ELIA Symposium Leadership 2025

Introduction to Orchestral Conducting in Relation to Collective Intelligence for Leadership

Béatrice Zawodnik and Judith Baubérot lead a workshop on leadership in music, a topic that lies at the heart of HEM’s mission. In addition to offering a short course dedicated to the role of leadership in managing collective artistic projects, HEM also co-organized the orchestral project LEAD with the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore. This innovative collaborative project aimed to explore the various leadership roles within an orchestra, involving students, professional musicians, and mentors. The workshop presented as part of the ELIA Leadership Symposium offers an immersive experience within the orchestra, illustrating collective intelligence in action in the service of music, as well as a dialogue between two musicians—a violinist and an oboist—who are also, respectively, a conductor and a leader of a higher music education institution.

 

Béatrice Zawodnik, Director of HEM
Judith Baubérot, graduated in 2023 with a Master’s degree in orchestral conducting (class of Laurent Gay)

Thursday, October 16, 2025 at 11:30 a.m.
HEAD – Genève – Building A
Route des Franchises 2
1203 Geneva

As part of the ELIA Leadership Symposium 2025
October 15–17
HEAD – Genève

 

The 2025 edition of the ELIA Leadership Symposium addresses the following question: how can we harness the transformative power of collective intelligence? What are the key elements that not only create community cohesion but also foster meaningful change?

Organised by the Haute école d'art et de design de Genève (HES-SO), the symposium brings together leaders in higher arts education, creative researchers, thought leaders in transformative leadership and alternative management models, economists, and futurists. Together, they will examine the processes needed to enable large groups of individuals to share their knowledge and skills in order to solve complex problems while addressing societal challenges.

How can arts education institutions become more than the sum of their parts? What skills are needed to lead a crowd or a movement toward a shared goal? And what happens when the system we operate in begins to fracture? These are among the challenges facing institutions committed to artistic education.

Through case study analysis, dialogue, and collaboration, this symposium will provide international leaders in higher arts education with practical tools and concrete ideas to foster thriving cultures of care and resilience.
 

Full schedule of the Symposium