Call for Participation

Call for Submissions deadline has passed.

Textile Society of America 
2024 Symposium
Shifts and Strands: Rethinking the Possibilities and Potentials of Textiles
November 12-17, 2024
Virtual on Zoom

View this information in an accessible PDF format

Theme & Keywords

The Textile Society of America invites proposals from all fiber and textile-related perspectives, disciplines, and interdisciplinary areas across the arts, design, the humanities, social and applied sciences, and any other area(s) you consider to be of relevance to fiber, textiles, and the Symposium theme.

The theme “Shifts and Strands: Rethinking the Possibilities and Potentials of Textiles” invites us to reflect on the many exciting shifts in textiles as historical and contemporary, cultural, creative, scholarly, political, discursive, and scientific practices. “Shifts” suggest transition, movement, evolution, mutability, instability, uncertainty, experimentation, and being in-progress or in-process. “Shifts” also reaffirms an ongoing process of transformation and change within the Textile Society of America. “Strands” is a textile metaphor that implies intertwining, connectedness, plurality, or multiple parts coming together to form a larger whole. “Strands” is a metaphor for collaboration, joining, and community. The Symposium theme is deliberately open, fluid, and inviting. It invites us to reflect upon the past and to imagine collective, equitable, sustainable, and emancipatory futures. 

The 2024 Symposium will respond and contribute to developments in textiles while also reflecting TSA’s Mission and ongoing anti-racism, equity, and accessibility work. Building on TSA’s 2022 and 2023 Colloquium series, the Symposium creates spaces to rupture dominant discourses and frameworks of knowledge; celebrate the plurality of textiles and textile cultures; and share and uplift caring, equitable, decolonial, and sustainable practices and models grounded in anti-racism, equity, and accessibility. Concepts and keywords that have informed our thinking include: ruptures, repair, healing, care, sustainability, regeneration, rematriation, abolition, textile processes, being in-process, materialities, interstices, emergence, research, citation, knowledges, honoring, ancestors, teaching, mentorship, nurturing, sharing, futurity, collaboration, and community building. 

We welcome research, reflections, and case studies of textile cultures, arts, materials, processes, techniques, sciences, methodologies, pedagogies, and knowledges. Questions and areas of investigation can include examples of: decolonization; honoring Indigenous and ancestral knowledges; skills transmission, education, study and pedagogies; oral histories; recuperation of traditions; textiles and cultural survival; citation, citational practices and acknowledgment; healing, celebration, and joy; textiles and healing from trauma; community-building through textiles; textiles and identity; transdisciplinarity; disability justice; labor and making a living; collaborative models; futurity and new directions. 

Subthemes

Four interconnected conceptual sub-themes will help structure and organize the Symposium program: Shifts, Strands, Ruptures, and Repair. The notes below are just some examples and we encourage submissions that challenge and expand upon these proposed understandings. Presenters will have the option of submitting to one or more themes as desired (not required). 

Shifts suggest transition, movement, evolution, mutability, instability, uncertainty, experimentation, and being in-progress or in-process. Presentations can engage these concepts and they can also be more experimental or speculative. This theme also considers changes and developments in textiles and textile institutions and organizations.

Strands is a textile metaphor that implies intertwining, connectedness, plurality, or multiple parts coming together to form a larger whole. Strands are a metaphor for collaboration, coming together, joining, and community. Presentations can center collaborative models, archives and collections, identities, textile histories, and imagined futures.

Ruptures involve breaking with exclusionary hierarchies and dominant models and frameworks. They can include rupturing historical canons, rupturing dominant histories and structures, rupturing oppression and exclusion, and decentering Eurocentric, colonial, and other oppressive frameworks. 

Repair can be understood as the mending or repairing of cloth to extend its life. Repair is connected to sustainability and environmental justice. Repair also implies healing and care, as in textiles and healing from trauma, recovering and restoring traditions and knowledge practices, rematriation, and bringing people and communities together. Repair can involve self-determination, emancipation, and abolition. It can apply to art making, education, research and scholarship, curation, and scientific inquiry. 

