News Blog

TAI Advisory member Geoff Baker opened the 5th SIMM-posium on the 12th of January 2021 with a keynote on Rethinking Social Action Through Music. The keynote was presented by TAI member Lukas Pairon and was followed by an exchange with SIMM-president John Sloboda (Guildhall School of Music and Drama, UK).

Every year since 2015, the international research platform SIMM (Social Impact of Music Making) has brought together experts from the fields of musical practice and research. After Brussels and Ghent, London, Porto and Bogota, the annual SIMM-posium returns to Belgium this winter, hosted by BOZAR. From 12 January to 9 March, weekly online sessions will bring together some of the world’s leading specialists to explore themes that combine music and activism.

The UNESCO Chair in Arts, Education and Culture of Peace awarded to TAI Co-Investigator Gloria Zapata at Juan N. Corpas University Foundation, Colombia, was virtually launched 23-09-2020. The event was delivered via Google Meet and included three key inputs, including one by Oscar Odena at University of Glasgow on the uses of music in intergroup activities, followed by a Q&A session. Other key inputs were delivered by Brazilian artist and researcher Mónica Hopff, and by Samuel Araujo, ethnomusicologist at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

Following the coronavirus situation and after consultation it has been decided that the 13-14 May workshop in Glasgow will be postponed. Please know that the health and well-being of delegates, venue and University staffs are our first priority. The UK Government has increased the risk level in the UK to high (www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public). 

CALL FOR SPONSORED PRESENTATIONS: up to eight UK-based doctoral and postdoctoral researchers, academics, practice and policy leaders will be invited to present their work and offered sponsorship covering travel to Glasgow, 2-night accommodation and meals.

This 2-day workshop aims to stimulate participants to reflect on the role of the performing arts for developing peace education, social inclusion and conflict transformation. It combines a number of activities organised by the Arts and Humanities Research Council Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) The Arts of Inclusion (TAI) Network.

The 1st The Arts of Inclusion (TAI) Workshop was successfully held in Bogota' 28-29 July 2019 hosted by Gloria P. Zapata at Fundación Juan N. Corpas (FUJNC), following the 4th SIMM-posium, 27-29 July, 2019.

The summary of the paper ‘Developing a Framework for the Study of Performing Arts Programs for Other-than-artistic Purposes in Conflict Settings’ presented at the SIMM-Posium 4: Bogotá (26-27 July 2019) is now available at http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/192773/ .

This paper discusses the process of developing a new framework combining ideas from Community Music (Howell, 2018), Social Psychology (Pettigrew, 1998; Odena, 2018) and Peace Studies (Cabedo-Mas, 2015), aimed at providing a tool for researchers wishing to systematically examine Performing Arts programs for other-than-artistic purposes in conflict settings.

The first TAI (The Arts of Inclusion) project Advisory meeting was held March 27th, 3-4 pm UK time at the School of Education, University of Glasgow. Locally-based Advisory members attended face-to-face and international members joined in by videoconference.

Some members were in opposite time zones and it was not feasible for all to Skype-in; the second Advisory meeting will be in the morning to allow everybody to contribute.