2025 Symposium 14 February 2025, University of Kentucky, Lexington KY2025

 

Symposium Committee:

Dr. Jaleesa Wells and Dr. Rachel Shane

Department of Arts Administration, University of Kentucky

 

Dr. Heather McDonald and Dr. Bex Ferrell

Arts Management Program, College of Charleston

 

Symposium Theme: Transformation in Arts Administration Practice and Scholarship

 

The Women's Perspectives in Arts Administration Symposium is a space for critical dialogue between practitioners and scholars in the field, as we navigate the changing world of arts administration, management, and leadership. Our theme this year, Transformation in Arts Administration Practice and Scholarship, emphasizes the innovative approaches, emerging leadership practices, and diverse perspectives to address the contemporary challenges and opportunities facing our field.

 

In our call for papers, we seek contributions from practitioners, scholars, and practitioner-scholars exploring the transformative forces influencing our profession and field. Contributors will engage in critical dialogue on how shifts in social, cultural, economic, and environmental contexts are being transformed by new advancements reshaping the practices, policies, and research within arts administration. As we explore these transformations, the 2025 symposium aims to inspire possibilities and foster deeper understanding of the experiences of arts administrators, today and in the future.

 

Symposium Description

 

The Women’s Perspectives in Arts Administration initiative celebrates the contributions of women-identifying scholars in the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary field of arts administration. We bring together an intergenerational group of women thought leaders, from students, to working professionals, to emeritus professors, into a one-day symposium.

 

Hosted by the Department of Arts Administration at the University of Kentucky, the inaugural symposium in 2023 was the first-of-its-kind and took place as an adjoining day of activities before the 2023 Social Theory, Politics & the Arts Conference. This first symposium brought over 90 people together from across professions and across the globe.

 

The 2025 symposium will be co-hosted by UKy’s Department of Arts Administration and College of Charleston’s Arts Management Program. The 2025 symposium encourages contributions that focus on and/or are geared towards enhancing the professional practices of women across the field of arts administration and across arts, cultural, and creative disciplines.

 

The symposium committee welcomes submissions with the symposium streams and actively seeks contributions from a diverse range of voices representing the contemporary and future development of arts administration. Our aim is to amplify awareness and illuminate opportunities for emerging and established arts administration practitioners and scholars to engage in discussions and expand their knowledge about women’s transformative experiences in the field of arts administration.

 

Symposium Streams

 

Transforming the Profession

 

This stream focuses on the foundational and pioneering transformations occurring within the profession of arts administration. Submissions may consider new approaches and practices emerging in industry, scholarship on the shifts in professional practice, and critical examinations of how professional practice is transforming. We also encourage case examples on consulting with arts organizations, enterprising new arts organizations, developing new arts programs, or working within and transforming current arts organizations and cultural institutions. This stream seeks abstract proposals focused on practical understanding of arts administrators in relation to their professional experiences.

 

Emergent Leadership Practices

 

This stream examines the evolving nature of leadership practices and approaches in arts administration. Submissions may explore the emergence of leadership practices (both in the past and present) that have been pioneered by women arts administrators. As well, submissions may explore areas of arts administration that contribute to the emergence of leadership practices in the field, such as entrepreneurship, management, marketing, policy, community and economic development, IDEAs, 4IR, etc. This stream seeks abstract proposals focused on practical approaches and/or praxes framing leadership in arts administration.

 

Collaborating Across Diverse Perspectives

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This stream highlights the significance of collaborating across diverse perspectives in the field of arts administration. Submissions may include a focus on implications of intersectionality in arts administration, IDEAs, dynamic networks, cultural competencies, community-centered arts management, and global arts administration perspectives. This stream seeks abstract proposals from practitioners, scholars, community members, organizations, industry and policy professionals, and more, and especially proposals on collaborations between these groups.

 

Innovative Approaches in Arts Administration

 

This stream focuses on emerging concepts, novel ideas, and new practices and strategies within the field of the arts administration. Submissions may explore new and emerging topics in the field, innovative perspectives and approaches to established arts administration topics, as well as past practices that have innovated the field. This stream seeks abstract proposals focused on the frontiers of practice and scholarship that have emerged or are presently emerging within and around the wider field of arts administration.

 

Open Stream

 

This stream includes abstract proposals not otherwise related to the above streams, but still within the scope of the symposium theme: Transformation in Arts Administration Practice and Scholarship.

 

Session Types

 

Paper Presentation (20 minutes)

These sessions showcase research findings, case studies, and/or conceptual explorations.

 

Collaborative Panel (60 minutes)

This session type features a diverse group of 3-5 people discussing a specific topic.

 

Workshop Training (60 minutes)

This session type provides a hands-on opportunity for participants to learn skills, practical insights, and tools that can be applied in arts administration practice.

 

Lunch Roundtable Discussion (60 minutes)

This session type invites attendees to gather over lunch and engage in an open discussion about key themes and issues in the field.

 

Submission Guidelines

Submissions from practitioners, working professionals, emerging scholars (undergraduate, graduate, and beyond), early career scholars, mid-career scholars, and established scholars are highly encouraged. Please use the form to submit a 250-word abstract proposal to the symposium committee. A maximum of one submission per person/small group per session type will be considered. The deadline for submissions is October 20, 2024 and you will be notified of the outcome by October 28, 2024

 

Contact Information

If you have any general queries related to the symposium submission, please contact committee chairs Dr. Heather McDonald, mcdonaldhl@cofc.edu, and Dr. Jaleesa Wells, jaleesa.wells@uky.edu.

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