Welcoming a world of ideas
Concordia will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2014 by welcoming researchers, performers and students from around the world as the host of two prestigious conferences.
From May 12 to 16, 2014, the university will host, for the first time, the Congrès de l’Association francophone pour le savoir (Acfas) – the world’s largest annual gathering of French-speaking academics from all disciplines.
Concordia will soon after open its doors, from June 21 to 28, 2014, to Latin American, U.S. and Canadian colleagues at the ninth Encuentro (encounter/meeting) for artists, scholars and activists involved with performance. The hybrid conference-and-performance festival is being organized by Concordia in conjunction with the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics based at New York University.
“We’re delighted to have been asked to host these important events,” says Graham Carr, vice-president of Research and Graduate Studies. “They reflect a global recognition of Concordia’s importance in the world of research and research creation.”
Acfas
The 82nd Acfas conference is expected to attract more than 5,000 French-speaking delegates, as well as the general public.
“We’re looking forward to relating Concordia’s strengths in terms of scholarship within the francophone community, especially with one in five of our students being francophone,” Carr says.
Guylaine Beaudry, director of the Webster Library and president of the Acfas scientific committee, says more than 3,000 presentations will be given at this important annual conference for the sharing and discussing of research.
“I’m also really looking forward to people who aren’t involved with Concordia or other universities on a daily basis having this opportunity to find out more about the dynamic research and creativity happening within universities,” she says.
“The theme we’ve chosen, La recherche : zones de convergence et de créativité, fits with Concordia’s efforts to encourage innovation by creating spaces and opportunities for scholars, researchers and students to work together across disciplines,” Beaudry adds.
Encuentro
Concordia’s interdisciplinary strength is also why the Hemispheric Institute asked Concordia to be the first Canadian institution to host Encuentro. The conference and performance festival are held every second year to encourage artists, performers, visual artists, scholars and activists to share how performance can mobilize social and political change.
About 750 delegates are expected to attend next year’s Encuentro. The daily workshops and round-table discussions will be followed by performances and exhibitions, with various events open to the public.
“Performance studies is expanding within Canada, and Concordia is doing all kinds of exciting work in this field across disciplines,” says Mark Sussman, associate dean, Academic and Student Affairs in the Faculty of Fine Arts, as well as a theatre artist and performance scholar. “The Hemispheric Institute recognizes our strengths in fine arts, communication studies, art history, and design and computation arts when it comes to performance studies.”
Encuentro’s 2014 theme, “Manifest! Choreographing Social Change in the Americas,” will be timely given current debates about people’s rights to express demands for social change.
Students are expected in large numbers at both conferences. “These events offer a great opportunity for students not only to learn but also present their research and to network with others, including potential supervisors for future studies,” says Carr.
Concordia has already proven itself in terms of staging large events when it hosted 8,900 delegates at the Humanities and Social Sciences Congress in 2010. “Acfas and Encuentro will build on that success,” Carr says.
Related links:
• L’Association francophone pour le savoir (Acfas)
• Encuentro
• Hemispheric Institute