A conference about the role of art, culture and (new) media in political discourse, and how the stories we tell and how we tell them are an integral part of transforming the way our society thinks. The two major questions that were addressed were “Why do we talk about what we talk about?” and “How can ideas with social justice values become the dominant discourse?”

Our Friday night keynote address was given by new media and digital dissent specialist Megan Boler from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, and on Sunday afternoon Tariq Ali, a world-renowned writer, activist, journalist and commentator closed the conference.

Other highlights included:
John MacLachlan Gray - Canadian writer-composer-performer
Nora Young - CBC host, producer and columnist
Joe Brewer - Writer, activist, environmentalist, cognitive scientist
Murray Dobbin - journalist, broadcaster, author
Meagan Perry - Senior Producer, rabble podcast network
Heather-jane Robertson - Researcher and author

Dewey’s Pub on campus was the location of our Saturday night political salon and open mic “Our Stories! Let’s Talk About Change!”

Subsidies

The Alberta Public Interest Research Group (APIRG) once again provided full conference subsidies to U of A undergraduate students who had not opted out of APIRG.