Dena Davida, Jane Gabriels,
Véronique Hudon & Marc Pronovost

Montréal International Symposium on Curating the Performing Arts” in 2014 — produced by the International Community of Performing Arts Curators (CICA- ICAC) — Curating Live Arts is a seminal, effective endeavor to build the field of the live arts from the ground up. But what exactly are the live arts, what do they encompass? The word “performance” has been used as an umbrella term with the intent of including all mediums using live presence, move-ment, and action. But “performance” is heavily tainted by visual arts history in performance art and in the end, is not equally inclusive of all media. Could “live arts” consider all disciplines, moving forward with its own history and different issues around curation?

The research of the group of co-editors, all also part of CICA-ICAC, raises important questions around live arts curation, grounding it in their academic and practical experiences, strongly anchored in the reality we find in the cultural sector in Montréal. Acknowledging DIY and independent projects, and that curation is not only for those working in museums, this book recognizes and challenges the idea that curation has not been used as such by many in the field of the live arts, but can be applied to their work. Defined and mostly used within the visual arts, is it possible for other cultural workers to be recognized as curators in other live disciplines?