PunkCon is a biennial punk conference dedicated to centering and celebrating the diversity of punk artists, musicians, academics, activists, and scholars. PunkCon 2026 is the fourth biennial gathering and the first time it will be hosted at UNLV. This year's theme, Teaching for the Masses: Punk Pedagogies for Scholastic Saboteurs, focuses on how punk has broadly shaped and/or influenced pedagogy and educational experiences, including but not limited to learning, teaching practices, philosophies and ethos, analog and technological uses in the classroom and, as well as research and scholastic endeavors. This year’s theme is inspired by ongoing conversations, personal and collective experiences, and the growing scholarship on punk pedagogy (Furness, 2012; Bag, 2015; Smith et.al, 2018; Cruz-Gonzales, 2019; Romero, 2024) that have been engaged and encountered within and beyond the hallways of academia, the classroom and other community spaces, as well as the pit.

We aim to explore this theme at a moment when education and learning as we know it is also changing alongside new technologies, institutional structures, and socio-cultural and political shifts impacting the very foundations of how we think about and value education. Questions we raise include: What does punk offer pedagogues, educators, learners, scholars, thinkers, and creators during times of socio-cultural and political shifts? How do punks navigate institutions and the shifts within them? How do we educate and learn when the world around us is ablaze? With admiration and intrigue, we welcome all punk and punk-inspired speculative scholars, lecturers of the underground, and transformative educators / saboteurs, who we endearingly refer to as Punk S.L.U.T.S., to help us place a punk lens on pedagogy. 

The two-day conference will consist of panels and workshops.

This event is co-sponsored by the UNLV College of Liberal Arts and College of Education Dean's Offices, as well as the Departments of Interdisciplinary, Gender and Ethnic Studies, Anthropology, History, Philosophy, and Sociology. 

Because UNLV remains committed to fostering an inclusive environment that upholds the principles of academic freedom and open discourse, it is important to clarify that the content of any program, as well as the views expressed by speakers, panelists, or participants—before, during, or after an event—do not necessarily reflect the views, positions, or endorsements of the university, its administration, faculty, staff, or governing bodies.