INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC CONFERENCE
Performing Arts for Children and Young People: Current Challenges
5-9 October 2026, Łódź (Poland)
ORGANISER:
The Pinokio Theatre in Łódź
CO-ORGANISERS:
Department of Drama and Theatre, Faculty of Philology, University of Łódź
Department of Cultural Studies, Faculty of Humanities, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
The international academic conference is organised as part of the event: S·PLOT International Festival of Performative Arts for Children and Young People.
5-11 October 2026, Łódź (Poland)
Since 2025, the international academic conference on performing arts for children and young people has been an integral part of S·PLOT International Festival of Performative Arts for Children and Young People. This year, we invite researchers, artists, and practitioners shaping this field to continue an interdisciplinary reflection. By using the phrase “current challenges” in the conference subtitle, we aim to encourage questions about various dimensions of performing arts for children and youth. During the conference, we invite participants to reflect together on the following issues:
- In what ways do performing arts for children and young people respond to crises – such as war, political violence, migration, environmental and other disasters? What artistic languages and modes of expression are being developed? Which crisis-marked spaces do performances for young audiences enter, and what they do there? What ethical challenges and limitations arise in these contexts?
- How are multiculturalism, multilingualism, and diversity articulated in contemporary performing arts for children and young audiences? To what extent do the current practices and repertoire respond to the needs of young audiences from groups exposed to marginalisation and exclusion?
- What makes performing arts for children and young people tools of empowerment and spaces of individual, collective and social agency? What – dramatic, narrative, aesthetic strategies and models of stage-audience relations enable young people to negotiate identity, express emotions and articulate their own voice? What role do youth workers play in this process – in preparation for participation and after the show?
- When do performing arts for children and young people become political acts? What aesthetic, curatorial, pedagogical and educational practices enable young people to recognise inequality, symbolic violence and exclusion, while exercising social imagination, solidarity and a sense of belonging to a community? How are relations shaped between institutions declared neutrality and the political nature of their actions addressed to young audiences (for example, programming choices, ways of working with groups, and modes of communication)?
- What methods, strategies, and communication styles do contemporary performing arts offer (also in the context of transformations in the media landscape, new technologies – including AI – and changing circuits of knowledge production and circulation)? What possibilities and limitations emerge in attempts to “speak to” and “enter into dialogue with” young audiences about difficult topics (war, violence, migration, exclusion)?
- How can we study the impact of performing arts on young audiences? Which research methods (including participatory, qualitative, arts-based and action research) make it possible to involve children and young people, as well as professionals working with young people, educators and artistic teams, in co-producing knowledge about the effects of performances (proposals and examples of research methods and good practices).
- What does criticism contribute to shaping and our understanding of contemporary performing arts for children and young audiences? What criteria of analysis, interpretation, and evaluation are applied? When and how can a child be a critic? In what ways can criticism of performing arts for children and young people become a space for intergenerational dialogue and inclusivity?
We also encourage contributors to formulate their own research questions and to expand the range of topics proposed above.
We welcome both theoretical papers and practice-based / practice-led contributions in which artistic, educational or institutional work serves as a starting point for critical reflection. We invite scholars representing different academic disciplines (in particular theatre and performance studies, cultural studies, media studies, literary studies, art history, cultural anthropology, pedagogy, sociology, and childhood studies) as well as artists, curators, theatre pedagogues, educators, accessibility coordinators, and other professionals working in the field of the performing arts for children and youth.
Submit your presentation proposals using the form.
The closing date for submissions is 20 July 2026
Successful submissions will be announced by 31 July 2026
Presentation time: 20 minutes
Language of presentation: Polish or English
The organisers of the international academic conference provide simultaneous interpretation from Polish into English and from English into Polish.
Conference venue: The Pinokio Theatre in Łódź, Henryk Sienkiewicz Street 75/77, Łódź (Poland)
Conference fee for in-person participation: 450 PLN (approx. 105 EUR)The in-person conference fee includes:
- simultaneous interpretation
- conference materials
- for the duration of the Festival: accommodation (hotel + breakfast) and restaurant vouchers;
- for the duration of the Festival: access to delegates' events
- for the duration of the Festival: reduced-price tickets for performances (20, 00 PLN / ticket)
The organisers of the international academic conference offer an online presentation option.
Conference fee for online participation: 300 PLN (approx. 70 EUR).
The online conference fee includes:
- simultaneous interpretation
- online participation in the entire conference
- digital conference materials
Contact: s.plot.conference@teatrpinokio.pl
Academic Conference Committee:
Bartosz Kurowski (The Pinokio Theatre in Łódź)
Daria Skjoldager-Nielsen (University of Łódź, Stockholm University)
Marzenna Wiśniewska (Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń)
Invitation content in Polish and English (PDF 294 KB)
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