Dear Colleagues,

I hope you will kindly share this special opportunity to participate in an ‘Emerging Ideas Roundtable’ with graduate students and emerging scholars that do work relevant to children, youth and the performing arts. The deadline to express interest is Friday, April 4th, 2025 and only requires a brief bio of 50-200 words (details below).

The Children, Youth, and Performance Conference will hold several ‘Emerging Ideas Roundtables’ over the two conference days, in addition with other presentations (workshops, case studies, panels, performances etc.). The conference will be held in-person from July 12-13, 2025, in Toronto, Canada. Participating in these roundtables is a low-pressure opportunity for new scholars and artist-researchers to gain scholarly presentation experience at a large international conference in their field, and make connections with others who have similar areas of interest and expertise. Roundtable participants will also have access to panels, workshops, performances, and networking sessions throughout the CYP conference.

Presenters selected to participate in an ‘Emerging Ideas Roundtable’ will share new project ideas, works-in-progress, practices and/or innovations related to children, youth, and the performing arts. This presentation format is a fast-paced way to share new innovations and make connections with other emerging scholars, practitioners and experts in the field. Each roundtable participant will speak for three minutes about their work (no slides). This will be followed by a longer, moderated discussion period with the audience. Please note that roundtable participants, like all presenters, will have to officially register for the conference in order to be included in the conference schedule (details shared upon acceptance).

The Children, Youth, and Performance Conference is held in partnership with York University and Young People’s Theatre in Toronto, Canada. The conference will take place from July 12-13, 2025, in-person in downtown Toronto.  This international, peer-reviewed conference is an exchange of knowledge between researchers, performers, educators, practitioners, and community organizers, putting performance research to work and examining its effects on the lives of young people. Through a range of informative and interactive sessions, participants will discuss the future applications and implications of performance work with, by, for, and about children and youth. We were thrilled to have more than 200 attendees participate in our highly interactive conference in 2024, and look forward to continuing the robust and fruitful conversations in July 2025!

In order to apply to be accepted as an ‘Emerging Ideas Roundtable’ participant, please send a brief biography (50-200 words) outlining some of your recent work and/or research interests relevant to children, youth and the performing arts to our conference chair (ashabtay@yorku.ca) by Friday, April 4th, 2025. Please clearly indicate in your bio any institutional affiliation you currently have (for example, if you are a current MA/MFA/PhD/EdD student, a faculty member, or recent graduate of a particular program).

To follow CYP Conference updates and learn more, feel free to ‘like’ the conference Facebook page (facebook.com/CYPConference).

We look forward to hearing from you,

Abigail Shabtay, PhD, (she/her)

Conference Chair, CYP Conference,