International Arts Conference Abstracts
Name: Angela P. Meleca
Title of Proposal: Return on Art™: Measuring Human Transformation through Creativity and Cultural Engagement
Abstract
What if creativity could be measured as clearly as literacy or math? This interactive workshop introduces the Return on Art™ (ROA) Framework, a data-driven model redefining how we understand the value of the arts. Developed through a multi-state pilot with 20 organizations, ROA equips artists, educators, and cultural leaders with scientifically validated tools to measure human outcomes such as confidence, belonging, empathy, creativity, and growth mindset. Rather than counting attendance or ticket sales, the ROA Framework demonstrates how creative engagement produces measurable social and emotional transformation comparable to interventions in psychology or education. Participants will explore how to apply these measures within their own communities and learn how the resulting data can strengthen funding, policy, and partnership outcomes.Through guided discussion and hands-on exercises, attendees will connect ROA’s principles to their own practice, identifying where creativity intersects with community well-being, equity, and innovation. The workshop will also present real-world case studies showing how arts organizations have reframed their narratives from outputs to outcomes—shifting the conversation from “what we do” to “what changes because of what we do.”By the end of the session, participants will gain a practical understanding of how to implement measurable outcomes in their programs, communicate evidence of impact to funders, and reimagine the arts as essential civic infrastructure that drives human transformation.
Name: Benjamin Quarshie
Title of Proposal: Contextualising Ghanaian Traditional Festivals as Embodied Gestural Semiotics and Mobile Ephemeral Museums within Contemporary Art and Glocal Tourism
Abstract:
Ghana’s traditional festivals constitute some of the most visually sophisticated cultural performances in West Africa, yet their aesthetic, symbolic, and curatorial dimensions remain insufficiently theorised within contemporary art and digital humanities scholarship. This study examines selected festivals from Fante, Ewe, and Ga traditions, conceptualising their ritual performances as mobile installations and as manifestations of an Afrocentric “ephemeral museum.” Drawing on visual semiotics, embodied gesture, colour symbolism, and spatial dramaturgy, the study analyses festival performances as multisensory curatorial systems through which communities stage memory, identity, and cosmological meaning. Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative, exploratory design that integrates close manual visual interpretation with generative artificial intelligence (GenAI)–assisted video analysis. For each of the three festivals, eight video documentaries sourced from YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, purposively selected and subjected to iterative visual analysis using Afrocentric interpretive frameworks. GenAI tools were employed to support descriptive extraction and comparative insight generation across movement patterns, gestural formations, chromatic emphasis, spatial organisation, costuming practices, and ritual sequencing, with all machine-generated insights critically cross-validated through manual interpretation. The findings demonstrate that Ghanaian festival performances function as dynamic curatorial practices in which communities choreograph visual statements that negotiate indigenous epistemologies, contemporary aesthetic sensibilities, and glocal tourism imaginaries. By positioning these festivals as ephemeral museums, the study challenges conventional museum paradigms and expands scholarly discourse on contemporary African art, performance, and digital heritage. Ultimately, the research shows that Ghanaian festival visualities are not residual cultural expressions but active artistic systems that continue to shape global visual culture while reaffirming their cultural, political, and aesthetic relevance in the twenty-first century.
Name: Chad Curtis
Title of Proposal: When Code Meets Clay: Emergence and Material Intelligence in Digital Fabrication
Abstract:
This paper investigates clay 3D printing as a framework for examining how emerging technologies reshape artistic process, authorship, and the generation of form. The research explores the intersection of computational systems and material behavior, asking how digital tools can act not as instruments of control but as partners in a responsive, evolving process. Generative code establishes rule-based structures that guide the printer, yet the printed outcomes are shaped equally by clay’s inherent variability and its shifting responses to gravity, moisture, and time. These interactions reveal a productive tension between digital determinism and material adaptation, where form develops through feedback rather than replication.
By drawing on concepts from complexity theory and natural systems, the project approaches digital fabrication as a site of emergence. Patterns evolve as the material responds to its own changing conditions, producing results that cannot be fully anticipated within the digital model. The aim is not to suppress these deviations, but to understand how they expand the creative possibilities of technological practice. Positioning clay 3D printing as an emergent digital art form, the paper argues that technological innovation in the arts is most transformative when it creates space for contingency, responsiveness, and collaboration with physical forces. This perspective reframes digital fabrication as an exploratory, adaptive process that challenges conventional assumptions about precision and control in technologically mediated art.
Name: Colleen Barnes
Title of Proposal: Resilience through Collaboration: Reimagining Dance Education Beyond the Politics of Scarcity
Abstract:
In the context of increasingly volatile political and economic conditions, higher education and arts institutions are recurrently subjected to significant budgetary reductions. This paper investigates the specific implications of Senate Bill 1 on dance programs within higher education across the United States, highlighting its broader threat of the long-term sustainability of dance education nationwide. Further, the paper examines how inter-institutional collaboration can serve as a strategic response to fiscal constraints, demonstrating how shared resources in budgeting and curriculum development can enhance program viability and competitiveness. Ultimately, the study argues that collaborative frameworks represent the most cost-effective mechanism for attracting and retaining students in an era of persistent financial austerity.
Name: Courtney Koestler and Catie Perez-Strohmeyer
Title of proposal: In Community There is Power: Creating Justice-Oriented Art for Social Change
Abstract:
This interactive presentation invites participants to explore the vibrant world of visual artist and activist Favianna Rodriguez, whose bold, unapologetic work centers and advocates immigration rights, environmental justice, feminism, and queer liberation. Drawing on her Latina and Afro-Peruvian identities and her formative experiences with political art in Mexico, Rodriguez has become a model of one who uses art, advocacy, and collaborative organizing to support movements for immigrant and Latine rights. Our session will begin with brief introductions before introducing participants in Rodriguez’s artistic journey, examining key works that illustrate how art in many forms (visual art, dramatic art, literature) can challenge dominant narratives and uplift marginalized communities. Participants will then engage in guided brainstorming to identify issues that matter most to them, reflecting on their personal values, community concerns, and lived experiences. A short video titled, How to Make a Social Justice Poster by Rodriguez, will offer insight into her creative process and her belief in art as a catalyst for collective action. This reflective planning and instructional video will lead into a hands-on session where participants create their own cut-paper collage pieces, inspired by Rodriguez’s signature style and commitment to cultural transformation. By the end of the session, participants will leave with original art pieces and practical strategies for using creative expression to spark dialogue, foster solidarity, and advance social justice. This session will be facilitated by an Education faculty member and teacher education students.
