ELIA Across Continents

ELIA Executive Director Maria Hansen reflects on a month of global travels, highlighting key visits to South America, Europe, and the US, building connections, sharing insights, and reminding members of ELIA’s upcoming events.

This month, my out-of-office email message has been on almost continuously. In early March, I was fortunate enough to take some time off, but for the rest of the month, I have been on the move across South America, Europe, and the US, travelling for ELIA. Every stop has brought new connections, insights, and opportunities. So many stories to share...

Last week I was in Riga where ELIA’s technical community gathered for the ETHO Technical Community Conference 2025, hosted by RISEBA University of Applied Sciences. Under the theme ‘Crafting the Future’, technical staff and managers from all arts disciplines came together to learn from, and with each other, and to network in the beautiful RISEBA campus spaces. Many, many thanks to the members of the ETHO Core Group and the ELIA team who made it happen, and to our lovely host, RISEBA.

Prior to Riga, I spent a week across the Atlantic, visiting our members Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá, Colombia, and Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, US. This was in addition to several other ELIA visits in the region. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to meet the teams in both institutions and to understand their local setting better. In Bogotá, the team at Universidad del Rosario issued a beautiful invitation gathering many other universities interested in ELIA’s work, giving us the opportunity to meet and learn more about each other and our goals. A visit to universities in Quito, Ecuador during the trip reinforced how important cross-border connections are, and to gain first-hand intercultural understanding. 

A big thanks to Juan Pablo Aschner in Bogotá and Jeff Schwartz in Sarasota for making me feel so welcome and giving me such depth of insight into their work. 

This week, I am in the UK and Ireland, meeting members and attending the annual conference of the Council for Higher Education in Art and Design (CHEAD), hosted by ELIA member, Manchester Metropolitan University. Compared to other countries, the UK has the highest number of ELIA members, and it’s important to dedicate some quality time here and to reconnect with the community and institutions.

As for you, it might be a good time to make some plans of your own, considering our upcoming events across Europe. Registrations for our PIE Annual Meeting in June in Barcelona are open, and we are almost at full capacity. Registrations for the ELIA Academy (our very popular annual signature event on teaching and learning) in June in Oslo opened recently, and I highly recommend you have a look at the programme on ‘Life-Integrated Learning’.

Wishing everyone a really good month, and for me....a few nights in my own bed (eventually)!