New Initiatives Fund Report
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Performance Minded Symposium Report
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Wednesday December 2nd, 2.30-6.30pm
Held at the Gilmorehill Centre (G12), 9 University Avenue, G12 8QQ
The Symposium
The Performance Minded symposium – Performance and Ownership – was
curated by postgraduate students within the Theatre Studies department. Aimed
at enhancing the series of speakers brought into the department by members of
staff this half-day symposium sought to investigate some of the current critical,
academic and professional concerns in the field of performance. By bringing
together practitioners and academics from various disciplines the event was able
to explore different academic and professional approaches to questions of cultural
ownership.
In total there were nine speakers who were divided into two panels. Each
speaker delivered a 20 minute paper and following each panel there was half an
hour set aside for questions and general discussions. The speakers were:
 Prof Ronan Deazley and Steve Collins (from the Law and Theatre Studies
departments respectively) who presented a joint paper on copyright law in
performance.
 Dr Paul Routledge of the Geography department
 John Cairns; a theatre producer, formerly of Grey Coast Theatre
 Dr Katie Gough from the Theatre Studies department
 Jess Thorpe and Tashi Gore; the founders of Junction 25, a devising group
for young people, and one of the participants
 Dr Bjorn Heile; a lecturer in the Music department
The diversity of speakers and their backgrounds reflected the central aim of the
event as being one of an interdisciplinary nature which would allow dialogues to
emerge across departments and but also to open this up to performance-based
professionals out with the University. Whilst issues relating to live performance
were at the heart of each paper the range of subjects on offer meant that those
interested in Performance and Ownership were not restricted to the Theatre
Studies department.
21 people registered for the event and they encompassed a variety of
departments and organisations. Whilst the event was dominated by postgraduates
at the University they were not all from the same department; History of Art,
Music, Creative Writing, CCPR and Theatre Studies were all represented. In
addition to this there were also a couple of undergraduates from Theatre Studies,
two previous postgraduate students from Theatre Studies and a graduate from the
RSAMD who now works for a theatre company called, Open Books Ltd: Plays by
Writers.
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Figure 1: Kieran Hurley chairing the second panel of (from left to right) Paul Rutledge, Bjorn Heile
and Katie Gough
Outcomes
One of the key stated aims of Performance and Ownership was that it would
establish links between the School and PG community with other schools within the
University and practicing professionals and by looking at the breadth of speakers’
and attendees’ backgrounds it seems that that was largely achieved. Indeed, one
evaluation form for the event stated that:
I think the engagement across disciplines was really exciting and offers
great potential for even more academic collaborations.
Whilst another stated that:
Coming from another related field the practitioner talks provided a fresh
take on topics that I am focused on. The interdisciplinary nature of the
talks was also extremely valuable.
By bringing together practitioners, established academics and early career
researchers from various disciplines was clearly one of the appeals of the event
and during the Q&As after each panel it allowed for some very interesting
discussions to emerge.
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Amongst members of the organising committee the links between departments
and the professional sector was not solely limited to conversations on the day itself
but in many cases have been long lasting, both in terms of their own research and
in creating relationships across different disciplines. Harry Wilson, one of the
organisers notes that:
One of the main aims of the Performance Minded symposium held on 1st
December 2010 was to establish links between Postgraduate researchers
within Theatre Studies and the wider academic and professional theatre
community. Through inviting practitioners Jess Thorpe and Tashi Gore (codirectors of Junction 25), I was able to begin and uphold a relationship that
was integral to my research. Following the event I set up a number of
meetings and interviews with these practitioners that formed part of an
ongoing dialogue about their practice, which directly informed the work in
my MPhil Thesis. I was able to attend rehearsals for their show Gender
Divide, which also led to me being invited to collaborate on another project
with Thorpe and Gore and their company Glas(s) Performance. This event
also allowed me to discuss my ideas with Ronan Deazley, professor of
commercial law at the University of Glasgow. His insights and reflections on
the ideas for my research into Authorship in devised theatre-making were
fundamental to the development of my thesis.
Steve Collins, a postgraduate student who delivered a joint paper with Prof Ronan
Deazley has also recently started a PhD at the University of Glasgow which works
with both the Law and Theatre Studies departments. Following Performance and
Ownership, Cassandra Rutherford also interviewed John Cairns in relation to rural
theatre touring in Scotland of which he has great experience. This not only
directly influenced her PhD thesis but has also enabled her to make contacts
within the sector which will undoubtedly be of help in her future career.
