Barbara Harbach is the founder of the Women in the Arts program at UMSL, which will hold an international conference Nov. 10-12.
The Women in the Arts International Conference will be held Nov. 10-12 at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. Conference venues will include UMSL’s J.C. Penney Conference Center, the Millennium Student Center and Unity Evangelical Lutheran Church, 8454 Glen Echo Drive in Bel-Nor, Mo. The conference theme is “Come, Learn, Enjoy, Celebrate with Women Creators.”
Barbara Harbach, professor of music at UMSL and founder of Women in the Arts, said the conference is the capstone event of celebrating women creators present and past, and a partnership of institutions and arts organizations from across the St. Louis metropolitan area.
“Conferences for Women in the Arts allows the presenters and the audience to intermingle, discuss, debate and have lively conversations about creativity across many cross disciplines,” she said.
Conference presentations will relate to all fields of women creators in the arts, Harbach said.
“There will be music, literature, drama, dance, performance art and visual art including papers, lectures, recitals, clinics, demonstrations, panels, performances and workshops,” she said. “Presenters are faculty members (full time, adjunct and retired), independent scholars, performers, artists, writers and graduate students.”
Participants are coming from a variety of places, including: Flagler College in Florida, University of Northern Colorado, Southwestern Illinois College, St. Louis Community College, University of Missouri–Kansas City, Washington University in St. Louis, Savannah College of Art and Design, Indiana University, Berklee School of Music,
University of Florida School of Music, Canisius College, Eastern Kentucky University and Murray State University, Other participants are coming from California, New York, Kentucky, Missouri, Georgia, St. Louis, Austria and England.
“The Women in the Arts committee was overwhelmed with the number of outstanding proposals, and in fact, we had a waiting list,” Harbach said.
Each day of the conference will conclude with a musical concert. The conference will also feature the Women Artist Marketplace, which will be held between 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Thursday and Friday in the lobby of the J.C. Penney Conference Center featuring women vendors selling hand-made jewelry, crafts and art.
The cost of the conference is $25 for one day, $50 for two days, and $70 for the entire conference. Vendors wishing to participate in the marketplace must pay a onetime fee of $30. UMSL students, faculty and staff may attend for free.
To register, call Raina Traore-Gress at 314-516-5974. Registration also is available online at umslwia.com.
For more information, call Barbara Harbach at 314-516-4990
