6. Celebrating 30 Years of the Evens Foundation
On 28 June 2022, after two years of delays due to Covid-19, the Evens Foundation celebrated three decades of projects, partnerships and prizes with a very special all-day event at Bozar in Brussels.
With Europe in an unprecedented moment of change, and war on its borders, the Foundation chose to celebrate its anniversary by looking forward to the future as well as taking a critical look at where we are today and honouring its achievements of the past.
The team created a programme that brought together leading voices from across the social, political and creative spectrum and the Evens Foundation network. This programme was framed by one question: how can we contribute to creating a better world, a world where we can truly live together in the face of unprecedented pressures?
Hosted by presenter and journalist Bahram Sadeghi, the programme was supported by a collection of media, a new animation introducing its work, a mini-documentary about its history, and a series of short films about its recent prize laureates.
After a day of debate, discussion and dance, the evening was a pure celebration with a walking dinner and dancing. Music was provided by DJ NiXie and a performance by the incredible Taraf de Caliu – a band formed by the founding members of Taraf de Haidouks, world famous for its energetic performances that preserve and elevate the traditional sounds of Southern Romania.
Tipping Points
We are experiencing a period of accelerated change – technological, environmental and social – and it is unlikely to slow down. Pandemics, migration, ethical shifts and the so-called ‘culture wars’ are just some of the resulting global challenges. Europe is reaching multiple tipping points. With the impact of Brexit still being widely felt, a violent invasion with a fallout we cannot predict, the rise of extremist political groups and a steady increase in significant climate ‘events’, we must consider what values we want to embody and fight for as Europeans.
“Revisiting our work from the past 30 years gives us many reasons to remain optimistic. We have been encouraged by acts of solidarity and grassroots movements in education, the arts and journalism. By the community groups and volunteers, passionate partners and organisations that give voices to those who need them most and hold those in power to account. By the pioneering research, unique creativity and inspiring initiatives that we have been privileged to support. Our archives are a small window into the best of Europe: a place of generosity, openness and hope. “So this year at the Evens Foundation, we are setting ourselves the task of going back to the fundamentals, to ask how we can continue to effect positive change in a world in such an extreme state of flux. To work out how to ‘tip’ in the right direction.
“Today, we will celebrate with you, but we will also ask challenging questions. What values are essential for tomorrow? How do we reach the disillusioned and disenfranchised – the people who have been failed by the systems and politics of the past – and work with them to realise a better, more equitable future? What should it mean to be European?”
Text by the Evens Foundation team on the occasion of the Foundation’s 30th Anniversary
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© Evens Foundation
Programme
The Seventh Value
The Seventh Value is a six-episode podcast produced by the Evens Foundation and Are We Europe, exploring six key values underpinning the European Project with think-tanks and research groups. The series interrogates the role of those values in contemporary Europe and invites participants to suggest a “seventh value” to add.
The first element of the Foundation’s 30th-anniversary event programme was a live debate around the issues raised by the podcast, featuring a number of the protagonists of the series and key partners: Carina Lopes (Digital Future Society), Maciej Nowicki (Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights & WATCH DOCS International Film Festival), Steven Stegers (EuroClio), and Maïté de Haan (Troebel vzw). The debate was hosted by Are We Europe’s deputy editor Juli Simond, who was also the host of the podcast.
Audience members were asked to participate through a live voting system and were also invited to add their own “seventh value” with small cards provided. The results were collated and shared on social media as part of the campaign supporting the podcast.
Evens Foundation Animation and Publication
To mark the occasion, the Foundation worked on two special projects: a new publication about its work over the past three decades and its vision for the future, and a short animation introducing the Foundation’s approach. The animation – produced in collaboration with Brussles-based studio Squarefish – debuted at the event before being launched on YouTube. The book was published via the online platform ISSUU live during the event and was accessed via interactive screens. A new version will be published in 2023.
Audience members participated through a live voting system and were also invited to add their own “seventh value” with small cards provided. © Dries Luyten
Hosted by presenter and journalist Bahram Sadeghi. © Dries Luyten
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Being Together: An Experiment with Atelier Leon –Participatory Performance
In the afternoon, the audience was invited to join Atelier Leon, choreographer Seppe Baeyens, percussionist Saif AlQuaissy and residents of Zonnelied – a centre for people with disabilities – for an interactive dance workshop.
Together, the attendees of the event explored different forms of self-expression and connection, such as intimate one-to-one meetings, ‘flocking’ together like birds or battling one another in groups. The workshop encouraged guests to create new connections with each other, cutting through organisational hierarchies and cultural or social differences, using movement instead of words.
Stefan Zweig Fellowships Launch
Later in the day, the Foundation premiered a short documentarystyle film about its history. Among those included was Raymond Georis, a widely respected European philanthropist and longstanding friend of the Foundation.
Georis then took to the stage with the Foundation’s outgoing Chairwoman Monique Canto-Sperber to launch the Stefan Zweig Fellowships – a new initiative that was further developed over the course of 2022.
Conceived by the co-founder Corinne Evens, board members and friends of the Foundation, the initiative aims to support the next generation of bright minds and pioneering thinkers in Europe. It targets young post-graduates who are working around
some of the key challenges facing contemporary Europe, primarily through financial support and academic partnerships.
The initiative is named after Austrian novelist, playwright, journalist and biographer Stefan Zweig. “Stefan Zweig was one of the few writers who had a clear idea of the dangers that threatened Europe,” explained Georis. “Stefan Zweig considers Europe from a humanist point of view, the point of view of culture and peace. He advocates a unification of our continent based on civil society in order to develop a sense of belonging among European citizens and thus counter the rise of nationalism.”
