Call for Sessions - Now Open!

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Benefits of Presenting

• Inspire your peers by sharing your creative placemaking projects

• Gain exposure for your organization 

• Receive an honoraria

• Enjoy a significantly discounted registration for the full conference
   

Timeline for Application Submission​

1. November 15, 2024 - 11:59 pm EST - deadline to submit - DEADLINE EXTENDED

2. December 1, 2024 – Applicants informed of decision 

 

All announcements regarding the applications will be made through the official conference event platform WHOVA. If you have applied, you will receive updates via WHOVA to the email provided in the application.

 

Conference Theme and Topics

The theme for this year’s conference is The Power of Community.

Although you are welcome to submit any topic related to creative placemaking, the Conference is specifically seeking sessions on the topics below:

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• Community Engagement:  Projects led by grass-roots community efforts that include collaboration with artists (visual, performing) and members of your community. These can be public art, cultural districts and downtowns, new community arts policies and systems change. This includes projects that start directly from the ground-up from local communities who work together to coalesce and pursue resources and support including grant funding, government partnerships, or partnerships with private and/or public foundations.

 

• Racial and Socioeconomic Equity: Policies, projects and programs that address racial, social and economic equity through the lens of creative placemaking. This includes projects that include voices that have historically not been represented in decisions affecting change or impact in a community affected by racial, socioeconomic, and cultural disparities.
   

• Addressing Gentrification: Projects and policies that specifically address the challenge of gentrification and displacement through place honoring and place keeping of historic and culturally significant neighborhoods.
   

• Projects representing the following states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Indiana and the additional Appalachian region including New York, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland.
   

• Projects representing these communities: Populations under 200,000; particularly rural areas and small townships, micropolitan regions (county or counties or equivalent entities associated with at least one urban cluster of at least 10,000 but less than 50,000 population), and indigenous tribal communities.

 

Presentation Formats

The Power of Community is offering the following formats to choose from for your session. Please review thoroughly to make sure your session application and content fits into one of these formats.

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Sessions should be approximately 70-75 minutes in length and can include recorded media.

• Hands-on Workshop (1-2 facilitators): Interactive workshops focused on teaching practical skills, strategies, and techniques. This would not be a lecture-style session.

• Panel Presentation (2-3 panelists, can include a moderator): Presentations of projects past, current and future. Panels should include a diverse set of voices, featuring perspectives from multiple disciplines, projects, backgrounds or cultures. We cannot accept a panel where all speakers are from the same company/organization. 

• Research or Case Study Presentation (1-2 presenters): A presentation on research or a case study on one of the specific topics requested by the Summit. This can include presenters from the same organization.
   

Application & Review Process

Please submit your proposal through this LINK on our event platform WHOVA. We cannot accept applications submitted through email.

 

Application Scoring

‍Your application summary should include how your session aligns with the mission of the Conference of creating new learning opportunities, showcasing unique projects, policy and systems change, multi and interdisciplinary collaboration, and community engagement.

Acceptance will be based on completeness and quality of the application, as well as the following scoring criteria: 

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1. Relevance to the theme of The Power of Community

2. Relevance to the Conference mission

3. Adherence to the preferred Conference topics and session format

4. Multi or interdisciplinary collaboration (to include multiple voices and perspectives)

5. Tactical and practical lessons for attendees

6. Originality/Uniqueness
    

Applications will be evaluated and scored by the Conference Curatorial Committee, which includes creative placemaking practitioners located throughout the South, Appalachian Region and the Midwest.
 

• Please submit ONLY one application

• Applicants will be notified of final decision no later than December 1, 2024

• If selected to present, you will be required to register for the Conference.

• Selected speakers will receive a discounted rate to the full Conference and an honorarium. The honorarium will be determined by the total number of presentations and speakers.

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Tips for Submitting a Strong Application:

• Have a strong and compelling title - choose an engaging and concise title that clearly describes your session

• Create a detailed description of your proposed session that gives attendees a clear idea of what to expect. Include tactical information and methods that lead to work they can return to their stakeholders. If selected, you will have an opportunity to make fine-tune edits before we publish the agenda. 

• Be complete and comprehensive - To make your proposal more compelling, avoid including placeholder information. Provide adequate details about your session content and speakers so the Curatorial Committee can understand your vision. 

• Make sure your proposed format fits into the Conference criteria of Panel presentation, Case Study or Hands-on Workshop. Consider including techniques and activities you will use to engage the audience. 

• Check your application prior to submitting by reviewing for clarity, completeness, and spelling and punctuation errors.​

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VIDEO Tutorial on how to submit from WHOVA. Please note: If you have attended a previous event using the WHOVA app, you may already have an email in their system and should use that when prompted to give your email address.

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