On Route by Rail to Milan

ELIA Executive Director, Maria Hansen reflects on the recent Biennial satellite events, the anticipation of gathering in Milan, and invites contributions for upcoming ELIA events in 2025, including the PIE Annual Meeting in Barcelona, the ETHO Technical Community Conference in Riga, and the ELIA Academy in Oslo.

While writing this message, the German countryside zips by at rapid speed. Several ELIA Team members, including myself, have chosen to travel by train to Milan in an effort to cut our team’s carbon footprint. Not everyone is able to do this, but many of us are. And if you made this decision, as well, you want to see the landscape zipping by while you work away on your laptop—this is the ideal scenario. Of course, we have all encountered strikes, engineering works, and technical disruptions leading to some quite spectacular delays on these long-distance rail trips. Hats off to all of you who are trying to lower our collective footprint by making this choice anyway, and I wish you a zipping landscape throughout your journeys!

It’s exciting to be on our way to get together at NABA with all of you. It really feels like we are warming up to it well this time, with the six excellent online satellite events hosted by ELIA members in Baltimore, Singapore, Boston, Cairo, Seoul, and Sarasota over the last two weeks. Wow! Such interesting sessions, such lively conversations—I could really feel the vibe of all of us getting ready for the discussions on artistic intelligence in Milan. A huge thank you to all our satellite hosts, and to the ELIA team who seamlessly added this substantial programme to our agenda.

I am thrilled that we will be seeing a record number of ELIA members in Milan, where we will be warmly welcomed by the amazing team at NABA. (By the way, quick note on the ‘warmth’ —keep your eyes peeled on the weather forecast; it looks like proper winter coats and umbrellas will come in handy!).

Final note, moving forward: one of my favourite things to do as we edge toward the end of the year is to look ahead at the plans for next year. Working for ELIA, it’s never ‘same old, same old’ because we have so many opportunities coming up that have been specifically responding and curated for this moment in time by our various hosts and steering groups. So, if these events appeal to you, do take a moment to look at several calls for contributions coming up in 2025: the PIE Annual Meeting 2025 for our internationalisation community in Barcelona; the ETHO Technical Community Conference in Riga; and the ELIA Academy, our teaching and learning signature event in Oslo. This last one is literally hot off the press.  All of these events are chances to share your stories, dilemmas, and ideas with the ELIA community. My credo in pre-planning is ‘putting in the good stuff first’—I hope ELIA is one of the good things in your life, and we look forward to hearing from many of you on these calls.

All the best, and safe travels to all of you coming to Milan.