Justyna Suchecka receives the Evens Journalism Prize: 2021 award during the Laureates Ceremony. © Dries Luyten
An interactive dance workshop by Atelier Leon, choreographer Seppe Baeyens, percussionist Saif Al-Quaissy and residents of Zonnelied © Dries Luyten
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Laureates Ceremony
Bringing together the Foundation’s diverse network was also a celebratory moment. As many of the Foundation’s prize laureates had not been able to enjoy an awarding ceremony due to the restrictions imposed by Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021, the Foundation organised a special ceremony for all four prizes and their laureates.
Each laureate was featured in a short film, created by the Foundation’s team with independent director Miguel Santa Clara and filming teams in six different countries.
The president of each jury introduced their work and invited them to the stage to say a few words, before receiving their award diploma and a jewelled loupe, designed by Goralska.
Headline debate – Europe: The End of the Affair?
To round off the programme, the team brought together three prominent thinkers and activists from various social, cultural and political spheres to discuss the historical legacies and contemporary challenges of Europe’s communities. Can we repair the relationships that are threatening to tear it apart?
The speakers were Zdenka Badovinac, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb; Lorenzo Marsili, philosopher, writer, and founder of transnational political NGO European Alternatives and cultural institution
Fondaziona Studio Rizoma; and Johny Pitts, writer, photographer and journalist, curator of award-winning online journal Afropean.com and ENAR. The discussion was moderated by Bahram Sadeghi.
The debate was open to the public.
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Zdenka Badovinac, Lorenzo Marsili and Johny Pitts on stage for “Europe: The End of the Affair?” © Dries Luyten
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Photos © Dries Luyten
7.Theory of Change: understanding the past to help define the future
As part of its commitment to examining its own position as a foundation and as a European organisation, the Evens Foundation began to engage with a Theory of Change process in late 2021.
A Theory of Change is a logical way of demonstrating how interventions can be conceptualised and organised around the changes they create in relation to a particular issue. The Foundation hoped to bring new clarity to its actions and mission and identify areas and opportunities for improvement, change and experimentation. This meant using Theory of Change to explore how a diverse range of projects and programmes contribute to the goals of the Evens Foundation, with the goal of developing indicators and measures of success and agreeing on a clear articulation of what the Foundation aims to achieve.
The approach was designed and overseen by a team from the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations at Coventry University: Tom Fisher, Emily Paffet, and Daniel Range. This team has co-developed and grown an innovative and unique “micro-ethnography”based model of evaluation, tailored to engaging with and understanding the need and actions of stakeholders in complex organisations and interventions. The approach is centred around collaboratively produced Theory of Change models and has been successfully used to evaluate UK government programmes, including Prevent, major EU-funded pieces of work and a diverse portfolio of public, private and voluntary sector schemes across the world.
Early in 2022, each member of the Evens Foundation’s team – including its board – was interviewed and then invited to join an away day in Brussels in May. During this day, a model was developed that showed how the Foundation’s activities generate outcomes during and after their delivery, which link to each other and to an overarching aim.
The process culminated in a report, delivered in September 2022, which outlined the core strengths and weaknesses of the Foundation as it currently stands.
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8.Common Purpose Through Differences
Common Purpose Through Differences is one of the two strategic initiatives that provide the core structure for the activities of the Foundation. Initially conceived in 2018, the two initiatives provided a framework for the Foundation’s projects until 2022.
The projects that fall within the Common Purpose Through Differences initiative are designed to surface the commonalities that connect the multifarious communities within contemporary Europe.
From explorations of political community to representations of history within education and providing a platform for diverse experiences of museum spaces, each project aims to critically engage with and find ways to celebrate the multiplicities within culture and society.
Projects: Sharing European Histories (p.14), What Makes An Assembly? (p. 14), Voi[e,x,s] (p. 15)
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also rolled out across Armenia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia and Slovakia in November and December 2022. The aim of this series was to deliver training for these strategies in different contexts across Europe and understand how they can be adapted to and implemented in a variety of scenarios.
8.2 What Makes An Assembly?
From assemblies in Indigenous territories in Brazil to those of the Yellow Vests in France, from medieval communes to street parliaments in Africa, from citizen’s assemblies set up by public authorities to practices forged from emancipatory traditions, this cross-disciplinary, critical inquiry features 25 original essays and conversations with artists, activists and scholars, alongside three new architectural experiments.
8.1 Sharing European Histories
The Sharing European Histories initiative was developed by the Evens Foundation in partnership with EuroClio, the European Association of History Educators. Its aim is to support innovative projects and pioneering strategies that help young people understand the complexity, multiplicity and transnationality of European history.
At the beginning of 2022, we initiated the second phase of the project. Over the course of the year, five new teaching strategies were developed. The new strategies are: Researching Local Impacts of Global Developments to Make History Real; Debating Controversial Representations in Public Spaces to Understand Contested Historical Legacies; Curating a Museum Exhibition to Enhance Students’ Understanding of Historical Interpretation; Telling Stories about Borders to Understand the Importance of Historical Contexts; and Comparing and Contrasting Different Accounts of the Same Event to Understand the Complexity of the Past.
During the 2022 EuroClio Annual Conference the strategies were presented to a group of peers for a first review after which they were reworked. Once finalised, the strategies were made available on sharingeuropeanhistories.eu
A new series of teacher training sessions based around the new Sharing European Histories teaching strategies was
Towards the end of 2022, the Evens Foundation published What Makes An Assembly? Stories, Experiments and Inquiries with Sternberg Press.
