The NEB Festival, Actionable Futures & Agents of Transformation

ELIA Head of Programmes, Barbara Revelli reports back from the New European Bauhaus Festival in Brussels.

Having joined several EU consultations and other European Commission initiative events over the years in Brussels, I have continuously advocated on behalf of ELIA for the importance of including the A in STEAM. Last week, for the very first time, I noticed the tides were changing. Several EU policymakers spoke at the New European Bauhaus (NEB) Festival, stressing the crucial importance of arts and culture as an indispensable factor necessary to solving many challenges our society faces today.

We want to be the first continent to be carbon neutral by 2050', said Laura Hetel, Policy Officer - Cities Mission, European Commission at the Actionable Futures event.

'I think most of us knew that this transformation needs to happen and in order for this to happen …we need a soul in the middle of the transformation, we need to give it a meaning, and we need that to gain the support of the people.'

In 2021, the European Commission launched the New European Bauhaus (NEB) initiative. The NEB is an environmental, economic and cultural project, aiming to combine design, sustainability, accessibility, affordability and investment to help deliver the European Green Deal. As a growing movement connecting people across fields in culture, education, science, architecture and the arts, the NEB aims to bridge global challenges with local solutions to achieve ambitious climate targets and support a broader transformation on the ground.

The Actionable Futures Platform, an initiative born under the NEB umbrella, hosted one of the side events at the Museum for Architecture CIVA as part of the NEB Festival. The goal of this modular 2-days conference was to bring together a wide range of actors to synergise and discuss the contribution of research arts, culture and creativity to the NEB and the Green Deal.

Kirsten Dunlop, CEO of the EIT Climate-KIC, reinforced the message on the crucial role of culture, arts and education in order to obtain the very needed profound transformation already mentioned.

"We invented markets. We can uninvent them, and redesign them. We do not need competition, we need a portfolio approach. We don't change that with technology. We need a narrative of what we need to become. An aesthetic of a particular way of being. We need to frame mobilising images of self-construction. We need to see ourselves living differently. We are being fed the narrative to give up. If we are fed those narratives that is where we go. "

ELIA and UDK – University of the Arts Berlin brought in the voice of arts students by hosting the second conversation of Agents of Transformation, a student-driven platform for systemic change through art and design. All three visions presented addressed specific topics, i.e. climate awareness in arts education, protocols of care and impact models and circularity for climate-neutral and smart cities. Experts were invited to respond and provide feedback on the students' statements, and their feedback will be integrated into the next phase of Agents of Transformation.

Them New European Bauhaus (NEB) festival offered a platform for a very wide variety of stakeholders to come together. Policymakers, researchers, and experts in different fields gathered to discuss challenges and opportunities ahead, contributing to the debates on a European level.

Ending from where I started, it is pleasing to see the STEAM approach now becoming a reality. ELIA's partnership in the newly formed project CrAFt, brings further opportunities to create actionable futures, supporting the New European Bauhaus transformation towards climate-neutral, inclusive cities. Creating think tanks, STEAM teams, design challenges and action research, the project aims to shape the next generation of NEB doers. As always, we will keep you updated.