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Dear AMS Colleagues and Friends,

The Chicago meeting draws ever nearer! Now that the provisional program is available, I’d like to extend heartfelt thanks to: the Program Committee chaired by Susan Thomas; the Performance Committee chaired by Catherine Gordon; the scores of AMS members who evaluated proposals; the study groups and committees that proposed sessions; and, last but not least, to the AMS office staff, who have re-jigged the initial schedule to accommodate speaker availability and to ensure the highest possible levels of participation.

Now is also a good time to express gratitude to everyone who has contributed to the first year of our series of online Members-only Events. More are planned for 2024-25, and in tandem with our public lecture series (co-organized with the Library of Congress and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum), and events organized by chapters and study groups, we hope they will grow in salience for AMS members as a valuable way of connecting with colleagues throughout the year.

But back to Chicago. About the program…prepare yourself…it is going to be big.

We received an unprecedented number of applications—over 800, which is an increase of almost 40% over the submission number for Denver. And we responded by increasing the overall number of sessions in this year’s program as compared with last year’s. Put simply, we are using every inch of space at the Palmer House Hilton Hotel to give as many people a chance to present their work as is feasible.

And there won’t just be more sessions, but also, we hope, more stimulating and tightly constructed sessions.

Collectively, you responded magnificently to our call for more pre-formed panels. We had called for more because they are a great way to maximize fruitful discussion and the exchange of ideas. So, in addition to programming many more of these, this year we have also organized ten sessions made up of three closely-related individual papers facilitated by both a chair and a discussant. This new session type—called a “Paper Forum”—will highlight the thematic links between the papers and, we trust, catalyze conversations that continue into our coffee and meal breaks.

The hybrid track we trialed in Denver will also be repeated in Chicago, to enhance access for those needing to present remotely. Because of the high number of proposals submitted, the Chicago acceptance rate is lower than for Denver: 38% across all submission types for Chicago, as opposed to 48% for Denver. The number of acceptances, however, is higher—for example, 57 pre-organized sessions in Chicago, as opposed to 30 sessions in Denver—and the quality of the proposals submitted was such that we could have accepted still more.

Many of you will travel to Chicago to give your presentations, to gain feedback, and to network. This part of the program, though, is the tip of the proverbial iceberg. If you are looking for professional development guidance or wishing to follow some of the most topical issues in musicology, you will find sessions on open access publishing, on DEI in music classroom teaching, and on AI in ethical and creative contexts…to name a few. There are events from unmissable Chicago institutions including the Black Monument Ensemble and the Newberry Consort; and your very own invitation to the dance comes courtesy of Chicago’s “Making a Difference Dancing” workshop on rhythm tap. On the program too are moments of individual celebration alongside memorial events for much-loved and much-missed American and international scholars.

Whether you are planning to attend for the first or the umpteenth time, and whether you are presenting, chairing, acting as discussant or auditing, I hope you will see your areas of interest represented within the Chicago program while also finding plenty of opportunities to connect with old friends and meet new colleagues. Most of all, on behalf of all the colleagues who have made the Chicago meeting possible, I wish you an annual meeting where you feel both welcome and welcomed, and you leave energized. See you soon!

With best wishes,

Katharine Ellis
AMS Vice President and Chair, Committee on the Annual Meeting and Public Events (CAMPE)

A Public Letter from the AMS Vice President