The publication is the culmination of Assemblies: Modern Rituals – a long-term research project initiated by the Foundation in 2018.
Weaving together the anthropological, aesthetic, and political aspects of assembly-making, What Makes An Assembly? explores the potential of assemblies to reimagine the way democracy is practiced in contemporary societies.
Throughout history, the assembly has played a key role in shaping politics. From the official structures of government to citizen-driven protest movements, when people gather their power to affect change increases exponentially.
Edited by the Evens Foundation’s programme curator Anne Davidian and political scientist and sociologist Laurent Jeanpierre, What Makes An Assembly? examines ancestral, transcultural ways of coming together and how forms of assembly are evolving against a backdrop of growing political unrest. It brings together accounts by those who practice assemblies and contributions from artists, activists, historians and social scientists, along with three new architectural experiments.
Contributors include: Ayreen Anastas, Andreas Angelidakis, Hans Asenbaum, Frédérique Aït-Touati, Richard Banégas, Sandra Benites, Jean Godfrey Bidima, Patrick Boucheron, Florence Brisset-Foucault, Manuel Callahan, François Cooren, Armando Cutolo, Piersandra Di Matteo, Pascale Dufour, Ben Eersels, Tallulah Frappier, Rene Gabri, Delphine Gardey, Alana Gerecke, Andrés Jaque/Office for Political Innovation, Pablo Lafuente, Laura Levin, Stacey Liou, Catherine Malabou, Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, Florian Malzacher, Markus Miessen, raumlabor, Philippe Uraflino, Yellow Vests, Aleksandra Wasilkowska, and Ana Terra Yawalapiti.
A pre-launch event was held at Centre Pompidou, gathering together several contributors of the publication: architect Markus Bader (co-founder of raumlabor), historian Patrick Boucheron, and political scientist Delphine Gardey. The discussion was conducted within the context of an installation project by Berlinbased raumlabor, connected to the publication (read more on this in 9.2.2).
The soft launch of the book in November 2022 was complemented by a social media and communications campaign.
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© Evens Foundation
© David Sypniewski
8.2.2 Raumlabor’s Forms of Assembly at Centre Pompidou
As part of the commissioning process for What Makes An Assembly? and the research for the Assemblies: Modern Rituals project, the Foundation invited leading architects and designers to create new proposals, which each present a different potential infrastructure for an assembly.
In May 2022, one of these experimental projects – conceived by Berlin-based architecture collective raumlabor – was realised in the form of an installation at Centre Pompidou, building on the Foundation’s existing partnership with this leading cultural institution through the co-production of a prototype for a new assembly space.
Raumlabor – recipient of the Golden Lion at the 2021 Venice Biennale – imagined an open, organic and utopian form for collective gatherings, without a clear protocol of inhabitation and use. Located in Forum-1 of the Centre Pompidou, Forms of Assembly was a modular and versatile structure that was used for discussions, lectures, performances and film nights.
The installation was in place from May to September 2022, and was a key element in a number of the institution’s activities during that period.
8.3 Voi[e,x,s]
The Evens Foundation and the research centre Theatrum Mundi established the Voi[e,x,s] Research Fellowship in 2019 to investigate how a shared aesthetic experience could enrich the relationship between people and their environment, centred around the transformation of the disused railway depot Chapelle-Charbon in Paris.
A new publication by Dimitri Szuter, Research Fellow, Theatrum Mundi & Evens Foundation was published in 2022, as part of the research commissioned through this partnership.
Voi[e,x,s]. Une en-quête politique indisciplinée offers a critical reflection on – and a speculative protocol for –performance-making as a tool for engagement in urban transformation. It is available to read for free online.
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© Theatrum Mundi
Raumlabor at Centre Pompidou. © Herve Veronese
9.Norms and Values Within the European Reality
Norms and Values Within the European Reality is the second of the core strategic initiatives that the Foundation had been pursuing since 2018.
The projects that fall within this initiative are characterised by a focus on the ideologies and experiences that inform how the broadly diverse communities, institutions, organisations and individuals within Europe understand and relate to each other.
A strong focus is placed on projects that seek to support the democratic ideal and highlight the practical challenges and importance of contemporary democracy. The projects in this area may also seek to challenge existing norms that undermine or create a lack of security for specific communities, either by shining a spotlight on miscommunication and prejudice or by creating new opportunities and initiatives for minority groups.
Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are another key thread within the Norms and Values Within the European Reality initiative, reflecting one of the Evens Foundation’s own core values.
Projects: Journalistic Voices Diversified (p.17), Difference Day (p.18), Building Trust in Journalism (p.19), The Seventh Value (p.19), European Challenges Debates (p.20), Kleine Große Schritte (p.20)
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9.1 Journalistic Voices Diversified
Journalistic Voices Diversified was a pilot programme designed to support refugee and exiled journalists to resume, progress or re-address their careers in Europe. Displaced journalists enter Europe with a remarkable range of skills, but they experience exclusion from employment circuits, cultural barriers and an overall impossibility to advance in their professional path.
Following an open call for participants in 2021, in 2022 the programme saw a group of journalists in exile in Belgium and the Netherlands complete a four-month scheme of workshops, mentorship and training to help develop their careers in Europe.
Three workshops took place with different specialists from the Dutch and Belgian media landscape: Developing narrative skills with Stephanie Bakker; Audio storytelling with Jair Stein; and Turning stories into projects with Stephanie Bakker, Evelien Kunst and Ides Debruyne.
