#5 RISE UP Event Summary: Get Inspired! Celebrating Minoritised Language Arts

The fifth and final RISE UP Networking Event, “Get Inspired! Celebrating Minoritised Language Arts”, took place online on the 20^th of January, 2026. With this event, RISE UP aimed to spotlight minoritised language artists from across Europe, and create spaces for interconnecting.

What are the aims of the Networking Events?

RISE UP hosts regular online networking events on different topics in the field of minoritised languages, this being the fifth one. Our aim with these networking events is to provide participants with the opportunity to gain knowledge in the field of language activism, to give them tools to strengthen their language communities, learn from each other’s challenges and solutions, and build inter-community connections.

The Presentations

The event was kicked off by a short introduction to RISE UP, including a presentation of all art-related initiatives that were implemented during the project. After this brief introduction, Felicia Touvenot shared insights into minoritised language theatre projects, followed by a presentation on minoritised language visual art by Celfa Iraida Santiz Santiz / Celfa K’ujul. Next up were Susanna Caldonazzi and Lorena Martinez, representing Europe Beyond Access. They were followed by a presentation by Urtzi Urrutikoetxea, representing PEN International. The last presentation of this section was held by Laura Cahier, who talked about the UN’s International Contest for Minoritised Artists.

To share some deeper insights into RISE UP’s work with minoritised language artists, four participants of the #VoicesofCommunity artist residency (Fiona O’Cleirigh, Brett Hiiob, Marina Cuito, Daniela Stoica) performed some of their music and poetry, and talked about their artistic journey during and after the residency. After a short break, they were followed by Teano Kardula and Lianne Wilson, who talked about their experiences with RISE UP’s Travelling Exhibition, and the creation of their artwork for it.

Creative Salons

The last hour of the event was dedicated to the “Creative Salons”, small breakout rooms for individual discussions. Guided by Elizabeth Freeborn (music), Konstantin Milena Vlasich (creative writing) and Teano Kardula (visual art), participants were encouraged to talk about their own artistic journey and share their work and experiences.

Conclusion

During the event, the Occitan artist Camp.liure created a live artwork, incorporating small illustrations and words from the event (see header), which was presented at the end of the event. We would like to thank all presenters, artists, participants, and our sign language interpreters for joining our final networking event, sharing your art, and shaping this project along the way! If you missed the event, you can watch the recording on RISE UP’s YouTube channel (linked below).