European League of Institutes of the Arts

The European League of Institutes of the Arts (ELIA) is an independent membership organization representing approximately 350 higher arts education institutions in 45 countries. It was founded in 1990 to represent, advocate and promote higher arts education and to create platforms of discussion and exchange at European as well as local and wider levels. Its office is located in Amsterdam.

History

ELIA emerged from a conference organized in Amsterdam in 1990, "Imagination and Diversity", aimed to promote cooperation in art education around Europe. The organiser of the conference and founder of ELIA, Carla Delfos, is still the organization’s Executive Director. She was knighted Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 1993, and received a honorary doctorate from Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen in 2001.

In 1991, ELIA helped founding the European Forum for Arts and Heritage (EFAH). In the same year, a conference in Budapest, in the wake of the fall of the Iron Curtain, opened up vistas for collaboration with Eastern Europe.
At ELIA’s second General Assembly in Strasbourg 1992, the Manifesto for Arts Education in Europe was approved. A new version was approved in 2000.
In 1996, ELIA was designated to organize a ‘Thematic Network for Higher Arts Education’ as part of the SOCRATES programme. Thematic Networks for closer collaboration and research have since been central to ELIA’s activities.

Following the Bologna Declaration in 1999, these networks have been crucial in facilitating discussion and taking a position on the implications of the Bologna Process for higher arts education. To this end, ELIA has been cooperating closely with the European Association of Conservatoires (AEC), publishing three position papers together.

In 2008, ELIA received a European grant for a new multi-year project, "Arts Futures".
At present, ELIA receives structural funding from the European Commission, the Dutch ministry for education, culture and science (OCW), the Foundation for the performing arts (Fonds voor de Podiumkunsten), and is supported by Fontys Hogescholen.

Structure

ELIA has three types of membership: "full", "associate", and "non-European". The members are represented by the "Representative Board", max. 21 members, which is elected by the "General Assembly". From this Representative Board, an "Executive Group" of 5-9 members is elected, which monitors the activities carried out by the office and various steering groups. The Executive Group includes the President, Vice-President, Treasurer, and Executive Director.Board members are elected for a period of two years. Members of the Board and Executive Group can be re-elected up to a maximum of ten years; the President only once.

Presidents
2006 - present Chris Wainwright
2004 - 2006 Maarten Regouin
2000 - 2004 John Butler
1996 - 2000 Chantal de Smet
1994 - 1996 Martin Rennert
1992 - 1994 Johan A. Haarberg
1990 - 1992 Patrick Talbot
Executive Director
1990 – present Carla Delfos

Vice-President
Kirsten Langkilde

Treasurer
Kieran Corcoran

Activities

ELIA’s activities include:
• organising regular conferences as well as smaller symposia and workshops;
• developing and running projects for students from member schools, and supporting projects from member schools;
• coordinating networks for discussion, cooperation and the exchange of best practice;
• conducting research on the state of play and developments in higher arts education.

ELIA is deeply concerned with the implications of the Bologna Process for higher arts education: it has published a handbook and various position papers on the topic, and contributed to European projects in Quality Assurance and the assessment of Art degrees. Moreover, it has surveyed the development of innovative MA and PhD programmes, particularly in the newly emergent field of Artistic Research, which has been the topic of a 2005 conference and 2008 strategy paper.

Conferences

ELIA organizes three events that recur biennially:
• the ELIA Biennial Conference, which includes the General Assembly, drawing 400-500 participants
• Teachers’ Academy (since 2003)
• Leadership Symposium (since 2003)
Apart from these multi-day events, ELIA has organized many symposia and workshops, and other large conferences, as in Tallinn (2007), Berlin (2005), and Tilburg (2003). A conference in Chicago, "Claiming Creativity", is planned for 2010.

Biennial venues: 2010 Nantes
2008 Gothenburg
2006 Ghent
2004 Luzern
2002 Comhár
2000 Barcelona
1998 Helsinki
1996 Lisbon
1994 Berlin
1992 Strasbourg
1990 Amsterdam

Projects

ELIA’s most recent projects are:
• Two film projects for students, "E3 Film: Languages through lenses" and "I see you: the language of the arts and intercultural dialogue";
• "Design Train", a series of conferences and workshops on architectural and design education, with a strong focus on Turkey;
• The "Bloom!" Hotel in Brussels, decorated with murals by students from ELIA member schools.
In previous years, ELIA has organized masterclasses in new music performance and voice training for actors, staged panoramas in Athens and London, and conducted research on employabity skills for art graduates and gender equality in arts education.

Networks

Since 1996, there have been consecutive thematic networks of ELIA member institutions. These have been concerned with implementing and assessing the Bologna Process as well as with exploring new challenges for higher arts education.The present network, artesnet, runs from 2007-2010 and consists of three strands:
1. "Creative Partnerships"
maps and develops partnerships between arts institutions and the creative industries / cultural sector;
2. "Qualifications Frameworks"
develops means for quality assurance and enhancement related to EU’s Lifelong Learning Programme, and hosts a register of experts in the field;
3. "New Strategies, New Programmes"
identifies new strategies in arts education, maps practice-based approaches, projects and programmes, creates an Artistic Research Network, and produces a “Yearbook 2010” in artistic research.

Previous networks have been:
2004 – 2007: "inter}artes"
2000 – 2004: "Bologna"
1996 – 2000: Thematic Network for Higher Arts Education in Europe.

(See: Creative industries; Lifelong Learning programme; SOCRATES programme)

Publications

Strategy Paper: "The Importance of Artistic Research and its Contribution to ‘New Knowledge’ in a Creative Europe" (forthcoming)

ELIA/AEC Position Paper 3: "Towards Strong Creative Arts Disciplines in Europe" (2007) [http://www.elia-artschools.org/publications/position/position_1.xml]
ELIA/AEC Position Paper 2: "Moving on in higher arts education in Europe" (2005) [http://www.elia-artschools.org/publications/position/position_2.xml]
ELIA/AEC Position Paper 1: "Towards a European space for higher arts education" (2003) [http://www.elia-artschools.org/publications/position/position_1.xml]

"Tapping into the potential of Higher Arts Education in Europe" (2008) ISBN 978-90-810357-2-9
"Teachers’ Academy Papers" (2007) eds. Anne Boddington & David Clews ISBN 978-1-905593-07-1
"New Practices, New Pedagogies" (2005) ed. Malcom Miles ISBN 0-415-36618-6

"European Journal of Higher Arts Education" (online journal, 2005) [http://www.elia-artschools.org/publications/EJHA.xml]
"European Journal of Arts Education" (1998 – 2002) [http://www.elia-artschools.org/publications/EJHA.xml]

External links

*http://www.elia-artschools.org/
*http://www.artesnet.eu/