The programme was conceived in collaboration with Are We Europe and the Amsterdam-based narrative journalism foundation Stichting Verhalende Journalistiek, with a specific focus on narrative practices and immersive storytelling.
Participants were also invited to join the 2022 edition of True Stories, a conference organised by Stichting Verhalende Journalistiek on 1 June at Beeld En Geluid in The Hague. As part of the official programme, Opoka p’Arop Otto interviewed Els van Driel about her interactive transmedia project Shadow Game, based on questions he prepared with the other participants in the programme.
Following the end of the pilot programme, a video series was produced with Are We Europe profiling the participants: Opoka p’Arop Otto (South Sudan), Luis Miguel Cáceres Ortiz (Venezuela) and Ahmed Gamal Ziada (Egypt).
Participants
Opoka p’Arop Otto is a South Sudanese investigative journalist now resident in the Netherlands. He continues to provide online media training and mentorship for freelance journalists. He is currently producing a podcast series in collaboration with Alibi Investigations in South Africa about the plight of human rights defenders who must make difficult choices about their futures when they temporarily escape the injustices they advocate against and reach sanctuary cities in Europe.
Luis Miguel Cáceres Ortiz is a Venezuelan photojournalist with studies in social communication and a specialisation in photographic arts and techniques. He has lived in Brussels since May 2019. He has collaborated with the Colombian news channel NTN24 in Venezuela and worked as a photojournalist for the online newspaper Cronica Uno and as a multimedia journalist for El Pitazo Web. He was also head of the audio-visual department of the NGO Un Mundo Sin Mordaza (a world without gags). He is currently a contributor to the German sports agency Sportograf.
Ahmed Gamal Ziada is an Egyptian investigative journalist and researcher who works for several Egyptian human rights organizations. He has been imprisoned twice for his work and joined the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate during his second time in prison.He is currently based in Brussels, where he focuses on advocating for press freedom and setting up a website for investigative journalists based in Egypt, which will be run from Belgium. He is the founder of Zaiwa3, a new platform for investigative journalism in Arabic and English. He has a master’s degree in political science from ULB.
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Opoka p’Arop Otto © Luis Miguel Cáceres Ortiz
Journalistic Voices Diversified participants take part in a workshop in Brussels. © Yannick Sas
9.2 Difference Day
Since its first edition, the Evens Foundation has been an organising partner for Difference Day, a unique event created to celebrate freedom of expression and highlight the work and importance of independent journalists and activists each year around World Press Freedom Day on 3 May.
2022’s Difference Day programme ran from 2 May until 5 May and included performances of the play They Blew Her Up, which explores the brutal murder of Maltese journalist and anti-corruption campaigner Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Ahmed Gamal Zaidi, one of the first participants in the pilot Journalistic Voices Diversified project supported by the Evens Foundation, was part of a panel discussing the experiences of journalists in exile on 3 May. The Hungarian playbook, a project supported by Journalismfund.eu’s European CrossBorder Grant Programme was the point of departure for a debate between co-Author & co-Director Aron Szentpeteri, Aldo Verschuere and Tim Raats on 4 May. On 5 May, Voxeurop hosted a conversation examining the reception of Ukrainian exiles in Europe, bringing together various reports from its current series with the Evens Foundation.
Other events included a discussion between young and established journalists on the future of the press in Europe and a panel on journalism during times of crisis, which focused particularly on Ukraine and the impact of the Russian invasion on local media.
Difference Day is organised by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Univerité Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) Erasmus Hogeschool Brussel, Bozar and the Evens Foundation.
Honorary Title Recipients
The Fix Media and the Belarusian Association of Journalists were named the Honorary Title recipients of Difference Day 2022.
The Fix Media was founded two years ago by Jakub Parusiński in Ukraine, with the aim of becoming an online magazine for media professionals. Since the Russian invasion, it has become a crucial support platform for local media, helping journalists on the ground, supporting those forced to relocate, providing equipment and raising funds to keep media outlets going as the market that usually supports them collapses.
The Belarusian Association of Journalists, led by Andrei Bastunets, was forced to disband in 2021 after 25 years of operating in Belarus but has re-banded in exile. It aims to defend journalists and freedom of speech in a country where at least 27 journalists or media employees are imprisoned, and at least 300 have been forced to flee, following a crackdown on independent media by the Lukashenko regime.
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9.3 Building Trust in Journalism
The Building Trust in Journalism project explores the conditions and needs of media communities in Central Eastern Europe. Its overarching aim is to raise awareness of the importance of ethical professional journalism in building trust in the media and in facilitating the crucial role journalism can play in fostering democracy.
Launched in 2019, the project is a partnership between the Evens Foundation, the Ethical Journalism Network (EJN) and the Fritt Ord Foundation. This collaboration resulted in a series of policy reports on: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Georgia.
The series was meant to conclude in 2022 with the publication of a report dedicated to the media landscape in Ukraine. The outbreak of war in the country required a new approach. Together with project partner EJN, the Foundation decided to place the already compiled report and a possible debate around it on hold and respond to the more acute ethical dilemmas of journalists reporting the war, its contexts and consequences such as the ensuing refugee crisis. We commissioned a series of articles exploring ethical challenges that journalists face when covering this war in Ukraine, Russia and around the world.
By the end of 2022, four pieces were published:
• Ethics matter in telling the story of Ukraine by Aidan White
• Telling the truth – even when it hurts by Jean-Paul Marthoz
• Ukraine war raises ethical questions for newsrooms by James Ball
• Photographing Ukraine: “What right does any of us have to tell other people’s stories?” by Lisa Clifford on photojournalist
Anastasia Taylor-Lind’s work
The series will continue in 2023.
