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Performance Studies Network (PSN) 7th International Conference 2025
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About this event:
- Category:
- Guildhall De-Centre | Research
- Event type:
- Booking required | In-person
- Location:
- Guildhall School of Music & Drama
Registration is now open
Register for the Performance Studies Network (PSN) 7th International Conference 2025 here
Call for Musical Compositions
The Performance Studies Network will hold its seventh International Conference at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London from 10 to 13 July 2025.
Alongside the broad range of presentations on offer in this conference, there will be a thematic strand forged from the interdisciplinary and civic-focused ethos of the School, putting practice at the centre of this collaborative event. Underpinning our world-leading reputation for high-level artistic training, this strand will centre around such concepts as Artistic Citizenship, Digital Performance and Production, and Socially Engaged Practice.
In keeping with these themes, violinist Mira Benjamin and pianist Roderick Chadwick will lead a two-part workshop, at the start and end of the conference, exploring any form of collaboration between composers and performers. Proposals for work might include:
- pieces by individual creators
- co-composed pieces (two or more creators)
- pieces by composer-performers who will perform with the duo
- work including fixed media and/or live electronics
- pieces which disrupt or interrogate the hierarchy of composer and performer
- pieces which disrupt or interrogate the hierarchy of creator, performer and audience
- forms of notation or transmission (including audio scores, oral transmission) that interrogate usual hierarchies
-
work which shows awareness of the reality of the performers’ embodied practices.
The intention is to create a workshop space that is stylistically open, with no expectation or limits as to genre, style or sound world.
Proposals should be for works of either 5-7 minutes, or open duration. Proposals for using workshop time to explore material or techniques for larger scale work are also welcomed.
The workshops will be fully documented (audio and video) but will not necessarily yield complete recorded performances.
Proposals may take the form of either a written abstract of 250 words; or a video pitch of up to 2 minutes.
Submissions are now closed.
Deadline for proposals: 17 April 2025
Deadline for final compositions: 27 June 2025
Call for Musical Compositions
Call for Contributions
The call for contributions is now closed.
Our School encompasses the disciplines of Music, Drama, and Production Arts, and as such we would like to welcome the broad research and practice community to come together at this conference for discussions, debates, performances, and presentations around ‘performance studies’ broadly defined, covering a wide range of practices, musics, approaches, and methodologies.
We invite proposals for individual papers, research-framed performance presentations, and themed round-table discussions, as well as other types of presentation, on any topic in the field of performance studies.
Alongside the broad range of presentations on offer in this conference, there will be a thematic strand forged from the interdisciplinary and civic-focused ethos of the School, putting practice at the centre of this collaborative event. Underpinning our world-leading reputation for high-level artistic training, this strand will centre around such concepts as Artistic Citizenship, Digital Performance and Production, and Socially Engaged Practice. Proposals on one or more of these concepts are warmly invited.
This PSN conference seeks to bring together researchers into practice and through practice from a wide spectrum of specialisms and backgrounds to consider their work as a tool for critical inquiry, potentially reshaping our collective understanding of the field of performance studies in ways that are ever more inclusive, culturally and contextually nuanced, and reflective of complex global realities.
Spaces:
We will welcome you to the state-of-the-art performance and workshop spaces at the Guildhall School, primarily in our Milton Court building, specifically the Concert Hall and Theatre, and large Rehearsal and Studio Rooms. As such, practice-research offerings will be well provided for.
Composition:
There is a separate call for compositions, to be workshopped/performed in our Concert Hall or Theatre, for violin and piano.
Workshops and invited participants:
We will curate layers of invited workshop-style offerings and performances with internal specialists and guest participants, though in the spirit of non-hierarchical and collaborative structures, we will avoid ‘keynote lecture’ formats.
Training and cohort-building elements:
We will offer some cohort-building and training elements during the conference, for the benefit of collegiality and the skills enhancement of our community, for instance on the topics of considering EDI priorities and challenges in research and teaching, career development (useful for researchers at all career stages), and successful bid-writing advice.