Name: Dylan Haynes
Title of Proposal: Remembering the Past, Witnessing the Present, Envisioning the Future: Appalachian Women’s Labor in Documentary Film
Abstract:
Not only is Appalachia largely disregarded in academia generally, but the region is often identified by the labor of men (and a slew of negative stereotypes, some to be addressed in this paper), specifically within coal mines and their associated labor activism. While certainly essential when developing a clear understanding of the region’s history and its accompanying media, this lens neglects the labor of women in Appalachia. This paper would begin with a brief history of the Appalachian region and economy and its influence on the rhetorics of labor and oppression present in Appalachian history. Specifically, the paper will discuss women’s labor in Appalachia as presented in documentary films. Documentaries set in Appalachia will be the main source of information for my analysis, supported by research about 19th century Appalachian history from nonfiction scholarly texts. I will also contextualize differences between rhetoric presented by Appalachian filmmakers and those from outside the region. Ultimately, this paper will compare and analyze documentary filmic representations of how and why Appalachian women have worked throughout the history of the region, and how this history has influenced the current and developing conditions of women’s labor in Appalachia. Films to be analyzed will include but are not limited to: Harlan County, USA (1976), Country Boys (2006), Heroin(e) (2017), Picture Proof (2023), and several films produced by Appalshop (a virtual treasure trove of material for this project) over the past several decades, like Fast Food Women (1991).
Name: Edy Rapika Panjaitan
Title of Proposal: Interdisciplinary Performance: Ritual Knowledge and the Magical Sound of Gondang Sabangunan
Abstract:
The Toba Batak musical tradition from North Sumatra, Indonesia, the gondang sabangunan plays a central role in the mangongkal holi (ancestral bone-exhumation) ritual. This proposal presents a lecture-performance inspired by musical motifs drawn from selected gondang piece which performed in the ritual. Through this creative approach, I reinterpret and adapt the musical legacy of the late Aliman Tua Limbong, whose ensemble documented this ritual practice. As both an academic tribute and a personal offering to my parents and ancestors, I present a new composition titled Bona Pasogit, means “return to the ancestral homeland”. Performed on piano with the addition of a Batak lute instruments, hasapi, the work evokes the sonic and spiritual atmosphere of the mangongkal holi ritual. The lecture will also explore how ancient pustaha manuscripts challenge long-held assumptions about ritual performance and illuminate deeper cosmological meanings. By integrating interdisciplinary approach; manuscript studies, gondang music, and tortor dance, this project demonstrates how these artistic forms mediate spiritual connection between the living and their ancestral realm. Aligning with the conference theme Spectrums of Creativity: Exploring Global Performing and Visual Arts, this research and creative work aim to share Batak musical heritage on a global stage and foster dialogue among Indigenous communities worldwide.
Name: Fariha Rashid
Title of Proposal: Negotiating Identity by Pakistani Artists in Global Artistic Networks
Abstract:
Globalization has made it easier for artists to discuss ideas, materials and new opportunities among others. This paper will discuss how Pakistani artists like Aisha Khalid and Shazia Sikander who are living abroad build their presence by balancing global and traditional approaches in their works. The research addresses a core problem of maintaining an individuality in a globalized world where there is a constant pull to be visible by remaining true to their roots. Furthermore, the research will investigate how being a diasporic, Pakistani artists involve and respond to influences while living in multicultural environment. Methodology adopted for this paper is qualitative which includes comparative visual analysis, understanding of conceptual approach in creating an artwork. how global influences inspire while developing an idea. The significance of the study is to highlight how these global influences shape an artist identity. Floating and sharing of ideas across borders help in transformation, adaptation and evolvement.
Name: Fotima Taylor
Title of Proposal: Violence, Power, and the Desert Sublime in Delacroix and Fromentin
Abstract:
This paper offers a comparative analysis of two nineteenth-century French paintings that radically reconceive the visual logic of violence: Eugène Delacroix’s The Murder of the Bishop of Liège (1829) and Eugène Fromentin’s The Land of Thirst (c. 1869). Though separated by four decades, distinct geographies, both works interrogate the fragility of civilization by displacing violence beyond contemporary France - Delacroix to medieval Liège, Fromentin to the Algerian desert - only to return it conceptually to the core of modernity. Through close formal analysis of color, light, spatial structure, and the treatment of the human figure, this paper argues that both artists redefine violence not through heroic narrative or sacred meaning, but through its collapse. In Delacroix, violence erupts within civilization’s interior, rendered through a convulsive gold that exposes collective judgment, moral fever, and the pathology of power. In Fromentin, the same chromatic register spreads across an indifferent desert, where gold no longer illuminates human drama but absorbs it into landscape, erasing agency, narrative, and divine accounting. Situating these works within post-Revolutionary skepticism, Romantic historicism, and Second Empire colonial anxiety, the paper contends that Delacroix stages violence as a civic and moral crisis, while Fromentin presents it as an existential condition beyond judgment. Together, the paintings mark a decisive shift in nineteenth-century visual culture - from violence as moral reckoning to violence as post-human aftermath - revealing a modern image of humanity no longer central, redeemed, or preserved.
Name: Fotima Taylor
Title of Proposal: Aesthetics of Emptiness in Caspar David Friedrich’s The Monk by the Sea
Abstract:
What does it mean to stand before the infinite? Can silence communicate more truth than speech, and can emptiness contain more meaning than fullness? This paper/presentation examines Caspar David Friedrich’s The Monk by the Sea (1808–1810) as a rupture within Romantic visual language and as an early articulation of what I call Emptyism - an aesthetic mode in which absence becomes the central vehicle of transcendence. Unlike Delacroix and Géricault, who placed the human body at the epicenter of emotional intensity, Friedrich inverts the theory. The monk’s small, non-heroic body dissolves into a vast seascape that denies theatrical gesture and refuses anthropocentric dominance. The composition’s radical minimalism, suffocating horizon, and boundless sky stage a confrontation not with narrative but with the mathematical sublime: a vision so immeasurable that it exceeds cognitive grasp. Drawing on medieval ascetic traditions, Rügen’s seashore sermons of Ludwig Kosegarten, and contemporary immersive environments such as Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room, this paper argues that Friedrich initiates a lineage of aesthetic emptiness that reappears in today’s global visual language. Here, emptiness functions as a generative spiritual technology - a visual kenosis in which the beholder confronts the infinite without mediation By positioning The Monk by the Sea within a global continuum of visual practices of minimal transcendence, I rethink Romantic solitude as a foundational model for twenty-first-century creativity and its renewed fascination with stillness, infinity, and interiority.
