Amplify & Ignite

The symposium will be held at
Todd Haimes Theatre and NYU

April 4-7, 2024

Join us for Amplify & Ignite, a Symposium jointly sponsored by AATE’s Research & Scholarship Network and NYU Steinhardt’s Program in Educational Theatre.

In this Symposium, we will demystify and reimagine the writing and publishing process in youth theatre, theatre education, theatre for young audiences, and other related fields. Arts-based research can be public scholarship–and in light of that, join this diverse gathering of researchers (educators, artists, and audience) to share our work, develop or reimagine scholarly practices, and commit to supporting each other in amplifying the dynamic theatre work happening across our field.

Working Groups - Intentions

This Symposium cohort will represent a cross-section of the field who will engage in interactive community-building, writing-partner-matching, mentorship, and support. As part of AATE’s commitment to anti-racism, we hope to provide space to support emerging scholars and writers to ensure we are including the voices, experiences, and perspectives of people who have historically and systemically been left out. We long for more participation of people who have been marginalized, oppressed, or targeted because of race, socioeconomic class, color, national origin, religion, diverse perspectives, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, neurological or physical ability, veteran status, legal status, or education level.

In the Symposium, participants will engage in workshops, panel discussions, research presentations, and deliberative working groups–but most importantly, dialogue about our work and the various means of scholarly documentation and dissemination.

All participants will engage in one of three ongoing working groups who will discuss the various symposium presentations and experiences:

Artist as scholar
Audience as scholar
Teacher as scholar

As participants select a group, consider: if I identify as an artist, or an audience member, or educator (and not yet a scholar) - how can I look at my involvement with theatre by, for, and/or with youth in whatever space or in applied theatre as a way into research and scholarship? Am I the artist who will be a research subject (whether I am the researcher or someone else is)? Am I an artist whose art will be the subject of research (whether I will do the research or someone else will)? Am I a researcher invested in the artist as a research subject? Any way in would put the right people in dialogue together. Substitute audience or educator in each for the other groups.

Following the Symposium, participants will commit to regular engagement with AATE’s Research & Scholarship Network meetings which will be scheduled on Zoom. Our hope is that our dialogue will inspire new contributions to scholarship, conference presentations, and collaborations that will continue at events such as the annual AATE National Conference and the International Drama in Education Research Institute (IDIERI) in Vancouver in summer 2025.

You can access a PDF of the schedule and sessions descriptions at this link.

To register for the Symposium, access the AATE Symposium registration site.