European League of Institutes of the Arts


ELIA is a globally connected European network that provides a dynamic platform for professional exchange and development in higher arts education. With over 250 members in 47 countries, it represents some 300.000 students in all art disciplines.
Its cross-disciplinary quality makes ELIA unique as a network. ELIA advocates for higher arts education by empowering and creating new opportunities for its members and facilitating the exchange of good practices.
Its aim is to stimulate reflection and critical thinking. As a knowledge platform, we organise events and initiate and support projects that are in line with our strategic focus. ELIA’s offer is inclusive and diverse – it serves the needs of art schools throughout all levels, from academic staff and international officers to students and upper management.

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 the organization's Executive Director. She was knighted Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 1993, and received honorary doctorates from Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen in 2001, and Columbia College Chicago in 2009.
In 1991, ELIA helped founding the European Forum for Arts and Heritage. 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, publishing four position papers together.
In 2008, ELIA received a European grant for a new multi-year project, Art Futures. It was renewed in 2011. In 2015, ELIA launched a 3-year Creative Europe co-funded project NXT Making a Living from the Arts, which ended in April 2018.

Structure

The main branches of the organization:
ELIA members participate in various ELIA projects and events. They are encouraged to network and share information not only during ELIA events, but also with the network via the ELIA website.
The Representative Board consists of a maximum of 21 members elected during the General Assembly from and by registered full members of the organisation, ensuring a proportional representation of disciplines and regions. The Representative Board elects the President and Treasurer. The tenure is for a period of two years.
The Executive Board, including the President, comprises a maximum of nine members chosen from the Representative Board.
The Executive Office, currently residing in Amsterdam, coordinates daily affairs, project manages the events in cooperation with local partners and handles all membership requests and related inquiries.

The ELIA Board

The ELIA 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.
YearPresidentExecutive DirectorVice-PresidentTreasurer
2018-2020to be electedMaria Hansen to be electedto be elected
2016–2018Thomas D. MeierCarla Delfos Paula CrabtreeBridget Kievits
2014–PresentThomas D. MeierCarla Delfos Paula CrabtreeBridget Kievits
2010 - 2014Kieran Corcoran---
2006 - 2010Chris Wainwright---
2004 - 2006Maarten Regouin---
2000 - 2004John Butler---
1996 - 2000Chantal de Smet---
1994 - 1996Martin Rennert---
1992 - 1994Johan A. Haarberg---
1990 - 1992Patrick Talbot---

Membership Structure

ELIA has three types of membership: full, associate, and non-European. Full members have the right vote during the General Member's Assembly at the ELIA Biennial. Non-European members have all rights equal to full members, except the right to vote. Associate members are institutions that do not fulfill the requirements to be full members and to natural as well as legal persons.
ELIA has over 300 members in 47 countries, it represents some 300,000 students in all art disciplines around the world.

Activities & projects

On a regular bases ELIA offers the following activities and services to its members:



Together with its member institutions, ELIA initiates conferences, symposia, publications and research projects, targeting all sectors of the higher arts education community - artists, teachers, leaders, managers and students - as well as the wider public.
Highlights of these events include:
Apart from these multi-day events, ELIA has organized many symposia and workshops, and other large conferences, as in Chicago, Tallinn, Berlin, and Tilburg.
;ELIA Biennial venues:
19901992199419961998200020022004200620082010201220142016
AmsterdamStrasbourgBerlinLisbonHelsinkiBarcelonaComhárLuzernGhentGothenborgNantesViennaGlasgowFlorence

Projects, Partnerships and Publications

ELIA has well established links with other networks and cultural organisations worldwide and with national and international authorities. New projects and partnerships are always in the pipeline, whether initiated with an eye to the interests of members or in response to opportunities created through broader educational policy development and programmes.
One of ELIA's most successful projects was SHARE - an international networking project, with 39 contributing partners in 36 countries, and structural support from the EU, working together on enhancing the '3rd cycle' of arts research and education.
NXT - Making a living from the arts, an ongoing project that supports emerging artists to initiate successful international careers, improving their capacity to make a living from their artistic production.
EQ-Arts is an independent foundation and is an affiliate of ENQA. Founded by ELIA, it collaborates with the EUA and has co-operation agreements with a.o. SKVC Lithuania, the Estonian Higher Education Quality Agency and AQ Vienna/Austria. Through its activities EQ-Arts supports higher arts education institutions in the self-evaluation and enhancement of their internal quality systems to promote a strong quality culture across the higher arts education sector.
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 field of Artistic Research, which has been the topic of a 2005 conference and 2008 strategy paper.

Publications

*
*
*