News

Call for Applications: 2nd International Doctoral Summer School

09.05.2025

Doctoral students from the Latvian Academy of Culture (LAC), Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (LAMT), and Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (EAMT) are invited to apply for the International Doctoral Summer School, which will take place from August 18 to 22 in Stameriena (Gulbene district, Latvia) and preparation and introduction lecture online on August 4. The School will cover topics related to artistic research in the fields of music, film, performing arts, and interdisciplinary approach. The application deadline is May 28. 

The purpose of the Summer School is to support the professional development of Baltic doctoral students in the field of arts, encourage the advancement of their doctoral theses, and promote international and interdisciplinary cooperation and the exchange of ideas. The program will include lectures, workshops, individual mentoring sessions, as well as a public program with the opportunity to participate in discussions or showcase the artistic works of the participants and lecturers of the Summer School. The public program will be curated after the confirmation of the participants, and it will be available and accessible to the local public interested in culture and the arts. 

The lecturers and mentors of the Summer School are distinguished representatives from various art fields (see the introductions below): Dr. Annette Arlander (Finland), Dr. Rachel Garfield (United Kingdom), Dr. Theodore Lee Parker (Estonia), Dr. Ondřej Vavrečka (The Czech Republic) and Dr. Kersti Grunditz Brennan (Sweden). The program is curated by Prof. Dr. Dāvis Sīmanis (LAC) and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ramunė Balevičiūtė (LMTA), who will also mentor the participants. The tentative program of the Summer School is available here. 

To apply, please fill out the application form and attach a CV and a motivation letter in English. The application deadline is May 28, 2025. Information regarding participation in the Summer School will be provided individually by e-mail by June 4. The program of the Summer School will be conducted in English. Participation is free of charge, but the number of participants is limited. 

If you have any questions about the application process, please contact Kristīne Freiberga (kristine.freiberga@lka.edu.lv), Božena Čiurlionienė (bozena.ciurlioniene@lmta.lt) or Kristel Karu-Kletter (kristel.karu-kletter@eamt.ee).  

The International Doctoral Summer School is organized by the Latvian Academy of Culture, the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre and the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, in cooperation with the Gulbene Municipality Council and Stameriena Palace.  Summer School is organized as an Erasmus+ BIP (Blended intensive programme) project and is co-funded by the Latvian Academy of Culture, the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, the Estonian Doctoral School, the European Union ERASMUS+ and the EU Social Fund programmes. 

About the lecturers of the Summer School 

Dr. Annette Arlander is an artist, researcher and a pedagogue, one of the pioneers of Finnish performance art (in the 1980s) and trailblazers of artistic research (in the 1990s). She is educated as theatre director, Master of Arts (philosophy) and Doctor of Art (theatre and drama). Arlander was the first to be awarded a doctorate from the Theatre Academy, Helsinki (in 1999). In 2001 she was invited as professor of performance art and theory to instigate the MA degree program in performance art and theory (or Live Art and performance studies, as it is called today) a position she held until 2013. In 2007-2009 she was also head of the research department or Performing Arts Research Centre (Tutke) at the Theatre Academy. In 2015-2016 she was professor of artistic research at the University of the Arts Helsinki Theatre Academy and (temporary) vice dean for research there, as well as visiting professor at Stockholm University of the Arts. In 2016 she was professor of artistic research at Academy of Fine Arts University of the Arts Helsinki. In 2017 Arlander was a postdoctoral fellow in the arts at Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies. In 2018-2019 she was professor in performance, art and theory at Stockholm University of the Arts with the artistic research project, funded by Vetenskapsrådet, Performing with Plants. She was the principal investigator of the Academy of Finland funded research project How to Do Things with Performance (2016-2020), the artistic research project Meetings with Remarkable and Unremarkable Trees (2021-2022) supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the project Pondering with Pines (2022-2024) funded by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland. At present she is affiliated as visiting researcher at Academy of Fine Arts University of the Arts Helsinki. Arlander is member of the editorial board of JAR (Journal for Artistic Research), member of the board of directors of PSI (Performance Studies International) and co-convener of the Artistic Research Working Group. Her research interests are related to artistic research, performance-as-research, performance studies, site-specificity and the environment. Her artwork is focused on performing landscape by means of video or recorded voice, and moves between the traditions of performance art, video art and environmental art. Her video works are distributed through AV-arkki, the Centre for Finnish Media Art. She is the recipient of Avek media art prize (2014) and Finnish State prize for multidisciplinary art (2018) and an honorary member of Artists’ Association MUU (2024). 

