STP&A 2025 Conference
49th Annual STP&A Conference
September 4-6, 2025
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
Conference Hosts
STP&A is excited to partner with faculty and partners at Drexel University to host the 49th annual conference.
Schedule At-A-Glance
Coming soon. Reference the at-a-glance schedule to make your travel plans. A detailed schedule will be published with the complete conference program.
Important Dates
| Call for Proposals Announced | early March 2025 |
| Proposal Submissions Portal Opens | early March 2025 |
| Proposal Submissions Portal Closes + Deadline to apply for conference scholarship via submissions portal + Deadline to express interest in being considered for a conference award via submissions portal | March 30, 2025 |
| Accept/Decline Notices | by late April 2025 |
| Conference Registration Opens | by late April 2025 |
| Conference Registration Deadline for Early Pricing + Deadline for accepted presenters to register to be included in conference program | May 23, 2025 |
| Conference Registration Deadline for Standard Pricing + Deadline to submit papers for conference award consideration + Deadline to submit papers for presenters/authors accepted to ‘Research Paper & Discussion’ track | August 1, 2025 |
| 2025 STP&A Conference Dates | September 4-6, 2025 |
Calls for Proposals
The STP&A Conference is the oldest and one of the most influential research gatherings in the field of arts management and cultural policy. STP&A participants are drawn from a broad range of disciplines including political science, sociology, economics, law, arts management, arts education, art history, museum studies, cultural studies, education, and policy studies as well as arts managers and artists.
Final papers or scholarly work may be submitted to the Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society for consideration in the special STP&A issue stemming from the conference; papers will be due to JAMLS by early spring of the year following the conference.
STP&A invites conference proposals related to arts management and cultural policy from a range of disciplinary approaches; relevant topics include, but are not limited to:
- Accessibility & social inclusion
- Arts and cultural participation, marketing, & audience development
- Arts learning and/or training
- Arts management, business models, & strategic thinking
- Arts & technology
- Arts workforce & labor issues
- Cultural/creative industries & market structures
- Cultural democracy
- Cultural economics and impact assessment
- Cultural planning & community development
- Cultural policy
- Diversity, equity, & inclusion in the arts
- Festivals & events
- Heritage policy & administration
- Indigenous cultural practices
- Popular & high culture
- Society & evolving aesthetics
- Museology/Museum Studies
Proposal Types
Check out our new proposal categories for the 2025 Conference. STP&A will accept proposals for the following types of formats:
- Research Paper & Discussion Proposals
- Research Presentation Proposals
- Panel Proposals
- Interactive Sessions
Research Paper & Discussion Proposal
**This proposal type is intended for accepted authors of papers who would like to participate in STP&A’s research and discussion conference track, which is new in 2025. Please read the following details before submitting for acceptance to this track.**
The purpose of this track is to provide opportunity for deep engagement with, and discussion of, works-in-progress that are intended for publication as a journal article, book chapter, or other publication.
In addition to having a proposal accepted, the accepted author(s) are to electronically submit their written work in progress to STP&A. Submission details will be provided at a later date. If the written work is not submitted by the due date, then accepted proposals will be transitioned for inclusion within the conference in the format of a Research Presentation.
Authors accepted into the Research Paper & Discussion conference are expected to:
- Share their work-in-progress in advance of the conference
- Prepare a 20-minute presentation of their research paper
- Carefully read 1-2 other participants’ works-in-progress in advance of the conference
- Prepare questions and remarks regarding the works-in-progress assigned to them in advance of the conference
- Serve as a discussant at the conference of the works-in-progress assigned to them with collegial spirit and the intent to support the strengthening of the work in progress
- Actively participate in intellectual exchange and discussion with all participants within their scheduled Research Paper & Discussion session at the STP&A 2025 conference
The length of the Research Paper & Discussion sessions at the STP&A 2025 conference will be determined based on the number of accepted submissions. We anticipate the sessions being twice as long as Research Presentation sessions.
Research Presentation Proposal
A 20-minute presentation in a session with other research presenters. This format has been the most traditionally included at STP&A conferences.
Research presentations may be based on completed work or work in development that exists in one of several forms, including, but not exclusive to scholarly papers, research reports, and performance-based research projects.
- Research Presentation proposals should be submitted for studies that are to be fairly mature both conceptually and methodologically, ideally with some preliminary data analysis and findings that are suggestive of the impact and significance of the research, by the time of the conference. The Research Presentation should be a complete discussion of finalized data analysis and findings. The Research Presentation proposal may stem from the results of quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods studies or report the findings of studies that use historical or philosophical methods. These studies are based on original data collection or secondary data analysis.
- Research Presentations may also present well-developed arguments on philosophical, theoretical, or practical problems in the study of the arts. They are not required to adhere to an empirical research design (e.g., methods, data collection, and data analysis). Rather, such Research Presentations pose critical questions, synthesize divergent bodies of literature, or elaborate new theoretical or conceptual frameworks.
- Research Presentations may also present performance-based research projects that may take the form of art, music, dance, spoken word, or theatrical performance. Such Research Presentations Proposals should describe how the research advances knowledge in the fields of arts administration and/or arts policy.