Invitation to Submit

Whether you are an established professional or just learning about textiles, we want to hear from you. We invite researchers, artists, scholars, curators, scientists, artisans, educators, students, thinkers, activists, organizers, and all those who are interested in fiber and textiles to submit a proposal to the Call for Participation. TSA encourages proposals from members of historically marginalized and excluded communities. TSA also encourages proposals from artisans, participants without formal training or education, and from emerging researchers and artists. Mentorship for all those who want feedback on their ideas or in-process proposals will be provided.

Presentation & Session Proposals

TSA invites proposals and abstracts for 

• Individual presentations 
• Organized sessions 
• Panel discussions and conversations
• “Warp speed” presentations and poster sessions
• Something else

Individual presentations are 15 or 20 minutes in length. TSA will organize these presentations into 90-minute sessions of three or four presentations with time for audience questions and discussion. Presenters submit an abstract or proposal of no more than 250 words; sample images can be included as relevant. TSA welcomes submissions from collectives and jointly-authored presentations. 

Access the submission form for Individual presentations

Organized sessions are 90 minutes, including audience discussion time. These sessions should include three or four individual presentations of 15-20 minutes each, organized around a theme, by a designated chair. Proposed sessions should have a title and an abstract or proposal of no more than 300 words. Each individual presentation should have its own abstract of no more than 250 words (sample images can be included as relevant). Proposals for organized panels together with individual abstracts are submitted by the chair.

Access the submission form for Organized sessions

Panel discussions and conversations are 90 minutes, including audience discussion time. These sessions bring together three to five individuals and a moderator or discussant. They are discussion-based and do not involve prepared presentations. Speakers’ times are flexible. Panel discussions and conversations should be organized around a theme. Proposed sessions should have a title and an abstract or proposal of no more than 300 words (sample images can be included as relevant). All proposals should include the names and biographical information for all participants. Proposals can be submitted by the moderator or by a participating individual.

Access the submission form for Panel discussions and conversations

Warp-speed presentations and poster sessions are image-driven sessions featuring 10 individual presenters. Each presentation features up to 10 images and is 6 minutes long. TSA will organize these presentations into 90-minute sessions, with time for audience questions and discussion. Presentations can feature artist images or images of research and other projects. Presenters submit a brief proposal and 5 representative images.

Access the submission form for Warp-speed presentations and poster sessions

Something else is a submission category for proposing something that falls outside of the other four sessions.

Access the submission form for Something else

About Submissions

Submission forms and detailed submission guidelines and requirements will be available on the submission platform, which will open by the end of February 2024. In the meantime, use the guidelines above to begin crafting your proposals! TSA will publish the link on its website and announce it on TSA News, the TSA Instagram, and by email to subscribers to TSA News. To receive the notification by email, please subscribe to TSA News using this link or the button below. All proposals for the 2024 Symposium must be submitted using the online submission platform.

All submitted proposals undergo peer review. The initial review will be done without author identification. Final selections will be finalized by the Symposium planning group, based on readers’ comments, ranking, and feedback; relevance to the field and the Symposium theme; and the Textile Society of America’s mission. 

Submission to TSA implies the presenter’s intent to participate in the capacity proposed and their commitment to register for the 2024 Symposium. Submission also implies the presenter’s agreement to follow TSA guidelines and protocols for participants, including the preparation and submission of papers, manuscripts, and other required information, and their agreement to adhere to all deadlines set by TSA. 

TSA Membership Requirement

Participants are encouraged but not required to join TSA at the time of submission. All accepted presenters have to be a TSA member at the time of registration for the Symposium and keep their TSA Individual Membership current through the Symposium dates. Non-member applicants may join TSA once their papers are accepted. Membership fees are nonrefundable. To join TSA or to check your membership status please visit: www.textilesocietyofamerica.org/membership

Publication

All accepted papers are eligible for publication in the Symposium Proceedings. Deadlines and guidelines for preparing manuscripts for publication and where to submit them will be available ahead of the Symposium. If no manuscript is submitted, the abstract will be published. 

