PSi

Artists’ Committee

The primary focus of this committee is to encourage and improve artist participation in PSi. As a committee we will explore ways to increase our numbers, make more noise, occupy more space and maintain the confidence and endurance to stick it out. We can discuss ways to make the organisation more accessible to artists in terms of cost, language, platforms for participation in programming and representation in the business . The committee will meet during the conferences, devise other ways of meeting and communicating throughout the year and actively lobby the organisation for more representation.

I have flirted with PSi for almost as long as it is old. I have performed, lurked, complained but as an artist never managed to sign on as a working member of the organisation. Now, as conference director of PSi#12 and newly appointed member of the board and chair for this committee, I am committed to getting more artists actively involved.

If you are interested in participating in this working group, please send a brief profile of your interests and practices to Ray Langenbach.

Emerging Scholars Committee

The Emerging Scholars Committee is designed to bring together scholars and artists at or near the beginning of their professional careers. Although a terminal degree is not required for participation, the committee will work specifically on issues affecting young professors/lecturers and artists working in institutional contexts. We hope to be able to focus in particular on: balancing research, teaching and creative work; tenure decisions and the academic job market; publishing; grant-writing; and developing new creative/research projects. We will also be working to develop an international network of emerging scholars/artists, and to create spaces at upcoming conferences for the presentation of new, incomplete or still-in-formation work. If you are interested in working with the Emerging Scholars Committee, please contact Lara Shalson.

Independent Scholars Committee

In general Independent scholars face particular dilemmas in relation to conference participation and support structures, dialogue and information access in their chosen fields. How can PSi help to engage and support the many independent scholars in its ambit?

This committee currently has no Chair. So if you are an independent scholar and would like to pursue these issues, please get in touch at Cobina Gillitt.

Graduate Student Committee

Our goal is to foster an energetic and dynamic community of graduate student performance studies scholars and artists, a community that extends across campuses and across national boundaries. In order to accomplish this goal, our plan is to create various opportunities for professional and intellectual development both at PSi conferences and throughout the year. In addition to encouraging the intellectual involvement and scholarly contributions of graduate students throughout the PSi conference, we will also organize and facilitate various panels specifically geared towards helping graduate students negotiate the academy including job search panels, professional development, and other relevant concerns. We would appreciate input about things that graduate students need or want. For instance, do you wish that there were an online directory of graduate students affiliated with PSi listing contact information, academic affiliation, and research interests? Would you like the opportunity to post blogs to share with other grad students? These are just some of the ideas that we are working on right now – tell us your ideas and what you want. We welcome assistance, participation, and suggestions from graduate students who would like to be involved: please contact Melissa Wong.

International committee

The International committee meets at the annual conference and aims to:

• promote the diversity of cultural, national and ethnic membership of Psi;
• foster a wider participation of members from diverse cultures and backgrounds in conferences;
• foster links in teaching, artistic exchange and scholarly research between established PS communities and emerging groups;
• recognises that performance studies as a discipline has a strong focus on western forms of cultural production and aims to promote the wider internationalisation of Performance Studies and a wider critical engagement with its key practices;
• is a forum for the membership of PSi to report to the organization on international matters.

In 2009, PSi adopted a new program of support for PSi Regional Clusters and events that is overseen by the international committee.

Chair: Marin Blaževic
Department of Dramaturgy
Academy of Drama Arts
University of Zagreb, Croatia
marin.blazevic@zg.htnet.hr