Building a Conference-Festival Model
Spring 2023 marked the start of ICAS 13 for me, when we found our solid partner, Airlangga Institute of Indian Ocean Crossroads (AIIOC), to jump into this ICAS adventure with us. The shaping of ICAS 13 happened in the months that followed, in which we together decided to host a full in-person, locally-relevant conference that would not be bound by disciplines and regions. For the first time, ICAS proposals were not categorized by academic discipline but rather into broad overarching themes that were designed to create opportunities for transdisciplinary conversations. Alongside the more academic part, we envisioned a festival to complement the conference at which knowledge could be shared outside the conventional academic setting. With these ideas in mind, we continued to prepare for a Conference-Festival (ConFest) that would grow beyond academic boundaries by reaching out to other communities in society and celebrating the diverse types of knowledge creation.
After a lot of planning and discussion about how the festival part of the ConFest should take shape, we decided to expand our proposal format types, adding the proposal formats ‘Activity/Workshop’ and ‘Exhibition’ to be an essential part of the festival. For these new aspects, I was more involved in preparing for the activities and workshops. Though I did not have the chance to visit any of the workshops, unfortunately, the positive feedback I got from both contributors and participants was such an encouragement. Learning how scholars, artists, and practitioners from abroad collaborated with a local counterpart to share and create knowledge together was the best result I could wish for.
Fig. 2: Setting up signposts at ICAS 13, 2024.
On a personal level, I was glad that we could meet our participants in person again. I almost forgot how extremely rewarding it is to see the wonderful smiling faces of our participants enjoying the content that we worked hard to put together for them. Finally, I am incredibly grateful for all the amazing teams I have worked with that made ICAS 13 possible. It is not every day that I meet colleagues, both at AIIOC and IIAS, so committed and hardworking. From working jointly on screen for months to preparing the last details together at each other's side, we shared many joyful and funny moments. This is an ICAS that I will remember for the partnerships and friendships that have flourished from it.