Troy set to hold this year's Popular Arts Conference

Troy University is set to hold this year’s Popular Arts Conference on campus in partnership with the University of Alabama at Birmingham on Thursday, April 24 and Friday, April 25.

Troy’s International Arts Center and HAL Hall will open their doors for this year’s Popular Arts Conference, a public two-day convention focused on viewing various forms of art and popular culture through an educational lens. The event will feature art exhibitions and presentations from undergraduate students, professors and scholars with specialties ranging from philosophy to studio art practices.

“People can expect discussion on technology in classrooms, powerful women in comic books, how rap is a revolution that brings people together and many other interesting scholarly ideas about popular culture and the arts,” said Dr. Nokes, a professor of English and this year’s project director for PAC. “We will also have an art show and a demonstration of how the Air Force uses board games to teach ethics of war fighting.”

The event is being held in partnership with the UAB and supported by the Alabama Humanities Alliance Grant. Nokes said that people from Birmingham, Alabama, and the surrounding community are expected to visit Troy for the Popular Arts Conference.

“The study of popular culture and the humanities has never been a more vibrant field,” Nokes said. “By uniting with UAB and inviting scholars from various fields from around the country, people will see pop culture and the humanities as they never have before.”

Nokes also said the event was purposefully scheduled alongside Undergraduate Research Week and includes undergraduate students to expand opportunities for Troy students to showcase their work.

“We extend an invitation to anyone who is interested in popular culture and the arts, as well as scholars, to come and listen to the talks we have available,” Nokes said. “There will be time for questions.

“We hope that anyone could find a topic of interest to them in the broad spectrum we are offering.”

The event is free and open to the public. The topics include comics, films, television, music, art and anime. Those interested in attending the event can see its schedule, which includes times for each presentation and exhibition, at profawesome.com.