Roundtables on Performance Research, Developing Cultural Ecologies, and Artistic Research Networking in the Asia-Pacific

The conference “From Performance Research to Cultural Ecologies: Creating Sustainable Artistic Communities” was held on July 19-20, 2019 at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, the first of its kind in Thailand.2 Beyond featuring more than a dozen presentations by international and Thai scholars on new modes of creative research for communities, the conference included afternoon roundtables on each of its two days and a follow-up networking session on the morning of July 21. These roundtables focused on the underlying premise of the conference, namely that performance research works best when it recognizes performance as part of specific cultural ecosystems. Using this premise, the conference explored how research in the performing arts could generate new creative synergies and social innovation for local urban communities. In doing so, the roundtables identify key elements of the rationale for the projects central to Chulalongkorn University’s new research cluster in the arts and culture begun in late 2018. The interactions of artists and researchers on projects involving experts from different backgrounds enable the production of new knowledge, skills and social value. To organize this new thinking on how to ground performance in knowledge to benefit participants and communities, discussion centered on how researchers could adopt the “festival” format in innovative ways in urban communities.