Name: Graci Kelley
Title of Proposal: Billie Holiday: Lady Sings the Blues.
Abstract:
This paper follows the life of Billie Holiday and provides a literary analysis on how it shaped the writing of her autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues. Before she reached adulthood, Holiday experienced neglect, poverty, jailtime, and rape. This turbulent childhood led her to drug abuse and brief employment as a prostitute, marking her as infamous in her career as a jazz singer. Enter Harry Ainslinger, director of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, determined to end the war on drugs, citing the Black American jazz musicians as the primary instigators. While Ainslinger typically could not find leads in the united jazz community, Holiday was an exception, due to her gender and infamy. When “Strange Fruit”–Holiday’s staple tune which scholars say began the Civil Rights Movement–began to gain nationwide attention, Holiday became the prime target for Ainslinger and his racist hate for jazz music. Billie Holiday wrote her autobiography Lady Sings the Blues to give herself a voice and repair her public image to combat the harassment from the Harry Ainslinger and the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, due to her drug addiction as an underprivileged female Black American–essentialy displaying a higher standard for women in jazz music–through a biographical method of storytelling to deliver her own retelling of her upbringing while utilizing schemes of repetition to emphasize her feelings.
Name: Ishmael Konney
Title of Proposal: “Afrodance is the dance, Afrobeats is the music.
Abstract:
This session explores the dynamic evolution of Afrodance as a street/popular style of dance in Africa. We will explore movements from Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Congo and Ivory Coast as the leading creators of Afrodance. The session will emphasize the communal experience Afrodance fosters, particularly through the learning and performance of group phrases, showcasing its power to unite and energize communities. Dance, as a reflection of culture, constantly evolves through interaction and exchange. This proposal explores how hip hop has influenced the African continent through the emergence of Afrodance. Hip hop and other African American dance forms were heavily influenced by dances from Africa. Hip hop gave back to the continent of Africa by influencing the creation of Africa's street form "Afrodance". This session highlights the dynamic, ongoing exchange between Black dance forms in the United States and Africa, illustrating how shared rhythms and movement vocabularies continue to shape contemporary identities and communities. As a movement-based workshop, participants will learn and practice sequences across the floor before incorporating them into larger phrase work. Historical and cultural context for Afrodance will be woven throughout the session to help participants situate the movement practices within their origins and contemporary significance.
Name: Johanna Andrea Amaya Conejo
Title of Proposal: CARNAVAL DE NEGROS Y BLANCOS EN PASTO, COLOMBIA: Interdisciplinary Technologies of Memory
Abstract:
Colombia's Carnaval de Negros y Blancos (Blacks and Whites Carnival) exemplifies how South American cultural practices preserve traditions while fostering decolonial dialogue. The carnival unites Black, Indigenous, and white traditions through communal activities such as the "pintica"—a joyful street ritual of painting bodies with black and white paint to symbolize shared humanity. This collective ethos encompasses the carnival's musical landscape, where traditions from the Global South and Global North converge. Indigenous instruments like panpipes and quenas perform alongside Western brass instruments, creating an intercultural dialogue. Rather than seeking a return to pre-colonial purity, this integration pursues meaningful repositioning of Indigenous elements, acknowledging colonial impact while rejecting cultural erasure. The carnival demonstrates how traditional practices operate as sophisticated technologies for cultural preservation and transmission.
Name: Joseph Luckett
Title of Proposal: Nature’s Stage: Using Digital Innovation to Amplify Global Arts in Rural Communities
Abstract:
Rural arts organizations often face the challenge of showcasing world-class creativity with limited resources — yet they are also uniquely poised to spark innovation at the intersection of place, performance, and people. This presentation highlights Art Farm at Serenbe, a rural, interdisciplinary arts incubator in Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia, and its use of digital tools and council-led programming to elevate global artistic conversations from a small community stage. By implementing strategic technologies — such as livestreaming wooded performances, leveraging AI for marketing automation, and integrating CRM systems to track impact — Art Farm demonstrates how small teams can achieve global reach. We’ll share how we use nature as a canvas and technology as a megaphone to build trust, bridge worlds, and foster inclusion in artistic storytelling. This case study focuses on:
- Scalable digital strategies for interdisciplinary programming
- Equity-focused curation across film, theater, music, and dance
- Practical insights for connecting local art with global audiences
The session explores how innovation and intentional infrastructure allow rural cultural hubs to lead global movements — from environmental performance to digital outreach — and equips other arts professionals with replicable frameworks to foster impact.
Name: Joy Davis
Title of Proposal: Crossing Waters: Artist Exchange as Model for Equitable Cultural Dialogue
Abstract:
Walk On By, a 2024 and 2025 artist exchange between Baltimore and Rotterdam cultural institutions, offers a critical case study for examining how intentional, reciprocal collaboration can counter extractive models of cultural engagement. This paper analyses the exhibition as a framework for ethical globalisation—one that prioritises mutual learning, sustained relationship building, and equitable resource sharing across borders. Drawing on curatorial practice and artist testimonies, this presentation examines three key dimensions of the exchange: the structural design that ensured reciprocity, the artistic outcomes that emerged from cross-cultural dialogue, and the sustained partnerships that extended beyond the exhibition timeline. Unlike cultural tourism or temporary international collaborations, Walk On By established ongoing connections between Baltimore and Rotterdam's creative communities, creating pathways for future exchange and collaboration.
Walk On By rejected the prevailing patterns of cultural flow that privilege Western institutions and markets, arguing that artist-centred exchanges offer alternative infrastructures for global artistic dialogue. By analysing specific works from the exhibition alongside the administrative and curatorial frameworks that supported them, this presentation demonstrates how intentional exchange can resist cultural appropriation while fostering genuine artistic innovation. As a case study, “Walk On By,” offers practical insights for curators, arts administrators, and cultural workers seeking to develop international partnerships grounded in equity, reciprocity, and respect for cultural specificity while enabling meaningful creative exchange.
