2020 a2ru National Conference

The Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (a2ru) invites you to join us for the 2020 a2ru national conference, Land and Equity: The Art and Politics of Place, to be held online and hosted by the University of Wisconsin–Madison, starting October 15, 2020. Programming will spread across the second half of October, primarily taking place in the late afternoon Eastern Time.

a2ru advances the full range of arts and design-integrative research, curricula, programs, and creative practice from across the disciplines in order to acknowledge, articulate, and expand the vital role of higher education in our global society. a2ru’s work, in partnership with more than 35 research institutions, envisions a world in which universities—students, faculty, and leaders—explore, embed, and integrate the arts in everyday practice and research. The a2ru National Conference is an opportunity for practitioners and researchers from across the higher education spectrum to share innovations and perspectives in the arts.

The 2020 conference will be hosted by a2ru partner University of Wisconsin–Madison, a Big Ten Research 1 land grant institution that has worldwide impact while remaining inextricably rooted in the state it serves. One of the oldest and deepest traditions of the University is The Wisconsin Idea, the principle that its research and teaching should better the lives of people not only in the classroom but also throughout the state and the world. The University of Wisconsin-Madison is dedicated to intentionally and publicly acknowledging that it occupies ancestral Ho-Chunk land, called Teejop since time immemorial, which the Ho-Chunk were forced to cede in 1832.

The 2020 theme Land & Equity considers how our work as artistic, scientific, and humanist researchers and educators is defined by the land on which we find ourselves, and asks who has access to that land and its resources? In turn, we will examine how our art, research, and teaching impacts the places and spaces in which we live and work, and discuss ways that we can use that work to advance more equitable access.