>Since I received on December 15th the following information "The
>conference budget is unable to provide presenters with airfare and hotel
>accommodations" I am simply shocked by such a pathetic and unacceptable
>attitude.
>All the best to all of you.
>Jean-Marc Matos
It's unfortunate that in America (perhaps it's the "free capitalist" thing)
academic conferences rarely, if ever, offer support to their presenters.
In Europe, the exact opposite tends to be true. Many European conferences
offer presenters a free ride - some even cover expenses. At the very
least, it becomes a priority of the conference organisers to provide
funding for those not supported by their own institutions and for
independent artists. Perhaps this is more a reflection on Europe's
attitude to the arts and to artists than anything else - but perhaps it
runs into that deeper vein about "self-reliance" of which Americans seem so
fond.
I don't think we can "blame" IDAT for the situation in which artists
(particularly independent artists) are unable to attend and present their
work because funding is not available. Invited artists, in the final
analysis, are invited to come and participate in a conference from which
they will hopefully take away as much as they bring. I do think it's a
problem, particularly in the US, that it's not a priority to fund
independent artists to attend such events - or that public or private
funding is not terribly available to support this kind of activity. On the
other hand, an invitation to present work at a conference is not the same
as an invitation to give a public performance - for which one should of
course be paid a fee. I would like to see it become the status quo for all
academic and other conferences to offer - at the very least - to cover the
costs of all their presenters. I fear we're a long way from that ever
happening.
RP