On 23 September 2022, the 16th General Assembly of IAA Europe was held in Helsinki. It was hosted by the Artists’ Association of Finland and by a-n The Artists Information Company (UK).
A new Executive Committee and a new Presidency were elected. Elected to the new Executive Committee were: Teemu Mäki (Suomen Taiteilijaseura/ Finnland) – President | Sara Edström (Konstnärernas Riksorganisation/ Sweden) – Vice-President | Anders Werdelin (Billedkunstnernes Forbund/ Denmark) – Treasurer | Hilde Tørdal (Norske Billedkunstnere/ Norway) | Jerome Ince-Mitchell (a-n The Artists Information Company/ UK) | Egle Ganda Bogdaniene (Lietuvos dailininku sajunga/ Lithuania) | Marcel Noack (IGBK/ Germany) | Andrea Kristek Kozarova (Slovenska Vytvarna Unia/ Slovakia) | Maria Moroz (Zwiazek Polskich Artystow Plastykow/ Poland) | Katina Kosta (Cyprus Chamber of Fine Arts E.KA.TE/ Cyprus)
On the day before the General Assembly, 22 September 2022, the symposium “Building Artists’ Futures – Strengthening Solidarity“ took place.
“Showing solidarity for colleagues at the National Union of Artists of Ukraine, this year’s IAA Europe Symposium invited visual artists, curators and cultural organisations to share ways to support artists seeking refuge.
Building Artists’ Futures questioned why creating and exhibiting art matters in times of war and explored what IAA Europe and the wider international art community can do to establish sustainable support networks. Speakers shared their experiences of programmes aimed at supporting artists seeking refuge and offered their views on how to deepen the representation of Ukrainian artists, artworks and cultural events that make Ukraine an important part of Europe.
Inputs were given amongst others by the Finnish HIAP Ukraine Solidarity Residencies, by the Ukrainian Emergency Art Fund and by individual artists.
More information on the website of the Finnish artist association