The Summer Academy, the association’s main annual event, is organised every August and takes place in a different Lithuanian city each time, bringing together around 40 participants – students and young professionals aged 18–26. The event involves several days of discussions and talks in which a common theme, announced in advance by the organising team, is explored in different aspects.
Through personal dialogue with each other and with the help of guests invited to the academy – experts and professionals in their respective fields (from scientists to artists, athletes and politicians) – academy participants discuss various aspects of topics that they do not necessarily come into contact with during their studies or in their everyday lives. The aim of the event is to create a safe and open space for debate, to learn how to formulate and justify an opinion, to develop the ability to criticise in an appropriate manner and to promote a culture of debate and discussion. Our Summer Academy not only provides a safe space for developing new insights, but is also a platform for questioning oneself and exploring new points of view – without the constraints of traditional academic formats. Our aim is to make this event a centre for new ideas and to encourage a willingness to acknowledge the discourses, contradictions and reality around us.
We are also very pleased that every year we have managed to find time in the informal part of the event for lectures by the members of the association themselves. Since the first Academy (2020, Nida), our members have presented their thoughts on topics of their choice, such as public intellectuals, the Byzantine Empire, international law, the Migration Period, effects of stress on the body, etc. We are also proud that the end of each of our summer academies was successfully crowned with classical music concerts – performed by members of the association itself – which were all open to communities in which our academies were held.
So far, our summer academies have focused on the topics of change, mindfulness, compromise, trust and dreams. We are also very pleased that participants of our academies – which, up to this point, have taken place in Nida, Ukmergė, Plungė, Druskininkai and Trakai – have been able to meet and ask questions to such prominent Lithuanian personalities as Nerijus Mačiulis (2020), Rytis Kėvelaitis (2021), Martynas Germanavičius (2022), Dainius Žalimas (2023) and Arvydas Anušauskas (2024).
About Summer Academy 2020
About Summer Academy 2021
About Summer Academy 2022
About Summer Academy 2023
About Summer Academy 2024
Here you can watch a short video about the Summer Academy 2023: