“Tradition-Innovations” Celebrates Milestones and Issues New Call for Contributions

Tradition-Innovations in Arts, Design, and Media Higher Education, a2ru’s journal published in partnership with member institution the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, has reached some significant milestones.

Since launching in October 2023, the inaugural themed issue, “Artificial Intelligence and Possible Futures for the Arts”, has garnered more than 26,000 views and downloads of its 12 contributions, including nearly 15,000 full-text downloads from 109 countries. Clearly, this first issue struck a chord.

Across disciplines and practices, contributors to “Artificial Intelligence and Possible Futures for the Arts” converged on a shared insight: the challenge posed by AI’s computational reproducibility calls not for rejection, but for deliberate, critical human agency. Rather than framing generative AI as either autonomous creator or neutral tool, the contributions foreground practices of intervention, orchestration, and stewardship—approaches that sustain human creative agency, deepen our understanding of human-made art, and open space for other-than-human perspectives.

New Themed Issue Announced

Building on this momentum, the editorial board of Tradition-Innovations in Arts, Design, and Media Higher Education is starting a new call for contributions for its next issue: “Ruptures and Rebirths: The Future of Creativity, Agency, and Education.”

For this new themed issue, we place commentary, critical reflection, and creative response at the center. This call invites artists, scholars, and educators to engage critically and constructively with the questions emerging from the first issue—and to expand the conversation beyond the challenges and opportunities of AI’s impact on the arts.

“Tradition-Innovations in the Arts” refers – in the formulation of the editorial board of this journal –  to the dynamic relationship between inherited artistic practices and the creation of new forms, ideas, and methods. Rather than being opposites, tradition and innovation are interdependent: Artists don’t just break tradition when they innovate. Often they innovate by using traditional expertise, using creative agency to intervene critically and productively. The rapid development of Artificial Intelligence is but one of the current forces impacting traditions and forcing innovations.

At a moment marked by profound technological, cultural, economic and pedagogical ruptures, we ask: What creative practices, forms of agency, and educational models are transforming? Which ones are being reimagined—or reborn? What traditions must remain, and what innovations are necessary to meet this complex and dynamic moment?

We invite artistic, opinion, and research contributions for this new themed issue that meet this moment of ruptures and possibilities, and can help shape the future of artistic expertise, creative work, and higher education in an age of ongoing transformation.

The priority submission due date is March 1, 2026. The second due date for submissions is June 1, 2026. 

Unsure if your work would fit this themed issue? Please don’t hesitate to contact editor Yvonne Houy – Yvonne.Houy@unlv.edu – for any questions.