CFP: Sounding the Third Sector: Music Research and Nongovernmental/Nonprofit Organizations Call for Submissions Publications

CFP FOR A PEER-REVIEWED EDITED VOLUME:
Sounding the Third Sector: Music Research and Nongovernmental/Nonprofit Organizations

PROPOSAL DEADLINE:
November 1, 2026

CO-EDITORS:
Emily Howe (Curry College)
Joe Maurer (MIT)
Dikshant Uprety (University of Southampton)

COLLECTION ABSTRACT:
Amid the pressing contemporary concerns of a global refugee crisis, global aid cuts, and the effects of neoliberal governance on arts and cultural policy—three phenomena that have shifted increasing levels of arts and cultural activity out of the public and private sectors and into the “third sector” sphere of Nongovernmental/Nonprofit Organizations—there is a critical need for greater study and understanding of the role of these institutions in shaping musical activity worldwide. This edited volume, featuring contributions from scholars, artists, and administrators whose research and practice intersects with these institutions in varied global contexts, will historicize and theorize such activity while illuminating the potentials and pitfalls of such institutional structures. In doing so, it brings to the center of the investigative lens an institutional structure that is ubiquitous yet remains under-examined in music scholarship.

POSSIBLE TOPICS FOR CONSIDERATION:
Potential areas for examination include:

1. Theory and Methodology of Research with Musical Nongovernmental/Nonprofit Organizations
2. “Third Sector” Funding Structures and Strictures
3. Discourses and Practices of the “Third Sector”
4. Community Music Organizations and Their Effects

We welcome theoretical and methodological exploration of these and related topics, as well as historical and ethnographic case study approaches.

PUBLICATION PLANS:
We are generating a proposal for a peer-reviewed edited volume with an academic publisher.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
Submit a working title and abstract via this Google form:
https://forms.gle/g4U17dktad4yUREa9 

TIMELINE:

1. Abstract Deadline: November 1, 2026
2. Notification of Acceptance: December 1, 2026
3. Chapter Draft Due: March 1, 2027

CONTACT EMAIL:

• emily.howe@curry.edu
• jmmaurer@mit.edu
• d.uprety@soton.ac.uk