Dr. Rachel Garfield is an artist and writer whose work is engaged with the role of lived relations in the formation and intersections of subjectivities. Professor Garfield is the PGR lead and Research Lead for School of Arts & Humanities, which develops strategy and supports research in the School. Previous posts include School Head of PGR and Head of Department at the University of Reading; Lecturer on the MFA Goldsmiths and the BA at Salford University. Garfield has extensive external examining experience at all levels and is currently PhD supervisor for candidates exploring fine art and video practice; subjectivity under post-colonial and diasporic conditions and feminism. Garfield is currently a mentor (with Professor Kleio Akrivou at the Henley Business School) for the British Academy post-doctoral fellow Simon Willems, whose project entitled “Rethinking Wellbeing: Evaluating the Neoliberalisation of Wellbeing in the Workplace Using Artworks as a Critical Lens” will be published by Palgrave.Garfield exhibits and screens her films regularly both nationally and internationally, at institutions including ICA London; Hugh Lane: CalArts; Whitechapel Art Gallery and CCA Santa Fe. She also curates screenings connected to her published monograph Women, Experimental Filmmaking and Punk: Feminist Audio Visual Culture in the1970s and 1980s (Bloomsbury, 2022) in its second print, nominated for the Kraszna-Krausz award (2022). Garfield has contributed substantially to the Women in Revolt exhibition at the Tate Britain, The Whitworth and the National Gallery of Scotland (2023–25) through her contribution to the catalogue, screenings and conference. Garfield was PI of the AHRC funded “The Legacies of Stephen Dwoskin’s Personal Cinema” for which output, Dwoskino: The Gaze of Stephen Dwoskin, LUX publishing 2022, co-edited with Henry K Miller, was shortlisted for the Kraszna-Krausz award (2023). Garfield is the commissioning editor for the Intellect peer-reviewed journal Moving Image Review and Journal (MIRAJ). 

Dr. Kersti Grunditz Brennan has explored film form in documentary and fiction live action, short and long formats, narrative cinema, archival based stories, essays and experimental hybrids for the past 20 years; for cinema, other art contexts, through research and education. She holds a PhD in Perfomative and Media Based practices, an MFA in choreography, is an established film editor of several award-winning documentaries and has directed documentaries about prominent Scandinavian artists and the festival touring, award winning film The Man Behind the Throne; about Michael Jackson’s choreographer Vincent Paterson; sold to 15 countries. Her film about Swedish ballerina Marie Lindqvist, Marie’s Attitude, premiered at New York’s Lincoln Center in Feb. 2017. In 2017, she was nominated for Best Editing and Best Screenplay at Swedish film awards (Guldbaggen) and for Best documentary at Swedish TV awards (Kristallen) for the feature documentary Citizen Schein, which she edited and co-wrote. She takes on many different creative and educational roles in film processes ranging from movies, TV, art exhibits and stage performances to workshops, research expositions, conference presentations and academic writing. 2023 she received her artistic research PhD in film and media with the multimedia dissertation Beyond Cut and Join – Expanding the creative role of film editing. She is one of the collaborators of the film and research project BLOD which has resulted in several publications, conference presentations and internationally screened films and serves as the foundational research for new projects under the BLODWERK umbrella. 

Dr. Theodore Lee Parker is a guitarist who works primarily in the fields of Free Improvisation and Experimental Music. Currently his focus is on live electronics as well as site specific sound. He is a member of Estonia’s first live electronics ensemble (EMA) and has created music for theatre and dance performances. His research activities pertain to the use of site specificity as part of both the aesthetic and music making processes involved in real-time music making. Currently he lectures at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theater on the topics concerning free improvisation and artistic research. 

Dr. Ondřej Vavrečka has a multimedia artistic practice, which starts with film, collages, music, painting, performance, poetry, and sewing, and leads to informed humour about the nature of the world, humans, animals, plants and last but not least, lichens. He begins his process from physical materiality and combines philosophical thoughts, doubts and experiments with a playful approach. During his residency at Delfina Foundation, Ondřej will use the time to develop areas of his artistic expression that he has not cultivated for some time, such as performance in public space associated with material objects. In terms of theory, he will explore the concept and practice of the dialectical image. Ondřej’s most recent exhibitions include: The Green File, Divadlo Pod Palmovkou, Prague, 2021; Wasted To Metal – Reloaded, Walk Thru Gallery, Hradec Králové, 2021; The Black Notebook, Café Nová Doba, Prague, 2021; Screengazer And Fire In The Sky, Kino Ponrepo, Prague, 2020; and Wasted To Metal, GAMPA, Pardubice, 2020.