In this Symposium, we will demystify and reimagine the writing and publishing process in youth theatre, theatre education, theatre for young audiences, and other related fields. Arts-based research can be public scholarship–and in light of that, join this diverse gathering of researchers (educators, artists, and audience) to share our work, develop or reimagine scholarly practices, and commit to supporting each other in amplifying the dynamic theatre work happening across our field. 

Symposium participants will include:

• researchers, practitioners, post-secondary students, teachers, teaching artists, higher education faculty, administrators

• editors of research journals, magazines, and blogs

• editorial board members and peer reviewers

In the Symposium, participants will engage in workshops, panel discussions, research presentations, and deliberative working groups–but most importantly, dialogue about our work and the various means of scholarly documentation and dissemination.

We will open registration for the event in January 2024. Prior to that, we invite folks who are interested in presenting their work at the Symposium to submit an abstract of their presentation as outlined in the Call for Papers by January 1, 2024.

Call for Proposals

Papers and Narratives (20-minute presentations):

We invite authors to submit an abstract and proposal for a paper or narrative presentation. Papers and narratives must be grounded in research, artistry, or practice. Abstracts should outline elements and methods of the research, practice, and/or theory-focused work the author wishes to present. A narrative can incorporate both presentational and experiential elements. Accepted papers and narratives will be organized as much as possible into thematic sessions. 25 minutes will be designated to these presentations: 20 minutes to present and 5 minutes for Q&A. 

Posters:

Authors wishing to submit a poster must submit an abstract. Abstracts for posters should outline elements and methods of the research, artistry, practice, and/or theory-focused work the author wishes to present. Authors submitting a poster display must ensure that their poster does not exceed 2 feet x 3 feet. Accepted posters will be organized as much as possible into thematic sessions. Three authors will be provided 10 minutes to speak about their poster and 45 minutes will be allotted for follow-up conversations with delegates to ask questions and/or discuss aspects of the work.

Performative Inquiry:

Artists wishing to share research performances must submit an abstract. We invite artists to apply to present examples of performed research. Proposals for performed research should outline elements of research, artistry, practice and/or theory-focused work embedded within the piece. Any proposed performances must be ready for staging or have already been staged for an audience. Presentations could include a scene, scenes or the whole performance. Performances will be staged in a workshop space. We are unable to provide theatre lighting. Performances may be provided with a 15-minute time slot followed by discussion.The committee may invite these 15-minutes performance excerpts as part of a plenary event or to be presented within the concurrent sessions.

Note: We believe that highlighting presenters and presentation titles may inspire Symposium attendance. As such, we will ask for headshots and short biographies as part of the proposal submission process. Unless and until you decline the invitation to attend, we will include your headshot, bio, and presentation title as part of the marketing for the Symposium. 

 SYMPOSIUM SPONSORS: