In 2024-2025, faculty members from 8 partner universities in the EDDA Norden network (Aalto University, University of Agder, HDK-Valand Academy of Art and Design, Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design, Umeå University, University College Copenhagen, Vilnius University Siauliai Academy, and Iceland University of the Arts) participated in a Nordplus Higher Education funded development project “Internationalizing Nordic and Baltic Teacher Training in Visual Arts and Craft Education.” The goal of this development project was to establish a sustainable model for Nordic and Baltic collaboration that allows EDDA Norden network members to integrate international collaboration into the yearly cycle of their study programs.
The Northern Village of Arts Education
Starting from 2025, the EDDA Norden works toward building The Northern Village of Arts Education – a vision that offers a sustainable, long-term model to integrate international collaboration into the yearly activities of EDDA network programs. The vision stems from the shared motivation to gather, share, and develop art pedagogical practices, expertise, and research stemming from the region.
By sustainability, we mean that international collaboration is attainable and accessible for students and faculty within the network, and that the network is mindful of its environmental, social, and economic impacts.
By long-term, we mean that we acknowledge that the Northern Village of Arts Education is a result of continuous, living collaboration that exceeds individual projects and classes. The Northern Village serves both its current members as well as its future generations.
As the Northern Village of Arts Education, EDDA Norden will:
- strengthen an active, long-term exchange of knowledges and practices between students and faculty in the network
- strengthen the visibility of the network on institutional, national, and international levels.
- strengthen the role of visual arts and craft teacher education in Nordic and Baltic countries by offering collegial support for students and faculty.
To reach these goals, EDDA Norden network takes the following steps between 2025 and 2027:
Restructuring the network as a village
- The network will move from the current, coordinator-led structure to a communally organized model. The network sets up a village council that is composed of 4-5 active network members (including the network coordinator). The village council is responsible for leading the network’s plans and activities. The council meets 3-4 times per year.
- In addition to the village council, there will be two working groups: EDDA activities group that focuses on the network’s activities (including mobility, intensive courses, and development work) and EDDA communications group that is responsible for managing network’s internal and external communication. These working groups meet 3 times a year (or when needed).
Enhancing EDDA’s communication
- The network will completely redo EDDA Norden’s website to serve better students, faculty, and everyone who is interested in visual arts and craft education in Nordic and Baltic countries.
- As part of this renewal, each EDDA institution will provide a visual representation and a short description of their teacher training program (i.e., displaying their “house” in the village) to be shared on the website. The development project participants have co-created instructions that the network partners may follow when making these representations.
- In addition, the EDDA communications group establishes and regularly updates a seasonal calendar that gathers events, courses, and other activities within the partner institutions that are relevant for network members.
- For the network’s internal communication, the development project has used Aalto OpenLearning, a Moodle environment provided by Aalto University. The development project participants found it rather difficult to use, which is why the EDDA communications group will explore other possibilities for similar channels. Benefits of having a communications channel in addition to emails is that such a channel can also serve as a collaborative archive of a network’s activities.
Organizing regular village meetings
- EDDA Norden will organize regular online events – called EDDA Online Seminar Series – 1-2 per semester (i.e., 2-4 per academic year) that are open for all students and faculty. Each EDDA online seminar event is organized by one of the network partners to showcase teaching and research done at their “house.” The aim of the online seminar series is to share knowledge and find potential points of connection between EDDA houses.
- The network will organize yearly in-person EDDA camps that are open for students and faculty within the network. Each camp is co-organized as an intensive course by three EDDA “houses” in changing locations. While the camp themes vary between each year, they all respond to the local surroundings and situate it within the larger context of the Northern Village of Arts Education.