- EXTENDED submission deadline: 9am (UK time), Wednesday 5th March 2025
- Registration Open: April 2025
- Notification of acceptance for contributions: 4 April 2025
- Deadline for musical composition submissions: 17 April 2025
- Publication of conference schedule: 30 April 2025
- Registration deadline for presenters: 7 May 2025
- Deadline for final compositions: 27 June 2025
- Conference dates: 10-13 July 2025
Submissions are now closed.
Call for presentations/research-based performances/round-tables/other formats:
We invite proposals of 250 words for the following formats:
- Research-framed performance presentation/lecture-recital (20-30 minutes)
- Presentation/conference paper (20 minutes + 10 minutes for questions)
- Themed round-table discussions (in your proposal please include the details of all main participants, maximum 4 – proposals can be up to 1,000 words in length) (60-90 minutes)
- Poster presentations
- Hackathon or World Café sessions (discussion and problem-solving; or facilitated small-group discussion) (30-60 minutes)
- Creative practice/compositional ‘think pieces’ – (to quote from Johnson-Williams, ‘presentations which engage with creative practice in broad aesthetic, technological or social contexts, or research interventions that involve sharing creative processes’) (20-30 minutes)
- Other format – please specify
Submissions are now closed.
Deadline for proposals: 9am (UK time), Wednesday 5th March 2025
- Format of proposal:
- Name
- Affiliation (institutional affiliation or independent researcher)
- Title and type of presentation, and abstract as defined above
- 100-word biography
- Disciplinary and topic keywords (up to 5)
- Technical requirements (beyond normal AV presentation facilities)
Research showcases that there is a lack of diversity within academia and the performing arts industry, particularly in regards to socio-economic background, ethnicity, gender and disability. We are working to redress this balance and so are keen to receive applications from practitioners/ researchers from lower socio-economic backgrounds, the global majority, who identify as women or other marginalised genders, or who are disabled.
Submissions are now closed.
Alongside the broad range of presentations on offer in this conference, there will be a thematic strand forged from the interdisciplinary and civic-focused ethos of the School, putting practice at the centre of this collaborative event. Underpinning our world-leading reputation for high-level artistic training, this strand will centre around such concepts as Artistic Citizenship, Digital Performance and Production, and Socially Engaged Practice.
In keeping with these themes, violinist Mira Benjamin and pianist Roderick Chadwick will lead a two-part workshop, at the start and end of the conference, exploring any form of collaboration between composers and performers. Proposals for work might include:
- pieces by individual creators
- co-composed pieces (two or more creators)
- pieces by composer-performers who will perform with the duo
- work including fixed media and/or live electronics
- pieces which disrupt or interrogate the hierarchy of composer and performer
- pieces which disrupt or interrogate the hierarchy of creator, performer and audience
- forms of notation or transmission (including audio scores, oral transmission) that interrogate usual hierarchies
- work which shows awareness of the reality of the performers’ embodied practices.
The intention is to create a workshop space that is stylistically open, with no expectation or limits as to genre, style or sound world.
Proposals should be for works of either 5-7 minutes, or open duration. Proposals for using workshop time to explore material or techniques for larger scale work are also welcomed.
The workshops will be fully documented (audio and video) but will not necessarily yield complete recorded performances.
Proposals may take the form of either a written abstract of 250 words; or a video pitch of up to 2 minutes.
Submissions are now closed.
