2004 CONFERENCE The Axis of Empire: An International Conference of the Union for Democratic Communications April 22-25, 2004, St. Louis, Missouri Hosted by the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois

• Conference Program PDF HTML  
• Call for Participation
• Registration Information

The 2004 UDC Conference Coordinating Committee has announced that in addition to presentations by media scholars, artists, and activists, the opening plenary speakers include: Amy Goodman, host and executive producer of Democracy Now!, Bob McChesney, Professor of Communication at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Fred Lonidier, Professor of Visual Arts at UCSD Vincent Mosco, Canada Research Chair in Communication and Society in the Department of Sociology at Queen's University, will deliver the keynote address and accept the Dallas Smythe Award. Tariq Ali, Editor New Left Review and Tim Walker, Adbusters to speak on the evening of Friday, April 23.

Conference Site Information

The conference will be held at the following location:

First Unitarian Church -- Click here for their website. (Corner of Waterman and Kings Highway)
5007 Waterman Street
St Louis

This is in the Central West End, at Waterman and N. Kingshighway Blvd (three major city blocks north of N. Kingshighway and Lindell Blvd).
Click here to view a map from MapQuest.

Hotel Directions
The UDC Conference hotel is the Best Western Inn at the Park located at 4630 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, Mo, phone: 314-367-7500. For further information go to the hotel website:

Driving Directions - Take US Highway 40-64 to Kings Highway. Go north to Lindell and turn right to the Best Western Inn at the Park.

Transportation from Lambert Airport to the Best Western Inn at the Park:

• Numerous airport shuttle services, located by the baggage claim area, are available for approximately $25.00.
• Taxi service is available for approximately $35.00.
• A Metro Link train station is located in the airport. Take the Metro Link to the Central West End Station. Go to the pay phone and call the Best Western at 367-7500 for the hotel shuttle service, which is available from 7 am - 8 pm. After 8 pm, you must call for a taxi or walk the four blocks to the hotel.

Conference Check-In
You may check-in Thursday from 4 - 5 pm in the lobby of the Best Western Inn at the Park prior to the Welcome Reception which is scheduled to begin at 5 pm. You may also check-in for the conference on Friday at the Unitarian Church from 8 - 8:30 am prior to the Welcoming Address, which is scheduled to begin at 8:30 am. For conference schedule information, click here.

Hotel reservation deadline: March 22, 2004 or until 80 rooms have been reserved
The Best Western at the Park located at 4630 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, has reserved 80 rooms for our conference for the nights of Thursday, April 22, Friday, April 23, and Saturday, April 24, 2004. The rooms will be on a "first-come-first-serve" basis and any rooms not booked will be released to the general public on March 22, 2004. All other rooms in the hotel have already been reserved for these nights; therefore, it is imperative that you make sure to have your room reserved by March 22, 2004 or sooner. In order to make a reservation and receive the conference rate of $85.00 plus tax per night, you must mention that you are attending the UNION FOR DEMOCRATIC COMMUNICATIONS CONFERENCE.

The Friday night reception and dinner/dance on Saturday will be held in the Best Western at the Park and there are a very limited number of other hotels in the immediate area. Please call 1-800-373-7501 or (314) 367-7500 or fax (314) 367-9015 as soon as possible to make sure that you can stay with us at the Best Western at the Park. Information about the hotel and details on how to get there from the airport can be obtained by clicking here (will open in a new window.)

Page last updated: 11 May 2007