To the Presidents of the American Musicological Society (AMS), Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM), and Society for Music Theory (SMT),

We, the graduate student committee of Project Spectrum, write this letter to voice our concern regarding the lack of hybrid options to attend and/or present at the upcoming SEM annual meeting in Ottawa, Ontario in October 2023, as well as the AMS-SMT joint annual meeting in Denver, Colorado in November 2023. As proponents of equity and inclusivity within academic and artistic spaces, we believe it is imperative to bring these issues of access to the forefront of discussion.

The pandemic has demonstrated the potential for hybrid conference attendance as a feasible reality, which should not be ignored even while prioritizing in-person attendance, especially when COVID continues to impact many immunocompromised members. Additionally, increasing political and physical hostility towards members of marginalized communities, such as our trans colleagues, calls for greater sensitivity in making conferences accessible; this is especially the case for future meetings held in locations with active anti-trans laws (e.g., SMT 2024 in Jacksonville, Florida and SEM 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia). There are other aspects of travel that make attendance challenging. While some members outside of the United States and Canada can plan to receive the necessary documentation they may need to travel to the annual meeting, many others often require additional time to secure a visa or other form of sponsorship. This is difficult to plan in advance, particularly for members in more precarious positions.

We acknowledge that the three Societies have taken some action to make the conference accessible. SEM provides accessibility guidelines for the annual meeting pertaining to the safety of aisles and spaces for mobility, amplification of sound, inclusion of captions for presentations, and use of high contrast images for visual impairments. Furthermore, SEM announced that a select number of sessions would be livestreamed at this year’s meeting. Similarly, AMS is offering a small number of hybrid sessions that would include remote presenters for this year’s meeting. At previous conferences, SMT has solicited volunteers to assist with video recording in-person presentations for later viewing online. In addition, all three Societies have and continue to offer a limited number of travel grants. However, more care should be exercised in recognition of the geographical diversity of membership, limitations of funding (especially for student members), and technological potential for multiple modes of professional engagement, attendance, and presentation.

When a professional organization prioritizes research on subaltern or disabled populations while neglecting to facilitate proper interventions for their equitable engagement, interest, or concern in these areas, they may be understood as performative rather than transformative. The realities we are addressing can directly shape professional development as participation in the events and initiatives of these organizations has the potential to greatly impact career outcomes for graduate students, independent scholars, professors, and others in varied roles in the music academy.

Though we do not propose solutions as part of this letter, our intention is to voice our support of members that have and continue to be excluded because of policies affecting accessibility. One action item we ask of the Societies: publish an accessibility plan to be shared with the membership through their newsletters and on their websites, with transparency about how conferences will be organized in the coming years, highlighting changes concerning accessibility. We think it would be a missed opportunity not to deeply reflect on the lessons that emerged from the pandemic and to radically reimagine what is possible.