Call for Submissions
Deadline: October 1, 2008
Creativity: Worlds in the Making
A National Symposium at Wake Forest University
March 18 – 20, 2009
Wake Forest University - Winston-Salem, NC, USA
An Initiative from the Office of Entrepreneurship and Liberal Arts
and the Program for Creativity and Innovation
For more information please email: creativity@wfu.edu
Overview: This interactive symposium is designed to position creative engagement as a core literacy in today’s global environment and to model fresh, critical perspectives for creative research, collaboration and outcomes, between and among diverse disciplines and communities. The objective of the symposium is to stimulate new thinking about what creativity is, how it is practiced across cultural domains and what its potential applications can be, especially in relation to humane and sustainable outcomes and impact. Diverse perspectives from the arts, humanities, sciences and entrepreneurship will pose questions and challenges about the role that creativity plays in higher education and in society through its capacity to shape dynamic and interdependent future ‘worlds’. The interactive format of “Creativity: Worlds in the Making” combines keynote speakers, traditional panel presentations, innovative performance and exhibitions with participatory working sessions.
Themes
* Creativity as an Object of Inquiry – What is it? What are new ways in which it is being understood?
* Creativity Considered as Literacy – Is creativity necessary for agency and fluency in today’s world? What kinds of translational competencies are required?
* Interdisciplinary Creative Process and Practice – Is creative process inherently interdisciplinary? Can its overt practice transform disciplines?
* Creative Engagement as Catalyst for Social Change – What does engagement mean for self in relation to the world? Can creativity teach responsible agency?
* Creative Leadership and Collaboration – Are there special qualities that creativity offers current leadership models?
Topics of interest for this symposium include but are not limited to:
* Creative Environments: Establishing Exploratory Spaces for Creativity: historic and contemporary models for creativity and creative research in and outside of academic settings
* Creating Citizenship and the Duty of the Radical Imagination – Local/global models of creative response to cultural diversity, economic parity, social justice, etc; public policy in arts and culture
* Creative Processes in Teaching and Learning: Expanding Parameters – Case studies of innovative research and activities; cross institutional partnering
* Rezoning Creativities – Biological, psychological, sociological and cultural perspectives. emerging intersections and trans-disciplinary models, etc
* Creative Economies and a Sense of Place – Partnerships between education, industry and community; impact of virtual networks and fluid mobility, etc
* Creativity and Representation – Visual and cultural studies perspectives; creativity as critique and intervention in public spheres; media transformations and virtual creativity
* Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship – Definitions and applications of creativity, innovation, invention, etc; design thinking and ideation processes from a global and sustainable perspective
Featured Guests:
* Meredith Monk, a pioneer in interdisciplinary performance and twice recipient of the MacArthur “genius” award. She will be performing and delivering the closing keynote address.
* David Edwards, scientist, writer, entrepreneur and Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Biomedical Engineering, Harvard University who recently published Artscience: Creativity in the Post-Google Generation.
* Abigail Child, an award winning film and video maker whose films explore mixed genres and strategies for rewriting narrative. She is also the author of a number of critical articles and several books of poetry.
* Others TBA
Organization and Advisory Committee:
The Creativity RoundTable is an interdisciplinary faculty work group from Wake Forest University, that includes fine arts, creative writing and aesthetics, biology, chemistry, dance, psychology, women’s and gender studies, neuroscience and bioethics and health.
Submissions:
Papers, panel ideas, interactive sessions and/or other ideas for submission are welcome. Interdisciplinary and/or diverse disciplinary orientations are encouraged. 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Wednesday, October 1, 2008. If your paper is accepted for presentation at the conference, an 8 page draft paper should be submitted by Friday, January 5, 2008. Panel ideas should include any panel participants and interactive sessions must be described by a one page narrative that includes logistical and technical information and any other requirements.
Submissions should be sent electronically to both organizing chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats, following this order: author(s), affiliation, email address, title of abstract, body of abstract. We acknowledge receipt and answer to all proposals submitted.
Lynn Book, Symposium organizer and Program Director for Creativity and Innovation, bookl@wfu.edu
David Phillips, Chair, East Asian Language and Cultural Studies, phillidp@wfu.edu
