ELIA Conference: “Arts Education at the edges of Freedom: wrestling with Europe’s hatreds”. Conference WorkshopIn this conference presentation, Pratap Rughani asks: How do artists and educators relate to the rise of populism and respond to those who use democratic freedoms to undermine democratic values? Using a ‘fishbowl’ methodology of focused discussion we explore prompts from the edges of difficult conversations: * how to work with those who seek to break democratic freedoms from the inside? * What are the edges of free speech and freedom of expression in an increasingly polarised environment? * Is dialogue possible and if so how to we achieve this? * What are ‘safe’ and ‘brave’ spaces and the conditions of meaningful dialogue – especially if we strongly disagree? * What can we learn from Europe’s lethal dances with neo-fascism, xenophobia and racism? A short provocation/presentation interleaves with workshop elements. This session configures a space where participants can work through what dialogue means in learning environments, including arts practice examples.