30 Years of the Evens Foundation

Celebrating three decades of partnerships, projects and prizes

30 Years of the Evens Foundation

On 28 June, the Evens Foundation will celebrate 30 years of activity with a very special event at Bozar in Brussels. 

Our 30th anniversary is an opportunity to look back at everything we have achieved together with our partners and friends over the past three decades and take a moment to celebrate. But it is also a moment to look to the future and examine who we are both as a foundation and as Europeans. How can we contribute to creating a better world, a world where we can truly live together in the face of unprecedented pressures?

With this in mind, the team is gathering together with our partners, board members, prize laureates and friends for a day of discussions, debates, prizes and surprises, culminating in music and dancing with a performance by the incredible Taraf de Cailu.

A keynote panel debate in the evening, featuring the award-winning journalist Johny Pitts, Zdenka Badovinac, director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, and Italian philosopher and activist Lorenzo Marsili, will be open to the public. The rest of the event is by invitation only.

We are happy to share the full programme below and look forward to welcoming so many of our friends and partners to celebrate with us.

For more information, please contact anna.winston@evensfoundation.be.

30 Years of the Evens Foundation
Bozar | 14:00 until late

14:00-14:15 The Evens Foundation: Past, Present and Future
A warm welcome to our friends, partners and colleagues from the past, present and future, with our host Bahram Sadeghi. The Evens family discuss the evolution of the foundation and its urgency in an ever-changing Europe.

14:15-15:45 The Seventh Value?
The European project was founded on a set of shared principles, but have they stood the test of the time? Over the past two years, the Evens Foundation has brought together think tanks and research centres from different sides of the political spectrum to explore the values enshrined in the European treaty – Human Dignity, Freedom, Democracy, Equality, Rule of Law and Human Rights.

These conversations have been captured in a six-part podcast series produced with Are We Europe, which will culminate with an undoubtedly lively debate today. What do we mean by “European values” and what are we missing?

Participants: Carina Lopes (Digital Future Society), Maciej Nowicki (Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights & WATCH DOCS International Film Festival), Steven Stegers, Director EuroClio, and Maïté de Haan, Founder Troebel vzw. Moderator: Juli Simond (Are We Europe)

15:45-16:15 Coffee and Conversations

16:15-17:30 Being Together: An Experiment with Atelier Leon
Atelier Leon creates encounters that go beyond existing roles and patterns. Join choreographer Seppe Baeyens, percussionist Saif Al-Quaissy and residents of Zonnelied – a centre for people with disabilities – to explore movement and dance as a form of self-expression and connection.

17:30-18:00 Coffee and Conversations

18:00-18:15 Blowing out the Candles: 30 Years of the Evens Foundation
We take a moment to mark our anniversary with a short film and the launch of a new publication looking back at 30 years of projects, partnerships and prizes. Pioneering European philanthropist Raymond Georis joins us for the launch of the Stefan Zweig Fellowship programme, a new initiative for the future of the foundation.

18:15-19:15 Evens Prizes Award Ceremony
The Evens Foundation Prizes were created to honour true innovators in Education, Journalism, Arts and Science. In this special event, we celebrate the achievements of our current laureates across our biennial awards programmes and introduce their work.

19:15-20:30 Europe: The End of the Affair?
The European project has never been under more pressure than it is today. Can we repair the relationships that are threatening to tear it apart?

We bring together prominent thinkers and activists from various social, cultural and political spheres to discuss the historical legacies and contemporary challenges that will shape the next incarnation of Europe.

Speakers: 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, the curator of the ENAR award-winning online journal Afropean.com and the author of Afropean: Notes From Black Europe.

20:30 till late Celebrate with Taraf de Caliu!
End the day with dinner, dancing with music from DJ NiXiE, and a performance by the incredible Taraf de Caliu.