Tag: Call for Papers

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Therapeutic Landscapes II: Call for Papers

I’m very excited to announce the call for papers for ‘Therapeutic Landscapes II: Ritual, Folklore and Wellbeing’, a symposium and exhibition that will take place at The Art House at the University of Worcester on June 12th and 13th 2026.

We invite artists, creative practitioners, health practitioners, cultural historians, public health workers and curators who, both formally and informally, are investigating the intersections of ritual, folklore, magic and physical environments and their implications for emotional health and wellbeing to present their work around (but not limited to) the following themes:

• Creative placemaking through storytelling

• Artistic engagement with local knowledge, know-how and skills held in place

• Intentional embodiment in transformative practices

• Creative work that addresses class within folk cultures

• Communal creative interventions in the landscape

• Participatory archaeology/ experimental archaeology

• More than human entanglements

• The Imagined Village: speculative fiction informed by folklore

• Creative interpretation of folk objects held in museums and collections

• Public health arts-based initiatives that are informed by Folklore and folk beliefs

• Ritual as therapeutic creative practice

• Craft practices that investigate connections between making, materiality and emotional wellbeing

• Material practices exploring magic and the supernatural

• Folk customs, ritual games, and community wellbeing

• Mortality, ancestors and commemoration

• Right to roam: communities of dissent

• Mayhem mischief and misrule

• Creative interpretations of places associated with healing

• Pilgrimage, procession and pageantry

• Combatting rural loneliness and isolation through Creative Health interventions

• Local Artists and artist-led co-ops in rural places

• Nature based approaches to radical self-care

Paper Presentations

Please send 250 word abstract for a 20 minute presentation to therapeutic_landscapes@worc.ac.uk

Performances and Workshops

Proposals for longer performances and workshops are also welcome. Please send a short 250 word outline of your proposed activity.

Exhibition

Please send a short 250 word artist statement and up to 6 images of your work for consideration for the exhibition.

Deadline for proposals : 1st March 2026

Presenters and participants will be notified 14th March 2026.

Email: therapeutic_landscapes@worc.ac.uk

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/folk.cultures.research/

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NAFAE Conference 2026: Call for Papers

This year’s National Association for Fine Art Education conference ‘IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE AN ARTIST: LOCAL, TRANS-LOCAL, GLOBAL’ will take place at Champness Hall, Rochdale on Friday 24th April 2026.

The focus of the conference will be co-operation, conflicts and collective agency in defence of creative and cultural education and placemaking.

We welcome proposals on the following themes:

Space and Place

● How do we define ‘region’ in an era where administrative boundaries, cultural identities and economic geographies no longer align?

● In what ways do place-based practices, geographies and cultural infrastructures contribute to, or challenge, broader ideas of regional or national identity within the arts?

● What is the shape and place of the future campus?

Emerging needs and priorities

● What priority and emerging creative and cultural skills most effectively promote lifelong learning and learner agency?

● What will shape the form of the educational offer and curriculum for Fine and Visual Art practices in terms of pedagogies, adult education and co-operative learning?

● How important is accreditation (i.e. what are the freedoms/restrictions it imposes for students and curriculum planners?)

Partnership and co-operation

● What are the weighted contributions of investors and stakeholders supporting educational initiatives marked as alternative to establishment institutions?

● Who are the private providers of education and lifelong learning that can be trusted to deliver with integrity or in any way enhance the current landscape?

● How can resourcing and facilities be modelled to best enable sustained practices and relevant growth from the activity?

Local, Translocal and Global

● What are the international exemplars for co-operation and where are the potential allies that will help to secure a fairer and more resilient accessible Fine Art ecology?

● Art and art practices are a public and civic good and underpin global citizenship and belonging.

● Why, if we consider the concept of paideia, we have failed to convince decision-makers of the contribution that creative arts make?

You can find our more about the conference here.

Proposals for contributions should be submitted to: admin@nafae.org.uk no later than Friday 13 February 2026. Decisions on contributions for our next NAFAE conference will be communicated to the participants by 27 February 2026.

To submit a proposal for contributions, you must be a NAFAE member. To join NAFAE please visit the membership page.