AEC European Platform for Artistic Research in Music (EPARM) 2024
Academy of Music, University of Ljubljana (Slovenia)
21 March – 23 March 2024
Call for proposals (Deadline: 19 November)
The European Platform for Artistic Research in Music (EPARM) is an initiative of the European Association of Conservatoires (AEC), acting as a resource for Artistic Research in the specific context of Higher Music Education: sharing knowledge, insights and outputs; promoting and developing the discourse around Artistic Research; incubating new ideas and developments; and offering support and inspiration to AEC members.
The 11th EPARM conference welcomed music researchers, educators, performers and composers to a three-day exploration of artistic research in music at the Academy of Music of the University of Ljubljana in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
EPARM supports a pluralistic vision of Artistic Research, recognising different possible definitions, methods, and forms of dissemination. Nonetheless, at the core of all such research is the artistic practice itself, which functions not only as an object of study, but as a source of significant questions and a means of pursuing original insights. It is an expectation that presentations at EPARM will include performance or the presentation of original work.
Presentations relating to any aspect of Artistic Research in music were welcomed at the 11th EPARM conference, but the peer review panel prioritised presentations that gave some consideration to one or more of the following:
- Artistic Research in the Anthropocene;
- Artistic Research in social contexts;
- Our relationships with repertoires old and new explored through Artistic Research;
- Holding theory and practice in balance in, or through, Artistic Research;
- Interrogating the idea of ‘innovation’ in Artistic Research;
- Developing open, critical and nurturing research cultures for Artistic Research.
To reflect the centrality of performance and musical creation in artistic research, the EPARM conference included a special programme of performances and artistic presentation. Proposals were welcomed for short performances of a maximum of 30 minutes (including up to 10 minutes of introduction and/or contextualization for the audience), which were themselves the outcomes of artistic research. Such performances were selected for a programme called Not-the-L8Nite Performances, with performers contributing to a moderated audience discussion following immediately after the performances. Proposals for the Not-the-L8Nite Performances followed the specific requirements below.
To support the development of excellent Artistic Research at the masters and doctoral levels, joint applications were invited from students and their supervisors (or other institutional representative), where the supervisor engaged in a dialogue with the student and initiated a conversation with the conference delegates. Participants who opted for this format indicated this in their proposal (see below); students could also apply to present ‘solo’ in formats described above.
For the submission the template provided in the Documents section were used
Proposals for parallel sessions
Proposals for a 20 minutes presentation (including any performance or examples) followed by 10 minutes facilitated audience discussion addressed a clear question or questions that were rooted in practice.
Proposals were sent in Word format and included the following:
- Name of the presenter/s (including, if relevant, the supervisor in a student-supervisor dialogue)
- Institution
- 150-word biography
- Title that effectively summarised the presentation for a general audience
- A subtitle that gave the research question/focus area
- 350-word description of the presentation, including:
- A clearly articulated research question, issue or problem, relevant to artistic practice in music
- A clearly articulated and appropriately documented relationship between the artistic practice and the research
- Evidence of a critical approach to method
- For masters and doctoral students: an indication of whether you are applying with your supervisor and wish your session to be a student-supervisor dialogue; and a letter of support from your supervisor or institution.
Relevant additional audio or video materials were welcome where appropriate.
Proposals for Not-the-L8Nite Performances
Proposals clearly addressed the relationship between the proposed performance and the artistic research of which it is an outcome. The performance included up to 10 minutes of spoken introduction and/or contextualization of the performance with a total presentation time (introduction and performance) of 30 minutes; the performance was then followed by 10 minutes facilitated audience discussion. Performance were live or, if appropriate, presented by means of high-quality video.
Proposals were sent in Word format and included the following:
- Name of the performer/s
- Institution
- 150-word biography
- Title that effectively summarised the performance for a general audience
- A subtitle that gives the research question/focus area
- A one-page note on the performance, which was the basis of the peer-review process and written in a form suitable for distribution to the audience at the performance. In addition to introducing the performance, this note :
- Clearly articulated the relationship between the performance and the artistic research of which it is an outcome
- Indicated the key questions with which the performance engaged
All proposals for performances included a relevant recording (audio or video) of the proposed performer/s of a maximum duration of ten minutes.
Performance spaces contained a grand piano, music stands, and an A/V system with screen and PA. Limited additional equipment was provided on request, such as a mixing desk, stereo speakers, and microphones. Technical requirements were indicated in each application.
For the submission the template provided in the Documents section below was used
Peer Review
A peer review panel composed of the EPARM Working Group members selected those submissions that were be featured in the EPARM conference. The panel sought additional expert input when necessary.
Timetable
The timetable for this process was as follows:
12 October 2023: Circulation of the call
19 November 2023: Deadline for submissions
4 December 2023: Results communicated to the applicants (who were required to confirm
participation by 8 December)
Mid-December 2023: Registrations for EPARM 2024 open
Mid-December 2023: Publication of the final programme of EPARM 2024 and registration launch
21 March 2024: Start of EPARM 2024
Proposals were submitted in Word format using the provided template and were sent to AEC Events Coordinator Beatriz Laborda at the following email address: beatrizlaborda@aec-music.eu
Submissions that did not follow the guidelines above were not considered.
N.B: Selected applicants were required to register as participants and therefore pay the corresponding fee according to the price category (Representative of an AEC member institution / Representative of a non-AEC member institution / Independent researcher – not affiliated to any institution)
Deadline for sending the proposals is 19 November. All selections for both the Parallel Sessions and the Not-the-L8Nite-Performances will be communicated by 4 December 2023. Selected applicants are required to confirm their participation by 8 December 2023.
