The Popular Arts Conference (PAC) is looking for volunteers to help with putting together PAC 2027!

PAC is an annual academic conference for the studies of the popular arts, including science/speculative fiction and fantasy literature, film, and other media; comic books and graphic novels; anime and manga; tabletop and video gaming; etc., presented to a mixed audience of scholars and fans. The mission of PAC is to promote scholarship on popular culture and to encourage engagement between scholars and fans in order to deepen our understanding of the popular arts. PAC presentations are peer reviewed, based on scholarly research.

Putting on the conference is complicated: We have to solicit proposals, run a complete peer review process, coordinate with the decentralized administration of DragonCon programming, and get the word out about the event, among other things. It takes a team to make it happen, and we’ve been lucky for most of the past two decades to have a fabulous group of volunteers to make it happen.

No one gets paid to organize PAC, but that does not mean it is without its rewards. PAC is like any academic conference in that volunteering is a form of service to the profession. Academics whose positions require such service should receive credit for their role with PAC. It is also a form of public outreach or public scholarship. Finally, working with PAC presenters and DragonCon audiences is a pleasure and a privilege.

If you’re interested in helping out, please fill out the form below to let us know how you’d be able to help.