9.4 The Seventh Value
The Seventh Value is a new podcast series exploring what it means to be European today created by Evens Foundation and Are We Europe.
The European project was founded on a set of shared values –but have they stood the test of the time and how relevant are they in our increasingly tempestuous political environment? What do concepts like freedom, equality and democracy really mean in Europe today and how can we relate them to the stories unfolding around us?
Each of the six episodes focuses on a different value, diving into contemporary stories about Europe like migration, Brexit and the impact of mining pollution on local communities, and bringing together a diverse range of think tanks and research centres for a unique, open discussion. At the end of each episode, the participants are invited to add their own new value: the ‘seventh value’.
The participating think tanks and research centres are: The Green Tank (Human Dignity), Institute for Social Movements (Freedom), Agora (Democracy), Digital Future Society (Equality), Europeum Institute for European Policy (Rule of Law) and Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (Human Rights).
The series is hosted on the podcasting platform Acast (shows.acast.com/the-seventh-value) and international streaming services including Spotify and Google Podcasts.
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Donbas, Ukraine, 2019. A bus departing from Kurakhovo, a frontline town, to the entry checkpoint into the non-government-controlled Donetsk.
© Anastasia Taylor-Lind | Caption: Alisa Sopova
Logo for the Seventh Value podcast. © Are We Europe/AWE Studio
9.5 European Challenges Debates
On 18 September 2022, The Evens Foundation’s debates series conceived with the Centre Pompidou in Paris returned for a special conversation around the ongoing war in Ukraine and its cultural impact in Europe.
How does the war in Ukraine unsettle the balance between international and European interests? Could it lead Europe into a phase of reinvention? And what does the resurgence of Russian imperialism imply for the cultural sphere in Russia, Europe and beyond?
Speakers included Anna Colin Lebedev, lecturer in political science, whose research focuses on Russian post-Soviet armed conflict and protest action, and André Markowicz, translator, whose previous works include translations of Dostoyevsky, Gogol and Chekov. The conversation is moderated by journalist Sylvain Bourmeau, founder of AOC (Analyse Opinion Critique), producer of La suite dans les idées on France Culture radio.
Staged within the framework of Centre Pompidou’s Extra! Festival of Living Literature, the debate was followed by a performance from Ukrainian artist Alevtyna Kakhidze.
9.6 Kleine Große Schritte
At the end of March 2022 our partner planpolitik launched the German-language edition of Skills to Resist Radicalisation, an educational resource originally developed for the British context by Ariel Trust, one of the shortlisted candidates for the 2020 Evens Education Prize.
This online interactive resource for children aged 10-14 years offers teachers tools to explore issues of extremism and radicalisation and to build young people’s resilience to these messages.
Berlin-based planpolitik, an organisation that specialises in designing interactive educational formats on political and social topics and one of the candidates shortlisted for the 2017 Evens Peace Education Prize, accepted the demanding
task of adapting the resource to fit the German context, where teachers are confronted with similar challenges.
After the launch, planpolitik organised a series of activities to promote and share the resource under its new title Kleine Große Schritte: Umgang mit Ausgrenzung und Extremismus erproben across Germany and encourage active use of the materials.
Kleine Große Schritte is free for everyone to access and use through a dedicated website
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© Dan Perjovschi
Postcards for Kleine Große Schritte. © Illustration: Daniel Mueller
10.Special Projects
Alongside the core work carried out within the main axes of focus, as outlined over the previous pages of this report, the Evens Foundation also engages with a limited number of special projects. These allow the Foundation to make strategic and flexible decisions around events or projects that further its overarching mission, beyond the axes outlined in its strategic plan.
In 2022, much of the focus was on the Foundation’s response to the war in Ukraine, searching for meaningful ways to contribute to supporting its victims in the short term and in the longer term looking at how to tackle the social and political landscape that created the context for this outbreak of violence on Europe’s border.
Alongside this, the Foundation also sought to experiment with new approaches, such as applying for an open funding call from the EU with an ambitious project proposal and helping a play transfer to one of the continent’s most important journalism festivals, as well as developing new content streams with existing partners.
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10.1 They Blew Her Up
In October, the Evens Foundation supported a production of They Blew Her Up at the journalism conference Internazionale a Ferrara in Italy. Focusing on the horrific murder by car bomb of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, the play highlights the urgent issue of protection for journalists and the free press.
The performance included a talk with Daphne’s son Matthew, president of the foundation dedicated to his mother. It was attended by almost 1000 people, with the theatre at full capacity and influential journalists and actors among the audience members. It was covered in international media, including the Times of Malta.
“We still see journalists being killed for doing their jobs, and some of them are the victims of state-sponsored assassination. Though the subject in the play focuses on a crime in the EU’s smallest state, it is a universal problem, and it’s also happening in the heart of Europe,” explained the play’s director and writer Herman Grech in an interview with the Evens Foundation.
10.2 360 Degrees of Democracy
Ending the year on a high, in mid-December, the ambitious 360 Degrees of Democracy project was approved for a major grant as part of the European Commission’s European Remembrance initiative.
Initiated by the Evens Foundation and EuroClio and developed with 11 European partners and collaborators from 10 different countries, this project aims to tackle the current crisis of faith in democracy by increasing awareness of its history and exploring the attitudes towards democracy of young people who have never experienced life under another system.
Capturing stories of transition from countries that have adopted democratic structures of government in living memory, the project will weave these narratives into a travelling exhibition, interactive website, documentary film and teaching resources.
