ABOUT ESA

The European Sociological Association (ESA) is an academic association of sociologists and a non-profit Europe-wide association made up of over 800 members. It was established in 1992, following deliberations and consultations among sociologists from a diverse range of countries.

Europe is in the midst of massive changes, including the transformations in East and Central Europe and the increasing integration of the European Union. Sociology has much to contribute to European level debates and developments. The ESA has an important role to play in organizing the European debate and setting the agenda.

The ESA aims to facilitate sociological research, teaching and communication on European issues, and to give sociology a voice in European affairs.

The ESA Arts Research Network was officially formed in August 1999 at the Amsterdam General Meeting of the European Sociological Association. Its first conference was held in Exeter in 2000, followed by Paris (2003) and Rotterdam (2004). The ESA Arts Research Network also convenes for the general ESA conference every two years, previously in Amsterdam (1999), Helsinki (2001), Murcia (2003) and Torun (2005).

ABOUT THIS CONFERENCE

The ESA Research Network for the Sociology of the Arts is organizing a meeting at the end of March 2007 in Lüneburg (Germany), with additional events in near-by Hamburg. The main conference venue is at the University of Lüneburg, close to the medieval old town. The conference features keynote lectures, plenary discussions, paper sessions, workshops, and round tables. Following the triad theme of the conference "Creativity, Support, and Sustainability", an emphasis is put on issues, which are of sociological interest within arts worlds but which also relate to those powerful developments in economy, ecology and ethic contexts on the macro level that influence, manipulate or determine production, content and forms, distribution and reception of the arts.

The scientific committee of the ESA Arts Conference 2007 is composed of the Arts Research Network chairperson Volker Kirchberg as well as Hans Abbing, Susanne Janssen, Sacha Kagan, Maaria Linko and Laura Verdi.

The local organizational committee of the ESA Arts Conference 2007 consists of Volker Kirchberg (chairperson) as well as his colleagues at the University of Lüneburg Sacha Kagan (referent for the sustainability stream of the conference and curator of the art program), Christoph Behnke (referent for the support stream) and Andreas Heinen. The conference office is staffed with Constanze Günther, Lisa Grabe, Julia Hahn, Tim Knackstedt, and Nina Kuzmierz. The conference website is maintained by Frank Wendland and Tobias Blask. All print materials are designed by Katharina Zettl.

A SUSTAINABLE CONFERENCE

The conference team has made every effort to act as sustainable as possible: all print materials are printed on ecological paper with a regional printer, for transportation we cooperate with a local company equipped with natural gas-fuelled buses. Additionally, all conference participants are encouraged to reduce their CO2 emission for travel by using public transportation where possible, and we kindly ask participants using airplanes to compensate their CO2 emissions with donations to Atmosfair. We strive to take recycling seriously and do i.e. most of our communication electronically. For the conference catering we are proud that our partners offer you a variety of ecological and fair-trade food and drinks.

A SUSTAINABLE UNIVERSITY

The University of Lüneburg has implemented a campus-wide “Sustainable University” Program over the past years, which is widely acclaimed across Germany.