A call for abstracts for InSEA 2014, the 34th World Congress of the International Society of Education through Art, to be held in Melbourne, Australia 7-11 July 2014.

Abstracts will be considered that address issues identified in the overall Congress theme ‘Diversity through Art’ and can be submitted under the following sub-themes.

1. Change
   What changes are needed in a contemporary arts education landscape?


2. Continuity
   What is important to preserve amidst arts education/policy/change?


3. Context
   How do we address/contest/maintain arts education in diverse contexts?

Recent decades have seen the greatest transition in visual culture in history. The creative emphasis has moved from object to the idea with conceptual art; photography, film and print media have emerged as independent art forms; alternate and new media have developed as major creative forces globally; sculpture has diversified into installation and performance art; the digital revolution has integrated its technology into conventional art forms and developed its own electronic creative domain; the ‘isms’ of modernism have multiplied in a post modern environment, stimulated by the diversification of the supporting, sometimes leading, theoretical discourse which surrounds contemporary practice. In addition, the global push has stimulated international markets and led to the emergence of powerful visual cultures not driven by Euro/American aesthetic ideals, building exciting affirmations of nationally based visual culture and there has been a renewed interest in indigenous traditions of art and craft, which have enriched the quality and scope of world art.

The art context has also changed through global movement, with migration and the development of large national diasporas as well as transitions in cultural mix through refugee movement. The result is a vast array of aesthetic and cultural issues embedded in diverse social contexts. Needless to say, the challenge for art education is immense.

The 2014 InSEA Congress addresses these diverse issues, the difficulties and challenges which derive from them with reference to the multicultural environment of the present. Australia is one of the most culturally diverse nations on earth and Melbourne is a striking demonstration of the resultant diversity and is well placed to reflect these challenges.

Abstracts must follow the guidelines available on the website and can be for proposals of presentations in various formats, described on the website.

Deadline: 1 November 2013