IETM Athens Autumn Plenary Meeting 2013 brought together 500 international performing arts professionals, focusing together on exchange and discourse with the theme of Tomorrow! With the economic shifts in economics since 2008, both internationally as well as in Europe, Greece was hit hardest by the finacial crisis. This is exactly why it was essential for IETM members and partners to spend time learning from this situation, as well as showing solidarity and connecting with artists and cultural workers in the contemporary performing arts in Athens.
The meeting resulted in three days of discussion and networking, developed between content programme and an intense artistic programme, which was curated by the Athens organising team, led by Kelly Diapouli of Busart, as well as in close collaboration with colleagues and the local performing arts community. IETM Athens was unique in the fact that, due to its specific thematic focusing on the economic crisis and its impact on contemporary performing arts in Greece, the meeting ended with a manifesto and recommendations, both for politicians as well as cultural leaders and artists, as a response to the discourse generated by the Let’s Design a Future working group series.
