The Best Kind of Gatherings

ELIA Executive Director, Maria Hansen, reflects on the introspective experiences of the first ever in-person Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity (EDI) conference as well as the ETHO leadership meeting, while looking forwards to the many exciting upcoming events. 

Last week I ventured to the East of Europe, first to Lithuania, then to the Czech Republic.

In Lithuania, ELIA’s EDI community was coming together at Nida Art Colony (NAC), to work on the theme of ‘Taking space – making space’ within the context of Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity (EDI). NAC is part of Vilnius Academy of Arts and it is a place that requires a bit of commitment to get there. Nida is situated in the Southern part of what is called the ‘Curonian Spit’, a 98-kilometre long, thin, curved sand-dune spit that separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea – and it sits just a few hundred meters North of the Russian border. Coming from Vilnius, it takes a good five hours on a bus to reach NAC, including a short ride on a ferry across the lagoon. Needless to say this is an incredible place to be and it was wonderful that ELIA’s EDI working group had created a programme for this event that included walks through the dunes, forest and beach twice a day. On top of this, we had moments to stretch and rest before diving back into the thought-provoking content provided by our colleagues. Aminata Cairo had also made the journey to be our narrator throughout the gathering. An amazing team of chefs cooked for us in the NAC kitchen (in the middle of the building) from morning until night. Many of us got involved in the kitchen to lend a hand. The combination of all this made me think: this is exactly how a gathering should be and I thank our hosts from the bottom of my heart. It was intense, but I am so grateful for this myriad of positive factors coming together.

Following visits to ELIA members Vilnius Academy of Arts and the Lithuanian Academy of Theatre and Music in Vilnius, I ventured on to Prague where ELIA’s technical community ETHO was holding their leadership meeting. This is a smaller gathering held by ETHO every two years with the purpose of shaping their programming for the coming years together with those individuals who lead a technical team in their institutions. Hosted by the Academy of Arts Architecture and Design in Prague (UMPRUM), this was another kind of ‘intense’ yet equally productive event. Most participants were able to come to Prague while quite a few joined us online (even from Alberta University of the Arts in Calgary, at very adventurous times of the day in Mountain Time!). A lot of ground was covered, with a longer session on ETHO’s future contribution to ELIA’s Ukraine programme being a particular highlight.

One of the connecting factors between these two gatherings is that they were small-ish in size, and that is often a very productive situation. ELIA’s Biennial Conference, by contrast, will be a larger size gathering, the largest that ELIA offers. Together with our wonderful hosts at the Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti (NABA), we will endeavor to ensure that it doesn’t feel huge. Our event locations will spread out over the beautiful city Milan, giving you all ample opportunity to travel or walk together in smaller groups. And yes, we launched the Biennial a couple of weeks ago! Be sure to register if you want to get a ticket – we were sold out last time and are expecting a strong response. More on the Biennial in the next newsletter – such exciting programming news coming up.

Wishing you all a week of productive gatherings!