BRINGING DOWN THE WALLS: CHANGING FROM CONTAINER TO CONVENER

Over the course of its six-year history, the YCI Forum has been a major catalyst for innovation and radical change within Salzburg Global Seminar and its home of Schloss Leopoldskron. Most notable was the Venetian Room protest, which took place at the end of the 2018 program and was the impetus for Salzburg Global to take a critical look at how issues of systemic injustice, power and privilege are manifest within the premises and by extension, the institution. Input from the YCI network has helped Salzburg Global to start shifting institutional thinking on issues of diversity, equity and inclusion within its programs, people and place.

For many years, Salzburg Global has prided itself on providing a “retreat-like” setting for participants in programs. Undoubtedly many people from all corners of the world have enjoyed the rich atmosphere of Schloss Leopoldskron, the copious amounts of local food, the “oh so Austrian” classical piano concerts at the end of a program, and the opportunity to take a walk around the scenic lake. For many this has offered the opportunity an escape from the pressures of their own contexts, where they can find rejuvenation and renewal.

There is no doubt that the residential aspect of programs at Schloss Leopoldskron has enhanced the programmatic experiences of many Fellows over the years. For many YCI Forum participants, their travel to Salzburg required them to get a passport for the first time, for others this was their first journey on an airplane, or their first trip outside of their country. Depending on the individual, the opportunity to travel to Salzburg may have represented an amazing opportunity for new international experiences – for others an anxiety-inducing set of challenges.

For some potential Salzburg Global Fellows, the travel element of programs in Salzburg has meant them turning down the invitation. Reasons cited over the years for not being able to participate are commitments at home or work, physical or mental health, or as in the case of many would-be YCI Forum participants from Africa, being unable to get a visa to allow them to travel to Europe.

These challenges associated with travel to Salzburg are perhaps more acutely felt by the participants of the YCI Forum than by Fellows of other Salzburg Global programs, partly as a result of their age and life/profession stage, but also because for many YCIs, they are part of the program precisely because they are members of marginalized communities who are fighting against systemic injustice, and therefore do not ordinarily inhabit buildings like Schloss Leopoldskron.

Virtual convening removes the inherent power dynamics of a physical place and offers opportunities to de-center the role of Salzburg Global in the YCI Forum from container to convener. In the role of convener – whether online or in-person in Salzburg or another part of the world – Salzburg Global has increasingly become aware of the need to take a participant-centered approach to designing programmatic activities and to the benefits of co-creating the YCI Forum with members of the network.

Awareness of the limitations of place-based convening, which have been further compounded in 2020 by the pandemic and considerations around international travel, offers challenges but also incredible opportunities for Salzburg Global to innovatively reimagine how the YCI Forum – in whole or part – is convened in the future.