“Confluences” – the Intersection of Thought, Arts Education and Ideas: An inter-disciplinary conference to be hosted by the
Foreground Rural Initiative Southern Hub:
April 26, 2025
Cairo High School, 4200 Sycamore, Cairo, Illinois
Illinois Humanities’ Foreground Rural Initiative Southern Regional Hub is hosting an interdisciplinary, multimodal, one-day conference on April 26, 2025, in Cairo, Illinois. Cairo is the site of the confluence of major rivers within our region, the Ohio and the Mississippi. It is a city of untold stories, and of great historical significance.
Illinois Humanities’ Foreground Rural Initiative, Southern Regional Hub is a network of people and organizations who are involved in public humanities activity in Pulaski, Alexander, Union, Jackson, and adjacent counties. It is anchored by Legacy Training, Inc., and has a mission of increasing public, cultural programming, especially in BIPOC communities within rural Illinois.
We invite scholars in all disciplines, including graduate and advanced undergraduate students; educators; journalists; artists and artisans, including writers, musicians, visual artists, and craftspeople; and cultural professionals and practitioners of all kinds to submit brief proposals (recommended length: 250-500 words) for presentations or activities that they wish to offer during the conference. Proposals should include preliminary descriptions of the intended content, format, and technological and/or audio-visual requirements, as well as any other relevant information. An honoraria will be offered. The successful proposal will be creative and interactive., and of interest to a wide audience.
Goals:
To facilitate mutually beneficial exchanges of knowledge and ideas between 1) scholars, educators, artists, journalists, and other cultural professionals and 2) residents of our region who are not cultural professionals but participate constructively in its cultural and civic life.
To showcase academic and artistic talent from our region and beyond it.
To highlight recent and current public humanities activity in (or relevant to) our region.
To foster future public humanities activity in our region.
We are open to a wide variety of subject matter, but we will prioritize proposals for presentations and activities that 1) seem conducive to productive exchanges of knowledge and ideas between specialists and non-specialists and 2) relate significantly to one or more of the following:
the region surrounding the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers (i.e., southernmost Illinois and adjacent areas of the lower Midwest and Mid-South)
public humanities, broadly understood
the theme of the conference, Confluences, interpreted either literally or figuratively.
Similarly, we are eager to consider various formats and modes of engagement, ranging from conventional academic conference presentations to facilitated discussions involving panelists and the audience to performances of original poetry, short stories, essays, musical compositions, or brief theatrical, audio, and/or video productions. We anticipate that most presentations or activities will be 15 to 30 minutes long, but we are willing to consider proposals for presentations or activities that are shorter or longer if the subject matter or format warrants (e.g., a 10-minute reading of original poems or a 50-minute text-based discussion involving panelists and the audience).
Please submit proposals to Matt Meacham, Program Manager for statewide engagement with Illinois Humanities, at matt.meachamilhumanities.org by Friday, December 13, 2024, at 6 PM. Please direct any questions or suggestions to Matt at the same email address. All who submit proposals will be notified 
