Music Mark Talk into Action Annual Conferences 2022: Call for Content

Our call for conference content is now closed, but can you can keep up with our Talk into Action conference series here. 

What might you present at the Talk into Action touring conferences?
Share our call for content with your wider network so we can include new voices in the programme.

Every year at Music Mark we invite our members to submit ideas for the Annual Conference held in the late autumn.  Over the past five years each conference has had a theme to help with programming and to focus discussion.  At the 2021 Annual Conference, Music Mark’s CEO Bridget Whyte announced that we wanted to help the sector to turn Talk into Action with a focus on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (ED&I) in 2022, and that this would also be the theme of the 2022 Annual Conference.

With this as our theme, we’ve been thinking how we can make our conference more accessible, diverse, and inclusive. Whilst it is pleasing to note that numbers attending our conferences continue to grow year on year, we know that not everyone is able to join us, especially if events are face-to-face. With our conferences generally attracting senior and emerging leaders, we also see that our teaching workforce are often unable to join us or might feel the sessions are not for them.

With this in mind, the Talk into Action Music Mark conference will be a little different, and we want you to help shape it. Here’s what we’re planning:

• We’ll hold four one-day in-person conferences and one online conference for music tutors. These one-day events will take place across the country; we are currently investigating possible venues in the South West, London and the North West, in addition to the Civic Centre in Newcastle.
• A 24-hour hybrid conference will be delivered for senior and emerging leaders. This will take place in Newcastle on 24 – 25 November, with the option to attend in-person or virtually.
• We’ll create a conference website full of engaging resources and important information.

Importantly, we want a diverse network of Music Education specialists to inform the programme. In line with our focus on turning Talk into Action, we therefore invite you to consider if you would like to offer a presentation, workshop or immersive experience as part of the 2022 conference.

We’re looking to create a programme of tangible, useful, actionable content which delegates can take away and use in their own practice. Ideally presentations would include the voices of teachers and pupils – either live (in person or joining online) or pre-recorded and we are keen to make sure the conference is as diverse and inclusive as possible. You might consider presenting:

• A CPD session in which teachers can troubleshoot how best to meet the needs of students with specific disabilities
• An interactive musical experience delivered by the students you work with
• A session on building usable EDI action plans

You might consider titles along the lines of:

• How to engage with new students from low-income areas
• Why does online learning still have a place?
• What does a decolonized Music Curriculum look like?
• How to be inclusive of diverse gender identities

We will share more of our vision for the Music Mark Annual Conference over the coming months and you will help to shape it. So for now, we invite you to think about whether you might have something you would like to present.  And we have an idea to reach out to find some new voices to hear from this year; if you are reading this and have presented at a Music Mark conference in the past, we would like to suggest that you ‘Pass it on’ – share this message with someone you think everyone needs to hear from.

We’ve not prepared a form for submissions this year, as we want to keep this as open as possible for new voices and ideas.

Think you’d like to present at the 2022 Music Mark conference? Please simply email info@musicmark.org.uk with your thoughts and ideas about what you might include in your conference session – pictures, video submissions, and voice-notes are welcome.  We will then work with as many as we can to develop a session at one of the events.

An initial deadline to let us know if you have something you might like to present is Monday 11^th April 2022.

Thank you, and we look forward to receiving your exciting suggestions for our 2022 Talk into Action touring conference!

Find out more about the Talk into Action conference series.