Deadline for proposals: 17 April 2025
Deadline for final compositions: 27 June 2025
Conference Convenor
Amy Blier-Carruthers
Steering Committee
Christopher Suckling
Simon Bayly
Jo Lawry
Biranda Ford
Emily Orley
David Dolan
Richard Baker
Toby Young
Marios Aristopoulos
Sophie Hope
Jackie Ross
John Rink (University of Cambridge)
Erin Johnson-Williams (Southampton)
Roger Wilson (Black Lives in Music)
Tom Armstrong (Surrey)
Register for the Performance Studies Network (PSN) 7th International Conference 2025 here
Early Bird Tickets (available until 23:59 Wednesday 7th May 2025)
- Affiliation Ticket (4 days) - £295
- Affiliation Ticket (4 days with dinner and concert) - £355
- Affiliation Ticket (1 day) - £80
- Non-Affiliation Ticket (4 days) - £145
- Non-Affiliation Ticket (4 days with dinner and concert) - £205
- Non-Affiliation Ticket (1 day) - £55
All presenters must register by Wednesday 7th May 2025
Standard Tickets (available until 23:59 Wednesday 25th June 2025)
- Affiliation Ticket (4 days) - £325
- Affiliation Ticket (1 day) - £110
- Non-Affiliation Ticket (4 days) - £175
- Non-Affiliation Ticket (1 day) - £85
All non-presenters must register by Wednesday 25th June 2025
All tickets include lunch, tea-and-coffee breaks, a drinks reception and a number of performances and workshops.
A limited number of 1-day tickets are available and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
Tickets with 'Dinner & Concert' will include a 4-course set menu dinner at Barbican Côte Brasserie on Saturday 12th July, as well as a group trip to watch Strauss’ Salome with London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano at Barbican Hall on Friday 11th July.
These tickets will only be available until 7th May 2025. Following this date, attendees are welcome to attend the concert but will need to make a separate booking directly through the Barbican website.
Individuals currently employed by a higher education or cultural institution are required to purchase an "Affiliate" ticket. Individuals who are not employed by a higher education or cultural institution are eligible to purchase a "Non-Affiliate" ticket.
If it is discovered that an individual has purchased an incorrect ticket, they will be required to pay the appropriate amount prior to arrival to secure their place at the conference.
A limited number of bursary tickets are available. Please contact eventsmanager@gsmd.ac.uk by 24th April 2025 for further information.
Will food/drink be provided?
Lunch and tea & coffee will be provided throughout each day of the conference. There will also be a complementary drinks reception held on the first day of the conference.
What accommodation is available?
There are a number of hotels within walking distance of the School, including:
Please note, Guildhall School does not have any affiliations with any accommodation providers listed above.
A limited number of rooms are available at our Sundial Court Halls of Residence. Please indicate if you are interested in staying in our Halls of Residence on the registration form.
Which building is this event located in?
This event will take place in our Milton Court building. Find Milton Court on Google Maps.
Milton Court Building
Guildhall School of Music & Drama
1 Milton Street
London
EC2Y 9BH
You will receive further information on arrival nearer the event time.
Is the space accessible?
Disability access & hearing loops: Throughout Milton Court we have an Infra-Red system for those who are hearing impaired. All floors and venues in Milton Court are fully accessible, except for the cloakroom on Level -1 – staff will arrange your cloakroom items to be taken down for you upon request at the entrance.
Further information can be found here: Visiting Guildhall School | Guildhall School of Music & Drama
If you would like to discuss your access requirements in further detail, please contact eventsmanager@gsmd.ac.uk
Can I view the space in advance?
A 360° tour of our facilities can be viewed here: Visiting Guildhall School | Guildhall School of Music & Drama
Cancellation Policy
Cancellations made in writing to the conference organiser by 18 June 2025 will be eligible for a refund, minus a 25% administrative fee.
Cancellations after 18 June 2025 will not be eligible for a refund.
If the conference is cancelled or rescheduled due to unforeseen circumstances, attendees will receive a full refund of their ticket price. Attendees will not be reimbursed for travel or accommodation costs and are encouraged to ensure such bookings are insured.
You can view the conference's full Terms & Conditions here.
For logistical questions: eventsmanager@gsmd.ac.uk
For research-related questions: Amy Blier-Carruthers, amy.blier-carruthers@gsmd.ac.uk