10.3 Refugees Stranded at the Gates of Europe
Towards the end of 2022, the Foundation’s long-standing media partner Voxeurop identified a need to communicate the situation unfolding at the borders of the European Union, where thousands of migrants and refugees from Iraq, Syria, various African countries and Afghanistan were stranded, waiting for a visa, for their asylum applications to be examined or simply to with nowhere to go.
The Foundation supported a series of Voxeurop field reports from key areas of concern: the Belarus-Poland border, where hundreds of Afghans dropped off by the Minsk authorities were wandering in the woods; Cyprus, where mainly African migrants were stuck in a buffer zone between the Republic of Cyprus and the RTNC; Sarajevo, where migrants prevented from going to Croatia and with no hope of returning wandered the city and fell into the trap of drug dealers; and updates on the situations in Calais, Lesbos and Ceuta and Melilla.
A series of four articles was produced and published in five languages (English, French, Spanish, German, and Italian):
• Cyprus: Asylum-seekers blocked at Green Line to Europe by Chloé Emmanouilidis
• On both sides of the Polish-Belarusian border, a solidarity that defies persecutions by Anton Trafimovitch
• Dead end Sarajevo by Fabio Papetti
• Fortress Europe increasingly stingy on asylum by Francesca Spinelli
The project will be refined, developed and delivered from 2023 to 2025.
In February Voxeurop also hosted the live online event “On the ground: a closer look at the refugee crisis” with Belarusian journalist Anton Trafimovitch and Greek journalist Stavros Malichudis who talked about the reasons and challenges behind their fieldwork.
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They Blew Her Up. © Francesco Alesi
Bihać, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 12 February 2021. Following the closure of the Bira camp in September 2020, around 150 migrants from Afghanistan are living in an abandoned former KrajinaMetal factory in extremely precarious conditions. © Jeanne Frank
10.4 War in Ukraine
On 24 February, Russia invaded Ukraine. The invasion was an escalation of an ongoing war between the two countries, with Russia as the aggressor driven by economic, political and ideological motivations. The attack triggered Europe’s largest internal refugee crisis since World War Two and has seen tens of thousands killed on both sides.
As a European Foundation that works extensively in the Central Eastern European region, the Evens Foundation felt a moral obligation to provide support for on-the-ground organisations that could offer real help to those affected by the violence, but also to act thoughtfully for longer-term impact. This two-pronged strategy has driven the Foundation to leverage its existing partnerships as well as forge new ones. Highlights of the resulting actions are detailed below.
The Foundation made direct donations to three organisations in 2022: Stowarzyszenie Homo Faber, a Lublin-based organisation that operates in different fields with the overarching goal of protecting human rights and works with refugees and migrants arriving in Poland; Fundacja im. Stefana Batorego, through its Ukraine Solidarity Fund, that offers institutional support to organisations that provide systemic and long-term assistance to people fleeing the war in Ukraine; and Fundacja Ocalenie, an experienced and reliable organisation working with refugees, operating in Poland.
10.4.1 Mayday
On 9 May – Europe Day – the Evens Foundation traditionally joins and supports Bozar in the organisation of a range of lectures and debates concerning the state of the European Union under the title Mayday, which is also the launch event for the annual publication of Mayday Magazine.
For the 2022 edition, Mayday was declared a day of solidarity with Ukraine. Journalists and academics from across Europe, but especially from Ukraine, came together to talk about the conflict. Artists and cultural workers reflected upon the role they can play when the guns speak. Dissident Russian voices who have been persecuted in their own country by President Putin’s regime were featured.
The third edition of Mayday Magazine was entirely devoted to the war, and included a feature article by EuroClio focusing on the role and importance of history and historiography in times of conflict.
10.4.2 Voxeurop: Europe welcomes exiles of the war in Ukraine
Over 6 million people fled the conflict in Ukraine and Russia in under three months. Most of them had to leave their homes in haste, and could not take much with them. European governments, the EU and its citizens have shown unprecedented solidarity, both at home and at Ukraine’s borders.
To record and investigate this reaction, the Foundation worked with long-standing media partner Voxeurop to deliver an original series of six stories from Moldova, Poland, Greece, Hungary, Romania and the Baltic republics, written by local journalists or European correspondents based in the covered countries. Each story was brought to life with photos by the
journalist or by a paired photojournalist, aside from the article on the Baltic States, which was illustrated by a cartoon from an illustrator affiliated with Cartoon Movement, the platform that won the Evens Journalism Prize in 2019.
The articles were published in five languages – English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish – from May to June:
• Moldova braces for impact with the war in Ukraine by Sergio Matalucci
• At the Polish-Ukrainian border, European solidarity finally shines by Giovanni Culmone, Ludovico Tallarita
• Displaced Ukrainians are finding family in Greece by Fabien Perrier
• In Hungar y, Ukrainians find a warm people but a frosty state by György Folk
• In Romania, solidarity with Ukrainian refugees falls to civil society by Adina Florea, Oana Moisil, Andrei Petre, Andrei Popoviciu, Constantin Șarcov, Miriam Tepes-Handaric, with Are We Europe (Brussels)
• The Baltic countries, a safe haven for independent Russian media by Marielle Vitureau
The series was accompanied by a live online event “Ukrainian exiles: the exemplary welcome by Europeans” hosted on 5 May, hosted by Catherine André from Voxeurop with contributors Gÿorgy Folk and Fabien Perrie.
