Lorefest – Oct 29-Nov 02, 2024. Lorefest Conference 9am-5pm, Nov 02, 2024, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX.

Lorefest is an annual festival combining scholarly research and creative practice inspired by local and “glocal” (i.e. globally-inspired, locally-rooted) folklore. It brings together the Texas A&M student body, their family and friends, and local Bryan/College Station communities culminating in a five-day event in late October/early November. Its organizers are professors, students, and local business owners working together to realize five days of creative programming, including theater, puppetry, a live radio play, film festival, gallery showings, and more. Existing folklore, including oral histories, stories and artifacts will be collected, preserved and made available alongside new works by students and local artists, for members of the public and future generations. 

Lorefest also includes a one-day symposium on Saturday, November 2nd, 2024, inviting discourse that brings together scholarly research and community interaction, focusing on folklore studies, creative expression, and collaborative opportunities for undergraduates, graduates, faculty, professionals, and anyone with an interest in folklore and the local cultures through which it communicates. 

This year’s themes are Ghost Stories, Historical Entanglements, and Sound, but the conference is not limited to these themes alone. We’re especially interested in presentations that center around performance and practice-as-research. However, any relevant topic will be considered. Some suggested topics include:

Ghost Stories and Folklore
Preservation of Folklore
Folklore as Creative Inspiration

Performance Ethnography
Folklore and Sound
BIPoC Folklore
History and Folklore

Participants should expect 20 mins for presentations plus a Q&A session as part of the panel. In-person or Zoom presentations can be accommodated. To join us for the Lorefest conference, please send an abstract with a maximum of 300 words for papers, panels, or performances to Rich Cooper (rcooper1@tamu.edu) by September 23rd, 2024. Successful abstract submissions will be announced on October 4th, 2024.