How can I organize a scientific conference in the field of art?
Do I need to be affiliated with a large organization (university, museum, foundation)? What are the steps to create and implement it?
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To organize a conference, first of all you need to decide on the goals and objectives of the scientific event.
It is important to understand what problem you want to try to discuss/solve through a scientific dialogue, and how relevant this problem is for science.
You also need to decide whether this will be a specialized conference (for example, only for art critics), or whether you want to organize an interdisciplinary dialogue.
The second step is to determine the audience (this applies not only to participants, but also to listeners): If they are young researchers or experienced scientists, you may also want to invite practitioners (such as active restorers, curators, or artists).
Regarding affiliation with a particular university / research institute or museum , this is EXTREMELY necessary. This increases the prestige of your event and its credibility. This is especially important for conferences that are organized for young researchers.
For example, the forum “Scientific Spring”, which has been held at the State Institute of Art Studies since 2017.
Initially, this event was initiated and organized by the GII graduate students themselves – without any orders from above from their superiors.
We were completely independent in terms of choosing topics, formats and participants – for example, we immediately decided that we would invite more than just graduate students/applicants, but also students, as well as independent researchers. We also really wanted an interdisciplinary dialogue. But for all our independence, we couldn't play all the roles solely on our own. Leading employees of our institute have always participated as moderators of our sections. This is a very serious expertise and a very useful and unique discussion experience. This is essential if we are talking about a youth conference.
Affiliation also means ready-made financial resources and opportunities: audiences, techs. equipment (laptops. projectors, etc.). Moral and organizational support, in the end :)))
If you organize an independent conference, you will have to look for sponsors, premises… or win a grant. But in any case, the event should be held at a scientific / educational institution or museum – without this, the conference will turn into a thematic club of professionals. That's not a bad thing either. And I would say that we do not have enough of such things. BUT for a scientific event, the goal of which is always to test the results of scientific research, the support of a reputable institution is extremely important.
In terms of PR support – here you can perform absolutely independently! Moreover, in this age of high-speed communication through social networks, this is not difficult at all 🙂
By the way, never miss this opportunity! Intercollegiate mailing lists are good, but it's never enough! Immediately create a topic group or public dedicated to your event. I also advise you to register on the scientific portal “Lomonosov” (primarily for youth events). Make posters and announcements, and make arrangements for informational collaboration with other publics or groups. For example, in the group” Scientific Spring ” on Facebook, anyone can announce their scientific event – at the moment our audience there is more than 500 people. Just make a post and our moderators will approve it without any problems.
The most important thing in terms of organization is to gather a team of like-minded people, correctly and accurately distribute tasks, and appoint a person responsible for each of them. Define clearly all-all-all deadlines – not only regarding the acceptance of applications, but also their analysis, drawing up the conference program. It is always very unnerving for participants – when after the deadline there is no news from the organizing committee on the timing of the selection and release of the program. Make a reservation right away and announce it to the participants. And-observe 🙂
For accepting applications, it is better to create a separate email box – so as not to get confused inside your own correspondence and not miss a single application. Try to respond to your emails as soon as possible.
You will also need a lot of patience – the vast majority of applications will arrive just before the deadline and in the first days after it. There will be a lot of strange and even annoying questions that will need to be answered very correctly and benevolently – immediately create a benevolent aura around your event 🙂 It will all pay off – your conference's reputation will only grow from this. After all, you probably plan to repeat it every year 🙂
If you need help or advice in terms of organization-always contact us, in the organizing committee of ” Scientific Spring!! Our social media posts are not just pages dedicated specifically to our Forum. It is also a community of all young researchers of art and culture, and a kind of public youth movement, whose goal is to build communication and support all those who study art and culture!
I have experience in organizingStudent Conference on Art History from the Department of History and Theory of Art of the Faculty of History of Lomonosov Moscow State University.
First, of course, the goal. Why was it necessary to gather people (in our case, a specific group of students)? There doesn't have to be a common topic for the entire conference, which all reports should be linked to. I mean only periodization, methodology, and problems. The goal may be to show the latest research (think of the annual international conference “Actual Problems in the Theory and history of Art”), to really speak out within one specialization (antiquity, modernity, the Middle Ages), then the history of art turns out to be in a number of other sciences (history, cultural studies, philology, etc.), but also to create a new platform for sharing knowledge and research with an interested public.
For the first time, the question arises about just being attached to an organization, an agreement with a university or museum. It is the platform that provides the audience, distribution, and credibility of your conference. At the same time, I agree with the idea that the conference itself is responsible for the reputation of the organization.
Then you can reflect on the conference sections. No conference can go on as a whole without being divided into blocks.
The classic division is chronological. Large conferences run several sections at the same time, while smaller projects run them sequentially. For new projects, in my opinion, divisions on problems and/or methodology are more relevant. This ensures a + – equal number of performances for each section and a constant interest of the public not only to “their” period, but also to how this or that problem arises in other art.
After the publication of the announcement, SMM work and other technical actions, there is a long waiting period for abstracts. Then they are checked and the program is compiled. As the final-in fact, conducting. This year, this experience is even more interesting, as it is likely that, like all other conferences, you will have to go online.
Returning to the question of attaching to a museum, university, or foundation. In my opinion, creating a conference on an already proven platform is a necessary condition. Or, with informative support from it, which is still somewhat weaker.. This is less about real space (think about going online), but about authority
organizations. It provides confidence in the scientific component of the conference, the audience itself becomes a marker of”scientific”.
This is especially true for student conferences, at least at Moscow State University, where “senior colleagues” are always invited to listen to reports, not only teachers, but also museum employees.
A separate issue is the topic of collections of articles.The university or museum ensures registration of the regular conference proceedings as a peer-reviewed scientific publication, in which case the university or museum acts as the founders.
For any conference (including those on art), you must do the following::
Affiliation with an institution is desirable. This is both its authority (but also its reputation, which is entrusted to you) and its resources: funds, platform, and equipment. Credibility is important when distributing information about an event (for mailing lists, establishing contacts with other organizations, etc.). In addition, it is a kind of quality guarantee – and this is one of the most important criteria for participants.
This is the third year I have been organizing a conference for art students at the Higher School of Economics. The honor of its creation belongs not to me, but to the students from the senior year, who then passed the baton to me. HSE generally welcomes student initiatives, especially those related to the development of students ' scientific potential and the creation of a discussion platform with colleagues. Therefore, everything is quite simple here:
With the university-everything. Next – your SMM skills: mailing lists, social networks, word of mouth, etc. There is interest in the conference, applications are submitted, you select them and then, in fact, hold the conference.
It is important to monitor the clarity of requirements for applications and subsequent reports, compliance with deadlines (both by participants and members of the organizing committee) and, on the day (s) of the event, compliance with the rules.
In addition to the tips that you have already been given, I can recommend paying attention to domsmirnova com where you can hold a conference with all possible convenience, conference participants will surely enjoy being in this historic building.