Name: Dr. Kofi Anthonio & Patience Nana Akua Anthonio
Title of Proposal:
Abstract:
This presentation examines the pivotal role of textualisation and vocalisation of rhythms in the teaching and learning of African traditional dance. By exploring the complex interplay between verbal articulation, vocal rhythmicisation, and kinesthetic expression, this research highlights the ways in which textualisation and vocalisation can facilitate deeper understanding, enhance retention, and foster creativity in dance pedagogy. Through a critical analysis of case studies and pedagogical practices, this study or workshop demonstrates how the integration of textualisation and vocalisation strategies can contribute to the development of more effective, culturally responsive, and innovative pedagogical approaches to teaching African traditional dance.
Name: Kwame Takyi Danquah
Title of Proposal: Children, Creativity, and Employment Pathways: A Case Study of The Effutu Talent Show in Winneba, Ghana
Abstract:
The creative industries are increasingly recognized as critical contributors to sustainable employment, yet little attention has been given to the ways in which local community initiatives cultivate early pathways into creative work. This study examines The Effutu Talent Show, an annual event in Winneba since 2024, as a platform through which children’s creative participation may translate into future employment opportunities in music, dance, drama, and cultural entrepreneurship. Anchored in Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital, the study frames children’s artistic expression as a resource that can be transformed into employability skills within the broader creative economy. A qualitative research approach was adopted, employing a case study design to capture the experiences of participants and stakeholders. Using purposive sampling, the study engaged 20 participants comprising child performers (10), parents or guardians (5), event organizers (3), and local media representatives (2). Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed thematically. Findings indicate that the talent show fosters confidence, discipline, teamwork, and public performance skills among children, all of which are transferable to future employment contexts. The event also enhances cultural pride and community recognition, positioning creative practice as a valued resource for personal and social development. However, challenges such as limited mentorship opportunities, lack of institutional pathways for creative careers, and inadequate investment in the arts constrain the long-term potential of such initiatives to nurture sustainable livelihoods. Overall, the study underscores the importance of integrating community-based creative platforms into broader educational and policy frameworks that support the creative economy as a viable avenue for employment.
Name: Kwasi Gyebi-Tweneboah
Title of Proposal: Live sound reinforcement in Ghana: Youth chorale choirs in perspective
Abstract:
Music is an integral part of African society of which Ghana is no exception. One of the oldest genres of music in Ghana is choral music which was introduced in the Gold Coast by the European missionaries. In its earliest form, this genre thrived in Churches and schools which were established by these missionaries. However, some choirs were established outside the church which this paper referred to as private choirs because they were monthly owned outside the church and by private people. This paper looks at how these private choirs evolved into youth choirs and how these youth choirs employed live sound reinforcement equipment to enhance their performance. It further explores how this new found interest in live sound reinforcement in the choral music fraternity came back to the church. Lastly it exploits the best practices when setting up live reinforcement equipment for choirs.
Name: Mallory Quinn
Title of Proposal: Behavior in Motion: Bridging Science and Art Through Applied Behavior Analysis and Mindful Movement
Abstract:
This workshop invites participants to experience the intersection of behavioral science and the performing arts through an innovative approach that integrates Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) within dance education and performance. Rooted in both scientific and artistic inquiry, this session explores how observable behavior, mindfulness, and values-based practices can enhance creativity, motivation, and emotional resilience in dancers. Participants will engage in experiential movement, discussion, and guided reflection to examine how behavioral principles—such as reinforcement, shaping, and feedback—can be translated into empowering and compassionate studio environments. Through demonstration and dialogue, attendees will learn strategies for supporting dancers who struggle with perfectionism, performance anxiety, or avoidance, and discover ways to nurture sustainable artistry through psychological flexibility and presence. By integrating ACT processes (values, acceptance, defusion) with the artistry of dance, this workshop offers a framework that not only advances performance outcomes but also deepens the dancer’s connection to self and expression. Attendees will leave with actionable tools that bridge scientific insight and creative pedagogy, applicable to both educational and professional dance contexts. This session contributes to the conference’s theme of exploring spectrums of creativity by demonstrating how evidence-based psychological approaches can harmonize with the intuitive, expressive nature of dance—transforming both the way we teach and the way we move.
Name: Mitko Koshev
Title of Proposal: Visual Art as Research: Artistic Practice Between Creation, Cognition, and Meaning
Abstract:
This presentation approaches visual art as a form of research, positioning artistic practice as a method of inquiry operating between creation, cognition, and meaning. Drawing from my experience as a visual artist working in painting and sculpture, the project examines the artistic process not only as an act of production but as a cognitive and conceptual framework through which knowledge is generated. The presentation combines studio-based practice and theoretical reflection, exploring how artistic decision-making, material engagement, and intuitive processes contribute to the construction of meaning in contemporary visual art. By analyzing selected artistic processes rather than finished outcomes, the research highlights the role of perception, embodiment, and creative cognition in shaping visual form. The theoretical framework is informed by contemporary discourse on creativity, artistic research, and cognitive approaches to art-making. Within this context, visual art is proposed as an interdisciplinary research practice bridging artistic intuition and critical analysis. Ultimately, the presentation argues that visual art functions as a dynamic research methodology, capable of addressing complex questions related to human experience, creativity, and cultural meaning within a global contemporary context.
Name: Najmeh Pirahmadian
Title: Reframing Language Barriers and Miscommunication Through Interactive Art+Design
Abstract:
Mis/Understanding is an ongoing research series that examines the emotional and experiential aspects of miscommunication, especially as they appear within cross-cultural and multilingual encounters. Through interactive art and design, the project highlights the mental effort and uncertainty that shape communication when language becomes unstable or incomplete. The first installation, Hidden Translation, projects Persian text across a wall while a motion-tracking system reveals the English translation only within the viewer’s silhouette. Meaning appears and disappears as participants move, turning comprehension into a negotiation of gesture, presence, and focused movement, and highlighting the delays, hesitations, and partial understandings that often occur in bilingual communication. A second installation, Fragmented Conversation, invites two participants to interact only through real-time, distorted text while headphones block all sound, making spoken language appear fractured on the screen and showing the emotional tension and confusion that arise when messages are received in fragments. These pieces represent two recent works within a larger, evolving body of research that continues to explore how meaning shifts, breaks, and reforms during communication. The paper discusses the project’s main ideas, technological structure, and broader cultural implications, presenting miscommunication as a shared human experience rather than an individual failure.
