Call for Proposals

Arts and Citizenship
Towards Diversity of Cultural Expressions

Cultural diversity as a multiplicity of sub-cultures and different value systems in plural organizations and societies has been subject to extensive discussions across industries and academic disciplines. The UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005), ratified by 144 parties as of June 2016, shows broad consensus on questions related to sustainable cultural development. The convention encourages governments to introduce policies for culture within a global context and to commit to protecting and promoting the diversity of cultural expressions. Cultural policy, however, has frequently lagged behind in establishing practices and measures to achieve these aims. Right now, political party system and ideological shifts in many countries seemingly threaten the diversity of cultural expressions as concerns budgetary, infrastructural or content-related commitments. Now may be the time to adopt and articulate clear positions on the value(s) of arts and culture and on the relationships between culture, artists and society as well as encompassing processes, practices and institutions. It may also be time to discuss conceptions, practices and visions of citizenship with, within or against the arts in an arts and management research context.

A popular concept of artistic citizenship addresses how artists, educators, scholars and other actors in music, theatre, visual arts, literature, dance/movement, etc. prepare for, and participate in, civic life to advance democratic citizenship and cultural leadership. This consideration of ‘citizenship’ goes beyond an individual’s or organization’s legal status and encompasses social, political, cultural and symbolic practices as “collective or individual deeds that rupture social-historical patterns” (Isin & Nielsen 2013: 2). Involving the arts, cultural actors and their practices further implies that we might need to consider the complex interplay of arts, science and society that shape how subjects perceive and perform their ‘political’ rights and obligations. Furthermore, a variety of methodological and pedagogical questions for scholarly inquiry and arts and arts management education should be discussed and included into institutional citizenship activities.

The conference aims to focus equally on the academic tasks of research, teaching and dialogue with practitioners in the field at high level. We are looking for contributions that engage critically with the conference topic from theoretical and/or practical perspectives, using a variety of scientific or arts-based theories, methodologies and rich case studies.

What are artistic, scholarly or interdisciplinary discourses on the aims, concepts, strategies or practices relating to artistic citizenship and/or cultural diversity?
How does the concept of citizenship relate to the arts? What are possible conflicts and potentials of conceptions of ‘l’art pour l’art’ versus political, social, economic or environmental functions of arts?
What are the roles of different actors in the cultural field? How do they practice and develop citizenship? How can we apply the notion of citizenship to the arts and cultural field, or, if we cannot apply this notion for various reasons, what would be alternative approaches? What are the specific discourses and topics within arts and culture?
How can arts and cultural management research, practice and education contribute to (arts) citizenship and to enhancing or securing the diversity of cultural expressions?
How do ideas of artistic citizenship influence strategies of institutions of higher education involved in the education/development of artists and arts managers?
Historic examples and innovative propositions for artistic citizenship and specific (cultural) national, international or transnational policies and politics directed at the diversity of cultural expressions.

These are sample questions that can be explored within the conference topic.

Submit a proposal
Individual presentations, proposals for panel discussions (90 minutes) as well as suggestions for workshops or other – artistic and/or experimental – formats are welcome for the conference.
For individual contributions (presentations), the proposals should consist of an abstract with max. 2,500 characters plus a brief biography. For workshops, panel discussions or other formats please submit an abstract of max. 2,500 characters for the overall format as well as further abstracts on the individual contributions (if applicable) and short biographies of contributors.
The conference is open for contributions in English (preferred) and German.

Deadline: June 30, 2018
Submissions should be sent to: ArtsAndCitizenship@mdw.ac.at

The selection of proposals is carried out in a joint double-blind review process by the conference team and the advisory board. Review criteria are: the originality of the proposal, the methodical approach as well as the application of the presentation to the aims of the conference. Please indicate whether you would like to mark your contribution as an academic or practitioner paper.
Notifications of acceptance and rejection shall be made by August 15, 2018.

Conference Chairs:
Dagmar Abfalter, Katharina Pfennigstorf, Anke Schad, Sandra Stini
Conference Advisory Board of the Association for Arts Management:
Volker Kirchberg, Leticia Labaronne, Martin Lücke, Karen van den Berg, Martin Zierold

Conference Location
Founded in 1817, the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw) is among the world's largest and most renowned universities specialized in music, theatre and film. The Department of Cultural Management (IKM) was established in 1975 and introduced one of the first master programs in arts management in 1976. Together with our network of alumni, students and practitioners from 43 years of interdisciplinary cultural management education, we are delighted to host the 12th annual conference of the Association of Cultural Management in Vienna (Austria).


Contact
E-Mail: ArtsAndCitizenship@mdw.ac.at
Website: https://www.mdw.ac.at/ikm/arts_and_citizenship_2019
Association for Cultural Management: www.fachverband-kulturmanagement.org


We aim to organize this event in accordance with the guidelines of the Austrian Ecolabel for Green Meetings in order to contribute to resource conservation, climate protection, regional added value and awareness raising.