Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Why has a multi-billion dollar global industry, which employs hundreds of thousands and impacts billions of participants annually, remained virtually invisible in mainstream management research?
We invite you to join us in Philadelphia for a historic first: the Academy's inaugural session dedicated to the study of festivals. In our PDW, "Out of the Ordinary: Festivals as Places of Transformation and Spiritual Dynamics" (ID: 11516), we move beyond mere entertainment to examine festivals as unique organizational forms.
We will explore:
- The Architecture of Transformation: How festival environments facilitate profound spiritual and psychological impacts.
- Social Justice & Change: The role of festivals in promoting a just society and driving social transformation.
- Historic Continuity: How contemporary events fulfill the ritual functions that festivals have provided throughout human history.
This session features four brief presentations by Naida, Kim, Cheryl and I, followed by a highly interactive set of activities designed to spark new research collaborations. Start your Saturday with a fresh perspective on "pulsating" organizations and help us make history together in Philadelphia!
Session ID: 11516 Time: Aug. 1, 8:00–9:30 AM Location: Loews Philadelphia Hotel, Second Floor, Commonwealth B
Add to your schedule: https://events.aom.org/events/aom-2026/session/ZzBFwBsTmRcuCu3OuoQ23
Naida (Grenoble Ecole de Management), Kim (SUNY – Binghamton), Cheryl (Belmont U) and Jacob (UCD – Dublin).
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Warm wishes,
Jacob Eisenberg
Associate Professor
University College Dublin Smurfit Graduate Business School
Belfield
jacob.eisenberg@ucd.ie------------------------------