Name: Nana Amowee Dawson
Title of Proposal: Sankɔfa Symphony: A Visual–Musical Journey through Ghanaian Childhood, Folklore, and Becoming
Abstract:
Sankɔfa Symphony is a four-movement chamber composition and visual–music project that traces a sonic-autobiographical journey through childhood memories, folklore, and cultural imagination in Ghana. The work reimagines traditional songs and lived experiences from school and community life through intercultural orchestration and multimedia storytelling, positioning music as both artistic expression and cultural archive. The first movement, Ɔman Ba Pa, unfolds as a reflective highlife theme evoking innocence and social ideals. Sasabonsam draws on Ghanaian folklore, depicting a child’s encounter with a mythical forest spirit through dramatic, symbolic textures. Nursery Rondo, the third movement, transforms a classroom counting song performed with bottles into cyclical motifs representing rhythm, learning, and play. The closing movement, Kwesi Gyan, is inspired by an Apatampa performance lamenting a failed chieftaincy due to moral weakness, merging social commentary with dance-like vitality. Presented as a screened audio-visual composition, this work extends the postcolonial gesture of Sankɔfa—a return to ancestral knowledge—as a means of creative reclamation. The screening will include excerpts from the completed visual-music project, accompanied by a reflection on the compositional process, cultural hybridity, and the use of memory as a site of artistic becoming.
Name: Napoleon Mensah
Title of Proposal: Gamification of Space: A Digital Reconfiguration of the E.T.S. Drama Studio Through Game Mechanics
Abstract:
The E.T.S. Drama studio has been a performance space for the experimentation of new theatrical and artistic forms in post-independence Ghana; however, the challenges that the space presents call for a new structural reimagination to accommodate contemporary performance styles. This artistic project is an experimentation towards a creative remodification of E.T.S. Drama Studio by creating a virtual version of this space where users can explore and interact with the environment of the studio in the fashion of a video game. This virtual experience is an innovative approach designed to allow students, artists, audiences and other stakeholders to globally connect with the studio digitally from anywhere, offering new ways to learn, rehearse, and interpret this space through gaming. The use of game mechanics and design to digitally engage the spatial dimensions of the E.T.S. Drama Studio is an interdisciplinary approach to learning that aims to blend theatre, art, technology, and education. It provides an opportunity to understand how digital tools can extend the limits of traditional theatre spaces and make them more accessible through virtual interactivity.
Name: Noble Jesse Glikpoe
Title of Proposal: The procession of the Basabasa god: An idol worship or a performance? A case of the Aboakyir festival among the people of Efuttu
Abstract:
This study examines the Basabasa god procession in Ghana's Aboakyir festival, challenging its binary interpretation as either mere "idol worship" or "theatrical spectacle." Through a qualitative case study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with Effutu community elders, performers, and audience members (N=6). Framed by Performance and Ritual Theory, the data were analysed thematically. The findings reveal the procession as a multifaceted phenomenon: it functions simultaneously as a sacred rite for ancestral communication and social order, and as a structured cultural performance that uses drumming, dance, and costume to preserve heritage and reinforce communal identity. The study uncovers a spectrum of participant interpretations, where traditionalists see a blend of worship and performance, some Christians view it as idolatry, and younger generations emphasize its cultural over religious value. The study concludes that the Basabasa procession is a synergistic expression of spirituality and artistry, transcending reductive categorizations. It contributes to performance studies by demonstrating how traditional rituals act as dynamic sites for cultural preservation and identity formation within a pluralistic society. Recommendations for cultural education and interfaith dialogue are offered to support accurate understanding and preservation.
Name: Papa Kojo Essuman Yamoah
Title of Proposal: Citizen Voices in Fante Ghanaian Highlife: Kofi Kinaata and the Linguistic Artistry of Citizenship
Abstract:
Historically, Ghanaian Highlife music has been a vehicle to convey moral themes through proverbs and metaphorical depth. While there has been considerable scholarly exploration of Highlife music, addressing its aesthetics, categorization, complex histories, and metacommentary (Collins 1985; Matczynski 2011; Plageman 2013), there remains an opportunity for further academic inquiry. Contemporary Highlife music, such as Kofi Kinaata’s songs, is beginning to garner scholarly attention. This paper analyzes Kofi Kinaata’s recent single “It is finished,” a response to a series of national tragedies that struck Ghana in August 2025. Widely embraced as a collective expression of sympathy, the song demonstrates how popular music can articulate public grief and solidarity. Drawing on Kwesi Yankah’s “The Politics of Akan oratory” and on Kinaata’s lyrics, which reflect linguistic strategies and regional citizenship, I argue that his music serves as a form of civic engagement to foster moral reflection. Additionally, this paper examines figurative devices in the lyrics and their role in identity construction. By examining Kinaata’s craft within broader discussions of cultural citizenship and popular music studies, this paper contributes to ethnomusicological conversations about the role of music in shaping public awareness and regional narratives in postcolonial African contexts. As Martin Stokes (2023) has emphasized, music is a potent medium for constructing civic identity and political subjectivity, an insight that this study extends through Ghanaian Highlife and its emotionally charged reception.
Name: Qais Assali
Title of Proposal: Branding Conflict: Critical Ikebana and Live Art as Pedagogical Resistance
Abstract:
This workshop, Branding Conflict: Critical Ikebana and Live Art as Pedagogical Resistance, reimagines global design and art education through acts of decolonial arrangement. Using Ikebana—the Japanese art of flower arrangement—as a collaborative pedagogical method, the session examines how non-Western aesthetics have been historically marginalized yet visually essential to the making of “modern” Western art. Drawing from Alfred Barr’s 1936 Cubism and Abstract Art poster, which diagrammed the genealogy of Western modernism while marking non-Western contributions in red—Japanese Prints, Near-Eastern Art, Negro Sculpture, and the Machine Esthetic—this demo reclaims these “red arrows” as sites of critical making. Participants engage with laser-cut wooden and glass forms representing these arrows, integrating them into living floral arrangements to create a collective, ephemeral diagram—an alternative curriculum enacted through gesture, arrangement, and care. Guided by the notion of education drag—a performative pedagogy that bends disciplinary boundaries—the work asks: What if the diagram were not a map of influence but an ecology of relation? By situating global visual languages beyond Eurocentric timelines, this project embodies a method of learning through rearrangement—an invitation to un-compute, de-canonize, and recompose art history as a living, plural system.
