“Pagtitipon/Gathering: First Conference on Performance Studies in the Philippines” will be held on Aug. 24, 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m., at De La Salle University-Manila. This one-day conference seeks to gather scholars, researchers, artists and practitioners to explore the possibility of birthing a new “field” of studying and doing performance in the country.

Performance Studies is an emerging field of program, interdisciplinary in nature, offered in major universities around the world. The “turn to performance” has become a critical practice in many fields of the humanities and social sciences.

In January 2013, during the initial meeting of the group that would later call themselves “Performance Studies Philippines,” there was a strong consensus that serious gaps need to be addressed in performance research and artistic practices in the country: artists need to talk about their work and engage in self-reflexive conversations with those who research and write on performance; a platform must be developed in which independent artists will have a space for making performance and theorizing their practice; a link must be established between practitioners and the academe; and a space must be formed in the academy devoted to performance studies and its productive uses for local performance practices and the communities that sustain them.

Thus, this conference attempts to initiate this meeting and collaboration of diverse artistic and critical minds.

The keynote performance lecture, on the Sukdan Shaman Narratives on Francisco Dagohoy, will be delivered by Ulysses Aparece, vice chancellor of academics-general education of the University of Cebu.

Other speakers: Maaike Bleeker, professor of Theater Studies at Utrecht University-the Netherlands and president of Performance Studies international; Paul Alexander Rae of National University of Singapore; Lutgardo Labad, head of the Committee on Dramatic Arts of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA); and Basilio Esteban Villaruz, president of World Dance Alliance Philippines. Jazmin Badong Llana of DLSU serves as conference convener.

Organizers and partners are DLSU-Manila’s College of Liberal Arts, Department of Literature, Bienvenido N. Santos Creative Writing Center, and Cultural Affairs Office; University of the Philippines-Diliman’s College of Arts and Letters, Department of Arts Studies, and Department of Speech Communication and Theater Arts; Ateneo de Manila University’s Fine Arts and Humanities program; Philippine Educational Theater Association; Lusong Culture and Arts Network, Inc.; and NCCA.

There is no registration fee, but slots are limited. Meals will not be served.

Call 0939-5792168; e-mail [email protected] (subject: Confirming attendance at Aug. 24 Pagtitipon with name, institutional/organizational affiliation).