Panel Proposal
A 75-minute panel that typically consists of 3-5 speakers in a session focused on a shared topic of inquiry, or that may consist of three to four research papers or other works that share a topic, approach, or other vital shared element that enhances the advancement of knowledge by being presented in a shared session.
Interactive Session Proposal
Interactive sessions are intended to provide a form of engagement with participants that differs from research paper & discussions, research presentations, panels. Such interactive sessions may, but are not limited to, take the form of workshops or facilitated discussions or research-focused meet-ups of STP&A members with shared affinities or research interests.
- A workshop is a hands-on session that features interaction between and among the presenter(s) and the audience to advance knowledge of a particular issue or research problem.
- Facilitated thematic discussions or or research-focused meet-ups of STP&A members with shared affinities or research interests. Such proposals will describe and motivate the theme/topic of focus for the session, what the benefit of the session to participants will be, and describe the planned nature of facilitation and any room set-up and/or equipment needs.
Proposal & Submission Guidelines
Each proposal submission is to include:
- Title (150 characters or less)
- Abstract/overview (500 words or less):
- The abstract/overview may include in-text references.
- To facilitate the blind review process, individuals and institutions should not be identified in the body of the abstract/overview; e.g. use ‘author’s institution’ instead of using the name of the university or organization.
- The proposals for this conference are peer-reviewed and available online post-conference. By submitting to this conference, the author hereby affirms that the work submitted is theirs, original, and recent. Please provide the information below in the proposal abstract/overview and use the corresponding headings:
- Background
- Aims and objectives of the study (specific research questions where relevant)
- Methodology and/or theoretical approach
- Findings
- Conclusions and implications
3. Author(s)/presenter(s) information, which includes name, affiliation, email, and short biography (250 words or less) for each author/presenter.
Additional guidance and requirements:
- All proposals and final papers/presentations must be presented in English. If an interactive session is planned to be conducted in a language other than English, then the proposal must state the language in which it will be conducted.
- Proposals are accepted with single or multiple authors/presenters. Only one author/presenter should complete the proposal submission and will need the name, affiliation, email, and short biography (250 words or less) of each author/presenter. There is a limit of five authors/presenters per proposal.
- The maximum number of accepted Research Paper & Discussions and/or Research Presentations for any individual author is two. An individual accepted to the conference for two Research Paper & Discussions and/or Research Presentations, however, may also submit proposals for Interactive Sessions and may be accepted for one Interactive Session.
- Proposals can be edited within ExOrdo until the submission deadline.
Submit Proposals
Click on the button below or the link here to submit your proposal(s) to the 2025 STP&A conference; the button will take you to the proposal submission platform ExOrdo. You will need to create a login for the ExOrdo site if you do not already have one.
Conference Awards
Individuals who wish to be considered for either Emily Mulcahy Student Research Award or the Mulcahy Emerging Scholar Award, must meet the eligibility criteria for the respective award and additional requirements for award consideration. Individuals who meet one of the conference award’s criteria and want to be considered for the award must express their interest to be considered for the conference award at time of submitting their eligible conference proposal within the conference submission platform ExOrdo.
All individuals who wish to be considered for a conference research award must carefully review the eligibility criteria, award adjudication criteria, and be prepared to submit their papers by August 1, 2025.
Conference Registration
Register for the 2025 STP&A conference through the ExOrdo conference management platform. Registration will open by late April.
Membership is required for conference attendance. Learn more about STP&A Membership.
| Dates | Standard Registration Base Fee | Student Registration Base Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Early (register by May 23, 2025) | $495 | $330 |
| Standard (after May 23 and by August 1, 2025) | $550 | $360 |
| Late (after August 1, 2025) | $650 | $425 |
STP&A’s Conference Cancellation and Refund Policy
Conference registration cancellations must be made online in the ExOrdo Registration system. A conference registration cancelled on or before August 1, 2025, midnight eastern, is refundable minus a $50 USD processing fee. A conference registration cancelled after August 1, 2025, midnight eastern will not receive a refund. The refund and cancellation policy will not be waived. In this case, the individual may choose one of the following two options:
- Convert the amount paid for conference registration to a donation to STP&A; or
- Transfer the amount paid for conference registration (not for membership) to the following year’s conference registration fee; the amount paid for registration may be transferred only one time to the next conference. If option 2 is chosen, and the carried-forward registration fee is cancelled before or after the deadline for refund/cancellation for the conference to which it is newly applied, then the individual is not entitled to any refund or the option to transfer the amount paid to a future year.
In the event STP&A must cancel the conference due to unforeseen circumstances, STP&A will refund the full amount paid by each conference registrant for the conference registration fee. The refund will equal the paid amount for the conference registration ONLY and NOT to the membership fee, which is typically bundled with conference registration. If the conference registrant paid additional fees for pre- or post- conference activities, or other add-ons to the registration fee, STP&A will make all efforts to reimburse such payments in full. STP&A does not assume responsibility for any additional costs, charges, or expenses including charges made for travel and lodging.
Transportation
Coming soon.
Accommodations
Coming soon.