Funding application season in Europe! We have seen our members work hard on recent deadlines, kudos to you! At the ELIA office, we have also put in our fair share of applications to the EU in early March. It’s important work that will strengthen the network and our discourses. ELIA also supported several applications as an associate partner – we are happy to be part of your proposals in this way and we hope that this boosts your case in front of the reviewers. We are sending positive energy to all of you, and to our team, for successful outcomes! 

 

Now that the dust has settled, we will get back to working on the development of ELIA’s new strategy, which the members will discuss and vote on at the General Assembly in November 2024. This is exciting work that many of our members debated about with us at the Leadership Symposium in Manchester. We are talking about a 10-year vision and strategic missions that will take us in that direction (while also realising that along the way many things might change). In 2034 (deep into the 30’s of this century), what will this world look like? Through the wonderful work of the now-completed FAST45 project, we have learned to think about futures, and even with a 10-year vision, many futures are imaginable. After much ideation and narrowing down of our strategic missions, the ELIA Team and ELIA Executive Group are now ready to start writing about this vision and the actual strategy itself. In April, the Representative Board will have their second strategy workshop, which will no doubt challenge us to make it even better. ELIA members can still be part of our conversation – during the online General Assembly on 17 June 2024, we will present the broad context of the strategy and we welcome your feedback.  

 

Before that, keep your eyes peeled on your inbox and make sure that ELIA emails don’t land in your spam inbox. Here is why: we are about to launch the registrations for Creative Skills Week 2024, which will take place in Amsterdam from 16-20 September 2024. Creative Skills Week 2024 will be powered by SACCORD, in association with CYANOTYPES, and hosted by the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, Amsterdam University of Arts. This will be the second edition of this event. And very shortly thereafter, we will launch…. (drumroll, please) …. the registrations for the ELIA Biennial Conference 2024, taking place in Milan from 20-23 November 2024. Several events are still taking place this spring, including the EDI Platform Meeting 2024 in Nida at Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts (you can still register by Friday, 22 March), the ETHO Leadership Meeting in Prague and the PIE Annual Meeting 2024 - which will also take place in Prague. 

 

Last but not least, we are excited to celebrate ELIA’s first supporting member in the UK: the University of the Arts London (UAL). A big thank you to UAL for their commitment to be part of the group of supporting members, that helps us to accelerate work on specific strategic priorities. For the period of 2023 – 2026, this work focuses on generations and generationality. Stay tuned for more news on how this will unfold in the coming months! And if you are keen to find out more about supporting membership, please send an email to maria.hansen@elia-artschools.org.