Now accepting late registrations! Please register online and bring your check to the registration table at the conference. Unfortunately, at this point, we cannot accept anymore banquet orders.

About the 2017 Conference

Musicking Equity:
Enacting social justice through music education.

In a world filled with violence targeted at groups who embody difference, a world where police brutality increases daily, a world where gun violence is out of control, and climate change threatens the world as we know it, we might ask, as music educators, what role music education can play in resistance, in activism. What does critical engagement as scholars, music educators, artists, and activists mean? At a time when death, injury, danger, poverty, and destitution are routine, how can music education matter? The ongoing critique of the so-called “Ivory Tower” and the continual separation of theory and practice challenge the relevance of music education scholarship within this tumultuous global context. While boundaries continue to be drawn between disciplines, between education contexts, and between activists, this conference aims to explore the ways in which music, as a uniquely human activity, and music education might take a place on the continuum of resistance to injustices.

The 2017 New Directions Conference focuses on the existential questions for music education: “Why are we here?” and perhaps more importantly, “To what end?” Interdisciplinary submissions in a variety of formats are welcome. The theme is an invitation to reflect on how music education might matter in the larger context.

For more information, click the links below or navigation on the left

• Conference Mission and History
• Conference Registration and Information
• Conference Schedule

All are welcome! Information on accessibility and accommodations available. Please contact Juliet Hess at jlhess@msu.edu.

For further information, please contact the music education faculty at Michigan State University.

• Mitchell Robinson (mrob@msu.edu)
• Cindy Taggart (taggartc@msu.edu)
• Sandra Snow (slsnow@msu.edu)
• Judy Palac (palac@msu.edu)
• Juliet Hess (jlhess@msu.edu) Conference Coordinator

We look forward to seeing you in East Lansing, MI in February 2017!