Call for proposals: Creative industries symposium in SA

The A Re Bueng Seminars seek to explore how the creative industries are being produced and subsequently experienced during COVID-19. The theme of this virtual seminar is posed as a provocation about the disposition of the creative industries now and into the future.

Key questions that should be addressed in this symposium include What are the complexities of generating creativity during COVID-19? and How has the resultant consumption of the creative industries evolved, if at all?

Presenters are invited to submit abstracts of between 200 and 300 words addressing these or any other sub-themes related to the creative industries during COVID-19, including:

• Emergent modalities in the appreciation and patronisation of the creative industries.
• New paths for cultural institutions (galleries, museums, theatres, among others).
• Digitisation and the aesthetic experience.
• Rise of onscreen creation and patronage.
• Multi-sensory and mono-sensory aesthetic encounters online.
• Emergent trends in arts and design education during COVID-19
• Emergence of virtual arts festivals.

Unlike a traditional academic conference, the format of the sessions will be dialogical and conversational, as the main objective of this symposium is to cultivate and inspire dialogue, reflection and action. Presenters and participants will be allocated ample time for questions, debate and feedback.

How to apply

Participants should send the title of their proposed paper, an abstract of between 200 and 300 words, as well as their affiliation with the words ‘Emergent modalities’ in the subject line of the email.

Submissions should be sent via email to arebueng@tut.ac.za.

The submission deadline is 31 May.

“We are specifically interested in presentations that grapple with the conceptual, rhetorical and artistic possibilities of the creative industries during COVID-19,” the organisers said. “Furthermore, submissions are also welcome that consider the real-world, structural and economic eventualities of the creative industries during COVID-19. In South Africa, we have seen various interventions, programmes and projects facilitated by the state, altruistic donors, arts and design practitioners, and the general public that have sought to ‘save’ and ‘advance’ the creative industries during COVID-19.”

View the original call here.