Thursday, December 19, 2013

A new journal on and through performance





The first issue of The Scottish Journal of Performance is out. The journal is announced to appear bi-annually, is refereed and of the open access persuasion, and focusses on performance in Scotland and/or wider aspects of performance presented by (early career as well as established) scholars and reflective practitioners based at Scottish academic institutions.



Scottish Journal of Performance, artistic research



That the content is limited to Scotland must have to do with the fact that it is run by doctoral students. Understandable but regrettable, none the less, as  journals on performance – even if it is as wide as this one, encompassing dance, drama, film, music and television – are hard to come by, especially if they specifically wish to include practitioners’ research.



Still, this new publication may be worth keeping an eye on if music becomes a real integral part of its content. The ten articles in its first issue include only one (a book review) that deals with music, and neither the review nor the book offer a practitioner’s perspective, but if one of the backing institutions – the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland – is to be counted on, the future of the journal may look bright to those wanting to keep abreast of new developments in research on/in performance. The Conservatoire’s research arm was already established in 1999, and 85% of their research – "blending traditional research practices with practice-based artistic research, applied research, consultancy and knowledge exchange" – was commended for its recognized international quality. Amongst the diverse aspects of the programme set-up, I would recognise at least the Centre for Voice in Performance, the Contemporary Ensemble-in-Residence and a former ORCiM artistic research colleague of mine on the staff (violinist Mieko Kanno) as potentially delighting the AR community with new research projects that can be made know through the new journal.



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