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The way in which we navigate space(s) is inevitably connected to existing power structures and societal agreements that are performed and enacted by all of us. Spaces form and define our movements and interactions.
The first ELIA EDI Platform Meeting will take place from 15-16 April 2024 at Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts in Lithuania. This 2-day gathering invites ELIA members from all artistic disciplines and designations to engage with issues of equity, diversity and inclusivity in Higher Arts Education.
Under the theme: taking space - making space, ELIA’s EDI Working Group invites you to engage with questions of who, historically, has taken space, who has been denied space, and who is creating space in higher arts education today? Through which frame do we perceive the space we’re in? As faculty, artists, administrative staff and students from different backgrounds and disciplines, how do we navigate and situate ourselves in spaces, within and around our art academies?
Experience an interactive programme examining the physical and socio-political dimensions of space. Be inspired by the unique landscape of the Curonian spit, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Join us in Nida.
Registration fee: €175 (incl. three dinners, two lunches, three breakfasts, coffee breaks, materials, event support, networking opportunities)
Browse below the moments captured in photos at the EDI Platform Meeting 2024.
Main speaker
Aminata Cairo
Aminata Cairo is an anthropologist, psychologist, educator, storyteller, and 'love-worker'. She is an independent consultant ‘who works with people’. She is the former lecturer of Inclusive Education at The Hague University of Applied Sciences and the former lecturer of Social Justice and Diversity in the Arts at the Amsterdam University of the Arts.
Born and raised in the Netherlands to Surinamese parents, Aminata left for the United States to pursue her college education, obtaining a Master’s Degrees in Clinical Psychology and Medical Anthropology, as well as a Ph.D. in the latter. As an international woman of colour, she experienced firsthand the challenges of diversity and inclusion. In her applied anthropological work with students, education and community organizations she has continually strived to promote inclusion at both the academic and the community level. In 2013, she received the International Education Faculty Achievement Award and the Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian award at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville for her efforts. In 2016 she received the Honorary Order of the Palm, a state decoration by the Government of Suriname for her contribution to culture. She is particularly interested in using her academic, artistic and community skills to support, honour and celebrate the voices and stories unheard, overlooked, silenced and marginalized.
Aminata's work is exemplified in her book, Holding Space: A Storytelling Approach to Trampling Diversity and Inclusion (2021). In Holding Space, she presents her own, unique vision in the promotion of inclusion that far surpasses the standard diversity and inclusion approach. She grounds her work in indigenous knowledge, the blues aesthetics, holy hip hop, the Caribbean, and black feminist theories. By utilizing storytelling, she engages her audience with the goal of creating a new and collective story. Her book presentation utilises readings, song, and dance to challenge the audience to take a closer look at themselves and each other, raising the question of what it really takes to collectively create an environment of equality and validation. Her message is that "It is about us, all of us'', as she forces us to feel, hear, and own that.
Practical Information
How to get to Nida To get to Nida you should first reach Klaipėda, regardless of whether you are travelling from Vilnius, Riga or Palanga.
Provided below, are various travel options. ELIA will organise transportation options from Vilnius Airport,Palanga and Klaipėda.
You can opt to take advantage of this during the registration process. The transportation tickets cost 65€ from Vilnius to Nida (14 April) and Nida to Vilnius (17 April), 35€ from Palanga to Nida (14 April) and Nida to Palanga (17
April), and 25€ from Klaipėda to Nida (14 April) and Nida to Klaipėda (17 April).
• By bus: Take a direct Ollex bus from Vilnius Airport to Klaipėda Akropolis shopping mall.
Take a bus (NO. 4, 6, 14, 3, 2a, 8) to Atgimimo bus stop and walk for 10 minutes to catch the Pedestrian Ferry to Nida. (see Klaipėda to Nida for further travel details)
OR
Take BUS No. 1 or 2 from Vilnius Airport to the Vilnius Bus Terminal and catch a bus to Klaipėda (see Klaipėda to Nida for further travel details).
OR
Take a direct bus from Vilnius Bus Terminal to Nida. It runs once a day at 7:00 am.
• By train: Get to the Vilnius Train Station and take a train to Klaipėda. (see Klaipėda to Nida for further travel details)
• By bus: There are 2 buses which run only during the first half of the day at 10:55 and 11:15. Book here.
• By multiple public transport: From Klaipėda bus terminal, take BUS NO. 8 to Atgimimo st. Then walk 10 minutes and take the Pedestrian Ferry (buy a ticket at the Ferry Terminal with a bank card) OR take Bolt Taxi. Get down from the Ferry and reach bus stop Smiltyne to catch a bus to Nida. You can purchase
tickets in advance here OR on a bus (no possibility for bank card payment in a bus). Now walk 20 minutes to Nida Art Colony (NAC) OR
NAC will pick you up OR catch a TukTuk taxi next to the bus station.
