The special theme of this year’s Conference is art as communication.
The annual International Conference on the Arts in Society (The Arts Conference) and The International Journal of the Arts in Society create fora for discussion and visual critique, and a place for the publication of innovative theories and practices in the arts. The purpose of the annual Arts Conference is to create an intellectual frame of reference for the arts and arts practices, and to create an interdisciplinary conversation on the role of the arts in society. It is intended as a place for critical engagement, examination, and experimentation of ideas that connect the arts to their contexts in the world, on stage, in museums and galleries, on the streets, and in communities.
This year's annual conference will address a range of critically important issues and themes relating to the arts today, including:
Art and EducationSupporting the Arts (including Bottom lines: The economics of the arts; Starving artists and the state
Commercialism in art;
The role of government in arts funding;
The creative industries in a post-industrial society;
Cultural Institutions and Museums;
Marketing the arts;
Arts advocacy;
Sponsorship and philanthropy in the arts;
Art trade: Buying and selling arts objects, cultural properties and copyrights
Art in Communities
Audiences Festivals
Art and Human Rights
Public Art and Public Policy

The deadline for the next round in the Call for Papers is 13 March, 2008