Select papers will be published in a special edition of the peer-reviewed Journal of Textile Design, Research and Practice.

Timeline

February 2024: Online submission portal opens (link and details to follow)

Call for Participation submissions deadline extended to April 15, 2024

May 15, 2024: Notifications sent to everyone who submitted to the call for participation

Mentorship

Not sure where to begin? TSA will provide group and individual mentorship to those who want feedback and advice in developing their ideas and proposals, and/or support with the proposal guidelines and process. Mentorship is available for first-time Symposium applicants, students and emerging professionals, those new to the discipline of textiles, and anyone else who desires input and support in crafting their proposals. 

Additional group meetings and individual sessions will continue to be added.

Awards and scholarship Opportunities

Registration, Scholarships and Financial Aid 

All presenters have to register for the Symposium and pay the accompanying fee. Registration rates will be posted when registration opens and are expected to range from $100-$275(USD) for TSA members. Ample subsidies in the form of scholarships and fee waivers will be available, as below. 

Student and New Professional Scholarship Awards

Awarded to students and emerging and early-career professionals and practitioners, these awards cover the registration costs for the Symposium. Individuals who apply for this award are encouraged, but not required, to present papers. 

Registration Fee Waivers 

Financial assistance is available to help speakers and participants attend the Symposium. Assistance is in the form of full or partial registration fee waivers. 

In the coming weeks, TSA will announce the call for applications for awards and financial assistance together with detailed application guidelines. Applications and guidelines will be published on TSA’s website, and announced via TSA News and TSA’s Instagram: @textilesociety

Presenter applicants who receive a scholarship or registration fee waiver will be notified prior to the June 15 deadline when presenters must confirm their commitment to participate. 

You can donate to support scholarships and financial aid for the 2024 Symposium here:

Founding Presidents Award

The Founding Presidents Award was inaugurated in 2008 to recognize excellence in the field of textile studies and ensure that the finest new work is presented at the Symposium. The awards are named in honor of TSA’s five founding presidents—Peggy Gilfoy, Milton Sonday, Lotus Stack, Mattiebelle Gittinger and Louise W. Mackie. There is no application process for this award. Five candidates are nominated based on review of their abstracts. Nominees receive complimentary conference registration. Nominees submit their full presentations six weeks in advance of the Symposium for final review. The FPA Committee will make the final selection from the full papers. The awardee will be announced at the Symposium and will receive a monetary award. The five nominees are required to present their papers at the Symposium and publish them in the Symposium Proceedings. This award is by nomination only.

More information about scholarships offered by TSA can be found here: https://textilesocietyofamerica.org/programs/awards-scholarships/

About the Textile Society of America

The Textile Society of America is a United States 501(c)3 nonprofit that provides an international forum for the exchange and dissemination of textile knowledge from artistic, cultural, economic, historic, political, social, scientific, and technical perspectives. Our 800 members worldwide include curators and conservators, scholars and educators, artists, designers, makers, conservators, scientists, collectors, and others interested in fiber and textiles. Established in 1987, TSA is governed by an international Board of Directors.

TSA Mission

Building a foundation of anti-racism and a culture of care, the mission of the Textile Society of America is to foster an international collective community- diverse, equitable, inclusive and accessible- for the exchange and dissemination of knowledges and experiences about textiles worldwide.

We look forward to receiving your proposals!

Are you interested in reading and reviewing proposals? (individuals who plan to submit to the Symposium may also act as readers and reviewers)

Sign up here:

For questions please contact info@textilesocietyofamerica.org

The Textile Society of America is grateful to the Lenore G. Tawney Foundation for their generous support for the Symposium keynote lectures and talks.