Upcoming Midwestern Regional Events
Illinois • Indiana• Iowa • Michigan • Minnesota • Missouri • Nebraska • North Dakota • Ohio • South Dakota • Wisconsin • Manitoba • Ontario
CSA’s Midwestern Region holds events on a regular basis. If you have an idea for an event, please contact our Programs and Events Coordinator, Patricia Edmonson.
Call for Proposals
Fashioning the Midwest:
At the Heart of Turtle Island
Midwestern Regional Symposium
November 6 - 7, 2025
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
The Midwestern Region of the Costume Society of America seeks creative work/original presentations for its 2025 symposium. Topics are loosely inspired by the Bata Shoe Museum’s current exhibition: Rough & Ready: A History of the Cowboy Boot, which explores how this footwear embodies contradiction – symbolizing labour and leisure, freedom and domination, tradition and reinvention. Popular fashions of the Midwest, such as the cowboy boot, help us tease out complex colonial histories tied to place and space. Our hope for this conference is to uplift Indigenous fashion knowledges of Turtle Island, alongside broader fashion discourse and dialogue of the Midwest.
Prospective presenters are encouraged to submit proposals on topics such as, but not limited to:
- Fashion discourse of the Midwest
- Complex dynamics found in clothing
- Indigenous fashion histories and contemporary practice
- Silenced or hidden fashion knowledges
- Politics and ethics of appropriation in Midwestern dress
- Collections care, repatriation and object-based storytelling
Possible formats for presentations include:
- 15-minute scholarly lectures
- Project synopsis related to exhibitions or creative work
- Panel discussions
- Manifestos
- Poetry/Spoken word
- Audiovisual (videos, music)
- Other creative outputs are welcome
The Call for Proposals is due July 11, 2025. Please submit abstracts no longer than 500 words excluding notes and references through the CSA online portal using instructions (coming soon) at: https://www.costumesocietyamerica.com/midwestern-events. Include the title in the header. Do not include author names. Please indicate if you are a current student. Prospective presenters will be notified of acceptance by July 28, 2025.
For questions regarding proposals, contact Andrea Melvin, Midwest Regional Chair at amelvin@grpm.org.