Music, Sound, & Climate Justice Conversations 2022

New Orleans, 8-9 November 2022

(& online, & continuing in the ER)

Program (final, as of 7 November 2022) includes links to the free online asynchronous presentations now available.

MSCJC is a gathering of music and sound scholars and practitioners who engage with complex questions surrounding the intersections of music and sound with social and ecological justice, environmentalism, and the climate crisis.

To maximize conversations, the MSCJC will begin online asynchronously, convene over two days in New Orleans with all presentations in plenary, and offer numerous opportunities for group and small discussions online and in New Orleans.

To carry on the conversations, all presenters will be invited to publish their work in the Ecomusicology Review using the normal peer review process.

Registration and Attendance Fees

Register here. All presenters are required to register. Space is limited, so guest participants must register to confirm in-person and on-line attendance.

To improve inclusivity, there is a sliding scale for participation fees. Registration fees cover event costs while keeping in mind the needs of our participants.

  • Presenters: $50 (online and in-person)
    • Student presenters: free
  • Guest Participants (not presenting):
    • Professionals (online or in-person): $50
    • Graduate students (in-person): $20
    • Graduate students (online): $10
    • Undergraduate students (in-person & online): free
    • Community members (in-person & online): free
  • Discounts and waivers are available for presenters and guests demonstrating need (low/un-employment, international exchange rates, etc.). Indicate your request in the final question of the registration form.

For those who can, donations improve the accessibility of MSCJC.

Thanks to the generosity of the AMS Ecomusicology Study Group and the SEM Portia K. Maultsby Fund, student presenters will not need to pay a registration fee, and many of them receive travel scholarships to participate. The MSCJC planning committee invite additional donations from presenters and guests who can afford to pay more. Many scholars (including graduate students!) have made individually meaningful donations to support student presenters at MSCJC.

Donated funds will be used to support student participants who will attend in-person in New Orleans by offering scholarships to defray travel, lodging, and subsistence expenses. (In the event that all graduate student presenters are fully covered, we will use any additional donations as subsidies for graduate student guests.) Fees collected cover basic meeting room, technology, and refreshment costs. To keep costs minimal, our online platform will be basic, and there will be simple refreshments at MSCJC in New Orleans. Meals are on your own, but there will be organized groups to continue the conversations over food and drink.

Please donate via this Paypal link (the same used for registration payment).

Meeting Policies

MSCJC follows the policies of the AMS-SEM-SMT 2022 Joint Annual Meeting. All participants attending in-person in New Orleans will need to affirm the following:

Policy on COVID-19 Vaccination 

All attendees of the 2022 AMS-SEM-SMT Joint Annual Meeting are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 with a World Health Organization (WHO) approved COVID-19 vaccine and to abide by any and all safety protocols (including indoor masking) that may be required by the meeting venue, city and state authorities, or the conference organizers in response to public health conditions at the time of the conference. Those who cannot meet the vaccination requirement will instead be required to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 viral test within 3 days of the start of the conference and report the results of daily antigen testing during the conference.

Policy on Harassment

All attendees of the 2022 AMS-SEM-SMT Joint Annual Meeting are required to review the meeting’s Policy on Harassment and agree to abide by its terms.

Policy on Photo Release

The 2022 AMS-SEM-SMT Joint Annual Meeting will have photographers and videographers on site to capture a visual record of select meetings and activities. This visual record is for the organizers’ use only and may appear on the societies’ websites, newsletters, and social media streams. In registering for this event, you acknowledge that you may be photographed and waive the right to inspect or approve such images before posting.

Call for Papers [archived]

An interdisciplinary group of activists, scholars, and practitioners seeks proposals for “Music, Sound, and Climate Justice Conversations 2022,” an event scheduled to take place preceding the joint meeting of the American Musicological Society, the Society for Ethnomusicology, and the Society for Music Theory in New Orleans and online in November 2022.

We seek contributions from the broadest range of participants to a gathering of music and sound scholars and practitioners who engage with complex questions surrounding the intersections of music and sound with social and ecological justice, environmentalism, and the climate crisis.

We invite proposals for papers, panels, roundtables, posters, films, and performances that address, directly or tangentially, any of the following questions:

  • How do music and sound interact with issues of climate justice?
  • How do music and sound scholars acknowledge the connections of all life on the planet?
  • How has music scholarship intersected with environmentalism historically?
  • How does the academy’s involvement in these questions influence policy, action, and lived experiences of climate change?
  • How have historically valued listening practices reflected traditional power relationships and ignored alternative ways of understanding other-than-human environments?
  • What challenges remain in considering the environment in music (knowledge)-making practices?

Please send a 250-word proposal describing your project as well as the format, ideal length, and intended audiences for your presentation via email to Travis Stimeling by June 1, 2022.

Planning Committee

Lead Organizer:

  • Aaron S. Allen (editor, Ecomusicology Review)

Working Group chairs:

  • William Bares (local arrangements)
  • Travis Stimeling (program)
  • Mark Pedelty (tech/online)

Committee Members:

  • Knar Abrahamyan
  • Chiao-Wen Chiang
  • Robert C. Cook
  • Rebecca Dirksen
  • Sabine Feisst
  • Denise Von Glahn
  • Isaiah Green
  • Heidi Jensen
  • Rebekah E. Moore
  • Megan Murph
  • Miriam Piilonen
  • Jeff Titon
  • Olusegun Stephen Titus

Co-Sponsoring Organizations:

  • AMS Ecomusicology Study Group
  • SEM Ecomusicology Special Interest Group