Beyond Learning

In this episode, Ola travels to Belgrade, the capital of Serbia — to meet Dekadenca, a drag performer whose work blurs the lines between art, politics, and identity. With a theatrical background and love of all things cabaret, Decadenza is a larger-than-life character who performs acting, painting and singing. Today, you’ll hear about how Dekadenca was created, how Yugoslav heritage shapes today’s...

In this episode, Ola travels to Manchester in the North of England to The People’s History Museum, where she speaks with Dr Bob Dinn. We’ll meet key figures who changed the course of history: Emmeline Pankhurst, who led the suffragette movement for women’s right to vote; Thomas Paine, whose revolutionary writings inspired both American and French democracy; and Keir Hardie, a Scottish coal miner t...

In this episode, Ola travels to Ljubljana to explore the Metelkova autonomous cultural space. Originally constructed as Austro-Hungarian military barracks in the late 19th century, the site has since been reshaped by the interventions of both prominent and emerging contemporary Slovenian artists. True to its open and experimental spirit, Metelkova remains a space of continuous transformation. Mete...

Our final webinar explored the role of policy and research in driving transformative learning and sustainable change. Expert speakers from the green movement and adult education organisations discussed how policy and research initiatives can support and amplify the impact of transformative learning practices. Moderator: Davide Muraro, European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA) Speaker...

We explored the inspiring work of grassroots initiatives actively contributing to the green transition. We heard from representatives of these initiatives, learning how they involve citizens in their activities and what are their successes and challenges. We discussed the informal learning experiences the grassroots initiatives are facilitating, and what adult education organisations could learn f...

In this session, we delved into innovative educational practices for promoting green transition. Our invited three speakers shared their expertise, while the moderator guided the discussion on how these practices can be implemented in adult education. Moderator: Aleksandra Kozyra, European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA) Speakers: Agnieszka Borek, NGO Trainers’ Association (sTOP), P...

[REUPLOAD] “The future belongs to all of us,” says Maarten Okkersen at the Museon Omniversum in the Hague. As we take a break from the current season, we revisit an older episode in which we talk about how museums can help make sense of the changing world and encourage agency and empathy. We also discuss what interactivity really means, and why sometimes it’s useful to lose the technology. In the...

[REUPLOAD] What if you could design and build your community space - no matter your background or skills? We take a break from our current season and revisit our older episode in which we meet with Maria Glionna, an architect, educator and learner, who tells us about participatory architecture as a practice of empowerment. We also discuss learning as a way of connecting to your own body, emotions...

Could tango take over your life? Boris Maidanik, a tango teacher, tells us about his experience of learning to dance tango in his hometown - Buenos Aires, and what it's like when the whole room stops to a rhythm of a dance. He also shares what migration across different European countries has brought him, and why tango isn't about learning the steps. We also speak to Ana, a tango learner who refle...

How many mothers does it take to raise a child? And what does polymaternalism actually mean? In this episode, we take a look at a winter school course on Feminism and Motherhood at the University of Antwerp. We talk to learners of the course, both of whom are researchers in the fields of motherhood as well as the organiser of the course. We delve into defining the term of polymaternalism and how b...

Who was there before us in our movements? How can we own the narrative of our histories? In the heart of a bustling library and archive in Athens, born through the claims of the Greek feminist movement in the 80s, we meet Irene: an archivist, librarian and feminist. Amidst the books, journals and clippings of the archive, we discuss libraries as sites of collective learning and exploration, where...

Is radio a thing of nostalgia? Together with our host in Belgrade, Maja Maksimovic, we revisit the past as we open closets, cupboards and drawers. While talking about personal memory, we also learn how to make Turkish coffee (and read the future). We then take a walk in a park with filmmaker Marija Stojnic to discuss “Speak so I can see you”, her documentary about Radio Belgrade. Marija shares wit...

Who has the power to create public spaces? We first ask the question to Katarina Popovic and Maja Maksimovic from the University of Belgrade. We sit down in a kafana in Belgrade to talk about cultural identity, practice dark Eastern European humour, and reflect on the value of a stolen Yugoslavian passport. We also do some experiential learning around the concept of Dionisian socialism. We then me...

"It's time to change the vocabulary," says one of the guests of this episode. In Budapest, we visit two civil society organisations that challenge existing narratives. We first talk to Teréz Pataki and Reza Sayed Mustafa from Mira Haz, a community centre that welcomes migrants and refugees. We discuss intercultural learning and why an integration course isn’t a factory. We also meet with Róbert Ke...

Who makes – and owns – a language? In Linz, we meet with Rubia Salgado, language teacher and co-founder of das kollektiv, a collective of migrant women. As we walk along the Danube, we talk to Rubia about who belongs in public spaces, what it means to be open to change, and why learning about migration can’t be reduced to trying out new dinner recipes. We discuss what grammar and syntax in a langu...

What if our space for learning could turn into a living room, a café – or an island? In the first episode of the new season, we pass by Vienna to begin our exploration of learning, identity and belonging. We meet with Margit Lindner from the magdas hotel, a social enterprise that supports learners with a refugee background. Margit takes us on a tour of the hotel and tells us what it means to run a...

If you cycled from Europe to Tokyo, who would you meet on the way – and what would you learn? Together with EAEA’s Angeliki Giannakopoulou, we talk to Manon Brulard, a filmmaker who tells us about her documentary “Women Don’t Cycle”. She shares why cycling 13,000 km from Brussels to Tokyo – and then making a film about it – has been a transformative learning experience. We also talk about the bicy...

What if you could design and build your community space - no matter your background or skills? In this episode, we meet with Maria Glionna, an architect, educator and learner, who tells us about participatory architecture as a practice of empowerment. We also discuss learning as a way of connecting to your own body, emotions and nature, and Maria’s personal and professional journey: from Italy thr...

What could you make out of your mother’s coat? EAEA’s Raffaela Kihrer goes to her weekly sewing class and talks to her teacher and classmates about their learning experience and motivation. They discuss what it means to get attached to the things that you own - but also to the people in your class - and what the Great British Sewing Bee has got to do with it. In the meantime, Raffaela works on her...

“Vegetables grow here and people grow here,” says one of the employees of Groot Eiland, a social enterprise based in Molenbeek, Brussels. Together with Patrick de Coster, we meet with instructors and trainees who share their thoughts about the social context in Brussels, vulnerability, and safe spaces for learning. We also take a guess on what the most diverse city in the world is (spoiler: it's n...

“The future belongs to all of us,” says Maarten Okkersen at the Museon Omniversum in the Hague. We talk about how museums can help make sense of the changing world and encourage agency and empathy. We also discuss what interactivity really means, and why sometimes it’s useful to lose the technology. In the meantime, we visit the museum’s One Planet exhibition, where we find out what our phones are...

What do you see behind a pomegranate? Clémence Garnier, a Brussels-based illustrator who created the visuals for our podcast, walks us through the steps of her art projects. As we pick flowers in her local park and take a look into her workspace, Clémence tells us how she learned to draw as an adult, and what doing life drawings taught her about body image. She also shares the many functions of a...

How do we learn from the past to make it to the future? Wojciech Matejko from the Open Jazdów Partnership shows us around a settlement in Warsaw, Poland which has a unique history, and today houses families and NGOs. He shares a story of activism, community and adult learning, featuring Soviet imperialism, Finnish wooden houses, Chinese hens, and Japanese dance theatre.