International Arts Symposium

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: 

Professor Emeritus Kofi Agawu

Topic: Interdisciplinary and New Perspectives in Performing and Visualizing the Arts: Theory, Practice, and Research.  

Kofi Agawu was born in Ghana, where he received his initial education before studying composition and analysis in the UK and musicology in the US. He is currently Distinguished Professor at The Graduate Center, City University of New York. His books include Playing with Signs (1991), African Rhythm (1996), Music as Discourse (2008), and The African Imagination in Music (2016). He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship (1991), the Dent Medal (1992), the Harrison Medal from the Society for Musicology in Ireland (2009), the IMS Guido Adler Prize (2023), and honorary degrees from Stellenbosch University (2017) and Bard College (2019). A Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, he is also Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy and Honorary Member of the Royal Musical Association. A collection of essays, On African Music: Techniques, Influences, Scholarship, was published in June 2023 by Oxford University Press.

Symposium Details

The College of Fine Arts, in collaboration with several departments at Ohio University, is pleased to organize this international symposium as part of the 4th Global Arts Festival at Ohio University.

An International Symposium for Performers, Visual Artists, Educators, Teachers, and Scholars Composers, Researchers, Dancers, Choreographers organized by the College of Fine Arts, in collaboration with several departments at Ohio University as part of the 4th Global Arts Festival at Ohio University. 

AIM: To create a forum for musicians, composers, dancers, choreographers, dance therapists, actors, playwrights and directors, visual artists, educators, teachers, and scholars to discuss new perspectives on Performing and Visual Arts from various viewpoints. The goal is to stimulate interest in exploring multiple ways of theorizing, analyzing, performing, teaching, and researching global performing and visual arts through an interdisciplinary lens.   

SCOPE: The conference directors are interested in new theories, teaching pedagogies, curricula development, interdisciplinary approaches, research methodologies and analytic techniques, and intersections with other disciplines. Presentations may include individual papers, panels, workshops, performances, lecture demonstrations, and other original forms of representation. We will also consider Papers and Presentations on performing and visual arts that fall outside the symposium's themes.  

THEMES & TOPICS:

Presenters may consider (but are not limited to) the following categories of themes and topics:  

• Curricula Issues: Cross-cultural, Interdisciplinary, Intercultural Approaches   
• Researching, Representation, and Transformation Issues  
• Who, How, What to Say about Global Performing and Visual Arts. Who is the authority? Theorist, Researcher, and Practitioner?   
• Documentation and Notation of Global Arts  
• Performing and Visualizing Arts for Development, Education, Empowerment, and Change   
• International Scholarship and the Arts  
• Performing/Visual Arts and the Media: Films, Radio, Television, etc. H. African Arts and Literature  
• Workshops, Exhibitions, and Performances   

PAPER AND SESSION SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS   

PRESENTATION FORMATS   

Single Papers: Individual paper presentations will be 20 minutes long followed by 10 minutes of discussions and questions.   

Performance or Lecture-Demonstrations: Accommodations for engagements of up to 50 minutes long.   

Workshops: This will range from 1-2 hours. 

Film/Video: Up to 2 hours: Session to include an introduction and discussion time. 

Panel Discussion: These will vary from 90 minutes for three papers to 2 hours for  four papers. There will be a discussant for all panel discussions. Panel abstracts will be evaluated individually as well as collectively. The program committee will recommend the addition of a panelist where an individual abstract appears to fit a panel. The panel organizer should submit proposals for organized panels. The program committee also reserves the right to group abstracts relating to the same theme for panel discussions. Each paper will be 20 minutes long with 10-20 minutes for questions and general discussions. 

Other Original Forms of Individual Presentation: This will vary from 20 to 50 minutes long followed by 10 minutes of discussions and questions.  

TO HAVE YOUR PAPER/SESSION CONSIDERED:  

Please provide the following using the submission form below. 

• Full name of presenter(s)  
• Mailing address  
• E-mail address  
• Telephone
• 1-page (250 word max) abstract with title   
• 1-page biographical narrative or 1-page abbreviated curriculum vitae

Program Committee: 

Dr. Paschal Yao Younge - Ohio University, Chair
Dr. Zelma Badu-Younge - Ohio University 
Dr. Andrea Frohne - Ohio University 
Dr. Divine Gbagbo – Loyola Marymount University 
Ian Baptiste - Ohio University 
Mindy Jiles - Ohio University 
Tavia Hunte - Ohio University