Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Most of us have experienced the unique "time-out-of-time" energy of a festival; this experience is shared by billions of people in every country in the world. Festivals are a multi-billion dollar industry, engage hundreds of thousands of employees and similar numbers of volunteers and impact billions of participants. Yet, as management scholars, we have rarely turned our analytical lens toward these powerful sites of spiritual, social and economic dynamics.
Join us for a landmark event at AOM Philadelphia: "Out of the Ordinary: Festivals as Places of Transformation and Spiritual Dynamics". This is the first session in the Academy's history to focus exclusively on festivals as spaces for profound human and social impact.
Our interactive PDW will delve into:
- Spiritual Dynamics: Understanding the unique architecture that allows festivals to fulfill deep-seated human needs for ritual and connection.
- Agents of Change: How festivals act as catalysts for social transformation and the promotion of a more just society.
The session will consist of four brief presentations by Naida, Kim, Cheryl and I, followed by a highly interactive set of activities in which all participations will take part. We recognize it is an early start on Saturday morning, but we promise an "extraordinary" session that balances scholarship with the interactive, vibrant spirit of the festivals we study. Let's 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------------------------------