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.

To download a PDF of the 2017 New Directions Conference program, click below...

Conference Keynote Speakers

We are thrilled to have Dr. Dorinda J. Carter Andrews and Dr. Randall Everett Allsup as keynote speakers at the 2017 New Directions in Music Education Conference!

Dorinda J. Carter Andrews is Assistant Dean of Equity Outreach Initiatives and an associate professor of teacher education at Michigan State University where she teaches courses on racial identity development, urban education, critical multiculturalism, and critical race theory. She holds a B.S.I.E. from Georgia Tech, M.Ed. from Vanderbilt University, and an Ed.M. and Ed.D. from Harvard University. Dr. Carter Andrews is a Core Faculty member in the African American and African Studies program, Co-Director of the Graduate Urban Education Certificate Program, and a Faculty Leader in the Urban Educators Cohort Program, a program designed to prepare MSU preservice students for teaching careers in urban contexts. Dr. Carter’s research is broadly focused on race and educational equity. She studies issues of educational equity across PreK-12 school contexts and on college campuses, urban teacher preparation and identity development, and critical race praxis with PreK-12 educators.

Dr. Carter Andrews is a former industrial engineer, high school math teacher, and kindergarten teacher and has teaching experience in suburban, urban, charter, and independent schools. She regularly partners with PreK-12 educators and higher education faculty and staff on how to better address the academic needs of culturally diverse students in various educational contexts and engage in courageous conversations and action about the implications of race and bias in schooling. Dr. Carter Andrews has given two TEDx talks, one entitled “The Consciousness Gap in Education: An Equity Imperative” and another entitled “Teach Kids to Be Eagles: Overcoming Educational Storms.” She is an editor and contributing author of Contesting the Myth of a ‘Post Racial Era’: The Continued Significance of Race in U. S. Education (2013). Her work has been published in various print and electronic outlets.

Randall Everett Allsup holds degrees in music performance and music education from Northwestern University and Teachers College Columbia University. Currently Associate Professor of Music Education at Teachers College, he teaches courses in creativity and problem-solving; democracy and music education; philosophies of music and music education; and doctoral research in music education. Randall has taught at the Chinese Culture University, Taipei, Taiwan; the Arts College of Xiamen University, China; and the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki, Finland. He is the recipient of a Fulbright research and teaching award, and the Teachers College Outstanding Teacher award. He is past chair of the International Society for the Philosophy of Music Education (ISPME) and the Philosophy Special Research Interest Group (SRIG) of the Music Education Research Council. He is the author of over 50 publications, including Remixing the Classroom: Toward an Open Philosophy of Music Education (2016) Indiana University Press.