AMS Newsletter August 2018
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AMS NEWSLETTER THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY CONSTITUENT MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN COUNCIL OF LEARNED SOCIETIES VOLUME XLVIII, NUMBER 2 August 2018 ISSN 0402-012X AMS/SMT San Antonio How Inclusive Do You Want To Be? 1–4 November ams-net.org/sanantonio A year ago, AMS President Martha Feldman called for increased inclusivity and diversity in the AMS: “we simply have to open the gate more widely.” In welcoming you to San An- tonio we think you will agree that four No- vember days of scholarship and appealing lo- cal attractions will offer ample opportunity to answer that call and embrace its vision. Antonio San Visit Credit: And what a time to visit San Antonio, for 2018 marks the three hundredth anniversary of the city’s founding. Opportunities abound for those who want to take time around or between AMS/SMT activities to learn about San Antonio’s history: from special exhibits Grand Hyatt San Antonio with views of the Tower of the Americas and San Antonio River at some of the city’s most beloved museums to the five unforgettable historical missions of the most important should be mentioned. downtown’s San Fernando Cathedral by bus (remember the Alamo?), collectively named a The Institute of Texan Cultures (texancul- at 8:30 and 9:00. At 7:00 that same evening in UNESCO world heritage site in 2015. There tures.com) is, as the name implies, an excellent Hemisfair Park, a few minutes’ walk from our isn’t enough room to elaborate fully on all place to learn about the many societies and hotel, artist collective URBAN-15 presents forty-nine San Antonio museums, but a few cultures that have been part of Texas history. Carnaval de los Muertos, an “annual perfor- The Spanish “Governor’s Palace” (sanantonio. mance ritual” that brings together Mexican gov/CCDO/parksplazas/governorspalace) is a culture and Brazilian and Portuguese dance In This Issue… short walk and gives an interesting glimpse of and rhythm. On Friday the Tobin Center, President’s Message ...............2 pre-U.S. times in a home where the comman- San Antonio’s premier downtown perfor- President’s Endowed Plenary Lecture 4 dant of the Presidio lived. The San Antonio mance venue, hosts a classic of another kind: Women & Gender Endowed Lecture 4 Museum of Art (samuseum.org) began with prog-rock outfit Kansas, playing the entirety Holmes/D’Accone Fellowship .......5 an emphasis on pre-Columbian, Spanish, and of their 1977 album Point of Know Return live. NYU/AMS Lecture ...............5 Latin American art, but has evolved over the Saturday brings with it a chance to hear leg- Bylaws Changes ................ 6 years to become an important collection of art endary jazz drummer Billy Hart and his quar- AMS Public Lectures............. 7 from around the world. tet at 3:00 at the Empire Theater. That after- Awards, Prizes, Honors ........... 8 You may already know that UNESCO noon downtown’s Main Plaza hosts a Latino Society Priorities Survey .......... 10 named San Antonio a Creative City of Gas- Music Fest, and that evening Hemisfair Park San Antonio Program Selection .... 11 tronomy, so it’s likely that you will find some- teems with the sights and sounds of the city’s San Antonio Performances ........12 thing palatable to power you through the tenth annual Diwali, featuring the River Pa- San Antonio Preliminary Program...13 busy weekend. rade of Indian States, an “Indian bazaar” with Chapter News .................36 This year’s AMS/SMT conference falls food and craft vendors, all capped with a fire- Committee News ...............36 on the four days following Día de los Muer- works show. If you’re still in town on Sunday, Study Group News ..............39 tos, a post-holiday lull for many of the city’s the Fall Four Seasons Indian Markets at the AMS Boston 2019 ............... 42 concert music organizations. The other side historic mission San Juan Capistrano show- News Briefs ...................45 of that lull is a wealth of welcome surprises cases the wares of local first nations’ peoples CFPs and Conferences ...........45 from other quarters. If you’re in an All-Saints and includes a participatory round dance led Grants, Awards, Fellowships .......46 mood, on Thursday morning you can catch Obituaries ....................47 the historical cemetery tour that departs from continued on page President’s Message I hope this message finds you enjoying a race, diversity, and inclusivity, which formed 5) a task force on lovely and restorative summer. The last time a red thread throughout the retreat. High on finances, working I wrote, the Board of Directors was about its current list of priorities are advocating for to figuring out to embark on a spring retreat. Since 2002, the most vulnerable members of the Society; how to boost our the board has been holding retreats on aver- helping to invigorate the Society’s grassroots challenged op- age every five years, retreats that have been by involving a wider array of members more erations reserves, critical in giving us a way