Colloquium - The Changing Face of Theatre Criticism in the Digital Age. Brock University, 21-22 February 2014

[Karen Fricker]

** apologies for cross posting** 


The Changing Face of Theatre Criticism in the Digital Age

A Colloquium at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts at Brock University

21-22 February 2014

Part of the visit of Walker Cultural Leader Jill Dolan to Brock

This colloquium considers the changing face of performing arts criticism in the 21st century, with a particular focus on taking stock of the current critical scene in Niagara, and imagining possible futures. It is an extension of the visit of Professor Jill Dolan (Princeton University) to Brock from 20-22 February 2014 as part of the Walker Cultural Leaders series. Dolan is a distinguished feminist theatre scholar and the creator of the award-winning Feminist Spectator blog. The colloquium is also funded by Brock's Humanities Research Institute and its SSHRC Institutional Grant scheme, and by the St Catharines Performing Arts Centre.

 The larger context is the fact that arts criticism is changing rapidly in the contemporary era, as outlets for print criticism continue to dwindle, and the internet grows ever stronger as a site for the dissemination of thought and opinion via online professional publications, and group and individual blog sites. In some quarters, these changes are viewed as a significant crisis of authority: whence subject-specific knowledge and experience if everyone and anyone can be a critic? Another view sees this as an evolution rather than crisis, as a period of positive democratization of dialogue about culture in the public sphere. The academy has stakes in this debate in that scholars rely on (and sometimes participate in) popular criticism as documentation, and have the capacity to deepen these dialogues by proffering a broad scholarly perspective on the history of critical practices, questions of authority and value, and on the implications of the digitalization of culture.

The goal of this gathering is to take stock of current theatre and performance criticism practices in the Niagara region, and in the Greater Toronto Area more broadly; and to think through ways to grow a more robust critical infrastructure to support the burgeoning performing arts scene in the our region in anticipation of the opening in 2015 of the new downtown complex housing the Marilyn I. Walker School for the Fine and Performing Arts, and the St Catharines Centre for the Arts.

The colloquium is free of charge and open to the public. Full schedule below. All events take place in Sankey Chambers on Brock's St. Catharines campus. 

All events will be live-streamed at http://brockvideocenter.brocku.ca (click "Live Videos"), and live-Tweeted (follow #DARTcritics). For more information please email kfricker at brocku.ca.

*** In addition to her participation in this colloquium, at Brock Jill Dolan will offer a public lecture, “Moving the Body Politic: How Feminism and Theatre Inspire Social Re-imaginings", co-sponsored by the Brock's Department of Dramatic Arts and Centre for Women's and Gender Studies, on 21 February, 10 - 12 am, which is open to the public and free of charge. ***



Schedule

Friday, 21st February, 2:00 - 2:30 pm. Welcome and presentation by students in DART 3P96: Studies in Praxis - Theatre Criticism

2:30 - 4:00 pm. Panel discussion: Critics and the arts in Niagara

Participants:  Jill Dolan (respondent); Monica Dufault, artistic director, Essential Collective Theatre;  David Fancy, associate professor of Dramatic Arts, Brock University, co-artistic director, neXt Company Theatre (chair); John Law, arts and entertainment writer, Sun Media; Sara Palmieri, co-founder, In the Soil Festival;  Stephen Remus, minister of energy, minds, and resources, Niagara Arts Centre; Steve Solski, director, St Catharines Centre for the Performing Arts; Candice Turner-Smith, managing director, Niagara Symphony Orchestra

4:15 - 5:45 pm. Panel discussion: Embedded criticism: a new way forward, or criticism-as-PR?

Participants: Maddy Costa, critic and blogger, London, UK; Karen Fricker, assistant professor of Dramatic Arts, Brock University; Andy Horwitz, founder, Culturebot.org, New York; Jackie Maxwell, artistic director, Shaw Festival; Jacob Gallagher-Ross, assistant professor of theatre, State University of New York at Buffalo (respondent); Lawrence Switzky, assistant professor of drama, University of Toronto at Mississauga (chair)

Saturday, 22nd February, 10:00- 10:30 am. Welcome and presentation by students in DART 3P96: Studies in Praxis - Theatre Criticism

10:30 - 12 pm. Panel discussion: Bloggers, critics, and cultural legitimation

Participants: Jill Dolan; Karen Fricker (chair); Andy Horwitz (respondent);  J. Kelly Nestruck, lead theatre critic, The Globe and Mail;  Richard Ouzonian, lead theatre critic, Toronto Star;  Holger Syme, chair, Department of English, University of Toronto at Mississauga, and blogger at disposito.net; Odette Yazbeck, director of public relations, Shaw Festival

 12:15 - 1 pm. Colloquium wrap-up

Participants: Maddy Costa; Jill Dolan; Karen Fricker (chair); Rosemary Drage Hale, Director of the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Brock University; Andy Horwitz.

_________________________
Karen Fricker, PhD
Assistant Professor of Dramatic Arts
Brock University
ST 104 - 500 Glenridge Avenue
St Catharines, ON L2S 3A1
kfricker at brocku.ca
+ 1 (905) 688-5550 x 5780

Brock students' theatre criticism online: DARTcritics.com

Personal blog: karenfricker.wordpress.com









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