Arts and Solidarity Online Focus Groups
Conflict is part of every learning space and every community. The question is not whether tensions arise, but how we respond to them. Through this series of online focus groups together with a series of professional facilitators, Arts and Solidarity invites educators, facilitators, artists, cultural workers, and community practitioners to reflect on conflict mediation in adult learning and community contexts — and to explore whether creative and artistic feminist practices can help transform these tensions.
Different organisational cultures — whether horizontal and collective structures or more hierarchical systems — deeply shape how conflict emerges, is perceived, and ultimately addressed. The ways in which people navigate moments of disagreement or friction in the learning and community spaces they hold are influenced by the environments they shape, as well as by the values and power dynamics embedded within them. A key question we aim to reflect on is if artistic and creative approaches can foster respectful, pluralistic learning and community spaces where conflict is not suppressed or feared, but perceived as a catalyst for reflection, transformation, and collective growth?
LINK TO REGISTRATION
Description of the groups
Dimitris Chimonas - 17/02/2026 18:30-20:00, Eastern European Time (EET)
Title: Practising the Unresolved: When Conflict has Nowhere to Go
Bio:Dimitris Chimonas is an artist and performer working across theatre, choreography, and situations. His practice is event-based, moving between the stage, the gallery, and the dance floor, exploring modes of participation, spectatorship, and collective agency. He co-founded and curates Sessions, a series of queer happenings in Cyprus, conceived as a porous platform for performance and experimentation, taking over and transforming spaces such as the State Gallery–SPEL in Nicosia (2023). Chimonas graduated from East15 Acting School in London (2015), was a fellow of the Home Workspace Program at Ashkal Alwan, Beirut (2018–2019), and is a recipient of the Aerowaves Startup Forum Award (2024). He is currently completing an MA in Art Praxis at the Dutch Art Institute (2024–2026).
Ellada Evangelou - 18/02/2026 15:00-16:30 Eastern European Time (EET)
Title: The artist as mediator in post conflict zones: engaging with the glo-cal in “Creative Care: A resource for artists working in humanitarian contexts” (2025)
Bio: Ellada Evangelou has studied in Cyprus and the United States. She is a cultural worker, dramaturge and academic. She is interested in the relationship between theatre/dramaturgy and identity, and works in the intersection of aRtivism and scholarship in post-colonial, post-conflict communities. She is co-founder of Rooftop Theatre, was a 2020-21 Global Fellow of the International Society for the Performing Arts and a Global Faculty in Residence at Gallatin School, NYU (2021). She was the Artistic and Executive Director of the Buffer Fringe Performing Arts Festival 2019-22. She is co-author of “Creative Care: A Resource for Artists Working in Humanitarian Contexts"
Alev Adil - 05/03/2026 18:00-19:30 Eastern European Time (EET)
Title: Strategies for Workplace Resilience: Tackling burn out and conflict at work
Bio: Alev Adil is an Association of Coaching–accredited Developmental and Transformational Coach. Drawing on diverse professional expertise, from the analytical rigour of academia to the disruptive mindset of the creative industries, she empowers clients to overcome professional challenges, clarify their vision, and achieve goals with confidence and purpose.
A Cambridge alumna with two Master’s degrees and a PhD in the Arts, she specialises in creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. Over more than two decades, she has shaped thought leadership across academia, literature, and the arts, working as a distinguished academic and a recognised authority in literature, the arts, and professional development.
Gabriel Koureas - 23/03/2026 11:00-12:30 Eastern European Time (EET)
Title: How do we align diverse character dynamics within community working and learning contexts
Bio: Gabriel Koureas is an art historian. He is Research Fellow at Birkbeck College, University of London and Fellow at the University of Nicosia. He completed his PhD at Birkbeck where he was a full member of its faculty from 2000 to 2019.
His research concentrates on the memory and representation of conflict in relation to gender and sexuality in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. His recent publications concentrate on transcultural memory in the Mediterranean and the Middle-East as well as the gendered representations of the terrorist in visual cultures. His other publications include works on masculinity and the commemoration of the First World War, art and the senses, and the visual culture of colonial wars of independence in museums and visual culture.
His most recent publication is the co-edited volume Contemporary Art from Cyprus (Bloomsbury, 2021). He is the founder of the NGO Celadon Centre for Arts and Ecologies.
Thekla Kyritsi and Andreas Avgousti - 26/03/2026 10:00-11:30 Eastern European Time (EET)
Title: Addressing Conflict in the Workplace: Care and Creativity
Bios: Thekla Kyritsi is the founder and directress of the Cypriot NGO, Center for Gender Equality and History. Her educational background revolves around social and political sciences, with an emphasis on the history of women’s movements in Cyprus during the British era. Her work at KIIF includes project design and implementation, quantitative and qualitative research, workshop design and facilitation, writing and speaking around issues like women’s and gender history, women’s visibility, and gender equality. She has a growing passion for education and cultural heritage, particularly in relation to content and methods to cultivate a society of equality, peace, inclusiveness, and non-violence.
Andreas Avgousti brings a rich background in gender studies and queer identities research, with a deep commitment to fostering inclusive and reflective team cultures. Certified as a team facilitator, he integrates empathy, collaboration, and critical thinking into every aspect of his work. His experience spans project coordination, facilitation, and the design of situated methodologies that center care and collective growth. Currently based in Barcelona, Andreas is responsible for the care and well-being of a startup team developing innovative gynecological diagnostic solutions, ensuring that both people and projects thrive together.
