Before 33rd SIBMAS Conference: 28th October 2021 symposium

October 28, 2021

Dear All,
SIBMAS is delighted to announce, in conjunction with the Polish Theatre Institute, the program for our autumn online short symposium, which will be held on 28th October 2021, at 3 pm (CEST). Our online event is titled Global Disconnections: Performing Arts Collections in the time of a Pandemic.

In these still difficult times, we would like to focus on the influence the pandemic has had on the functioning of member organizations of SIBMAS and other cultural institutions. We would like to also discuss the new solutions and practices developed during the lockdown.
During the first two-hour section of the conference, three speakers will perform: Maria Babicka from the Polish Theatre Institute, Eric Colleary – Cline Curator of Theatre and Performing Arts from Harry Ransom Centre, The University of Texas at Austin, and Ramona Riedzewski – the former Head of Collections Management of the recently dissolved dedicated Department of Performing Arts at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Maria Babicka will address the different cultural crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the potentials and imagination that it also revealed in 2020 in Polish theatrical and research life.
Eric Collery, in his paper “Collecting in a Crisis: The Theatre 2020 Project”, he will examine the way artists all over the globe responded to the confines of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. Harry Ransom Centre’s Theatre 2020 Project has collected over 2,000 digital files from over 200 artists documenting their various experiences – from virtual productions and applying for grants to looking for a new job to support themselves.
Ramona Riedzewski will explore the challenges of documenting the live performing arts in the face of abrupt digitisation of cultural life during the global pandemic.

After the keynote presentations, there will be a short panel debate, where Eric, Maria, and Ramona will be joined by Bernice Chan from the International Association of Theatre Critics (Hong Kong), Nic Leonhardt from Ludwig Maximilians-Universitaet (Muenchen), and Alan Jones, from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (Glasgow) who will add to the debate.

This short online gathering will also be an opportunity for SIBMAS members and non-members to meet and have a chat with each other, something which has not been possible for a long time. That is why, for the second part of this online event we would like to invite you to a Coffee roulette – an informal meeting on the Zoom platform, where we will be able to discuss the issues raised by the keynote presentations or just get to know each other and each other projects
So please join us, let us come together for a few hours.

Please check the detailed program here.

The conference part and the debate will be open for everyone, broadcasted on the Polish Theatre Institute website, Facebook, and Youtube channel on 28th October 2021, 3 pm (CEST):
https://www.instytut-teatralny.pl
https://www.facebook.com/instytutteatralny
https://www.youtube.com/c/InstytutTeatralnyimZbigniewaRaszewskiego

To participate in the second part, please fill out this form.

You will receive the link a couple of days before the event.
We welcome both SIBMAS members and non-members to join us.

With very good wishes,
Polish Theatre Institute and SIBMAS team

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