History and Historiography 2017

Full Name: Lucie Sutherland and Hayley Bradley

Annual Conference Theme (if applicable): Industry Professionals/Professional Industry

What were the main points that emerged from your WG this year?

• London centric narratives and in particular Regional versus National
• Highlighting practices – historical and current (in research and in the ‘industry’)
• Amatuer and professional

What was discussed at your business meeting?

We discussed the ambitious structure (of 4 short papers per session) that was introduced for the conference this year. The structure met with general approval, as most material seemed to work well together and to generate discussion. The breadth of our theme, albeit with a clear sense of focus, seemed to promote applications and also a full, complementary programme (which included PG’s, ECR’S, more established scholars).

Building on the positive feedback from this year’s interim event (at Dennis Severs House) we began discussion of an interim event for next year, and invited suggestions/ideas/themes; the convenors suggested that, after our collaboration with Scenography this year, we may want to alternate between joint and solo events, even though other, possible collaborations have been discussed (notably Documenting Performance). We also asked for input on timing for the interim, and these discussions have been followed up by email, and are ongoing.

The convenors also asked if there would be interest in holding some more informal events; self-funded and additional, optional activities that we would advertise, and there was general interest in the possibility.

The convenors asked the Working Group members to think about candidates for the exec roles that would become vacant in the coming months.

The convenors asked the Working Group to consider submitting items/images for the new website.

We confirmed with the group that the next conference will take place at the University of Aberystwyth from 5-7 September 2018, and we began to discuss themes in the aftermath of a productive conference this time.

Types of contributions:
We had 19 x 15 minute papers in total: 15 across our Working Group sessions, and 4 in our Open Panel.

Number of formal contributors (those listed in book of abstracts) 19

Approx. overall number of delegates who attended your WG Sessions 48 individuals in total across all sessions, including working group convenors.
Composition of WG (PG, ECR, etc.)
We had 12 attendees who classed themselves as ECR on sign up sheets, as well as 13 PGs and 3 members with Emeritus status.

Did you have any non-UK participants? No

If your WG hosted an Open Panel, do you have any feedback?

The Open Panel worked well to encourage members from other groups to cross-over and contribute to our discussion.

Any additional points or feedback not covered above?

It is also worth noting that we again had a number of new members join the working group/TaPRA for the first time and that our working group activities (from the speakers to chairs to delegates) incorporated a range of voices/interests.

And again our thanks to the team at Salford and to the exec committee for enabling and facilitating our ongoing working group activities/discussions.