Name: Radmila Esina
Title of proposal: Constructing the Working Body
Abstract:
The paper examines how the image of the working female body developed from nineteenth century Realism to Soviet Socialist Realism, arguing that Socialist Realism culminates a long visual transformation by converting the laboring woman into an ideological symbol of the Soviet Union. French Realism first establishes the working body as a legitimate artistic subject, using corporeality to critique social inequality and the material conditions of labor. Russian Realism, in turn, reframes this body representation through psychological depth and moral narrative, turning labor into a site of moral reflection and national self-consciousness. Socialist Realism appropriates these earlier frameworks but fundamentally redefines their purpose, since the body is no longer observed from reality but constructed, rejecting ambiguity to visualize a unified socialist “desired” future. Within this framework, the female proletarian becomes central, endowed with masculine physical strength and civic purpose that break from earlier visualizations of women’s labor. Tracing female proletarians’ representations in a broader context, the paper explores how Socialist Realism develops through selective appropriation and reconsideration, drawing on previous realist approaches to construct a new ideological vision of gender, labor, and socialist modernity.
Name: Richardson Commey Fio
Title of Proposal: The Contributions of Popular Musicians to Nation Building and Diemocracy in Ghana’s 4th Republic
Abstract:
Music is one of the artistic mediums that are often thought of to offer alternative means of dialogue among individuals and groups. Research has revealed that music has been used extensively over the world as tool for driving social change, promoting social justice, inclusion, and more. This paper investigates the contributions of popular musicians in forging ‘imagined communities’ towards nation building and democracy in Ghana’s 4th Republic. It reveals that musicians contribute to nation building at various levels. They engage in politics by composing campaign songs, allowing their songs to be appropriated or vying for political positions. The second level is engaging in sociopolitical commentary, advocacy and civil action to address pertinent national issues. The third and fourth levels are the promotion of national unity, peace and democracy; and decent work and economic growth. Musicians also engage in social media activism as well as putting the country on the global stage through ambassadorial deals and international representation as the as the fifth and sixth levels. I employed qualitative mode of enquiry with structured and semi-structured interviews for data collection and used purposive and snowball sampling methods in selecting the respondents for this study. I also guided the research with three theories, namely the Affect theory, Imagined Community theory and Culture for Sustainability. The paper recommends the review of the Copyright Act, 2005, ensuring the safety and freedom of artists, improving data on the economic contributions of musicians to GDP and finally the involvement of artists in policy formulation and implementation.
Name: Roshni Ramanan and Prof. Deepak Paramashivan
Title of Proposal: The Changing Semiotics of Dance Pedagogy through Bharatanāṭyam
Abstracts:
This study examines the changing semiotics of dance pedagogy over the past century, through the case study of the ancient South Indian dance form Bharatanāṭyam, investigated through semi-structured ethnographic interviews with dance performer-teachers. Social semiotics, as a methodological tool, encompasses the co-articulation of dance education as an amalgam of community, family, institutional, and individual values. The interviews explore generational shifts in how Bharatanāṭyam is taught to global learners, encompassing both the Indian diaspora and cultural outsiders, in both online and in-person classes, comprising individual and group settings. The data highlight the evolving roles and attitudes of dance teachers and students, as well as the pedagogical challenges that confront them. Participants elaborate on their individual philosophies and teaching approaches, highlighting their adherence to or deviation from tradition and institutional histories. By situating an ancient art form within the contours of modernity and digitization, the study bridges Western semiotic theory and Indian pedagogical thought. This paper highlights key tensions that inform contemporary Bharatanāṭyam training, including pragmatic versus philosophical approaches, traditional versus modern methods, and cultural insider versus outsider orientations. The present study addresses a crucial research gap by foregrounding the lived experiences of performer-teachers who trace diachronic trajectories of pedagogical change, conceptualising dance pedagogy as an ongoing social semiotic negotiation, to benefit dance theoreticians, cultural anthropologists, historians, choreographers, artist-interpreters, audiences, educators and learners.
Name: Ruchi Pathak
Title of Proposal: Seeing Through the Arts: A Multimodal Transmediation Practice with Poetics
Abstract:
It is a critical moment in time for the arts, as its fundamental meaning evolves with the rapidly changing fabric of human society. This research work highlights the potential of a process-led multimodal artistic inquiry inviting a valuable exchange amongst its collaborators. It creates a space for critical conversations, exchange of perspectives, and shared meaning making through transmediation using poetics as a dialogic container. Workshops spanning over a year, I have taken this generative pedagogical framework to different spaces with diverse audiences. The intent of this presentation is to initiate a discourse about using arts, all encompassing, as a tool for fostering communication, connections, and reflexivity in a time when large sections of humanity are intellectually distanced. My hope is to facilitate a critical discussion about how this model may be expanded across disciplines and educational contexts. I plan to present my research so far with considerations of multimodal tools for transmediation through poetic explorations, following which conference attendees will be invited to engage with a slice of the artistic practice. Participants will be provided with diverse materials like markers, colored papers, word/phrase cards, textiles, etc., as tools for responding to a piece of poetry. Constructing meaning through transmediation between language arts and visual arts invites participants to reconsider the definition and diversity of languaging. This work encourages the discovery of shared meanings through deeply embodied artistic explorations.
