective work at the same time. In many ways the future is in your hands.

Last week, the ELIA Representative Board met for two days on Zoom which may sound horrendous but was actually very inspiring. Thankfully all the bureaucracy was out of the way quickly leaving us quality time to deep-dive into conversations with each other right away. In an exercise that focused on creating a new narrative around our strategic priorities, we went into groups and co-created stories of the unsung heroes in the ELIA community. This exercise sparked so much creativity and rendered stories that showed the passion with which our members are engaged in and for their community, especially when it comes to the students.

Co-creation also is the theme of an entirely different activity that is filling the ELIA agenda at the moment – the New European Bauhaus, the EU initiative aimed at designing future ways of living. As we have mentioned in earlier newsletters, the European Commission has invited citizens and organisations to co-create this initiative with them. As an official partner, ELIA is involved in several of these co-creation events.

Personally, I am most excited about the international student workshops which we are creating together with our colleagues from the University of the Arts Berlin and students from several ELIA member schools. This project is a pilot involving only 25 students from about five art universities who will provide official input to the New European Bauhaus initiative. Making sure that the voice of the student generation is an important part of this co-creation process and we look forward to sharing the results with you. Read more on the New European Bauhaus events in our April Newsletter, which I hope that you will enjoy.