Perhaps the most pressing concern I have is the continued marginalization of humanities and social sciences research by the granting agencies. It seems governments are prepared to perpetuate the attitude that the first priority for research monies must be the physical and biological sciences leaving the rest of the academic community to "eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table." It is up to the scholars who work within our areas to speak up and to show the public that our "truths" are equally important in the quest to find creative solutions to problems facing us as a society. ACTR/ARTC must continue to promote our work not just to like-minded scholars but to the general public via the popular press. We must ensure that university theatre programmes continue to change and reflect the new realities, that they experiment with performance while endeavouring to find effective ways to articulate the theory and re-examine current and past traditions. So please stay with us, participate on committees, come to the meetings and add your voice to those wishing to be heard on these and other pressing matters.
I think it is time to poll the entire membership and find out if this Association is fulfilling its purpose and whether we need to take another look at our mission and vison and come up with new strategies to achieve our goals. In fact, you may well ask, "What am I getting for my fee?" And during the next year we should all contribute to discussing that question in order to hammer out an answer and a workable solution.
In order to meet the challenges facing us on a variety of levels we need to be strong in numbers in order to empower HSSFC in its lobbying efforts and to re- configure this Association to meet our individual and collective needs as scholars, artists, researchers, students, and teachers.
See you in Edmonton.
Ches