Author: Rae

The program for LCLC50 is live.  Acceptances are out and attendees are busy making their reservations and reaching out to friends who they plan to meet in Louisville in February 2023.  

Certainly, we all can lament much that is going wrong in our world today.  But without sticking our head in the sand, we can also find the time and the spirit to celebrate the arts and renew our common bonds as practitioners of the arts, because much there is going right and a surprising amount of that good stuff will be on display right here in Derby City at the LCLC.

The LCLC dance card is packed with an astonishing array of talent.  If you have any questions or concerns as you plan, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.  I will do my best to assist you.

Having closed the books on the 49th LCLC, I reflect now on what I have learned during my first year as Director.  First, I have learned that the LCLC is a remarkable living institution.  For the past fifty years, this conference has brought together individuals united in their passionate belief that contemporary artistic and cultural endeavors deserve to be supported, celebrated and studied.  For fifty years, the LCLC has welcomed so called “creative work” to be read and viewed alongside so called “critical” or “scholarly” work precisely to unsettle this often destructive and unhelpful binary.  The LCLC has repeatedly served as the occasion and the opportunity to rethink what art, literature and culture are, what they do, and what they could be re-tasked to do in the future.

Without my colleagues and co-workers on this conference at the University of Louisville, none of this desperately needed innovation would happen.  Without the attendees, there would be no conference.  Therefore I offer my deepest thanks to all those individuals.

Now it is time to begin the planning of LCLC 50.  It would not be in the spirit of this institution to proceed in a way that merely celebrates the past with its faded accomplishments.  No, with the 50th, we look forward to renewing our efforts to make this conference indispensable to those among us who require close contact with art, literature and culture.

If you want to be a part of LCLC 50, please reach out to me.  If you have questions, email me and I will be happy to talk to you.

Let the planning commence!

Directing this conference has been one of the most challenging administrative tasks I have been called on to execute.  But the rewards are worth it.  We accept the challenges of convening during a pandemic.  We will enforce masking indoors at all events on the University of Louisville campus.  But I am also aware that it is a time of decisions and it is heartening to see so many people eager to join us for our 49th conference.  We have over 220 registrants.  We have a great program.  I look forward to greeting all attendees and to having a successful conference.  Reach out to me if you have any concerns.  I look forward to seeing you and to the discussions we will be having about art, literature, and life.

Submissions are coming in now for our 49th Annual Conference, and I approach each one with respect and an open mind.  Although early in the process, I can truly appreciate the vibrance and richness of our community of scholars, artists, poets and writers.  In the face of so many challenges, we are willing to come together to profess what we love and what we find makes life worth living.

​The LCLC is committed to following all of the guidelines put in place here at the University of Louisville, and that currently includes masking indoors.  We anticipate having to follow these guidelines during our conference.  We urge all conference attendees to get their full compliment of vaccinations in advance.  

​While doing what we can to have a safe conference, we are committed to ensuring that we have a fun and intellectually stimulating experience, one that will inspire attendees and extend the LCLC’s tradition of excellence in the arts and humanities.

As a way to survey what the LCLC has accomplished so far, I have begun an oral history of the conference.  The first episode of this podcast is up and the second is in post production.  

I hope you give the podcast a listen.  If you do I would love to hear your thoughts.  I am open to ideas for future episodes and look forward to doing some recording at the 49th conference this February.

I hope to see you in the River City for the 49th LCLC.

I am deeply honored to be serving now as Director of the LCLC.  As we approach our fiftieth year, I will be announcing new programming designed to foster dialogue and forge productive relations among our community.

The LCLC is one of the great cultural institutions of the University of Louisville. I know I speak for my colleagues when I say that we are thrilled to be hosting this event this coming February.  I welcome any and all questions from interested parties.

I hope to update this page with more information about the coming conference and about additional future programming.

Best wishes,

Matthew