24 I EVENS FOUNDATION I Annual report 2022
MayDay 2022. © Are We Europe
Hrushiv, Ukraine, March 2022. A group of Ukrainian refugees waiting to cross the Polish border. © Giovanni Culmone
10.4.3 Are We Europe: Beyond the Headlines of War
Instead of a knee-jerk response, the Evens Foundation’s long-standing media partner and independent magazine Are We Europe sought to cover the events in a responsible way, raising questions about the ethics of war reporting, the sensitivity it requires (and often lacks) and what can be added to the table in times of war.
For many of the magazine’s young contributors, a full-fledged war in Europe is unprecedented and had previously been almost unthinkable. Are We Europe asked its contributors to consider the question: What goes on behind the headlines of the war?
It launched online coverage with stories from Ukraine and its neighbouring countries, with a strong focus on work by local contributors, a selection of which was gathered into a printed issue.
The Evens Foundation supported this incredible edition of Are We Europe magazine, which included stories and experiences of those directly affected by today’s news whilst also providing working opportunities for writers, journalists and photographers impacted by the war.
Highlights include Tadeusz Michrowski’s piece on the identity-building role of a Polish-Ukrainian choir in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, Oana Moisil’s article on how language and technology can be a tool for solidarity for Ukrainian refugees in Romania and the photographic series Sunday Wishes by Andrej Balco, portraying Ukrainian economic migrants in Slovakia.
10.5 Inclusive Journalism Education: how to integrate the voices of unheard and invisible people
Alongside its actions focused on Ukraine following the outbreak of war with Russia, the Evens Foundation looked for projects that could have a longer-term impact on the underlying issues that created the context for this conflict.
It was important to acknowledge the role played by the media in fuelling social tensions instead of reporting in an inclusive and ethical manner. Lack of adequate professional training is part of the problem. The need for more inclusive media is particularly urgent in the Central Eastern European region, where the perspective of minority groups is still usually absent, as shown in the Building Trust in Journalism reports (see 9.3). With an influx of refugees from Ukraine, it is likely that the entire region will witness a rocky period.
In collaboration with the European Journalism Training Association (EJTA), the Foundation supported the development of a pilot training programme focused on the
skills needed for creating reliable, unbiased reporting that is sensitive to diverse audiences and issues around diversity.
The first part of the project took place in May, with an exchange visit in Thessaloniki, Greece, hosted by Aristotle University as part of the Invisible Cities initiative. Students from the Christian University Ede (the Netherlands), Babeș-Bolyai University (Romania), Zagreb University (Croatia), GIPA and University of Georgia (Georgia), and AP UAS (Belgium) met with local organisations and experts to reach and interview people from vulnerable groups that are usually ignored by the media, such as the homeless, members of the Roma community, people with addiction issues and refugees.
After the exchange a questionnaire was designed and applied, in order to map needs, resources and pioneers in the topic of inclusive journalism education among EJTA members, other experts and ‘critical friends’.
In November, the Evens Foundation, the European Journalism Training Association and the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland, co-organised a seminar focused on methods for teaching inclusive journalism. Bringing together the findings from the previous activities as well as the professional and personal experiences of the participating journalism educators, the seminar was a step towards developing a curriculum unit that could be disseminated to journalism schools and beyond.
Highlights included a keynote speech by Milica Pesic, Executive Director of the Media Diversity Institute, focused on defining the concept of inclusive journalism and how it is evolving, and the presentation “Reporting on Migrants and Refugees – Inspiration from the UNESCO Handbook” by Marcus Kreutler from the Erich Brost Institute for International Journalism at TU Dortmund.
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Are We Europe: Beyond the Headlines of War. © Are We Europe
11.Evens Prizes
The Evens Prizes are a core part of the Foundation’s activities. Awarded biannually, they highlight innovative practices and achievements by individuals and organisations across Europe.
Each Prize honours a different area of practice, covering Education, Journalism, the Arts and Science, and has its own programme structure, reflecting different areas of concern and purpose within each field.
The Prize programmes are continually evolving, helping the Foundation identify new challenges, insights and perspectives and contributing significantly to the Foundation’s ever-expanding transdisciplinary network of innovators.
The most recent prizes – the Evens Arts Prize and Evens Journalism Prize – began their programme cycles in 2021. The Evens Arts Prize 2021 laureate was choreographer Marlene Monteiro Freitas, with a special mention for visual artist Andrea Büttner. The Journalism Prize was across two categories: the Evens Journalism Prize 2021 | Geopolitics was awarded to Giacomo Zandonini and the Evens Journalism Prize 2021 | Education was awarded to Justyna Suchecka.
Suchecka was named one of Forbes’ women of the year in 2022 in the publication’s Polish edition, citing the Evens Journalism Prize as one of the primary reasons for her inclusion in its list.
Monteiro Freitas was selected as the featured artist for the prestigious Festival D’Automne in Paris in 2022, with a large set of performances of new and old works at venues across the city during September, October, November and December.
All of the laureates from 2020 (Science and Education) and 2021 were celebrated in a special event as part of the Foundation’s 30th-anniversary celebrations in June (see section 6), and a series of short films about the laureates were disseminated via social media in the latter half of the year.
A number of special events also took place with the laureates and candidates of the Evens Education Prize 2020, Evens Arts Prize 2021 and Evens Journalism Prize 2021.
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11.1 Evens Education Prize 2020 Exchange Meeting
The plan for the Evens Foundation’s Education Prize cycle in 2020 included a proposal to bring together the nominees for the prize for an Exchange Meeting – a unique gathering of practitioners from different backgrounds and approaches, where the Foundation could facilitate new connections and knowledge sharing. The intention was to enrich both the programme of the prize and the Foundation’s network in a meaningful way.
