"Beat Meets East: An International and Interdisciplinary Conference on the Age of Spontaneity," will be held on Wednesday, June 2, through Saturday, June 5, co-sponsored by Sichuan University, Chengdu, China, and the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

The focus of the conference is the mid-20th century movement in the arts that includes the painting of Jackson Pollock, the dancing of Merce Cunningham, the music of Charlie Parker and the writing of Jack Kerouac, among others.

Sessions on all aspects of the Beat Generation including those that recognize its place in the larger context of the Age of Spontaneity, including presentations on music, painting, film and photography, as well as historical, sociological and religious perspectives.

Interdisciplinary sessions will be held each morning and cultural tours to sites of interest will be offered in the afternoons. Conference coordinators are UWSP Professor William Lawlor and Sichuan Professor Wen Chu-an.

Lawlor, who traveled to China three years ago on a university-sponsored tour, gave a guest lecture at Sichuan about the Beat Generation. He says that the Chinese students and faculty showed a strong interest in the subject and Wen Chu-an was eager to host the upcoming conference.

Participants will be responsible for their own transportation, lodging and related expenses; Sichuan University will provide guidance and assistance. The university also will host two banquets of authentic cuisine, plus guided visits to cultural areas such as the panda reserve, the Chinese opera and Buddhist sites. An optional trip to Lhasa, Tibet, also will be available at a reasonable additional cost.

Keynote speakers will include photographer and scholar Gordon Ball of the Virginia Military Institute, who was Alan Ginsberg's photographer and journal editor, and composer and musician David Amram, who wrote collaboratively with Jack Kerouac and directed an experimental film about the era.

For further information and registration, contact Lawlor at wlawlor@uwsp.edu.