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Higher arts education is celebrated as a space of creative experimentation, critical thinking, and transformation. Yet behind our institutions’ walls, deeply rooted hierarchies are at play, between students and educators, administrators and leadership, dominant and marginalised identities. These layered power structures shape how inclusion is practiced—or resisted in the art school. But who is accountable for what?
ELIA's EDI Community Hub invites all ELIA members to come to Barcelona for their second annual gathering hosted by ESMUC — centring around one of the most persistent challenges in arts education today: accountability.
Together we ask:
How do we show up in our roles within higher arts education?
How do we name and understand the power dynamics we operate within?
How can accountability become a generative force for equity and social justice, rather than a mechanism of control or avoidance?
While discussions around equity, diversity, and inclusivity focus on values and vision, accountability demands something more: critical action, responsibility, and sustained cultural change. Whether in staff recruitment and retention, curriculum design, leadership structures, or daily classroom dynamics, accountability compels us to examine who holds power, who is excluded, and how we respond both as individuals and as a collective body.
The ELIA EDI Community Meeting 2026 asks students, educators, administrators, and policymakers to examine how structural inequalities manifest in our daily realities. Special attention will be given to contexts where formal EDI policies are still in development, and where the need for tangible tools and peer support is most urgent. Discover how accountability can be enacted through practical strategies, collective reflection, and institutional courage as we shift into a responsive mode for positive change.
The call for contributions has now closed. Stay tuned for the programme announcement and registrations, which will open in December.