After two years of postponement due to Covid-19, the Foundation’s 30th-anniversary event in June 2022 offered an opportunity: the 2020 shortlisted candidates and key education partners such as EuroClio and planpolitik were invited to the event, so the Foundation was able to seize the moment to finally organise this Exchange Meeting.
The meeting at Bozar, the day after the anniversary event, revealed the passion and expertise of these practitioners and the range of experiences of education across Europe. A wide variety of approaches manifested in one room, with a spirit of openness that has inspired further dialogue and new collaborations.
The participants were: Ariel Trust , Basket Beat , Centre for Religion, Ethics and Detention, EuroClio, European Journalism Training Association, Karpos – Centre for Education and Intercultural Communication, Otaniemen Lukio Upper Secondary School), planpolitik, Radio Temps Rodez and Reinwardt Academy
The feedback from participants was very positive, and it has inspired the team to consider how we can create similar opportunities to connect different members of our network in the future.
11.2 Evens Journalism Prize 2021 Geopolitics: talk and screening
On 29 June, Journalism Prize 2021 | Geopolitics laureate Giacomo Zandonini gave the talk
“Investigate Fortress Europe – How to Challenge European Migration Policies”, hosted by Francesca Spinelli of Voxeurop. It focused on the European government’s description of the 2015 increase in unauthorized border crossings as a “refugee crisis”. Such a framework continues to shape the bloc’s policies, despite lower numbers of people making it to European shores and across land borders. Although Central Europe is experiencing a wave of support and solidarity, what happens at the Southern borders still monopolises the debate on migration control, exposing a harsh double standard in the treatment of people on the move. The aftermath of this selfproclaimed crisis – coinciding with the rise of ultranationalist and anti-immigration movements – has been the ultimate test of the EU’s migration management. So far, it has failed to meet the challenge on many fronts.
Zandonini was joined on the panel by Jane Kilpatrick (Statewatch), Mulueberhan Temelso (Foundation Human Rights for Eritreans) and moderator Francesca Spinelli to discuss the complexities and challenges of Europe’s migration crisis and policies.
After the discussion, the Foundation hosted a screening of “Libya: No Escape From Hell”, followed by a Q&A with the director Sara Creta. The film reveals both the reality for migrants in Libya and the horrific machine that underlies it.
11.3 Evens Arts Prize 2021
Special performance and talk
In May 2022, Marlene Monteiro Freitas – laureate of the Evens Arts Prize 2021 – was a featured artist at Kunstenfestivaldesarts, a three-week international performing arts festival in Brussels. Daniel Blanga Gubbay, the Artistic Co-Director of Kunstenfestivaldesarts, was among the jury members for the prize.
Monteiro Freitas’ debuted her new work Idiota with her company P.OR.K on 9 May as part of the festival. A special event was also organised in partnership with the Evens Foundation with a performance on 12 May of Mal – Embriaguez Divina. Staged at Theatre Varia, it was followed by an introduction to the prize and a live talk with Monteiro Freitas, as well as an audience Q&A. This special performance was followed by three more performances of MAL over the following days.
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Marlene Monteiro Freitas © Peter Honnemann
Migrants and a driver on pickup truck out of Agadez. © Giacomo Zandonini
12.A Letter from Joe Elborn, Incoming Executive Director of the Evens Foundation
In November 2022, I joined the Evens Foundation and worked closely with the Board to develop a bold new strategy for the organisation. After several months of intense work, I am pleased to share our vision and approach with you.
Our Focus: Empowering the Next Generation
Inspired by our work in education, democracy, and conflict, we worked to define a new vision for the Evens Foundation. Through weekend workshops and exercises, including an inward journey up a volcano, we arrived at our vision.
To realise this vision, we needed to identify a specific audience to focus on. After careful consideration, we chose young adults (16–29-year-olds) who are facing three major challenges that have not received enough attention. These challenges became our strategic pillars.
Strategic Pillar I: Youth x Democracy
The decline of trust in democracy is a critical issue, especially among young people who face unique pressures. We aim to restore and rebuild belief in the democratic process while acknowledging its flaws. We will support young people to become active and engaged participants in society and examine the barriers that prevent them from doing so. Our annual Evens Prizes in Arts, Journalism, Science and Education will include new youth-focused elements.
Strategic Pillar II: Youth x Authoritarianism
The rise of polarisation in Europe is a growing concern. Polarisation challenges the critical social function of having a shared ‘truth’ and has the potential to lead individuals and societies down dark paths. One of those paths is authoritarianism.
Young people today will either largely reject or largely embrace such ideologies. We will work to push back against authoritarianism and equip young people with the tools, knowledge and motivation to take action as well.
Strategic Pillar III: Youth x Mental Wellbeing
Youth mental wellbeing is another pressing issue, with depression rates tripling within certain Gen Z cohorts. This has far-reaching implications for the continent’s future, and yet it is not high enough on the political agenda. Through our network of partners, laureates, friends, and fellow foundations, we will understand the root causes of this problem and advocate for it to be confronted and addressed.
I am excited to work with the team, Board, and Evens family to make a meaningful impact on these issues. I extend my gratitude to my predecessor, Monique, without whom this vision would not have been possible, and I look forward to keeping everyone updated on our progress.
Sincerely, Joe Elborn
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"Ourvisionis a resilient Europe that inspires people and communities to work together towards a collective future of freedom, democracy, and joy.”
Published by
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© 2023 Evens Foundation
www.evensfoundation.be
Editor: Anna Winston
Design: Wils & Peeters Graphic Design
Illustrations: based on animation in collaboration with studio Squarefish
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