Musical groups and organisations shape and are shaped by their localities in a plurality of ways, reaching in and through communities to achieve tangible and intangible impacts. This one-day symposium, hosted by the Urban Institute and the Sheffield Performer and Audience Research Centre, brings together academic and practitioner networks from across the arts, humanities and social sciences to ask:

How does music contribute to community?
How does this connect to global debates around sustainability, urban justice and democracy?
What innovative methods and approaches can help reveal the networks, relations and impacts of community activities on place?

The symposium will create a space to​ share ideas, experiences and future agendas ​around cultural participation and democracy, and how local music groups​ contribute to their community.

We already have a great line-up of confirmed participants, including Xenia Davies (Making Music), Abigail Gilmore (University of Manchester), Leila Jancovich (University of Leeds), Robin Simpson (Voluntary Arts), Jane Milling (University of Exeter) and Fiona Goh (Exploring Music Making/Freelance Arts).

The symposium will be held at the University of Sheffield on Friday 29th June 2018 0930-1630 in seminar room G14 at the University of Sheffield. If you would like to come and join the discussion, please complete the Eventbrite. Refreshments/lunch will be provided. Places are free but limited and allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.

For more information contact Stephanie Pitts (Department of Music, s.e.pitts@sheffield.ac.uk) or Beth Perry (Urban Institute, b.perry@sheffield.ac.uk).

The symposium is supported by the Realising Just Cities programme, Mistra Urban Futures and the University of Sheffield’s Faculty of Arts and Humanities.