Call for AMS Study Group and Committee Proposals

Deadline: 16 March 2026, 11:59 p.m. ET

Overview

The ninety-second Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society (AMS) will be held on Saturday and Sunday, November 14–15, 2026 and Thursday and Friday, November 19–20, 2026. The meeting will be held online as well as streamed from various locations around the world, and will include sessions and performances organized by the International Musicological Society’s (IMS) regional associations for Latin America and the Caribbean (ARLAC) and East Asia (IMSEA).

The AMS Annual Meeting, organized continuously since 1934, is a celebration of the AMS community designed to promote the study and teaching of music. It encourages and explores inquiry about music through a range of approaches and presentational modes, including historical musicology, creative practice, ethnography, analysis, performance, musical demonstrations, policy, civic engagement, sound artifact curation, and digital humanities.

Guided by the AMS’s Statement on Fair Practice and Representation, the American Musicological Society seeks to create a welcoming environment in which a diverse Society may develop and flourish, and in which all conference-goers find a forum for exciting conversations about the music they love.

AMS committees and study groups are guaranteed one (1) session at the Annual Meeting. This call, which is directed exclusively at AMS committees and study groups, is a call for proposals for business meetings, paper sessions, workshops, and social events that help advance the Society’s mission and provide opportunities for members to network, share their research, and organize around themes of common interest.

(NOTE: Study groups and committees are guaranteed one session during the conference’s regular 90-minute session timeslots . Thus, study groups and committees wishing to hold a research-focused session and a business meeting are encouraged to combine these into a single session. Those wishing to hold their business meetings separately from their research-focused session may propose both sessions, but should be aware that business meetings may be scheduled during the conference 2-hour intersession time block (4:00-6:00pm ET) to avoid schedule overcrowding.)

In order to accommodate multiple time zones, the 2026 Annual Meeting schedule will be largely organized around two time blocks: 1) Time Block A (10 a.m.–4 p.m. ET) and 2) Time Block B (6 p.m.–10:30 p.m. ET). Sessions will be scheduled in the time block that best suits their participants’ local time, with all sessions recorded and archived for later viewing. While most sessions will occur online (via Zoom), chapters, study groups, and committees are encouraged to host locally-organized events for streaming, for which AMS funding is available. (See the “Funding” section of this call.)

Submission Procedures/Restrictions

Proposals must be received by 11:59 p.m. ET, 16 March 2026. Proposals are to be submitted electronically. A link to the proposal submission site will be made available on or before 10 December 2025. (Note: Access to the proposal submission portal ceases precisely at the deadline. To avoid technical problems with submission please submit at least twenty-four hours before the deadline.)

Excluding guaranteed study group and committee sessions, no one may appear on the AMS Annual Meeting program more than twice. Proposal submitters will be required to state the format of the session (multi-paper panel, single-abstract proposal, or business meeting) and must also include full, detailed information on session participants. The form is not a placeholder for a session; it should provide all of the information needed to organize the session. All participants in all sessions should be finalized no later than May 15, 2026. All committees and study groups wishing to include a session on the program must submit a proposal by the deadline. Committees and study groups that fail to submit proposals by the deadline will forfeit their right to have their sessions included on the program (including annually recurring sessions, such as named lectureships). Funding For its 2026 Annual Meeting, the American Musicological Society will provide funding of up to $3,500 for the organization and hosting of locally-held viewing sessions and specially organized events to be streamed to the larger conference audience. This funding will be made available to interested AMS affiliates (chapters, study groups, and committees) and is contingent on application and acceptance. The goal of this funding will be to encourage in-person gatherings of AMS members and constituents throughout the 2026 Annual Meeting and thereby maintain and strengthen the networks and interpersonal connections that might otherwise be disrupted by a fully-online meeting. Funding, if awarded, may be used to cover a range of expenses associated with the organization of in-person viewing sessions and special events, including catering, venue, speaker fees, videography and technical support, etc. More details on applying for funding to host in-person viewing sessions and special events will be released in late fall 2025 and early winter 2026.

Submit Your Proposal

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Date & Time Blocks

The 2026 AMS Annual Meeting – Online will take place on Saturday/Sunday, 14–15 November 2026 and Thursday/Friday, 19–20 November 2026. The official conference time zone is New York City (Eastern Time). To better accommodate attendees in time zones around the world, conference events will be scheduled in the following time blocks:

1. Time Block A: 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. ET (ET day)
   • 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
   • 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
   • 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
2. Time Block B: 6:00 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. ET (ET evening)
   • 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
   • 8:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
3. Intersession (primarily for in-person events that will not be live-streamed)
   • 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.