Dear EASC members,

About a month ago the board of directors informed that we were keeping an eye on the Corona situation throughout Europe and would announce at the beginning of May what will happen with the EASC congress from 18-20.9.2020 in Barcelona.

Last week the board met and decided. We postpone our congress for one year.

The appointment will take place in Barcelona, the dates initially planned are from 17^th – 19^th September 2021.

This decision was not easy for us. But even if the first loosening of the rules is imminent in almost all countries, people in Barcelona and Spain will be able to do outdoor sports and go for walks for at least one hour a day since this Saturday, we believe that there is still a long way to go to a new "normality".

We would probably only be able to hold a congress at a distance this autumn, planned activities such as the joint building of human towers would not be possible, the lecture room would only be able to be occupied by half of the participants, venues would only be limited and not open for larger groups.

What Barcelona has to offer as an inspiring city of exchange, interculturalism and forward-looking ideas would still be completely under the experiences and losses of the last weeks.

But even our participants, whether they come from Spain, Germany, England, Switzerland, the Czech Republic or other countries, do not know how and whether they will be able to travel to Barcelona, or their economic situation will be so tense this year that many of them will have difficulties in participating.

We will all need a time together to recover from the experiences, to develop new strength, and then hopefully next year to be able to really experience and celebrate our congress, which will continue under the motto: “Who am I in today´s changing world?“

Covid 19 influences our lives, we have to deal with how we want to and can live and work in the future. One thing we as EASC Board are aware of and believe is of vital importance: it is only possible together and in solidarity. That is why we want to use the time until the congress in 2021 to expand our Europe-wide cooperation and collaboration.

We have planned two initiatives for this:

       1)  The General Assembly will take place this year on September 19th, virtually, multilingual with European exchange for all EASC members.

       2)  We will initiate monthly virtual EASC talks starting in May to enable members to exchange and support each other. The focus will be on content input and mutual exchange. On the 3rd Wednesday of the month at 7 pm, the program will follow shortly.

We will also continue our other activities for networking and growth of the EASC and we hope for your understanding and support.

Our thanks go to all those who have put a lot of energy into the preparation of the congress so far. Your efforts have been worthwhile, we have a great program that we will implement next year. We hope all speakers and workshop hosts will stay on board, because the motto will be as relevant next year as it is this year!

On behalf of the EASC Board
Susanne Rieger