Call for submissions

Arts Matters Conference 2026

Arts Matters is an interdisciplinary, student-led, academic conference. It provides undergraduate students at UNB and across Canada an opportunity to showcase their critical thinking, research, and creative works before an audience of their colleagues and peers. Arts Matters is an excellent opportunity to share your learning and research while you hone your presentation skills.

Participation in Arts Matters is free.

Submission guidelines

We welcome individuals from all backgrounds to share their academic work and creative projects. Students are encouraged to submit academic and creative work on all topics. Participants can also choose to submit work that speaks to our conference theme.

This year’s theme centers on breaking barriers and fostering inclusivity in academia and beyond.

If you have a project that you would love to share but you don’t know if it fits, please send us your abstract as we are looking to build a diverse program of presentations.

Accepted presenters will be invited to give a 12–15-minute presentation during one of the conference panels on either March 20th or 21st, 2026. We accept abstracts in either French or English.

Academic work

We accept abstracts and project descriptions from all social sciences, humanities, and liberal arts disciplines.

Submissions do not need to be related to the conference theme/question.

Creative work

We highly encourage the showcasing of creative work* (visual art, creative writing, multimedia projects, etc.)

Film projects and creative writing pieces can be shown or read as part of our conference panels.

For visual art, participants can choose to give a presentation about their creative work or simply display their work during the conference.

How to apply

Apply now using our submission form. Include your abstract or project description (maximum 300 words).

Deadlines

Conference presentation submissions: Feb. 20, 2026
Artwork-only display submissions: March 6, 2026

*If you plan to present a creative project with a visual component (e.g., visual art project, digital art, etc.), include images of your work with your project description.