to engage in seri- fully in its work, including students; match- maximize our ous stock-taking as it relates to the Society’s ing our limited resources with our highest limited staffing modus operandi and financial well-being. needs; developing meaningful dialogues resources, and re- The retreat format represents a departure with sibling societies; improving commu- assess endowment from the day-in-and-day-out issues taken nication with members by working toward spending. up in regular semiannual business meetings greater clarity and transparency; responding By late summer each task force will have in which the board reviews 200–300 pages to the changing job market through support made a set of recommendations for further worth of reports from our many commit- for contract labor and different kinds of jobs work, discussion, or implementation, which tees, reviews the budgets and endowments, in an environment in which many members we’ll take up at the fall board meetings. hears from the Council, nominates board no longer hold traditional academic posi- We urge you to contact the AMS office or members and honorary members, and takes tions; attending to the Society’s increasing a board member if you have further com- up any number of issues that have arisen in numbers of older members; making the ments or suggestions. the previous six-month period, all in a 10- Annual Meeting a more welcoming and As I write this I am acutely aware that a hour period of time. By setting aside time nourishing experience for all; and making personal challenge for me is to bring the for a slower and deeper kind of thinking, the the emotional and intellectual energy of the work the board is currently doing to as board is able to use its retreats to contem- Society more accessible and visible. sound and efficacious a point as possible be- plate goals and strategies for the best ways As our thoughts turned to developing a set fore I step down as President on the evening forward in the ensuing five years. of concrete strategic plans for the coming of Saturday, 3 November. It’s hard to believe The many transformations and challenges five to six years, the board decided to create how much work lies ahead and at the same we face both as a scholarly Society, and in five “task forces,” two- to three-person teams time how quickly my term has passed. I’m our society at large, mean radical reorienta- of board members charged with recom- deeply gratified to know that when I do step tions in scholarly trends and new financial mending strategic plans for implementation down, my colleague Suzanne Cusick will obligations for the AMS. These coincide in the coming years: take over. Getting to leave things in her ex- with challenging employment prospects for 1) a task force on communications, cover- pert hands will have been one of the great many of our members, longer retirements ing the Newsletter, Musicology Now, our pleasures of my presidency. Besides being for others, and other shifting demograph- lecture series, and the AMS Forum at Hu- supremely capable, she is deeply conscien- ics that affect abilities of some to pursue manities Commons, as well as examining tious and fiercely intelligent. That she’ll be research, attend AMS meetings, shoulder our communications with the membership working with our indefatigable executive membership costs, and so on. All this makes and beyond director Bob Judd means continuity for the deep strategic thinking especially vital now. Society and an incomparable team to lead The Board began preparing for the retreat 2) a task force on the annual meeting, deal- us forward. I owe them both my sincerest a year ago, when it attempted to identify ing with how best to structure and schedule thanks, together with the rest of the people major areas and potential questions it might sessions, how to make the meeting more wel- with whom I’ve worked: all the board mem- profitably take up. It followed up by circu- coming to first-time attendees, students, re- bers, past, present, and incoming, not least lating a survey of the membership in winter tirees, and others, how to approach an ever- 2018, the results of which affirmed, among expanding awards ceremony, how to make Vice President Georgia Cowart, Secretary other things, the very high importance the the work of the Program Committee maxi- Michael Tusa, Treasurer Jim Ladewig, and membership accords the Journal and the mally effective and more manageable, and former president Ellen Harris; Council Sec- Annual Meeting. Those outcomes were no how to approach the choice of venues and retary Steve Swayne and all of the council surprise, but it was striking that members future joint meetings with other societies members; JAMS editor Joy Calico and her also placed very high priority on support of team; Newsletter editor James Parsons; the 3) a task force on publications, looking research and relatedly the need to address Musicology Now team, especially Andrea across the range of our publications and the crisis surrounding contingent labor in Moore and Susan Thomas; Publications considering our publication subvention pro- academia.