IMBAS is an Irish forum for artists and scholars working within and beyond the University sector who share an interest in arts practice research, particularly in the performing arts.

Drawing its inspiration from the old Irish word imbas (often used to refer to creative, poetic and performed wisdom) it is committed to the creation of a distinctive and dynamic model of arts practice research. IMBAS facilitates communication between institutions and individuals, promoting scholarly discourse and modes of practice concerning knowledge creation though performance and performance-related creative practice. Committed to ensuring that arts practice research is fully accepted and valued as an important mainstream academic discourse in Ireland, IMBAS engages in strategic and collaborative policy development within Irish Higher Education and seeks to influence the development of wider sectoral and national policy regarding performing arts research in Ireland.

TOWARDS AN IRISH MODEL OF

ARTS PRACTICE RESEARCH

IMBAS is interested in articulating the distinctly Irish context for arts practice research in respect of, for example:

• The relationship between the arts and orality;
• Multiple forms of originality;
• Collective ownership;
• The continuum of engagement in the arts from amateur to professsional;
• The importance of the ‘local’;
• The recognition of Irish aesthetic traditions, located within a global context;
• Emerging contemporary and experimental practices;
• Emerging patterns in relation to hybridity and interdisciplinarity.