IETM Out & About - March & April speaking engagements and activities

March and the beginning of April has been a busy time for the IETM Team, as we ventured out to events both in Brussels and beyond. Take a look at what we got up to below:

The Resilience of the Ukrainian Cultural and Creative Sectors - A European Workshop

IETM participated in an event held in Brussels on 7-8 March entitled The Resilience of the Ukrainian Cultural and Creative Sectors - A European Workshop. Organised by the European Commission with the support of the Cultural Relations Platform, the workshop examined the opportunities and challenges of Ukrainian integration into the European Union, as well as the status of the Ukrainian culture sector in light of the unprovoked invasion of Russia into Ukraine two years ago.

The aim of the event was to explore strategies for enhancing collaboration between the EU and Ukraine while strengthening Ukraine’s cultural and creative sectors. Ahead of the event, the EU published a presentation of the various EU funding programmes currently available, focusing or including support for the Ukrainian culture and art sector. Amongst them was Perform Europe - an IETM led funding programme which will dedicate 5% of its upcoming call grants to projects working with or for Ukrainian performing arts communities. 

Ása Richardsdóttir, IETM Secretary General, was one the workshop speakers and shared the various ways in which European and international networks are already places which can serve and benefit Ukrainian cultural professionals and how their voice, viewpoints and perspectives are vitally important for us networks, in today's realities. IETM member Proto Produkciia was also in attendance and represented by Olga Diatel. Proto Produkciia has amongst its multiplied other activities produced the award winning opera Chornobyldorf and toured the work across Europe as well in North America in the last years, despite being based in Kiev under a war situation. We are proud to count them and their colleagues as our members.

The resilience  of the Ukrainian cultural community is admirable. Having been under siege for over two years, organisations, institutions and independent artists and producers continue their work and finding ways to collaborate, despite all.  

All Together for the European Elections - #UseYourVote

Ahead of the European Elections taking place on 6-9 June, IETM Communications Manager Lottie Atkin attended the All Together for the European Elections event in Brussels on 13 March, where she gained invaluable insight into the ongoing campaigns ahead of the elections from several different civil societies. The event came after a first edition organised in October 2023, and was organised by the Directorate-General or Communication of the European Parliament - Cultural Outreach Unit, Youth Outreach Unit, Civil Society Outreach Unit and Strategic Support Unit.

Objectives were to exchange and share plans between partner organisations (pan-European and national) so that peer to peer support can take place between those who have more advanced plans and actions and those that are still developing their plans for the European elections. The event started with a keynote and a preview from the Director of Campaigns, followed by a breakout session where attendees had a chance for 1:1 conversations with current campaign managers. In the afternoon, attendees had the opportunity to put their questions or concerns on the table and receive peer-to-peer support and advice from expertise.

There is a lot of energy following the event to create a joint campaign with other cultural networks, specifically focussing on where culture lies in the elections, which you can read more about in our recently released article Where is culture in the EU 2024 elections campaign?, written by independent researcher Elena Polivtseva.

Professional encounters - Sustainability in Performing Arts 
 

On 4-7 April, IETM Production Manager Roisin Caffrey headed to Paris for a series of professional meetings focusing on more sustainable practices in international collaborations in the performing arts. The event was organised by Institute Français and MC93 and brought together professionals and audiences to reflect on practical initiatives to reduce energy consumption of performances and reviving performances with a local artistic team. Around twenty international professionals were invited to take part and discover artistic projects developed with the goal to reduce energy consumption, and created a common space where dialogue of best practices and reflections of all participants were nourished.