The Face to Face Arts in Education Conference is the Roundtable’s annual flagship event. It is one of the largest arts education conferences in NY State & the only event of its kind.

Through a wide variety of panels, workshops, reports, and other presentations, the Face to Face conference gives arts in education practitioners the opportunity to think deeply and learn more about arts in education. The conference seeks to offer something for everyone: arts administrators, teaching artists, school personnel, classroom educators, parents, and representatives of community-based organizations. The conference aims to highlight an array of exciting presenters sharing best practices, discussing local, state, national, and international policies, and addressing enduring issues such as quality, assessment, sustainability, professional development, equity and inclusion, and art and social justice.

Please visit our Face to Face website for more information about last year’s conference: https://nycaieroundtable.org/facetoface

Face to Face 2025 will be a two-week hybrid conference experience from April 7 – 17, 2025. April 7 – 11 will begin with virtual conference events hosted via Zoom (exact dates/times TBA). The conference will culminate in an in-person conference on Wednesday, April 16 -Thursday, April 17, 2025.

The in-person conference location for Face to Face 2025 is Shepard Hall, City College of New York, 160 Convent Ave, New York, NY 10031.  

The Face to Face conference seeks to offer a variety of sessions that are applicable to all members of the vast arts education community – arts administrators, teaching artists, school teachers and personnel, parents, students, consultants, and representatives of community-based organizations. Conference sessions should create opportunities for participants to think critically, engage in deep exploration, share thoughts and practices, and walk away with valuable knowledge and experiences.

Previous conference sessions have typically fallen into the following categories:

• Professional Development
• Curriculum Development
• Topics in Arts Management and Arts Administration
• Community Engagement
• Working with Diverse Populations
• Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Proposed sessions will be assessed on:

• ability to identify a specific focus question, a clear session plan, and specific intended outcomes for participants
• demonstrated expertise of the presenter(s)
• ability to investigate a critical question, challenge, or issue in their topic areas
• ability to explore topics by engaging in the specified art form (when applicable)
• ability to initiate thoughtful discussion and dialogue among participants, and to include in-depth and meaningful reflection
• ability to provide participants with an engaging and educational experience

For a look at previous conference sessions, view last year’s conference program here.

Yes, Submittable allows you to save your application and continue at a later time. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the application webpage and click on “Save Draft” to save your application. You can view the full application questions in this Google doc. If you would like to prepare your answers separately and then paste them into the application, make a copy of the Google doc and prepare your answers there before transferring them to the Submittable application portal.

Application Notification: by Monday, December 16, 2024

Proposed sessions will be reviewed by Roundtable staff and a review committee consisting of 8-12 arts education practitioners representing multiple different careers, organizations, disciplines, and tenures in the field of arts education.

Proposed sessions will be assessed on:

ability to provide participants with an engaging and educational experience

ability to identify a specific focus question, a clear session plan, and specific intended outcomes for participants

demonstrated expertise of the presenter(s)

ability to investigate a critical question, challenge, or issue in their topic areas

ability to explore topics by engaging in the specified art form (when applicable)

ability to initiate thoughtful discussion and dialogue among participants, and to include in-depth and meaningful reflection

Each Submittable account is limited to submitting one proposal for Face to Face 2025. An organization is able to submit multiple proposals, but the primary presenter for each proposal must be different.

Please note that conference policy dictates that individuals and organizations can only present one session at Face to Face. This policy exists to increase the range and diversity of conference presenters and to provide equitable opportunities to applicants across the field.

Yes! Presenters from across the globe are welcome to propose a session for the Face to Face conference. However, travel and accommodation stipends are not available and will be the responsibility of accepted presenters if they must commute to NYC for the in-person conference.

Yes — in the proposal application you will be asked to indicate whether you are proposing a virtual or in-person session. You can also select “either” if you are open to both. If you select “either” but have a preference, please indicate that in your long form answer in the OUTLINE section of the application.

Yes! Having previously presented at Face to Face has no impact on our session scoring/selection process. That said, our committee strongly encourages former presenters to propose a new session as opposed to one that they have already presented at a previous Face to Face conference.

While you are welcome to submit any session proposal you’d like, the Face to Face conference committee strongly prefers not to repeat sessions that have previously been featured at a Face to Face conference and we highly encourage former presenters to submit a new proposal rather than one they’ve already presented at Face to Face.