Within the University the event also served to highlight and reinforce
connections across departments. As this was the first year that Music, Theatre,
Film and TV, CCPR and Art History merged into the School of Culture and Creative
Arts, the committee felt that the inclusion of Dr Bjorn Heile from Music Studies on
one of the panels reflected the recent interdisciplinary shifts that the University
itself was making. Dr Paul Routledge from Geography was also invited to give a
paper on his research in radical performance practice, providing a platform for a new
channel of communication between Theatre Studies and Geography. There are now
discussions in place to bring Dr Routledge back to Theatre Studies as a visiting
speaker in the near future.
Another key stated aim was to provide the postgraduate organisers with crucial
professional development experience in organising and hosting a scholarly event of
this nature. There is now a core of confident experience within the postgraduate
research community of Theatre Studies which we can build on in organising future
events, such as the series Performance Minded screenings which have continued
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into this academic session, allowing us to continue to build a proactive and enlivened
research community into the future.
One of the key points of feedback which we received in multiple instances was the
need for better marketing of the event. While attendance was of a reasonable
number, and across a diverse range of disciplines, more organised marketing and a
bigger marketing budget would have allowed us to bring in more of the University’s
postgraduate community outside of the Theatre Studies. We would also like future
events to serve as a better opportunity for networking across institutions. A more
active marketing role would have allowed us to bring in more attendees from out with
the University of Glasgow.
Conclusion
Overall it was felt, by both the organising committee and members of staff
within the Theatre Studies department, that Performance and Ownership had
been a success. It brought together a range of speakers and spectators from
various disciplines and backgrounds enabling some new interdisciplinary
conversations to emerge. Furthermore, whilst only eight feedback sheets were
returned of those six said that they would be interested in attending future
‘Performance Minded’ events and four asked to be added to any future mailing
lists. As the only Theatre Studies department in Scotland which is predominantly
research based this event was a great starting point for initiating interdisciplinary
dialogues which have performance at their core. It also helped to develop the
research interests and skill sets of each of those involved in the organisation of the
event as a whole.
Figure 2: Performance and Ownership
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Appendix A: Feedback Sheets for Performance Minded event (Dec 2010) –
Results are out of 8 feedback sheets.
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What have you gained from this experience?
“New insights into the ownership of community based artistic productions.”
“Speakers were engaging.”
“It gave me the opportunity to listen about issues new to me, regarding the
folklore performances.”
“Coming from another related field the practitioner talks provided a fresh take on
topics that I am focused on. The interdisciplinary nature of the talks was also
extremely valuable.”
“I think the engagement across disciplines was really exciting and offers great
potential for even more academic collaborations.”
“The differences between Chinese symposiums and UK ones.”
“A Knowledge of whole new branches of research and thought that pull on many
bigger theories for specific events.”
“I was able to situate my research topic ‘copyright and ownership of performance
art’ in a wider context both multidisciplinary, international and historically.”
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What do you think could be improved?
“Not much – very well organised, some very powerful presentations.”
“I only found out about it on the day, more advertising perhaps?”
“Nothing specifically, maybe more advertisement.”
“I think more of the same in future – the symposium was really well organised and
the range of speakers was well thought out.”
“Attendance...more undergrads should be attending. Also the written programmes
could be a bit more engaging. Ooh...and also Q&As could be after each
paper....but maybe too laborious.”
“A Chinese interpreter would be helpful – ha ha joking. Seriously it was excellent.
I like all of it.”
“The material presented was quite dense, if there were ways to distribute either
the speaker’s essays or main field of thought, the material would be clearer.
New Initiatives Fund Report
I think that it would be helpful if there could be a greater integration of speakers
and the theme (i.e. quickly have either students or speakers talk about how each
piece of research relates to the theme.)”
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Would you be interested in attending future events?
Yes: 6
“Yep, I’d keep interested in it. Broaden my view and force me to think some
issues happening around my life that I’ve never noticed. I think you should
recorded it and make it public online, may cause more participants. Thanks a
lot.”
“Yes, in my main studies you don’t often come into contact with current theory,
mostly classic or big names. Very interesting.”
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Mailing List:
(4 email addresses)
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