Among 
the 
People: 
Arts, 
Improvisation, 
and 
Well -Being

Call
 for 
Papers 
– 2015 
marks 
the 
50th 
anniversary of 
the 
founding 
of 
the 
Association 
for 
the 
Advancement of 
Creative 
Musicians 
(AACM), 
a 
ground breaking organization 
with 
a 
commitment
 to
 fostering musicians’
 growth 
and 
to 
the 
development
 of 
new, serious, 
and 
creative 
musics. 
Importantly, 
as 
George Lewis 
notes, 
the
group 
used 
its 
charter 
to 
lay
 out 
a 
set of 
nine 
purposes 
that 
“reflected 
serious
 engagement with 
social, 
cultural, 
and 
spiritual 
issues 
affecting 
black musicians 
and 
their
 community” 
(A 
Power
 Stronger
 Than 
Itself: 
The 
AACM 
and 
American 
Experimental
 Music).

In
 the 
spirit 
of 
these 
deep 
commitments 
to 
musical
 and cultural 
well‐being, 
this 
colloquium
 asks: 
How 
might participation 
in 
musical 
improvisation 
be 
understood to 
affect 
the 
health
–
physical, 
mental, 
spiritual, 
and relational
–
of 
those 
who 
participate 
in 
listening 
to 
or creating 
it? 
An 
emerging 
field 
of 
exploration 
and scholarship investigates 
and 
asserts 
the 
positive 
effects of 
arts 
participation 
on 
individual 
and 
community well-being, 
yet 
many 
questions 
remain. 
How
 might 
we explain 
the ways 
in 
which 
people 
are 
affected
 by music-making, 
at 
neurological 
and 
physical 
levels, 
in terms 
of 
emotional 
and 
interpersonal 
wellness?
 And what 
about 
when that 
music 
is 
improvised?
 Are
 there ways 
in 
which 
the
 relatively 
unstructured 
and 
open nature 
of 
improvised 
jazz 
and 
other 
music
 enable 
and encourage 
wellness 
at 
the 
personal 
and 
group 
levels? How 
do 
improvisational 
practices 
resist 
the
 erosion 
of public 
spaces 
and 
the 
rise 
of 
the 
surveillance 
state?
 Can improvisational 
artists
 preserve 
their 
social 
and cultural 
mobility? 
And 
what 
about 
other 
forms 
of improvised 
creative 
practice, 
such 
as 
visual 
art, 
dance, and 
theatre? 
How 
might 
we
conceptualize
 and 
explore the 
links 
between 
improvised 
creative 
practices 
and social, 
cultural, 
and 
environmental 
health, 
broadly conceived?

From 
the 
roots 
of 
improvised 
jazz 
as 
a 
means 
to 
resist, challenge,
 and 
survive 
brutal 
racism; 
to 
the long standing 
relationship 
between 
folk 
musics 
and
 struggles 
for 
social 
justice; 
to 
the 
clinical 
practices 
of art 
and 
music 
therapists
–
arts 
and 
well-being 
have long 
been 
intertwined. 
At 
the 
2015 
Guelph 
Jazz Festival 
Colloquium, 
a
diverse 
group 
of 
artists, workers, 
activists,
 scholars,
 and
 other 
thinkers 
will come 
together 
to 
reflect 
upon 
these 
connections, 
and upon 
the 
questions
 above. 
We 
will
engage 
in 
shared
 experiences 
and 
conversations 
with 
the 
intent 
of learning 
with
 and 
from 
each 
other. The 
International 
Institute 
for 
Critical 
Studies 
in Improvisation,
in
 partnership 
with 
the 
Guelph 
Jazz Festival 
and 
the 
University 
of 
Guelph, 
invites 
proposals for 
presentations 
at 
our
 annual 
three-day interdisciplinary
 and 
multi-genre
 conference.
 The colloquium
 will 
take 
place 
Sept 
16-18 
as 
part 
of 
the 22nd 
annual 
Guelph 
Jazz 
Festival 
(Sept
 16-20). Featuring
 panel 
discussions, 
debates,
immersive
 experiences,
 and 
dialogues 
among 
researchers, 
artists,
 and 
audiences, 
the 
colloquium
 fosters
 a 
spirit 
of collaborative, 
boundary-defying 
inquiry 
and
dialogue
 and 
an 
international 
exchange
 of 
cultural 
forms 
and knowledges.

We
 welcome 
proposals 
for 
paper 
presentations, 
panel or 
roundtable 
discussions, 
musical 
and 
other 
creative performances,
 and
 experiential 
offerings 
such 
as 
arts

workshops 
and 
multi-media 
presentations. 
Please indicate 
the 
format 
of 
your 
contribution 
and 
any technical 
or 
other 
resources 
you 
require. 
We 
also invite participants 
to 
submit 
completed 
versions 
of their 
presentations 
to 
be 
considered 
for 
publication 
in our 
peer-reviewed 
journal, 
Critical 
Studies 
in Improvisation/Etudes
 critiques 
en 
improvisation (www.criticalimprov.com).


Please 
send
 500
 word
 proposals 
(for 
15 
minute 
delivery
–
alternate 
formats
 will 
also
 be 
considered) 
and 
a 
short 
bio (maximum
 250 
words) 
by 
March
15th, 
2015 
to:
The
 Guelph 
Jazz 
Festival 
Colloquium, 
c/o 
Dr. 
Elizabeth
 Jackson

jazzcoll@uoguelph.ca

Original Call for Papers.