Name: Sepideh Zafari Naeini
Title of Proposal: A Study of the Impact of Globalization on Iranian Art from 2020 to 2025
Abstract:
Iran, located in West Asia, is one of the principal cradles of ancient civilization and a key source of evidence for early human societies. Throughout history, its strategic position along major East–West trade routes, abundant natural resources such as oil and gas, and rich cultural heritage—recognized by UNESCO—have given it a significant role in global economic, political, and cultural developments. Over the past century, profound political, social, and economic transformations have directly shaped Iranian culture and art. Given Iran’s historical influence on neighboring regions, examining contemporary Iranian art within the framework of globalization is essential. Globalization, accelerated by technological advances, has intensified economic, political, and cultural exchanges worldwide. The emergence of the Internet, social media, and, more recently, artificial intelligence has dramatically transformed artistic production and dissemination. These developments have contributed to the rise of “Global Art,” a practice that reinterprets local and indigenous traditions to communicate with a global audience. The international art market has reinforced this trend, weakening the long-standing dominance of Europe and the United States while enabling new artistic centers and greater visibility for artists from other regions. In global art, concept takes precedence over narration or representation. The artist creates conditions for an experiential encounter, allowing meaning to emerge through interaction with the audience. Each viewer’s interpretation becomes part of the artwork itself, and many such works engage with urgent global and social concerns. This article examines the characteristics of global art and analyzes the impact of globalization on Iranian visual arts over the past five years—a period shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, war, sanctions, economic crises, and the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement—highlighting how expanded communication and information exchange have influenced contemporary artistic practices in Iran.
Name: Tika Simone
Title of Proposal: Rest as Resistance: Creative Sovereignty as a Tool for Diasporic Healing & Cultural Futures
Abstract:
This presentation explores rest, creative sovereignty, and ritual-based arts practice as evolutionary tools of resistance, healing, and community transformation across African and Afro-diasporic contexts. While rest is often framed as inactivity, within diasporic communities it functions as a radical act—an embodied refusal of extraction, burnout, and inherited colonial rhythms that shape how Black creativity is policed, consumed, and constrained. Drawing from ongoing qualitative research conducted through Sanctuary Sessions, Iverna Island creative residencies, and diasporic workshops (2022–2025), this paper examines how structured rest, somatic grounding, and artistic self-determination foster psychological resilience, cultural memory, and collective agency. Using a decolonial and transdisciplinary framework, the study integrates participant observation, narrative reflection, and arts-based inquiry to analyze how rest-centered creative interventions disrupt cycles of stress, climate grief, and cultural dislocation. Findings highlight that rest—not as leisure, but as methodology—enables diasporic practitioners to reclaim narrative power, re-anchor ancestral identity, and generate visions for liberated cultural futures. Through case examples from Caribbean and North American Black communities, this presentation demonstrates that creative sovereignty expands beyond artistic output; it becomes a pathway to healing, sustainable leadership, and structural resistance within environments shaped by racialized precarity. This work offers a model for how African and diasporic communities can integrate restorative creative practice into broader movements for cultural preservation, mental health, and futurity. By centering rest as praxis, the paper bridges scholarship, embodied knowledge, and community pedagogy to imagine more humane pathways for cultural work and collective flourishing.
Name: Ufuoma Onobrakpeya
Title of proposal: THE HISTORY OF ART WORKSHOPS IN NIGERIA: THE ROLE OF ART EDUCATION THROUGH THE HARMATTAN WORKSHOP IN DELTA –STATE, NIGERIA.
Abstract:
Art Education an informal art education system is important in the sustainable development of the art as a viable socioeconomic subsector in any country. Informal Art workshops for example the Harmattan workshop in Delta-State Nigeria has influenced the grassroots, developed the environment and the economy of that environment and region. The Harmattan workshop has created a meeting point for people of diverse cultural backgrounds to exchange ideas, knowledge and wealth of unique experiences. This workshop was inspired principally by the workshops organized by Ulli Beier in Western Nigeria in the 1960s and 1970’s. The Harmattan workshop was instituted for art development and training of the young generation in an informal art education. The Harmattan workshop can be classified as an informal art school in Agbarha-Otor Delta –State. The Harmattan workshop is designed to help develop and sustain creativity in the Arts. People attend the Harmmattan workshops from different parts of the world exchanging Ideas. The Harmattan Workshop in Delta-State, Nigeria was founded by Professor Bruce Onobrakpeya the internationally acclaimed painter and printmaker from Delta-State, Nigeria and was developed after he attended a workshop in the Haystack Mountain School of Art and Craft in Maine, United States of America where there were workshops of ceramics, graphics, and wood, fine art learning skills. In this workshop renowned artists from different parts of the world joined the workshops to share their expertise and experiences. In Nigeria there are workshops such as Mbari Art Centre in the Eastern Nigeria, The Oye-Ekiti Wood Carving Wood carving center established by Roman Catholic priest Father Sean O’Mahony and Kelvin Carroll for African Mission Society. Mbari Mbayo in Oshogbo and Ori –Olokun in Ife. These informal Art Education workshops have produced several accomplished artists who earn the income from practicing Fine Art.
Name: Vladimir L. Marchenkov
Title of Proposal: Polyphonic Thinking as a Philosophical Model for Cross-Cultural Musical Creativity
Abstract:
In this paper I discuss the use of polyphony as a model for understanding cross-cultural musical creation. The term ‘polyphony’ in this context does not refer to the medieval Western European method of musical composition but is used in the sense in which this category has been discussed in the philosophy of music by such authors as Ernest Ansermet and Theodor Adorno, as well as composers (e.g. Gustav Mahler) who understood it as a broad principle of musical thinking rather than a narrowly defined compositional technique. I am also interested in bridging this aspect of the concept with the non-Western polyphonic musical phenomena, a connection that is especially appropriate for cross-cultural musical creativity. Polyphony has been discussed in terms of simultaneous equal but distinct voices expressive of a collective social sensibility (Adorno), as well as in terms of combining musical material that, on the face of it, belongs to dramatically different stylistic domains (Mahler). It has also played a prominent part in literary theory as a compositional principle evident in certain novelistic texts (Mikhail Bakhtin). I should like to expand this concept to embrace the art of combining simultaneous distinct cultural musical traditions within a single composition or improvisatory performance. I believe such an exploration can be of interest not only to scholars who try to comprehend the contemporary global trend of cross-cultural musical syntheses and collaborations, but also to the musicians who contribute to this trend as practitioners.
Name: Akhymbekova Zhazirakhan
Title of Proposal: How does the method of visualization of sounds improve the imagination and the idea of students without the use of ready-made templates and drawings?
Abstract:
This Action Research project was initiated to find solutions to improve and stimulate student ability to compose visual imagery in teacher’s lesson study. By facilitating student’s unique imagination responses to sensory and auditory stimulation using a method called "Visualization of Auditory sounds". This process of Visualization assists students to listen to what they can hear, and then visually compose what they have heard. Teachers realize that one of the major hindrances to this process is that, students manage to easily copy from the Internet, which is often speedier and less demanding, than to come up with an original idea and design composition of their own. By heightening their ability to visualize sounds, students will be able to combine learned compositional techniques together with a heightened awareness of their own unique imaginative capabilities aiding them to visualize the intangible, the abstract and their own emotional response to image making.
