I am feeling different as I write this. What has changed? 

The ELIA Leadership Symposium ‘The Beginning of Now’ took place in Manchester last week, hosted by our dear, generous colleagues at Manchester Metropolitan University. This was a week of human encounters that were impactful in so many ways. Ten provocateurs and scene-setters had come to Manchester, to spark our conversation with their contributions, to conduct workshops with us, and to be part of the gathering from beginning to end. This was rich, immersive and participative, in a way that felt different from anything we have ever done before. 

We co-created the Manchester Provocation, together with an extraordinary group of student practitioners of Manchester Met, who were with us throughout the entire event, taking in our thoughts and ideas.  They added their own reflections and created a provocative performance for all of us at the conclusion of the event. Working together with Manchester Met’s PhD researcher Phoebe Kowalska, the Manchester Provocation Team helped ELIA take a huge step forward in our effort to bring the next generation into the ELIA conversation. 

Manchester was not the only location where these conversations took place. Satellite Events on the theme ‘The Beginning of Now’ took place all over the world, hosted by ELIA members in Hong Kong, Singapore, Egypt, Colombia, United States and Canada, as well as at the Maabara Atelier in Malindi, Kenya. Often these conversations took place while we were sleeping. Feedback and input from all over the world reached us almost in real time, entering the Manchester Provocation seamlessly. Another big step forward, as we managed to involve a much larger part of the ELIA communities in the actual conversation taking place at that very moment. Hybrid took on a new meaning and became truly global. Not to mention the livestream we were able to offer for many of the events in Manchester to our online audience – our thanks to the wonderful Manchester Met tech team for reaching a new and really promising standard of quality.

We had invited a very special artist to the Symposium, to provoke, but also to reflect with us, and to teach us. This was Ogutu Muraya, an Orator and Story Teller and a master of his art. Ogutu’s stories touched us in ways I had not expected. A day before we started, the two of us had a talk and Ogutu shared with me that he thought our event was quite ambitious, maybe too much so? In his final reflection, Ogutu acknowledged the brain gymnastics we had performed in the 48 hour space we had together. He told the wonderful story about a hummingbird originally told by Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Muta Maathai (see the recording) – ending with his final advice to all of us: we are all called to do the best we can. 

Thank you so much, Ogutu, and thank you so much to everyone who made this experience possible. Manchester wasn’t ‘business as usual’ – I think something really changed. 

 

To the team at Manchester Met: you can now return to ‘normal’ – Manchester will be forever associated with your generosity and your willingness to experiment. Thank you for that. The Beginning of Now starts right now.