Welcome to the APME Memphis 2025 conference. Here, you’ll be able to register for the conference and update your Sched profile. The conference schedule will be available in late spring 2025. At that time, you can view the schedule and select the presentations you’d like to attend. If you have any questions, please visit our conference website or contact us at conference@popularmusiceducation.org We look forward to coming together as a community June 4–7, 2025.
This presentation builds on Hertzog and Hunter’s (2024) study of jazz programs in higher education to address the many ways that higher music education plays the role of anchor institutions for popular music. As anchors, higher music education’s faculty and students contribute greatly to local music scenes as active creators and participants, and increasingly, the academic study of popular music produces the next generation of consumers and fans. Unlike classical music and jazz, the anchor institution role of colleges and universities is significantly underrealized for popular music. This presentation explores dimensions for building those roles such as the economic, the cultural, and the social. In the economic anchor role, institutions focus on greater employment of popular musicians in faculty and guest roles. The cultural anchor concept highlights the deeper inclusion of popular music into curriculum both for music creators and for all types of students. Finally, in the social role, the institution supports and advocates for popular music culture beyond simply “following the trends”. It is critical that institutions of higher learning view themselves as instruments to nurture culture, especially in their ability to drive equity work in the music industry. This includes equity practices for students, faculty, and communities – all of which are tied to popular music practice. Finally, this presentation includes practices for faculty and administrators to support traditional higher education work (e.g., fundraising) in the context of supporting popular music in institutions.
