Artistic Research Days

FHK (Fontys University of the Arts) is delighted to announce a collaborative initiative celebrating Artistic Research as a fundamental methodology to enhance artistic and educational processes: The Artistic Research Days. 

All five Master programs of FHK (Master Education in the Arts / Master Performing Public Space / Master of Music / Master of Architecture+Urbanism / Master Choreography) have united to create an interactive festival offering its participants a safe space to exchange and explore theory, case studies and best practices. 

The particular festival format enables direct engagement amongst the students and with external artists, researchers, educators or other professionals from relevant practices. 

With this initiative the Master programs co-shape a more open-minded, more engaging and a more critical-thinking environment for their Master students, mentors and professional network. Common ground for artistic discourse is being created collectively – artistic research practices will be explored and questioned.
The cross-disciplinary nature of this united endeavour feeds into the institutional urge to expand artistic boundaries and to understand interdisciplinarity as an intrinsic element of the arts, within an international context. In time, the festival will generate a vast amount of valuable input and build an archive of perspec-tives and practices from the current artistic research sector. The gained intelligence will directly enrich the institutional profile in the field of Artistic Research.

Students decide how they would like to curate their own festival - MIX & MATCH the individual modules to best fit your interests and needs… 

The festival consists of three modules and is partially open to the public. Pick the modules of your interest and individually decide on the level of input, interaction or exchange:

 1. Input - Keynote Presentation (public) 
A speaker from the professional field will be invited to share insights into a particular research practice or to introduce a particular research project or working method. 

 2. Interaction - Workshop / Discussion (public) 
An external guest will host an interactive workshop on a particular research method or introduce relevant research tools. 

 3. Exchange - P2P Best Practice (non-public)  
A selection of students and alumni from the five Master programs will present their research projects. By facilitating one-on-one meet ups and discussions, the students gain personal insights and direct reflections on their practice or work in progress. 

Upon registration every participant can pick the modules of their interest and can thereby individually decide on the level of input, interaction or exchange. Starting from one session to a whole days program. 

How? 
In order to enable low-barrier access to new and unfamiliar practices, expertise and know-how, the festival creates an engaging and enjoyable set-up for students to explore new territories. 
For the Input and Interaction modules, experts, researchers and artists from a variety of sectors and disciplines will be asked to share their expertise in form of keynote presentations or interactive workshops/discussions. 
The Exchange module offers students a safe space (non-public) to share best practices, working methods with each other and alumni from within their different programs. This is the space where students can share experiences, give each other input or discuss challenges. 

When? 
The Research Days will be held on a quarterly basis. The students and the public will be invited to the festival via various channels such as E-Mail and Social Media. 

Where? 
Fontys Fine & Performing Arts campus, Tilburg.