Michigan Sound Conference

10 am – 8 pm, Friday May 22, 2015 at the Detroit Public Library.

Music, Arts & Literature Department, Third Floor

This event is free and open to the public.

Please RSVP and / or donate here.

Call for Papers

The Detroit Sound Conservancy (DSC) will host our second annual conference on Friday, May 22, 2015 at the Detroit Public Library dedicated to Michigan and Detroit’s musical heritage. The question our presenters will explore is how has Michigan generally, and Detroit in particular, been a leader in the creation of the global modern soundscape?

The inspiration for the conference comes from the Michigan Modern exhibition held summer 2013 at Cranbrook in Bloomfield Hills, MI that focused on Michigan architecture and design. Similarly, our conference will focus on the relationship between sound and music as they relate to Michigan design and architecture in the 20th century. How have Michigan’s spaces of sound (studios, radio stations, clubs, concert venues, cars, etc.) played a key role in how we have come to hear and experience sound and music? What role do they still play today?

This conference connects directly to the DSC’s mission of preserving sounds and telling stories. It also educates the public, helping to disseminate historic designation knowledge and resources not just in Detroit but across Michigan.

Our first successful conference held last Memorial Day weekend in the Music Sheet Room in the Music, Arts, and Literature Department of the Detroit Public Library, featured 28 local and national speakers on a wide range of topics related to Detroit music history, from the influence of Latin culture on Detroit music to the influence of Detroit’s ballroom architecture on live music performance. (See our video recap here.)

It is our hope that this “Michigan Sound” conference will encourage and spread a more robust discussion on how we might preserve, protect, and celebrate Michigan’s sonic story.

Please note: while we encourage papers to address the conference theme, we remain open to papers concerning Detroit music.

The deadline for presentation/workshop proposals and sponsorship opportunities is Friday, February 20, 2015.

Single presentations should be 15-20 minutes long; panels 60-75 minutes plus Q&A.

Please send a 250-word abstract plus 100-word author bio, as well as any inquiries, to Conference Chair Denise Dalphond via denisedalphondATgmail.com

Please tweet to @detroitsound with the hashtag #michigansound

Updated 3 February 2015