Name: Divine Kwasi Gbagbo
Title: Modernizing Tradition: Innovation and Performance Culture in Ewe Borborbor Dance-Drum
Abstract:
This paper examines recent transformations in borborbor dance-drum performance, with particular attention to the dynamic intersections of tradition, innovation, and modernization. The genre originated among Ewe communities in Ghana and Togo in the early 1950s and developed into a widely performed neo-traditional genre that occupies a central place in contemporary social life. Today, borborbor features prominently at festivals, weddings, funerals, political rallies, and church services, reflecting its adaptability across diverse social and ritual contexts. Over the past two decades, significant innovations in song repertoire, performance occasions, instrumentation, dance movements, and costume have reshaped borborbor’s performance culture. Drawing on the concepts of dramaturgy (Goffman 1980) and performativity (Cavanaugh 2015), this paper analyzes three interrelated dimensions of borborbor performance: song texts, drumming practices, and dance expression. Through these lenses, the study demonstrates how performers strategically negotiate continuity and change, using music and movement to communicate evolving social values and identities. The paper argues that contemporary innovations in borborbor do not signal a rupture with tradition but rather reveal how Ewe communities actively modernize tradition through performance. By situating borborbor within broader debates on cultural change, creativity, and social impact, this study contributes to scholarship on innovative performance practices in African musical arts.
Name: Ernest Elikplim Kwabla Adonoo
Title: Transmission of Drumming among the Anlo‑Ewe: The Case of the Agbodo/Amuzu Family of Hatsukorfe, Denu. Volta Region, Ghana.
Abstract:
Drumming amongst the Ewes dates back and beyond their migration adventure from the tyrannical rule of King Agor Akoli III. Notsie, the last stop and center of dispersion, was also a crucial and significant point in the history of the Ewe people, especially the Anlos. Notsie is to the Ewe as Egypt is to the Jews. When they arrived in Notsie, their host King Adelã Atogble received them well and treated them nicely. After his death, his successor Ago Akoli was different; things were not the same during the new regime. The new king was very hostile and ruled the immigrants with an iron hand “Kobla Ladzekpo” Dancedrummer.com. Drumming and dancing literally saved the Ewes. Some of the invaluable contributions of the art of drumming are as follows: Drumming served as a vital communication tool among the Ewes during their migration. It helped to synchronize movements and maintain group cohesion. The rhythmic beats provided a sense of identity and cultural continuity. Drumming facilitated the sharing of stories and oral traditions, and preserving history. It acted as a means of spiritual connection and expression during challenging times. The sound of drums could also deter potential threats by signaling presence. Among the Anlo-Ewe, drumming is not simply music for entertainment. It is closely tied to family lineage, spirituality, social responsibility, and community life. Creativity in this context is shaped through discipline, repetition, and embodied learning that is passed down from one generation to the next. The study draws on ethnomusicological and qualitative ethnographic methods, including interviews, participant observation, audio-visual documentation, and musical transcription. Research materials were gathered through sustained engagement with three generations of the Agbodo/Amuzu family. The findings show that drumming knowledge is mainly transmitted informally within the family through observation, imitation, correction, and participation in rituals, rather than through formal classroom instruction. Elders play a central role as teachers and custodians of tradition, guiding younger members in musical skills as well as moral values and cultural responsibilities. The presentation also places this family tradition within the broader historical and cultural background of the Anlo-Ewe, examining instruments, ensemble structures, and performance aesthetics. It further explores how modern influences such as formal education, Christianity, technology, and globalization are reshaping learning practices while preserving core musical values. Overall, this presentation highlights how inherited artistic systems continue to sustain cultural memory and creative identity in a changing world.
Name: Samuel Elikem Nyamuame (PHD)
Title: Just Improvise: The Impact of Entertainment-Driven Practices on Ghanaian Drum Music Instruction and Performance.
Abstract:
Drumming and dancing are central expressions of Ghanaian cultural values, functioning as vital means for transmitting historical, social, and cultural knowledge. Existing scholarship (Agawu 1995; Burns 2009; Amegago 2014, Gallo 2015, Younge 2024) identifies rhythmic organization, cultural knowledge systems, and performance practices as foundational to Ghanaian musical traditions. In recent years, however, the instruction and performance of Ghanaian drum music—particularly in the United States and among some contemporary amateur ensembles in Ghana—have increasingly privileged improvisation over these core elements. The commonly invoked directive to “just improvise” has emerged as a dominant pedagogical and performative approach, often reframing drumming as an act of entertainment rather than a culturally embedded practice. This trend has contributed to the misrepresentation and gradual erosion of established Ghanaian drum performance structures. Focusing on selected Ewe, Akan, and Dagomba drumming traditions, this paper re-examines the roles of rhythm, language, and structural organization in the construction and performance of Ghanaian drum music. Drawing on nearly a decade of observations and interviews with drum instructors in Ghana and the United States, the paper concludes with pedagogical and performative recommendations aimed at promoting culturally grounded, sustainable approaches to Ghanaian drum instruction and performance.
Name: Nii- Tete Yartey and Alidu Alhassan
Title: Discover the Rhythms of Northern Ghana: A Workshop with the Dagbamba
Abstract:
Join us for an immersive workshop celebrating the vibrant culture of Ghana's Dagbamba ethnic group, part of Ohio University's Global Arts Festival. Experience the rich traditions of the Dagbamba people, known for their captivating dances and intricate music. Learn about the significance of music and dance in Dagbamba culture, where they are integral to community life, storytelling, and spiritual expression. Our expert instructors will guide you through the energetic movements and rhythms that define Dagbamba performances. Get ready to move and groove to the beats of traditional Dagbamba instruments like the djenbe and gungun. This interactive workshop is designed for dance students eager to explore new techniques and expand their cultural knowledge. Through hands-on practice and demonstrations, you'll gain insight into the Dagbamba's unique dance styles and musical traditions. Don't miss this opportunity to connect with the dynamic heritage of Northern Ghana and be part of Ohio University's celebration of global arts.