2029 Annual Meeting to Be Held In Person

The Board of Directors of the American Musicological Society (AMS) has voted to hold the 2029 Annual Meeting in person at a location as yet to be determined. This decision modifies a six-year-old policy that designated every third AMS Annual Meeting as an online meeting.

The AMS has made this decision for several reasons.

When the Society’s Board of Directors originally approved the every-third-year online annual meeting policy, the pandemic had not yet occurred, and the AMS had never organized an online annual meeting. The Society now has experience running two such meetings (2020, 2021), with a third on the way (2026). That experience has taught us a great deal about the advantages and limitations of meeting online. We have learned that gathering in person is important because some forms of connection, mentorship, and collaboration are not yet possible to replicate online.¹

It is also worth noting that when the Board originally voted six years ago to hold every third annual meeting online, online conferences were a relatively new innovation. Today, they are commonplace, their widespread adoption greatly accelerated by the pandemic. Thus, AMS constituents have access to a variety of online presentation and conferencing opportunities, both under the umbrella of the AMS and elsewhere. Moreover, with the 2026 meeting, the AMS will have organized three online Annual Meetings in six years — more than the one-in-three ratio the Board originally approved. Holding the 2029 meeting in person moves the Society closer to the ratio that was originally envisioned.

The Board is listening to AMS members, and it is clear that no one solution meets everyone’s needs well. The data coming in from the 2026 meeting and other AMS online events — data on submissions, attendance, etc. — indicates clearly that the majority of the Society’s constituents are more likely to participate if events are held in person. We’ve also heard direct feedback from many AMS members that they would prefer to meet face-to-face in 2029.

At the same time, the Society recognizes that this decision comes at a cost. An in-person meeting in 2029 will present real barriers for members who face physical accessibility challenges; who must obtain visas for international travel; or who cannot afford the time and money it takes to attend an in-person meeting. The AMS takes these needs and concerns seriously. For that reason, the Society will continue to maintain a wide range of accessibility options that have been piloted for in-person meetings over the past few years, including making select sessions fully hybrid and offering video access to some portions of the meeting.

In addition, the AMS Board and staff are actively exploring other ways to accommodate members who are not well-served by the traditional in-person annual meeting. Our planning for further innovation is in its early stages. We have just begun soliciting feedback from key groups in our community. We will announce more specifics in the coming months.

The Society will circulate more information about the 2029 Annual Meeting—its location, partners, and timing—as soon as possible. In the meantime, thank you for your patience and for being part of the AMS community.