Culture Always Stands for Freedom

ELIA executive director Maria Hansen looks back on the magic what was the ELIA Leadership Symposium 2022 in Tallinn.

In September 2019, I visited Tallinn for the first time, where I was hosted by Mart Kalm, rector of the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA). He had recently become a member of ELIA's Representative Board. During my stay, I took time to visit our other members in the city, amongst them the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. After I left Tallinn, a little bit of ELIA magic happened – these two institutions got together and decided to submit a bid for the ELIA Leadership Symposium 2021. We felt in so many ways that this proposal was timely, and the ELIA Representative Board approved with pleasure.

It feels like a lifetime ago, and knowing what I know now, it's amazing how ELIA magic continued to be part of this event. I'll give you a few examples.

Covid-19 regulations forced us to postpone the event, which took it from November 2021 to the long summer nights of June 2022, arguably a much better time to be in Tallinn. Rebecca Duclos of Concordia University in Montreal agreed to chair the steering group, also not knowing that in 2022, she would be spending her sabbatical year in Europe and even teaching at EKA for a while as part of the Ukrainian support effort of her institution. Our first ever attempt to offer the Leadership Symposium to leadership teams was received with great enthusiasm. This was heightened by the fact that for many of these teams, this was the first physical opportunity to venture - with each other - out of the post-pandemic space and into a space of new ideas and fresh thinking.

A rich programme was crafted around the theme of 'Surfing Uncertainties'. However, we did not know in 2019, nor in the two years that followed, that our Leadership Symposium would take us closer to war. We did not know that what would move us most would be the presence of several colleagues from Ukraine who had travelled for days to share their stories from their war-torn country and institutions. We were deeply touched by the testimonials shared by Inna Kocharian, acting rector of the Kyiv National I. K. Karpenko-Karyi Theatre, Cinema and Television University, and by Liubov Morozova of the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra. And we did not know how relevant the keynote by Kersti Kaljulaid, former president of Estonia, would prove, as she examined the impact of culture, looking back at the end of Soviet occupation in the 1990s and forward to the current war in Ukraine, identifying a clear role for culture throughout:

"Yet in the end, culture always stands for freedom. It deals with human beings and knows what human beings really need for true happiness – the ability to act out of free will in all spheres of life." - Kersti Kaljulaid 

There is so much more to tell of this historical event which keeps singing through my head, recalling conversations, debate, music and art, new ideas and connections. I think this is what we hope for when we organise an ELIA event in any space, but in particular in the physical space, which comes with a larger footprint. We hope that our impact will be significant, that our members come away with small and large ideas they can use in their daily work, and that their connections will be productive for many years to come. I want to thank everyone who was part of it, and I'm already counting the days until the ELIA Biennial Conference in Helsinki when we see you all again.