Thursday, 1 October

Opening Programme 
Welcome word by Cathie Boyd, president of IETM, and Ása Richardsdóttir, Secretary General of IETM, and greetings from the multiple locations hosting local IETM meetings.

Plenary discussion: What matters now?
We have been plunged into a decade embroidered with fascinating contradictions: time seems to have stopped yet to have fast-forwarded at once; our gazes fixed on the whole world while contemplating our inner selves; we longed for physical encounters alongside venturing into the digital realm… 

Amidst these seemingly timely paradoxes, one crucial question emerges: What matters now?

What matters now, in the new ‘roaring twenties’ where the pandemic possibly crushed our hopes while giving us the opportunity to redefine them? 

What matters now that global lockdown measures accelerated the threat that nationalist populism poses towards fundamental human rights while having temporarily alleviated global warming?

What matters now that so many people - be it audiences, colleagues or loved ones - are not in our room while we found new ways to connect with those whom we were not always or never in touch with before?

What matters now that we, as professionals, saw our core activities jeopardised while having now a chance to change our behaviours, slow down, live differently and create a new way for our art forms to thrive?

These and certainly many other questions will be discussed during this exceptional IETM Multi-location Plenary.

We’ll start the session by inviting four speakers with versatile backgrounds to trigger live and online, local and international conversations on What matters now?

This session will also include small group conversations on the theme of the Plenary in the form of breakout rooms.

Speakers:
Alison Friedman, head of dance, West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong
Dr. Franco Bianchini, professor and researcher, UK/Italy 
Ravi Jain, artistic director, Why Not Theatre, Canada
Gundega Laivina, curator, Latvia

Friday, 2 October

Pitchorama
This brand new session will showcase a series of projects pitched by IETM members in 3-minute videos before leaving room for questions and feedback from participants.

IETM info cell
An hour of valuable information on IETM: overview of the current and upcoming activities and projects, update on the recent and forthcoming policy and advocacy work, and introduction to the different working groups of IETM.

Speakers:
Simón Hanukai, IETM Participatory and Immersive Creation Group, France
Jonathan Meth, IETM IDEA Group, UK
Cristina Carlini, IETM Advisory Committee, Italy
Josh Armstrong, IETM Sound & Music Theatre Group, UK
Jean Vinet, IETM Rural Group, France
Henk Keizer, IETM Rural Group, Denmark
Karine Décorne, Arts in Rural Area Group
Jeremy Gobin, IETM communication and membership officer, Belgium
Victor Leclère, IETM Producers Group, France  
Elena Polivtseva, IETM head of policy and research, Belgium  
Ása Richardsdóttir, IETM Secretary General, Belgium