• By car: If you have a driver's license, take CityBee and drive all the way down to Nida. (NOTE: You need to use the Klaipeda Car Ferry and pay an entrance fee to the National
Park. You can drop off City Bee at Nida center, next to the port.) OR
Order Neringa Taxi from Klaipeda to Nida (carpooling with up to 8 people appreciated)
• By bus: Take a direct Ollex bus from Riga Airport to Klaipeda. (see Klaipėda
to Nida for further travel details)
Accommodation Participants of ELIA EDI Platform Meeting are encouraged to book their accommodation in Nida as soon as possible. You can book your accommodation in one of the following facilities:
Nida Art Colony
Price range: €40 per night / room up to 2 persons, 20€ for additional person. Rooms with 3–5 single beds, or 2 bunk beds with shared showers and WC in the corridor.
Booking: To book a room, please contact info@nidacolony.lt
Nidos Namai Price range: €70 - €100 (Select from a range private/shared apartments and cottages)
Booking: You can arrange your booking directly through here: https://booking.nidosnamai.lt/. Use code ''ELIA Nida” for a special discount.
Distance from venue: 5 minutes walking.
ELIA and Nida Art Colony are aware that international events can have a negative effect on the environment due to the number of participants who will be travelling, eating, and producing waste. In order to reduce the environmental impact of the ELIA EDI Platform Meeting, ELIA and Nida Art Colony, will make greener choices in the organisation of the meeting and will continue to engage with participants about this topic.
ELIA and Nida Art Colony, consider sustainability a very important issue, so several steps have been taken to lower the meeting’s impact on the environment and climate:
ACCOMMODATION Most recommended accommodation options are within walking distance from the venues.
TRAVEL Participants are encouraged to travel by ferry or bus to Nida, if possible. The organisers will also provide organised bus transport from Vilnius and Palanga that participants can use collectively.
FOOD & DRINKS Local and seasonal catering will be provided at the event, and only tap water will be served. We encourage participants to bring their own water bottle.
MATERIALS Printed materials and giveaways will be kept to a minimum. Please let us know in the registration process whether you need a printed programme. Participants are encouraged to bring their own tote bags in which they can keep conference materials.
AWARENESS To increase awareness about environmental sustainability, our sustainable actions will be communicated to our suppliers and partners. Before, during, and after the conference we intend on communicating and engaging in dialogue with our participants in order to co-create a more sustainable event.
EDI Statement
ELIA and Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts, Lithuania are dedicated to hosting events that prioritise equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility. We have worked together with Nida Art Colony to make this event a safer and more accessible space for all.
Should you have any specific accessibility needs (such as transport assistance, support from a staff member, or a printed programme in large letters), or if you need help registering for the event and/or registering an assistant to accompany you, please contact the ELIA Team, so that we can ensure that this event is inclusive and accessible to you.
All our events have a support system in place. If you witness any harassing or discriminatory behaviour during the event, please contact a member of the team or the EDI Working Group or call or message this phone number: {+31616119665}. This phone number will be monitored for the duration of the event.
We value any feedback you may have on how inclusive and accessible you have found this event. You can submit your feedback in the event evaluation report that will be disseminated after the event. Your honesty is appreciated and will help us to understand how to improve the inclusivity and accessibility of our future events. The feedback will be collected anonymously. At the same time, we warmly invite you to contact us if you wish to talk in greater about the inclusivity and accessibility of our events. For this, you can reach out to ELIA Web & Community Officer, Amalia Smyrnioti at amalia.smyrnioti@elia-artschools.org.
Host
Vilnius Academy of Arts (VDA) is a State University of the Republic of Lithuania, that offers study programmes in all three study cycles in the areas of art, design, architecture, and art theory and history. The Academy consists of four campuses, situated in the cities of Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda and Telšiai, with a total of over 1800 students. VDA was established in the late 18th / early 19th century.
Its subdivision Nida Art Colony (NAC) is a site for art education, production, research, gatherings, leisure and focused individual and group work open to everyone but specifically aimed at the academic and culture community. NAC runs an international artist residency programme and organises and commissions art and research projects, events, exhibitions and study courses, among them the annual Nida Doctoral School.
NAC is situated within the particular and distinct landscape of the Curonian Spit, a 98km-long sand dune. It is overgrown with forests, separating the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site where forests planted over the last 200 years have formed an environment dedicated to managing natural eolian processes.
Aminata Cairo 
