Resilience in motion: Cultural exchange through crisis and change

Date – Tuesday, 15 September
Time – 12:20 – 13:00
Location – Auditorium 0B, Euskalduna Conference Centre

In recent years, the cultural exchange field has navigated a convergence of challenges that have tested not only programme delivery, but also the foundational assumptions of how global exchange operates.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought international mobility to a near standstill. As mobility resumed, stakeholders encountered an increasingly complex policy environment, marked by shifting priorities, evolving regulatory interpretations, and constrained visa processing capacity. These conditions introduced new uncertainty into planning cycles, limited programme accessibility, and reshaped the participant experience. In response, organisations adapted with agility and creativity. Not all adaptations delivered the intended results. Some strategies proved difficult to scale, introduced unintended inefficiencies, or failed to fully address underlying constraints. In certain cases, efforts to expand access were limited by external realities, while rapid innovation occasionally outpaced internal capacity. These experiences offer valuable lessons about the limits of flexibility, the importance of alignment, and the risks of overextension in a constrained environment.

This session creates space for a candid and constructive conversation about what these experiences mean for leadership in the cultural exchange field. Participants will explore how to make informed decisions amid uncertainty, balance mission with operational realities, and lead teams through sustained complexity. The discussion will also consider how to foster resilience while remaining grounded in purpose, and how to position organisations—and the field more broadly—for a more sustainable and adaptive future.