2025 a2ru Conference: “Creative Futures: Driving Interdisciplinary Innovation Through the Arts”
About the Conference & Host
A2ru’s next annual conference will take place October 23-25, 2025 at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. This will be an in-person conference.
The a2ru national conference is an opportunity for practitioners and researchers from across higher education to share innovations and perspectives in the arts. a2ru advances the full range of arts- and design-integrative research, curricula, programs, and creative practice to acknowledge, articulate, and expand the vital role of higher education in our global society. a2ru’s work, in partnership with an international network of leading higher education institutions, allies, and partners, envisions a world in which universities—students, faculty, and leaders—explore, embed, and integrate the arts in everyday practice and research.
Image above: Ho-Chunk banners are pictured hanging between the building columns of Bascom Hall at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The three-paneled banners, entitled Seed to Seed, were created by UW–Madison doctoral student Molli Pauliot and professors Marianne Fairbanks and Stephen Hilyard. (Drone photo by Jason Weiss / University Communications)
The Theme
This year’s theme, “Creative Futures: Driving Interdisciplinary Innovation Through the Arts,” explores how future-thinking in the arts can reimagine and redefine disciplines, collaboration, and the academy to better meet the demands of our rapidly shifting technological, ecological, and political landscape. How can we center creativity in the interdisciplinary problem solving needed to meet these current challenges? How can we use the arts to advance our goals of sustainability, social justice, and human flourishing? In this moment, how can the arts illuminate what it means to be a human being?
Registration
Registration is now open! The below Early Bird rates are in effect until June 30; regular rates will go into effect July 1. We will not be offering virtual registration options this year.
Member Rates:
Individual: $499
Student: $369
Contingent/Independent Scholar/Artist: $249
Non-Member Rates:
Individual: $609
Student: $479
Contingent/Independent Scholar/Artist: $299
Please contact us at a2ruconnect@umich.edu with questions or to arrange group registrations.
Please note: Presenter rates will be offered to those whose conference submissions are included in this year’s program; those whose submissions cannot be included will be notified before the early bird rates end.
Call for Proposals
The Call for Proposals for the 2025 conference has now closed. We are grateful for the extraordinary number of proposals we received from the a2ru community, and are hard at work reviewing submissions. We will contact submitters by early June with decisions.
Sponsors
